New Exec Will Spearhead Taco Cabana, Pollo Tropical Development

Fiesta Restaurant Group has hired Ed Carnevale as v.p.-construction services to support growth of its Taco Cabana and Pollo Tropical brands. Fiesta has 255 company-owned and operated restaurants and 44 franchised restaurants in the U.S., Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

Carnevale will report to Chief Development Officer John Todd and oversee construction processes and systems for both chains. Before he joined Fiesta, Carnevale served as senior director of construction for 7-Eleven, where he managed new store growth, remodel programs and energy initiatives. He managed the development of more than 300 new stores, 800 remodels and 400 acquisition conversion remodels per year and also developed the first LEED certified 7-Eleven in Florida.