SHARON Restaurant chain hires team to help it spread its wings

Restaurant veterans join a local company as it prepares to grow.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
SHARON, Pa. -- Quaker Steak & amp; Lube is preparing to spread its chicken wings and special sauces nationwide.
The Sharon-based restaurant chain has created a new holding company and added to its executive team to better manage its expansion.
Lube Holdings has been created to oversee the company's three Sharon restaurants, Boardman restaurant and franchises.
The holding company will help executives look at the company as one unit, instead of a collection of restaurants, said Trisha Knight, director of marketing.
Chairman
Leading Lube Holdings is Michael Stack, a restaurant industry veteran. As chairman, Stack oversees the expansion effort.
Stack has been working as a consultant with the company for almost a year and was named to his new position recently. Knight said he has been impressed with the concept developed by founders George Warren, president and chief executive, and Gary Meszaros, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Stack will not be based in Sharon but will work from corporate offices periodically. Warren and Meszaros will continue to work full time in their current positions.
Stack is owner of Stack Enterprises, a restaurant consulting company, and is the former chairman and chief executive of McAlister's Deli, a casual-dining restaurant chain with more than 100 locations. He remains a director of the parent company, McAlister's Corp. of Ridgeland, Miss.
Also on board
Joining Stack on the Lube Holdings board is Lee Cohn, who founded Big 4 Restaurants in Phoenix in 1973. Cohn, who has been featured in cover stories in various industry publications, was brought in because of his experience in the industry, Knight said.
She said the company is looking to fill two more board positions.
Other executives have joined the founders on the management team.
Andrew Gunkler has relocated to Sharon to be vice president of development and will oversee the selling of franchises. He has more than 25 years of experience in senior management positions with various companies, including Perkins.
Dennis Lieb, a certified public accountant, has served as the company's controller but has joined full time as vice president, controller and chief information officer.
Robert Mentrek, who has been with the company, was named vice president of company restaurants.
The company has eight franchised locations in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The first locations outside those states are opening later this year in Charlotte, N.C., and Clearwater, Fla.
Knight said the company is talking with potential franchisees in Tennessee, California and several other states.
shilling@vindy.com