Name: Jim Taylor
New title: Chief commercial officer, Shake Shack
Previous title: Brand president, Sonic Drive-In
Shake Shack has hired Inspire Brands veteran Jim Taylor to fill its newly created chief commercial officer role, the burger chain said Tuesday. Taylor will oversee Shake Shack’s marketing and culinary teams, according to the press release.
At Inspire, Taylor oversaw Sonic as brand president from April 2023 to the fall of last year, following a long tenure with Arby’s, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Taylor spent nearly nine years at Arby’s, a brand he helped revitalize through “a wide-ranging strategy that enhanced the menu, operations, technology and marketing to achieve 12 consecutive years of sales growth.”
Sonic, however, has seen something of a retrenchment in its store system, losing a net 85 restaurants in 2023 and 2024, according to its franchise disclosure document. Closures do not necessarily reflect an ailing system, but Sonic’s average unit volume in 2024, about $1.6 million, lagged other burger brands like McDonald’s.
Rob Lynch, Shake Shack’s CEO, said that Taylor brings “unique expertise in building high performing teams, developing thoughtful commercial strategies and executing bold innovation that delivers outsized results for brands while preserving what makes them truly special.”
Prior to Inspire, Taylor worked for Darden, including at Olive Garden and Red Lobster, which was owned by the conglomerate at that time.
Shake Shack has seen consistent, modest, sales growth over the last two years, when many other fast casuals saw an explosion of demand followed by a sharp drop off. The brand has used a combination of increased ad spending and operational improvements to attract consumers. Shake Shack is growing too, opening 45 company-operated restaurants last year and plans to open 55 to 60 such units this year, according to an earnings update.
The chain has made a number of personnel changes in its C-suite over the last six months, hiring a new chief people officer in July and its first chief brand officer in September. Late last year, the brand’s longtime CFO, Katie Fogertey, announced she would leave in March 2026, but a successor has yet to be named.
