Nigerians are doing great things in America and Damola Adamolekun who, at 33, is leading P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, a popular Asian casual-dining restaurant chain based in the U.S., is one of them.
Adamolekun, who became the first black CEO of the restaurant in 2020, led the restaurant through a difficult period during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He introduced radical changes to the restaurant’s operations, with a view to improving customer experience. Some of his innovations include revamping the dining rooms and revising the menu items.
To enable the restaurant adopt to the uncertain times imposed by COVID-19, Adamolekun equally initiated the inclusion of delivery and to-go orders which was viewed as unfitting to the brand before.
These improvements have indeed rubbed off on the company’s finances, as P.F. Chang’s China Bistro recorded a 31.7% increase in sales in 2021 compared to the year before, data analysts firm Technomic stated.
Adamolekun bagged a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Brown University and holds a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
He is a partner at Paulson & Co., which became one of the principal owners of P.F. Chang’s which was bought for $700 million in 2019, and also a member of the Board of International Tower Hill Mines LLC.