Philadelphia-based PrimoHoagies has named Glen Brandeburg Chief Operating Officer, adding a franchise operations veteran with more than three decades of multi-brand restaurant experience to lead the 88-unit Italian hoagie chain's push for scalable, repeatable execution across its franchised system.
Brandeburg's appointment completes a four-executive hiring cycle the family-owned brand has run over the past year. Senior Vice President of Development Angela Coppler, Chief Financial Officer Alex Chu, and Vice President of Marketing Madalyn Weintraub round out the team, with each role mapped to one of four stated priorities: strategic growth, franchisee profitability, brand differentiation, and operational excellence.
Brandeburg's Background
Brandeburg's résumé is rooted in large-scale franchise operations. At Wendy's he rose to Division Vice President overseeing roughly 800 restaurants, then shifted to the franchisee side, eventually serving as president of a multi-brand organization running Wendy's, Papa John's, and a regional concept. That dual vantage point — supporting both the franchisor's field teams and an operator's P&L — shapes his view of what a support infrastructure needs to deliver.
"Great brands are built by creating systems that help people succeed consistently," Brandeburg said. "What attracted me to PrimoHoagies is that this is a brand that has fiercely protected its commitment to quality while proving there is tremendous opportunity to grow."
His arrival also reunites him with Coppler, with whom he spent more than 14 years at Wendy's during a significant period of restaurant reinvestment and modernization. Nicholas Papanier Jr., Owner, President and CEO of PrimoHoagies, called that shared operational and development history "incredibly valuable" as the brand builds its next-generation platform.
Three Operational Priorities
Brandeburg's near-term agenda centers on three tracks. First, codifying best practices across the system into scalable playbooks so every franchisee can replicate what the brand's top performers are already doing. Second, simplifying day-to-day management by giving operators better business intelligence and reporting tools — the kind of infrastructure that lets a franchisee focus on team development rather than administrative complexity. Third, protecting what the company calls the "Primo Standard": the ingredient quality and guest-experience consistency that have defined the brand since its 1992 founding.
For convenience and foodservice operators watching the fast-casual sandwich segment, the Brandeburg hire reflects a broader industry pattern: franchise brands accelerating the professionalization of their ops bench as they move from regional concentration to national scale. Chains that grew organically in core markets often reach an inflection point where unit-level consistency becomes the binding constraint on further expansion — particularly when the brand proposition, like PrimoHoagies', is built on premium ingredients and proprietary recipes rather than speed or price.
PrimoHoagies, recognized by USA Today as Best Sandwich Shop for three consecutive years, operates 88 franchised locations and is actively recruiting multi-unit franchise partners for new markets. The company has not disclosed a specific unit target or timeline for its national expansion, but the depth of the executive team it has assembled signals an investment in franchise infrastructure consistent with chains preparing to add meaningful unit count over a multi-year horizon.
"This isn't about reinventing PrimoHoagies," Brandeburg said. "The foundation is already exceptional. Our responsibility is to continue strengthening the systems behind the business so franchisees can focus on what matters most: serving outstanding food, building great teams, and creating loyal guests."
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.
