Dive Brief:
- Shake Shack appointed Michelle Hook as its chief financial officer, effective May 11, the company said in a Thursday press release.
- Hook most recently served as CFO at Portillo’s, where she oversaw various financial functions and played a key role in the company’s 2021 initial public offering.
- Shake Shack also reported positive same-restaurant sales of 4.6% and traffic growth of 1.4% for the first quarter, marking its third-consecutive quarter of traffic increases, CEO Rob Lynch wrote in a shareholder letter.
Dive Insight:
Hook brings more than 20 years of financial and operational leadership experience to her new role, where she will oversee financial operations across Shake Shack. Her responsibilities include accounting and treasury, financial planning and analysis, tax, investor relations and external reporting, according to the press release. She also has experience in scaling growth companies and creating high-performing teams.
“I’m confident Michelle will be a valuable addition to our leadership team as we continue to advance our culture of Enlightened Hospitality and further strengthen our best-in-class finance organization on our path to 1,500 Company-operated Shacks,” Lynch said in a statement.
In addition to working at Portillo’s for five years, Hook spent over 17 years at Domino’s, where she held accounting and finance leadership roles.
“I’ve long admired Shake Shack and the team’s disciplined approach to building a beloved brand,” said Michelle Hook. “The team’s ability to grow thoughtfully while keeping hospitality at the core of the business is a powerful driver of sustainable value.”
Shake Shack continued to grow its unit count during the quarter, with 17 new stores opening. This growth is the chain’s largest first-quarter unit growth gain, and the Shake Shack revised its guidance for 2026 openings to between 60 and 65 new, company-operated locations, up from between 55 and 60, Lynch said in the investor letter. The company reached 679 units during the first quarter.
“We continue to successfully bring Shake Shack to new and underpenetrated markets, many outside of our historical footprint,” Lynch wrote. “Given our expected strong future cash-on-cash returns, we will continue to accelerate our Company-operated development efforts.”
The company also announced its Project Catalyst on April 1, a multi-year program to remake its technology systems in support of its long-term growth goals. The initiative includes modernizing its restaurant systems, offering its first rewards program and adding proprietary artificial intelligence capabilities into daily operations, the investor letter said.
