Tony Roma’s CEO Mina Haque on how her law background is helping the chain’s turnaround

Take-Away with Sam Oches

Nation's Restaurant News

Business, Entrepreneurship

2.5 • 15 Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Mohaimina “Mina” Haque, the CEO of Tony Roma’s, a legacy casual dining chain specializing in ribs that once had hundreds of locations, but which is now is in rebuild mode with a few dozen open locations, only 6 of which are in the U.S. Mina is a lawyer by trade, and she was brought on by Equity Investors of New England when it bought the chain in 2021 to do due diligence on the brand and serve as general counsel. Recognizing her potential, the board asked her in 2023 to stay on as CEO, and now Mina and her team are out to resurrect this legacy chain by essentially shifting to startup mode and designing a Tony Roma’s 2.0. Mina joined the podcast to talk about her big vision for Tony Roma’s turnaround and how the company is particularly looking out for both existing and potential franchisees.

In this conversation, you’ll find out why:

There is no one path to restaurant leadership
No matter your trade, it pays to be a professional problem solver
Lawyers interact with all departments, which sets them up for C-suite success
Legacy chains can find new life by acting like startups
Get rid of meetings and replace them with brainstorm sessions
In the midst of tech innovation, be sure to protect your brand identity
Social media offers low-hanging fruit for amplifying your brand

Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, welcome to Takeaway with Sam Ocas, a podcast from Nation's Restaurant News.
0:04.3	I'm Sam Ocas, editor-in-chief here at NRN, and this is the show where I give you an all-access
0:08.8	pass to the restaurant industry's most influential decision-makers.
0:12.6	This week, I'm talking with Mina Hawke, the CEO of Tony Romas, a legacy casual dining chain
0:19.2	specializing in ribs that once had hundreds of locations,
0:23.5	but which is now in rebuild mode, with only a few dozen open locations, only six of which
0:30.2	are in the U.S. Mina has a fascinating story in that she was and is still a lawyer. And she was brought on by equity investors of New
0:39.6	England when it bought the chain in 2021 to do due diligence on the brand and to serve as
0:46.3	general counsel. Recognizing her potential, the board asked her in 2023 to stay on as CEO. And now
0:53.3	Mina and her team are out to resurrect this legacy chain by
0:57.6	essentially shifting to startup mode and designing a Tony Roma's 2.0. Mina joined the podcast to
1:04.3	talk about her big vision for Tony Roma's turnaround and how the company is particularly looking
1:09.7	out for both existing and potential
1:11.7	franchisees. In this interview, you will learn more about why there is no one path to restaurant
1:17.3	leadership, why legacy chains can find new life by acting like startups, and why social media
1:23.6	offers low-hanging fruit for amplifying your brand.
1:31.7	Jumping now into my interview with Tony Roma's CEO, Mina Hawke.
1:35.0	Also, don't forget to stick around after the interview, as I will share my seven takeaways from this discussion, actionable insights that you can take with you on the go.
1:42.4	Okay, I'm sitting down with Mina Hawke, the CEO of Tony Romas. Mina, thanks for taking some time today.
1:49.3	Thank you, Sam, for having me here today. Of course. Okay, so Tony Romas, for anybody who is not have a Tony Romas nearby or are not familiar with this brand, give me a quick 30 seconds on what this brand's all
2:01.5	about. Yeah, absolutely. So Tony Romis is a 53-year-old brand. We are known for our ribs. In fact,
2:09.2	I would like to say we are the ribs capital. Wherever Tony Romo's are, we are known for the best
	...

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