Sam Talkington
Chief Executive Officer

Sam Talkington is the CEO of Rio West Management Services, Inc. His background includes both high-level executive positions and owner-operated entrepreneurial positions. These diverse experiences have served him well in being able to relate to a majority of the situations faced by his companies today and to find strategies that employ the strengths of his organization in producing the best possible profit from the restaurants. This same analytical skill has been employed very successfully in the many consulting jobs he has embarked on in his career.

Sam began his career with Kentucky Fried Chicken and by 1969 he was elevated to an Area Manager which marked the start of his 35 years in multi-unit management. He quickly rose through the ranks and achieved the position of Regional Vice-President of Kentucky Fried Chicken by 1974, which gave him responsibility for a 20-state region with over 350 stores, central warehouses, and processing plants. He oversaw all operation execution during a heavy growth period for KFC and received numerous awards for the performance of his restaurants. His region consistently outperformed both their budgets and the rest of the company's stores around the country.

In 1976 after ten years with KFC, Sam received an offer as Chief Operating Officer for Mr. Gatti's Inc. Although this company was only 17 units strong at the time, the plan was to expand as a national chain and Sam was sought to manage this growth. As Chief Operating Officer, Sam grew the company from its existing 17 stores to over 300 restaurants in 23 states. This phenomenal growth was achieved by building a team ready to meet this challenge and manage the operations to Sam's standards. His extensive duties and responsibilities included construction development, franchising, marketing, training, and purchasing as well as overseeing overall operations.

In 1984 after a corporate buyout of Mr. Gatti's Sam went on to pursue numerous entrepreneurial opportunities. These included stints as President and Chief Executive Officer of International ShortStop, owner of Headwaters Creek Company and President of Pizza Mex, a joint venture with Pepsico in Mexico. Sam has been involved as both a franchisor and franchisee for several successful ventures which helps give him a unique perspective in analyzing and looking for options in troubled ventures.

Brad L. Manske
Director of Operations/ Concept Review

Brad is responsible for all Steak House operating stores in our companies. This includes development of new menu items, full profit and loss control and new unit planning. He is also involved in the process of evaluating new business and operations as well as consulting ventures. His experience in both multi-unit level operations, business ownership and Q.&A. as well as product development makes him uniquely qualified for this position.

Prior to joining Rio West, Brad was the Regional Director for the Armadillo Border Grill and cantina concept. This followed a successful venture as president and owner of a full service Steak House he owned and ran in Parker Co. He also had a ten year career with Bakers Square , the last five years as the director of research and development based at their corporate office in Denver . He had operational positions in the company prior to that assignment. Brad attended the University of Wisconsin and Prairie State College, majoring in Marketing, Business and Food Science.

Peter Rock
Comptroller/
Accounting Manager

Peter is in charge of the accounting process for all of the company's stores. He manages all cash disbursements and daily cash flow for all concepts as well as the outsourced payroll process and integration. In this capacity he has prepared numerous bank reconciliations of over 45 million dollars in transactions and has prepared over 1,000 sales and use tax returns for the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama, and Florida. He works with taxing authorities and has resolved many compliance and regulatory issues with newly acquired companies. He has helped reduce overhead costs while still achieving accurate and timely financial statements. Peter has brought to Rio West the skills and experience he has gained in the short but very intensive career in public accounting both prior to and during his completion of his B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.