Taziki’s Mediterranean Café has named Mike Smith as the Alabama company’s chief operating officer.

The announcement was made Tuesday in a press release. Smith has served in various roles at Taziki’s, including director of franchise operations and vice president of operations, since spring of 2018.

Before joining the company, Smith was the vice president of operations for Hootwinc (the west coast franchise and operator of 12 Hooters restaurants in Southern California). He served in a variety of different roles for the Hooters brand in general, where he was employed close to 13 years.

Founded and headquartered in Birmingham, Taziki’s is a rapidly burgeoning brand, named one of America’s fastest-growing leaders by Inc. 5000 in the fresh-casual food industry.

“We are excited to expand Mike’s role within the Taziki’s family,” stated Dan Simpson, CEO of Taziki’s. “His drive and determination have helped the company expand on our brand promise of outstanding customer experience. When Mike joined our team, we had just over 40 locations; his expertise has contributed to the growth and maturity of our brand.”

Having more than tripled in size since 2011, Taziki’s now has over 90 restaurant locations, spanning 17 states nationally and now stretches from the Atlantic Coast to as far west as Idaho. Ongoing development plans include building the brand in existing markets, as well as entering into new areas across the country by 2023.

Smith is a major factor in the company’s big plans.

Smith has multiple years of experience that have equipped him with shrewd insights into business operations. Under his leadership, Taziki’s has added the Express Pick-up option to innovate and improve their guests’ experience. Taziki’s will roll out this to-go initiative across their locations over the coming year. Guests will benefit from digital notification boards where they can see their orders have been received and know when they are ready. Taziki’s also reintroduced curbside through the Taziki’s app in multiple locations over the last two years.

In a statement, Smith said, “Taziki’s call to action is really centered around guest experience and in the fast-casual segment, it’s easy to prioritize speed over accuracy; our focus is getting it right for the guest every time.”

“We are dedicated to informing our guests on Taziki’s supply chain, ingredients and nutrition,” he added.

Under Smith’s leadership, Taziki’s has placed a large focus on dietary trends, health and nutrition research as a large part of the company’s guest experience. He has reportedly spearheaded the effort to change the layout in both Taziki’s physical cook lines and in their point of sales systems so that the brand can meet guests wants and needs as quickly as possible.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn