LOS ANGELES — American West Restaurant Group, Pizza Hut’s third largest franchise group with Pizza Hut restaurants in Southern California and Utah has announced the appointment of Jason Cochran as CEO. Jason is a proven executive leader with more than 25 combined years in retail and restaurants leading innovation along with a reputation to disrupt legacy thinking.
I’m thrilled to join the AWRG team,” said Cochran. “I believe that AWRG is poised for growth and success. Now is clearly the right time to advance business process, innovative thinking, improve customer experience and I look forward to bringing my passion for leading operational excellence across the organization.”
Cochran joins AWRG from Chipotle, where he spent the last 4 years as Vice President of Operations. During his tenure, he oversaw the execution of hundreds of new locations, operational excellence, and worked cross functionally to achieve world class food safety and digital transformation.
Prior to Chipotle, Jason held various operations and executive leadership roles with GameStop over 14 years. Prior to departing GameStop, Jason led 3,900 U.S. video game stores and the omni-channel business to achieve over $6 billion in revenue.
Jason received his MBA from Southern Methodist University (SMU Cox School of Business) in Dallas, Texas. During his graduate studies, Jason was selected as an SMUs Poets & Quants “Best and Brightest” and honored as a Distinguished Business Leader by the SMU Cox School of Business Leadership Center.
Jason resides in Orange County, California with his wife and two children.
American West Restaurant Group (“AWRG”) is the largest Pizza Hut franchisee in California and Utah and the third largest in the United States. AWRG operates 272 Pizza Hut quick service restaurants (“QSRs”) in greater Los Angeles across five contiguous counties: central Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, North Orange County, and metropolitan Salt Lake City. Its leading position in Southern California gives it the ability to control local marketing initiatives in its markets. Approximately 90% of AWRG’s units are highly efficient, modern delivery/carryout units that generate strong unit-level economics.
