Growing Chicago chain Potbelly Sandwich Works is about to add a surprise twist to its unique marketing menu with the hiring of former top Sears, Roebuck and Co. marketing chief David W. Selby.
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Selby, 47, who has been on the lists for several bigger marketing jobs in the 16 months since leaving Sears, is the sandwich chain’s first chief marketing officer–a move that reflects the company’s transformation from a local niche restaurant phenomenon to a more significant player regionally.
And the timing for both Selby and the company might be right.
The deli sandwich category, which includes the likes of Subway Restaurants, Quiznos and Jimmy John’s, continues to be the fastest-growing, quick-service restaurant segment.
With 48 restaurants in Chicago and several other cities, Potbelly has grown slowly through word of mouth and quirky “guerrilla” marketing tactics. That may be changing with the hiring of Selby, who before running the huge Sears marketing department spent 18 years with Leo Burnett Co. Among Potbelly’s investors is Maveron, an equity firm led by Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz.
“What I was looking for was a smart guy who understands our brand,” said Potbelly Chief Executive Bryant Keil, who bought the company in 1996 when it was still one restaurant. “He understood what we were doing and why, and why it was so effective.”
Marrying a big-brand executive with a company that’s fond of its small-brand image wouldn’t seem like a natural fit. Keil even says that if the two of them hadn’t been introduced to each other by recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles, he might not have thought that Selby was interested.
But Selby, who starts April 5, was intimately familiar with the brand, having first encountered it as a client in the early 1980s when Potbelly was a one-store operation on Lincoln Avenue.
“I fell in love with Potbelly at the same time that I was falling in love with my wife, Laura,” Selby said.
“To me the opportunity to really have a seat at the table and build this business is special,” he said. “That’s a rare opportunity.”
Keil had been handling marketing chores, but with the chain growing it was time to find someone more versed in that skill.
“It’s getting complicated,” said Keil. “We’re getting bigger. There are better people than me who can do it better.”
Though Selby won’t be working with an advertising budget anywhere near the seven-digit one he oversaw while with Sears, he will no doubt draw on what he learned from the dogfight days in the department store sector.
As Potbelly grows, it faces mounting competitive pressure. Many regional chains, seeking to capitalize as consumers switch from hamburgers to sandwiches, are fighting for their share of the pie.
“It’s a very tough category and a highly competitive category,” Selby said. “It is going to be a challenge.”
Right now, Keil has no plans to add franchisees, who could support an advertising splash, nor does he plan to stray from the company’s more tactical local marketing push under the theme “Peace, love and Potbelly.”
Selby left Sears in 2002 and was replaced by its current chief marketing officer, Janine Bousquette.
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