Raving Brands Founder and CEO Honored with 2006 CEO Diversity Award

Martin Sprock, founder and chief executive officer of Atlanta-based Raving Brands, is the recipient of the Atlanta Business Journal's 2006 CEO Diversity Award.

 The award was presented at the magazine's annual Georgia Minority Business Awards luncheon on Feb. 15 at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park. Sprock was among a half dozen Atlanta business leaders who were honored for their commitment to developing and promoting diversity in the workplace. Steve LaMastra, chief operating officer, accepted the award on Sprock's behalf.

Raving Brands is committed to addressing diversity in its services and workforce as evidenced by its hiring practices, strategic planning and recruitment of dedicated Franchise partners from all walks of life.

"With eight brands stretching from Moe’s Southwest Grill to Mama Fu’s Asian House and Shane’s BBQ, diversity in all its forms has been a recipe for our success," Sprock said. "I am honored to receive this recognition and we at Raving Brands will continue to value the importance of diversity for the strength it gives us in succeeding."

Sprock launched Raving Brands in 1998 with the introduction of Planet Smoothie. Since then, Raving Brands has grown into one of the nation's premiere fast-casual dining enterprises with eight unique brands.

Raving Brands' portfolio concepts include five fast-casual restaurants: Moe’s Southwest Grill, a 2005 Inc. magazine Top 25 Company and a Nation’s Restaurant News 2004 Hot Concepts! award winner; Mama Fu’s Asian House, a 2004 Nation’s Restaurant News Fast 50 brand; Doc Green’s Gourmet Salads, voted Best Restaurant in 2005 by INsite magazine; Boneheads Grilled Fish and Piri Piri Chicken; and Shane’s Rib Shack.

The company also consists of two beverage concepts, PJ's Coffee and Wine Bar and Planet Smoothie Café, and Monkey Joe's, an interactive family entertainment facility.

The Raving Brands mastermind has assembled and partnered with an eclectic mix of executives with backgrounds in the food industry, Franchising and financial sector, as well as his core group of employees that have been with him from day one. Sprock says the key to success is an entrepreneurial spirit, and that spirit is rewarded within his organization. His believes it is important to empower, train, excite and recognize your team. Everyone is charged with making the consumer and franchise experience better. Most recently, two longtime employees that started behind the line at Moe’s Southwest Grill rolling burritos were given their own store in Birmingham.

Sprock received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is married with two children and resides in Charlotte, N.C.

About Raving Brands

Founded in 2000, Atlanta-based Raving Brands, ranked #1 in Fast Casual magazine's "2005 Top 100 Movers and Shakers" currently consists of eight concepts: five fast-casual, two beverage-focused dining establishments and one family entertainment facility. The company’s fast-casual concepts include Moe's Southwest Grill, a 2005 Inc. magazine Top 25 Company, rated 6th in Fast Casual magazine’s “2005 Top 100 Movers and Shakers” and Nation’s Restaurant News’ 2004 Hot Concepts! award winner and Mama Fu's Asian House, a 2005 Fast Casual magazine “Top 100 Movers and Shakers” company and a 2004 Nation's Restaurant News “Fast 50” brand. Other concepts include Doc Green's Gourmet Salads, Boneheads Grilled Fish and Piri Piri Chicken and Shane's Rib Shack. PJ's Coffee/PJ’s Coffee and Wine Bar and Planet Smoothie Café represent the portfolio’s beverage concepts. Monkey Joe’s will be the first family entertainment concept under the company’s portfolio. Collectively, Raving Brands expects to open more than 1,000 locations nationwide by 2008.