Jim Morey, who spent more than a decade at Wawa, Inc. as EVP and Chief Marketing/Brand Officer — and previously served as COO and CFO — has joined Pickleman's Gourmet Café as an executive advisory board member, the Columbia, Missouri-based fast-casual chain announced September 3. The hire signals that the 30-plus-unit sandwich, soup, and pizza concept is serious about scaling beyond its Midwest footprint.

Pickleman's currently operates locations across Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Nebraska, and Texas. Founder and CEO Doug Stritzel has set a target of 10 to 30-plus new stores per year over the next several years — an ambition that calls for the kind of multi-unit operating discipline Morey honed across three major foodservice operators.

Operator Credentials

Beyond Wawa, Morey's resume spans VP–Finance at Outback Steakhouse under Bloomin' Brands and Senior Financial Director at McDonald's Corporation — giving him a rare line of sight across c-store forecourt-and-foodservice integration, casual dining P&L management, and QSR unit-economics rigor. He holds an MBA in Marketing and Strategy from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

For a fast-casual brand targeting franchisee-driven growth, Morey's Wawa background is particularly relevant. Wawa has long been the benchmark for foodservice execution at the convenience channel level, running made-to-order programs at scale with tight labor models. His emphasis on store-level returns echoes the metric that separates durable c-store foodservice programs from one-off concepts: if the individual unit pencils, the system compounds.

"If the individual store works and provides strong returns for the operator, everything else flows from that," Morey said. "The products have integrity — better-for-you quality — and when executed according to plan, the unit economics work."

Unit Economics First

For prospective Pickleman's franchisees, Morey framed the opportunity around an existing, replicable playbook rather than a greenfield build. "You're owning your business without reinventing the wheel," he said, pointing to hands-on operators and a defined culture as the proof points already demonstrated by existing franchisees.

That operator-first framing aligns with a broader trend in fast-casual franchise development: concepts that lead with unit-level transparency and repeatable back-of-house systems are attracting multi-unit operators who might otherwise default to established QSR banners. Pickleman's menu — sandwiches, soups, salads, and pizzas built on fresh, responsibly sourced ingredients — fits squarely in the better-for-you fast-casual lane that has shown resilience on inside-sales comps even as broader foodservice traffic faces pressure from value-oriented consumers.

Stritzel called Morey's appointment a direct extension of Pickleman's store-level focus. "Jim's done the job at scale — finance, ops, and brand — and he's laser-focused on store-level returns," Stritzel said. "This is exactly the kind of operator-first mindset we want guiding our next stage."

Founded in 2005, Pickleman's has grown steadily if methodically to its current 30-plus locations. With a c-store and QSR finance veteran now guiding growth strategy, the chain is positioning for a more aggressive franchise recruitment cycle across the Midwest and South.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.