Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2011 | Page 44

P O W E R

P L A Y E R S

“I wanted to get out of fine dining and into
something with smaller units and less risk.”
the restaurant.
Meanwhile, Panos came up with
an original concept, Stoney River
Legendary Steaks, opening two local
restaurants. Six years later, the partners sold the local restaurants and
those under development in Chicago
to the publicly owned O’Charley’s.
Panos was then looking to diversify. “Even when we were growing
Stoney River, I wanted to get out
of fine dining and get into something with smaller units and less
risk that we could grow more
rapidly than big units that could
cost $3 million if you made a
mistake,” he says.
Panos teamed up with broth-

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Multi-unit Franchisee Is s ue II, 2011

er-in-law David Steenekamp, to do
something on a larger scale with a
strong national brand. Papa John’s
Pizza fit the bill, he says. “We bought
our first units in Chattanooga, and then
in North Georgia. Ten years later, we
are one of their top five franchisees,
with stores in four states.”
In 2011, Panos, founder and CEO
of QS America, and his partner have 41
Papa John’s, as well as the fine dining
Brookwood Grill. But their U.S. success story, which they attribute in no
small measure to their early adoption
of social media, doesn’t end there.
Always looking ahead, Panos developed Fresh To Order (f2o for short), a
pioneering “fast fine” dining concept.