LJS/A&W prexy exits Yum for CEO role at Bob Evans

Nation's Restaurant News, May 15, 2006

COLUMBUS, OHIO -- Steven Davis has resigned as president of the Long John Silver's and A&W quick-service divisions of Yum! Brands Inc. to become chief executive of Bob Evans Farms, Columbus-based parent of the Bob Evans and Mimi's Cafe chains.

He succeeds Larry Corbin, who had left retirement to be Bob Evans' interim chief executive following the resignation last August of Stewart Owens. Corbin remains on Bob Evans' board.

In disclosing the hiring, Bob Evans chairman Robert Rabold cited Davis' engineering of turn-arounds at packaged-goods and restaurant concerns. In addition to operating 690 full-service restaurants, Bob Evans Farms makes and wholesales sausage and other grocery products.

Its Bob Evans family-dining chain has struggled as the acquired casual-dining Mimi's Cafe chain has grown.

Louisville, Ky.-based Yum did not immediately name a replacement for Davis.