Potbelly Chief Financial Officer Charles Talbot will leave the company next month for a new role at an undisclosed company, the sandwich chain said Thursday.
The news of Talbot’s pending departure triggered Piper Jaffray analyst Nicole Miller Regan to cut her rating and price target on Potbelly, citing the loss of someone she had viewed as Potbelly’s “Team Captain” and potential risks of the chain’s “one-dimensional” business model.
Potbelly said Talbot’s new position was a senior leadership role at a company outside of the restaurant industry and could not be immediately reached for further comment.
Talbot has been Potbelly’s CFO since October 2008. He is part of the executive team that helped take the company public in 2013.
Since then, Potbelly has had mixed results. It has been opening more restaurants, which helps offset the sales weakness it has seen at some long-standing locations.
Last year’s revenue rose 9.1 percent, while sales at company-operated stores open for 15 months or longer rose just 0.1 percent.
The company has started to put more of an emphasis on service, including adding people to take orders while customers wait in line. It also put high-speed ovens in all of its shops to cut down on wait times.
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Talbot will remain as CFO until he leaves March 27, Potbelly said. The company said it is conducting an external search for his replacement.
Regan cut her rating on Potbelly to “underweight” from “overweight” on Friday morning, saying the loss of Talbot at the company “lessens credibility with investors, in our view.” Regan also cut her price target on the shares from $16 to $12.
Shares of Chicago-based Potbelly closed at $14.69 Thursday before the company’s announcement and fell $1.25, or 8.5 percent, to $13.44 on Friday.
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