Flame Broiler has announced the appointment of Christian Lee as chief operating officer and Daniel Lee as chief marketing officer and chief technology officer. The siblings have extensive experience executing high-impact growth strategies including the launch of digital innovations, building a network of corporate locations, enhancing guest experience initiatives as well as pioneering new products and partnerships to reflect the brand’s Korean-American roots.
Christian and Daniel share a core vision with their father and Flame Broiler founder, Young Lee, to serve accessible, nutritious food to help people live the way they were designed. By joining their father, they are able to accomplish their mission as they lead with purpose and strategically move the company forward.
Young founded the brand 28 years ago, and his dream was to work alongside his sons. Both Christian and Daniel showed an interest at an early age, starting as dishwashers and eventually mastering every position in the restaurant. The two became franchise operators of a Flame Broiler location and led the business for four years to gain valuable experience in running a successful restaurant. They have spent over a decade learning the intricacies of the business, from on the ground operations, technology, and marketing, to people and culture.
Over the past few years, Christian and Daniel have played a significant role in leading the company through the pandemic, while particularly focusing on building a stronger restaurant support center. Throughout the challenges of the pandemic, the family decided not to lay off or furlough a single employee. Instead, they focused on strengthening the support center team by establishing a new director’s team and achieving a 94 per cent average employee retention rate.
David Lee, the youngest Lee brother, has also recently joined his siblings. They have set goals to modernize and digitize the brand, as well as drive loyalty and leverage data for the brand moving forward.
Christian says: “We believe Flame Broiler has endless potential and we’ve only scratched the surface on what we can do. The heart of our mission is our belief in the power of food to impact the world in a positive way. We trust in three key pillars of the power of food: food is fuel, food is opportunity and food is community-building.”
Under the leadership of Christian and Daniel, Flame Broiler is announcing the launch of its new Flame Broiler App as the latest step in its use of technology to create personalized experiences for their customers.
“We have almost three decades of history with an incredibly loyal base of customers,” Daniel explains. “The launch of the Flame Broiler App is another powerful tool for our loyal fans to order wherever and whenever they want, and to share our healthy food with more people.”
The brothers are charting a new path forward for the company alongside their father. They’re introducing the brand in new formats like drive-thrus and takeout only units, leveraging both corporate locations and franchisees. Franchising has been key to their expansion since the beginning of the company’s history, and the Lee family has always been passionate about providing opportunities to people in the community to become business owners.
Christian adds: “We’re here to do whatever it takes to serve our franchisees, employees, and customers at a world-class level. To us, it’s extremely rewarding to be part of a company with so many amazing people all working towards a common purpose. Our dad has done an incredible job building the brand for the past 28 years, and we’re grateful we get to join him in our family’s mission-driven legacy.”
