In mid-August, casual dining gourmet burger chain Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. (303/846-6000 www.redrobin.com) announced the appointment of Jeff Melnick as Senior Vice President of Operations.  In this new position, Melnick will be responsible for leading regional restaurant management teams overseeing the operational performance of more than 380 company-owned Red Robin restaurants in the United States.  He has served as a regional vice president of Operations for Red Robin since 2006 and has over 25 years experience in the casual dining industry.  In addition to promoting Melnick to Senior Vice President of Operations, the company appointed five new Red Robin Regional Vice Presidents as part of its efforts to align the operations organization to better serve the current and future needs of the business.  The five new Regional Vice Presidents are Amanda Busby responsible for the Mid-Pacific Division,  Al Hansen handling the Midwest Division, Amy Jones in the Southwest Division, Daniel Lett covering the Gulf Coast Division and Tim Mei responsible for the Northwest Division.  They join four additional Red Robin RVPs for a total of nine regional operations leaders who will report to Melnick…...

Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald’s Corp. (800/244-6227 www.mcdonalds.com) has announced that Jeff Stratton, McDonald's USA President, has made the decision to retire after 41 years with the brand. As a result, the Board of Directors has elected former McDonald's Executive Mike Andres as McDonald's USA president effective October 15, the date of Stratton's retirement. Andres will report to Don Thompson, McDonald's President, CEO and also oversee the Canadian market. He joins McDonald's after his most recent role as CEO and Chairman of Logan's Roadhouse Inc…….

Steak-buffet concept Ovation Brands (651/994-8608 www.ovationbrands.com) has announced changes in its operations leadership and corporate structure as the brand prepares to rollout its reinvention to the entire system. George Wooten and Pete Pascuzzi, who have been spearheading re-concepting efforts across the enterprise in executive leadership capacities, will be assuming new roles as Divisional Chiefs for the Buffet and Ryan’s brands, respectively and both will report to COO Greg Graber.Pascuzzi has previously served as Vice President, Operations for Ryan’s restaurants in West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and Pennsylvania.  Prior to that, he was Chief Operating Officer for Home Style Dining, the franchisor and operator of Bonanza and Ponderosa Family Steakhouses where he was responsible for providing leadership to company operations, franchisees, training and quality assurance.Wooten joined Ovation Brands in October 2013 as the Senior Vice President, Operations and quickly assumed the development of the company’s new, comprehensive hospitality training protocol with a focus on the reconcept markets.He previously served as the Senior Vice President, Operations and COO at Sbarro, Senior Vice President, Casual Dining at Ashlaya and Senior Vice President of Safe Way Groceries. “These moves in leadership put the ultimate operations decision maker closer to the action and will help drive urgency and the continued change necessary to support our successful reinvention,” said Anthony Wedo, CEO for Ovation Brands.Ovation Brands operates 334 restaurants in 35 states, consisting of 324 steak-buffet restaurants and ten Tahoe Joe’s Famous Steakhouse restaurants. Its corporate headquarters are based in Greer, South Carolina with a corporate support center in Eagan, Minnesota...