Hamburger Hamlet Official Quits; Buyback Announced

Sherman Oaks-based Hamburger Hamlet Restaurants Inc. said its president, Paul M. Brockman, left the company last month, and the company announced plans to buy back as much as 5% of its common shares of stock.

In a statement, Hamburger Hamlet said Brockman left the firm to pursue other business opportunities.

Hamburger Hamlet Chairman and Chief Executive Thomas A. McFall told analysts and reporters in a conference call that the company accepted Brockman’s resignation Jan. 20. The company’s board of directors named McFall to the additional post of president.

McFall said Brockman and others in the company differed on locations where Hamburger Hamlet should add new restaurants and how quickly. He declined to say if Brockman was asked to resign, but said the former president’s parting was “all very amicable.”

Brockman could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the company’s planned stock repurchase, Hamburger Hamlet said it would buy back as many as 200,000 of its common shares periodically in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions over the next 12 months.