RESTAURANTS
Habit Restaurants Inc. in Irvine named Iwona Alter chief brand officer, a new position. She joins the fast-casual burger chain on Dec. 10 from San Diego-based Jack in the Box Inc. Alter has worked in marketing, branding and operations for 13 years at the fast-food burger chain, known for ads starring fictional chief executive and snarky spokesdoll Jack—most recently as chief marketing officer. Meanwhile, Habit named Karin Timpone to its board. She’s global marketing officer at Marriott International Inc. in Bethesda, Md., and previously served as senior vice president for digital media at Walt Disney Co.
— Paul Hughes
Duck Donuts plans five locations in Orange County, two of which are already open, in Huntington Beach and Irvine. Franchisee Gary Kopel said he’s primarily looking in North OC for the other three. He owned and ran Metropolitan High Performance Windows in Anaheim for 10 years. Two other franchisees have agreed to open three restaurants apiece in north San Diego County and western Los Angeles County. The Mechanicsburg, Pa.-based chain that franchises the stores has grown from eight locations in 2015 to 56 at the end of last year, according to state franchise filings.
— Paul Hughes
RETAIL
San Juan Capistrano-based trade show operator Emerald Expositions Events Inc. said Chief Executive David Loechner resigned, effective Nov. 8. The company said it’s started to search for a successor and appointed Chief Financial Officer Philip Evans as interim chief executive.
— Sherry Hsieh
More than 100 people will lose their jobs in the closing of the South Coast Plaza Sears store, effective Dec. 31, according to a notice filed by the company with the state. The location is one of 142 Sears and Kmart stores to be closed as part of the company’s bankruptcy filing (see story, page 1).
— Hannah Mitchell
