Vucurevich Simons Advisory Group Hires Former Cheesecake Factory Training Director

BETHESDA, MD, Sep 11, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- CAKE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The Vucurevich Simons Advisory Group (VSAG, www.vsag.com) announces the hiring of Pam Rukas as Director of Recruiting and Talent for the industry-leading food service consulting and development firm. As an addition to VSAG's Talent Recruitment Team, Pam will work with Wendy Lynch, recently promoted to Vice President of Business Development and Talent Acquisition to grow the firm's market share and position.

Pam's track record of success in the hospitality industry spans more than 15 years, with specialized experience in training and development. During her tenure at The Cheesecake Factory, she led more than 25 new restaurant openings, designed training materials, selected and developed talent and oversaw implementation of operations for the high-volume brand.

"Pam's strengths are her attention to detail and her innate ability to build relationships with strong communication and negotiation skills," says Michael Vucurevich, Principal at VSAG, and former EVP of The Cheesecake Factory. "As Director of Recruiting and Talent for VSAG, she will leverage her abilities to identify the right people to open and operate restaurants successfully. We're thrilled to have her on our team."

In her career, Rukas has educated more than 350 managers in recruitment, management and retention plans for new stores and developed, trained and coached for over 1,400 staff positions. In Human Relations at Cheesecake, Rukas balanced employee needs with budget requirements, ensuring that new store training and operating costs remained within or under budget, with an average cost savings 10%.

With the addition of Rukas, Wendy Lynch will transition as the Vice President of Business Development and Talent Acquisition, continuing to oversee recruitment for VSAG projects and clients, with added focus on client service and delivery.

"Wendy has made significant contributions to VSAG, and her new leadership role will help guide manage operations, infrastructure and corporate development," said Dan Simons, a VSAG Principal. "She will also serve on the VSAG Executive Committee to help plan and execute corporate strategy for future international growth."

VSAG (Vucurevich Simons Advisory Group) is an industry-leading food service consulting and development firm serving restaurants and fresh-food markets, hotel and hospitality firms and retail concepts with a food angle. From Washington, DC and Austin, TX, VSAG Principals Michael Vucurevich and Dan Simons lead an industry-experienced team of experts in Concept Development, restaurant Management Contracts, Menu Development, Hands-on Opening Support, and more. VSAG clients include Choice Hotels International, Founding Farmers Restaurant, Quizno's, the Silver Diner, Firehook Bakery and Coffeehouse, Marvelous Market, matchbox, Chocolata Cocoa Bar and projects development. www.vsag.com.

Contact: Wendy Lynch 262.767.1814 wendy@vsag.com Suzi Balamaci 301.915.7800 suzi@vsag.com

SOURCE: Vucurevich Simons Advisory Group

mailto:wendy@vsag.com mailto:suzi@vsag.com

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