Ralph Rubio made the announcement and he
retained his positions as chairman and CEO
of Rubio’s.
Ralph said that “Sheri’s proven restaurant
experience in key management, operations,
and marketing roles will serve Rubio’s well,
helping to move the company to the next
level as we accelerate growth in the coming
year.” Sherri was quoted in the company
press release: “Rubio’s is poised to enter into
a new phase of its growth. I am excited about
the fast-casual category and this company’s
potential. I look forward to leading the team
to the next level.”SHERRI MIKSA: NEW LEADERSHIPThe new president of Rubio’s had an impres-
sive resume. She received her MBA from the
Stanford Graduate School of Business. She
began her career in food and beverage and
hospitality, working in management or mar-
keting positions at Aspencrest Hospitality,
Inc., Sceptre Hospitality Resources, Inc.,
Frito-Lay, General Foods Corporation, and
Atlantic Richfield Company. She also worked
as vice president of operations for LSG Sky
Chefs, a leading airline catering company.
It is likely that Miksa’s last two positions
were what made her look so good to Rubio’s.
She spent a number of years in leadership
and operational roles at YUM! Brands, Inc.,
where she had increasing P&L responsibility
for over 200 Taco Bell Corporation units.
(Taco Bell is a subsidiary of YUM!) Her last
position before joining Rubio’s was as COO
with the Seattle Coffee Company (a sub-
sidiary of AFC Enterprises, Inc.). Seattle
Coffee is a parent company of Seattle’s Best
Coffee®. At Seattle’s Best, Miksa had
responsibility for the profitability and strate-
gic direction of all company and franchiseIn May of 1999, Rubio’s Restaurants issued
an IPO and became a public company. The
decision to go public was made so that the
chain could raise the money needed for
future growth. The IPO also enabled the
Rubio family to become more liquid, to have
a way to exchange their shares for cash, and
to allow them to diversify their personal
holdings.
At the time of the IPO, Rubio’s had 67
company-owned units operating primarily in
the southwestern region of the United States.
The IPO was for 3,150,000 shares and
was priced at $10.50 per share. Of the total
made available to the public, 2.25 million
shares were offered by the company and
900,000 were offered by the family. The
stock trades under the ticket symbol RUBO
on the NASDAQ national market. The lead
underwriter was Thomas Weisel Partners
LLC, and the comanagers were Dain
Rauscher Wessels, a division of Dain
Rauscher Inc., and U.S Bancorp Piper
Jaffray. The underwriters were granted a 30-
day over-allotment option to purchase an
additional 472,500 shares. If the over-allot-
ment shares were to be purchased, the total
number of shares outstanding would be
9,078,122.
Thus began the big expansion of the
Rubio chain and its franchising efforts. The
expansion plans were ambitious and “in a
move expected to pave the way for continued
growth,” the company hired a new president.
On September 9, 2002, the company
announced that it had hired Sherri Miksa as
its new president and chief operating officer.466 ENTREPRENEURSHIP CASE
CASE 4
Rubio’s Restaurants, Incorporated (C)
Troubles and Turmoil (2006)Source:This case was prepared in 2007 by Marc
Dollinger from public sources.