Meritage Taps Roger Zingle as President and Chief Operating Officer of O'Charley's of Michigan

Casual Restaurant Veteran Brings Growth Experience, Operational Expertise and Strong Customer Focus

Meritage Hospitality Group Inc. (AMEX:MHG) , the nation's only publicly traded Wendy's franchisee and O'Charley's franchisee, today announced the appointment of Roger Zingle of West Bloomfield, Michigan, as President and Chief Operating Officer of O'Charley's of Michigan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Meritage Hospitality Group.

Zingle, a twenty-five year veteran of the restaurant industry, joins the Company from Big Boy International where he served as Chief Operating Officer of the franchisor. Prior to Big Boy, he was President and CEO of C.A. Muer Corporation, best known for its Charley's Crab restaurants in the Midwest and Florida, until Muer was purchased by Landry's Restaurants in 2002. Prior to Muer, Mr. Zingle spent nine years as Vice President of Operations for T.G.I. Friday's, Inc. overseeing $300 million in U.S. restaurant sales.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors and executives, I am delighted to have Roger join our team and oversee the franchise development of O'Charley's restaurants in Michigan," said Meritage's Chief Executive Officer, Robert E. Schermer, Jr. "Roger's industry experience and strength in managing operations of a high growth business should have a positive impact on the Company in 2004 and beyond."

"I observed Meritage's aggressive build-out of Wendy's restaurants in West Michigan and was impressed by the solid development and operational execution of this team," said Mr. Zingle. "As the President and Chief Operating Officer of O'Charley's of Michigan, my focus will be to drive profitable growth of O'Charley's restaurants by assuring that our restaurants deliver good service, high food quality and value to our customers."

Meritage currently operates 47 "Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers" restaurants throughout Western and Southern Michigan serving 7.0 million customers annually. The Company has been one of the fastest growing franchisees within the Wendy's franchise system for the past three years. The Wendy's franchise system is the third largest quick-service restaurant hamburger chain in the world with more than 6,375 restaurants and system-wide sales in excess of $7.1 billion. Wendy's (NYSE:WEN) is the leading national, high quality hamburger concept in the quick-service restaurant category.

O'Charley's (NASDAQ:CHUX) is a leading regional high quality food concept in the casual dining restaurant category. Meritage recently announced that it entered into the nation's first development agreement with O'Charley's, giving Meritage the exclusive right to develop O'Charley's restaurants in the State of Michigan.

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Date Listed: 2004-01-14

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Industry: Restaurant
Category: Appointments
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