Wedo grew up in modest circumstances.He says his father worked as many as three jobs at a time. Wedo’s career has taken him through senior executive positions in PepsiCo/KFC, Boston Market, the New World Restaurant Group and MainLine Capital Advisers before he was recruited to Ovations. Corporate headquarters is in Greer, S.C., near Greenville, with a Corporate Support Center located in Eagan, Minn.Ī native of Shippensburg, Pa, Wedo says he met his wife, who was from nearby Carlisle, Pa, on a blind date. Ovation said it serves approximately 80 million customers annually, and it employs about 18,000 team members. The industry is “attractive” as a category, Wedo said, with general margins for such restaurants between 8-12 percent, some of them up to 15 percent, although he declined to disclose sales or margins for the privately held Ovations. Wedo said Ovation is seeking an infusion of private equity to fund expansion. We now feature individually-made, fresh-for-you entrees, but still offer all you can eat variety, which combined, represents an awesome consumer value,” Wedo said.Īt the same time, Wedo announced March 17 that Ovation had retained corporate financial advisors Duff & Phelps “to assist with an evaluation of potential strategic alternatives including a sale of the business.” Duff & Phelps is a global corporate finance and valuation advisor with expertise in M&A, private financing, restructuring, complex valuation and dispute consulting.
“We’ve pioneered a new segment in our category we like to call family casual. Inside, he’s put together a four-point approach to experience improvement, including food, décor, hospitality and “make it right” guarantees. Wedo has approached his work strategically, both inside and outside the company. Ovation already has 15 restaurants in the region of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and Northern Maryland. However, Wedo says the Delaware market is ideal for its demographic, and he’s actively seeking sites in Dover and Middletown for additional restaurants. OCB (Old Country Buffet) operates one Delaware restaurant, at 1325 New Churchmans Rd, Newark, DE 19713, in the Home Depot shopping center across from Christiana Hospital. Ovation Brands operates 328 restaurants in 35 states, and its portfolio includes five buffet brands: Ryan’s® steak buffet, HomeTown® Buffet, Old Country Buffet, Country Buffet®, and Fire® Mountain (homestyle buffet), and one polished casual brand, Tahoe Joe’s® Famous Steakhouse (a Western steak, chops and seafood house). A turnaround CEO has to have different skills, and it’s a much more challenging lifestyle.”Įxcept for their travels, few Delawareans will be familiar with all his restaurant brands. “I’ve loved being the CEO of this company. “The challenge in a turnaround is in reinvigorating to contemporary standards, to bring it up to date, whether it’s in a restaurant, or in something else,” he added. “A lot of things in life need a turn-around strategy, whether it’s in business, in government or in society. “My passion is for “˜turn-arounds’,” said Wedo, in a recent interview. He came aboard in December 2012 as its “turnaround CEO.” The company went through bankruptcies in 20-12, when private equity owners over-leveraged the company and were unable to service its debt. He is CEO of Ovation Brands, a Greenville, SC-based chain of 328-buffet style restaurants. Naval Reserve veteran who is a 1982 business grad of Penn State, with 2008 master’s degrees from Colgate and from Queen’s University in Kingsland, Ont., Canada.
Wedo, 55, who lives between Greenville Country Club and VicMeade Hunt Club, is a U.S. Delaware’s own “Undercover Boss” Anthony “Tony” Wedo of Centreville is leading the turnaround of a national buffet restaurant chain after its second bankruptcy in less than a decade.
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