ATLANTA — Roark Capital Group, a private equity firm that owns 14 franchise companies with collectively more than $3 billion in systemwide revenues, announced today that Cinnabon Inc. president Geoff Hill will join Roark Capital as vice president, effective Jan. 1, 2010.
Hill will assist newly named Cinnabon president Gary Bales during a transition period until the end of the year, when he will assume full-time duties at Roark. Bales currently serves as president of Carvel and will ultimately serve over both brands.
Carvel and Cinnabon are both in the FOCUS Brands portfolio, owned by Roark Capital. Roark Capital's franchise portfolio also includes brands such as Schlotzsky's, Moe's Southwest Grill, Seattle's Best Coffee International and McAlister's Deli.
At Roark, Hill will be responsible for helping find new investment opportunities in franchising as well as assisting the management teams of the current franchise portfolio companies in operations and best practices.
"Growing franchise systems and building franchise brands is my passion," Hill said. "At Roark, I'll have the chance to work with multiple franchise brands, driving growth at companies we already own, while working with the management team to expand the Roark portfolio."
During his tenure at Carvel and FOCUS Brands, Hill was instrumental in growing the brands to their highest year-over-year levels and continuously took on more responsibility beyond franchise sales, including real estate, design and construction, franchise administration and operations. He developed a national sales force from the ground up, and signed franchise agreements for more new stores in the 16 months following his hire than were signed in the 10 years prior to his arrival at Carvel.
