Replacing A CEO Who Had Been In The Position For 25 Years

This company had the CEO seat filled by one person for 25 years. The company provides food service at several locations across Arizona and caters corporate events, and is an employee-owned business. The company was growing and the return-to-office move had been good for business when the search began. During that time, the outgoing CEO had defined the culture and the way the business worked at every level. Whoever followed was always going to step into something that had been built around one person for a long time. The role would also have reporting lines from operations leaders in a number of smaller subsidiaries within the holding group.

The search was initiated before the job description was finalized, and the brief was developed concurrently with early outreach. When the employees are also shareholders of a company, the choice of the CEO reverberates across the whole business. The role required a combination of hands-on food service experience and executive presence that few candidates had. Moving to Tucson was a real filter, and candidates had to show commitment early on before we moved further. The search was done discreetly, and candidates were approached without any knowledge of the company name. The company was also growing, and the new CEO would have to handle that with the transition.

The first step was video interviews, especially to check presence before furthering discussions. The search tapped into food service and multi-site operations, and several candidates progressed to direct client interviews. From there, the shortlist was narrowed down through multiple rounds, including a site visit and a financial review under NDA. Due diligence eliminated one candidate when the background checks revealed inconsistencies in what they had submitted. Another presented a compensation proposal, more than twice the range available, and that ended their candidacy. The candidate who pulled ahead had the food service background needed and earned the confidence of everyone who interviewed them.

The candidate asked for the low end of the salary range and the offer was in that range. It is confirmed that the new CEO will be starting in August and will pop in to see how the business is running while finishing off their current job. Background and social media screening was conducted and cleared before the appointment was confirmed. The CEO reports directly to the Board and will have reporting lines from operations leaders across several subsidiaries. The appointment was made through the exclusive engagement with Keller Executive Search.