Bowling-and-food chain Pinstripes named a pair of new executives this week as it heads toward a merger that will take it public.
Tony Querciagrossa is the company’s first CFO. Querciagrossa has spent most of his career in the air filtration and medical equipment industries and was most recently president of Columbus Industries, a manufacturer of residential filtration.
He will be joined in the C-suite by new CMO Shannon Keller. She previously spent seven years as CMO of healthy dining chain True Food Kitchen and before that held senior leadership roles at large marketing firms Weber Shandwick Worldwide and PMK*BNC.
They will report to CEO and founder Dale Schwartz.
The appointments come as Pinstripes nears a merger with the publicly traded Banyan Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
Northbrook, Ill.-based Pinstripes plans to use proceeds from the deal to finance its aggressive expansion plans. It currently has 13 units in nine states but expects to have 23 by the end of next year, according to SEC filings. It is also projecting annual sales growth of 20% for the next several years driven by new openings and same-store sale increases.
Same-store sales were up 5.4% in Pinstripes’ most recent quarter, which ended July 23.
The chain’s sprawling venues feature dining rooms serving Italian-American fare as well as bowling and bocce lanes. Food and drink sales account for about three-fourths of its revenue, while the rest comes from games. It also hosts many private events, which account for nearly half of its business.
It is going public just as the market for eatertainment is heating up. Concepts that offer food as a side to activities such as pickleball and mini golf are proliferating, often with the help of outside capital.
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