Mr. O'Donnell: Famous Dave's started in 1994 and is a dynamic barbeque niche restaurant. We're a public company listed on Nasdaq under the symbol DAVE. Currently, we have 178 restaurants in 37 states. Our founder, Dave Anderson, is still involved as a consultant, and really is our PR and our kitchen guru. He would like to call himself "the cook." Our menu is authentic, passionate barbeque, smoked meat and phenomenal side dishes. Our price-per-person average is generally $14. We market ourselves as America's barbeque joint and over the years have won more than 400 awards - everything ranging from best ribs and best sauce to recently winning an award for the number one restaurant Web page in the industry. We won a "Webby," as they call it.
TWST: Tell me about your own background and about some of the key members of your team.
Mr. O'Donnell: I've been with the company over 13 years, starting when we had four restaurants. The year prior to that, I was working with Dave Anderson on some consulting for the Blues Club, and fell in love with the concept and joined the company in 1998 as the Vice President of Learning and Teaching within HR. Over the years, I moved into operations because of my background before joining Famous Dave's - owning a number of restaurants in Denver, Colo. - to take over the operations in a variety of positions. I was Chief Operating Officer for a period of time and then Sept. 11, 2008, became the CEO.
Tickers included in this excerpt: DAVE
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