Latitude Food Group, the parent company of &pizza and Tijuana Flats, is searching for a new chief executive officer following the departure of Mike Burns, who took the helm at Cafe Rio last month, according to emailed comments from Latitude Chief Marketing Officer Sergio Pérez.
Latitude “is focused on executing our strategy, building on our momentum, and continuing to exceed expectations for our franchise partners, guests, team members,” Pérez said.
According to Pérez, Burns’ departure has not changed Latitude’s strategy, which was built by a team, rather than any one executive.
Cody Towns, the company’s general counsel, is serving as acting CEO during the search. Towns’ familiarity with the brands and the company’s operations creates important executive continuity. Towns has been with the company since January 2024, Perez said.
The company is working with an executive search firm and will consider external candidates, but this consideration is “less about internal versus external and more about finding the right person to carry LFG's vision forward,” Pérez said.
Latitude’s goals for the rest of 2026 are to “improve unit economics” and “grow through franchising,” Perez said. The company is already working on domestic openings in Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Charleston, South Carolina, and international expansion into India.
The company’s two brands are seeing improvements in same-store sales and traffic, Pérez said, without recourse to steep discounting. That validates Latitude’s overall growth strategy, according to Pérez.
Tijuana Flats has used limited-time offers and a menu refresh to help resume sales growth following its bankruptcy and acquisition by Latitude. Both brands are leaning on franchising for their unit growth — &pizza launched its franchising program last year, and Tijuana relaunched franchising in May.
