Former Cheesecake Factory exec to help beef up Leo's Italian Social
The dining room of a Leo's Italian Social restaurant.
April 19, 2024
Chagrin Falls-based restaurant operator Monven Group is looking to amp up growth of its Leo's Italian Social brand, and it's bringing on a former president of the Cheesecake Factory to help do it.
Monven said Peter D'Amelio, the CEO of consulting firm PJD Hospitality whose previous restaurant-industry experience over 30 years includes stints at the popular cheesecake chain and as president and chief operating officer for polished-casual chain Cooper’s Hawk, has joined Leo's Italian Social as a strategic adviser.
His role: help shepherd growth of Leo's Italian Social in the Midwest and the East Coast.
From a food perspective, at least, Monven Group seems to have found the right guy.
D'Amelio comes from an Italian family with nine brothers and sisters, where Sunday sauce was a weekly staple and family meals were a major event.
"I have a love of Italian food, just a deep fascination with it," D'Amelio said.
He'll work with the team at Monven Group to translate the food passion into brick-and-mortar growth.
Monven Group described the advisory position as "hands-on" and said D'Amelio "will oversee the restaurant chain's strategic direction and operations." The company launched Leo's Italian Social with a concept it describes as "elevated, yet approachable Italian cuisine," and the brand has grown to a total of six restaurants: two in Ohio (Cuyahoga Falls and Westlake, at Crocker Park) and four in North Carolina.
Bret Adams, Monven Group founder, said D'Amelio has a "deep understanding of guest preferences and market needs" and that Cheesecake Factory "set the gold standard for a lot of things" in the restaurant industry.
The two men were introduced by mutual friends, and when they began talking, Adams said, it was clear D'Amelio was "looking to grow a concept he was passionate about, and Leo's was a strong fit."
D'Amelio is an operations guy - "I like spending time in restaurants," he says - who notes the early days working with Leo's and the Monven Group team "have me feeling as energized as I've been in a long time."
Adams said he's aiming for a pipeline of two or three new Leo's restaurants in the next 12 months, then building from there. In the Cleveland market, he said, there's room for one more Leo's, on the east side of town. The development cost of each restaurant, he said, is "well into seven figures."
D'Amelio said the company looks for "second-generation stores" - that is, buildings in strong locations that formerly housed restaurants. Post-pandemic, there are many such strong sites available, he said. Although rising interest rates and building costs have put pressure on everyone who's building or updating a space, "For strong operators, it's more opportunistic than it's ever been."
He sees markets including Florida, Maryland, South Carolina and Virginia as having particularly strong potential for Leo's to expand.