News

Expert in real estate analytics joins Luna Grill

April 16, 2014

Luna Grill, a San Diego-based Mediterranean restaurant chain, has added retail real estate industry veteran Greg Thorburn to its leadership team as its VP of Real Estate, according to a company press release.

As Luna Grill's plans call for doubling its number of locations in 2014 to 20, and doubling again by the end of 2016 to 40 units, locating and securing first-rate sites in a swift and effective manner is absolutely essential, said Sean Pourteymour, Luna Grill's CEO, who believes Thorburn's expertise makes him the perfect fit to help Luna Grill map out its national expansion.

Thorburn's most recent experience derives from his work at Pacific Dental Services, a national operator of dental health practices, where he developed its national strategy for site selection across the country. By developing and integrating a cutting-edge analytics system that combines psychographic, demographic and competition data, he helped identify more than 300 locations where new practices were opened, and managed the expansion from two to 14 states over a seven-year period, Pourteymour said.

"Greg Thorburn is a strategic addition to our organization. The management skill set he brings with him is exactly what we need to ultimately have all bases covered and achieve our expansion plans moving forward," he said.

Thorburn grew up in McAllen, Texas, and graduated with a business degree from the University of Texas at Austin. After a few years on the East Coast, he moved to Southern California in 2005.

"I'm extremely enthusiastic to join Luna Grill. The exceptional talent of their operational and leadership teams was an important factor to my decision to make this move. I look forward to this exciting professional adventure in helping Luna Grill scale and grow their footprint nationally," Thorburn said.

This announcement follows on the heels of a series of strategic moves by the chain. Last year, a new store development funding facility was secured from Argent Bank, a fully owned subsidiary of Sterling Financial Corporation. Shortly after, Daniel Lowe, a seasoned Chipotle operations manager, joined Luna Grill to develop a multistore management system.