Pioneer cuts new path with Damante in lead - Frank Damante

LOS ANGELES--As a major repositioning drive begins, Pioneer Take-Out Corp. founder H. Rick Kaufman has picked Frank Damante to be president and chief operating officer of the 327-unit fast-food chicken chain.

Kaufman, Pioneer's chairman and ceo, had also been president until Damante's appointment; the position of chief operating officer had been vacant.

Damante, who was Pioneer's products division vice president from 1977 to 1979, was most recently Western regional vp for the PYA/Monrach division of Consolidated Foods. He had also served as senior vp of W. R. Grace's Far West Services division, executive vp of Nobel Food Services and franchise sales vp of A&W International.

Kaufman said Damante's skills "make him the perfect leader needed to implement Pioneer's new repositioning stand."

The 23-year-old fried chicken chain, which has about 60% of its units in the Los Angeles market, is attempting to break out of a two-year pattern of flat sales by modernizing its instore and drive-thru menu boards, adding a "hot 'n spicy" chicken variety and a spicy rice item and offering fresh-baked-in-the-unit buttermilk biscuits.

About two-thirds of the four-state outfit (also operating in Arizona, Nevad and Hawaii) is franchised. Systemwide sales were $92.6 million last year; corporate net profit was about $1.5 million on revenue of $46.7 million.

Damante expressed satisfaction at his appointment and said he was "pleased to have the strong support and confidence of the organization's founder."

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