Kevin King has compiled a distinguished career as an executive in the restaurant space, one that spans over three decades with four household-name brands. His professional efforts, both in various development and operation roles, have resulted in the creation of over 1,500 restaurants in six countries.
Currently, King serves as President of Donatos Pizza LLC. King rejoined Donatos in January of 2022. He will help lead and grow the Donatos Brand and leverage his experience and knowledge to accelerate growth as a franchise company around the US and the world. Donatos specializes in high quality abundantly topped pizza, subs and salads. Currently Donatos has 170 traditional stores and over 200 nontraditional locations around the US.
Prior to Donatos, King served as the chief business development officer at Smoothie King: an innovative leader in the lifestyle beverage category from 2016-2021. King started with the brand as the chief development officer before being elevated to the chief business development officer in the fall of 2019. During his time with the company, King played an instrumental role in growing Smoothie King’s global footprint. What began as a company with less than 900 total locations globally when King arrived has now become one of the fastest-growing franchises in the world – boasting more than 1,300 locations in 4 countries.
Prior to Smoothie King, King spent 10 years with Papa Murphy’s: the world’s fifth-largest pizza chain. There, King was responsible for more-than-doubling Papa Murphy’s growth – which went from around 700 stores in 2005 to over 1,500 upon King’s departure for Smoothie King in 2015. He started as the senior vice president of operations and the senior vice president of development before being promoted to chief development officer in 2011. King was also a member of the leadership team that took Papa Murphy’s public in 2014.
Before joining Papa Murphy’s, Kevin served as vice president, regional planner and regional vice president of real estate and construction at JP Morgan Chase & Company. There, he managed all aspects of the company’s development program composed of 750 banking centers within a five-state area.
King joined Donatos Pizzeria LLC in 1990 where he spent 13 years in various roles, including vice president of business development and vice president of franchising. King entered the restaurant space in 1986 as a franchise operations director with another pizza company, Domino’s Pizza Inc. His role included assisting in site selection and new-store construction in Central Canada.
King received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1986. For the past 21 years, he’s served as vice president of the Theta Chi’s Miami Chapter Housing Corporation.
King and his wife of 25 years, Leslie, have three children, Laura (26) Drew (25), and Ethan (20). King enjoys spending time with his family and snow skiing every chance he can.