Expert in Real Estate Analytics Joins Luna Grill

Luna Grill, the San Diego-based Mediterranean restaurant chain, is welcoming retail real estate industry veteran Greg Thorburn to its leadership team. Thorburn has been brought on board to fill the newly created position of Vice-President of Real Estate.

Apr 17, 2014 - 09:44
Luna Grill, the San Diego-based Mediterranean restaurant chain, is welcoming retail real estate industry veteran Greg Thorburn to its leadership team. Thorburn has been brought on board to fill the newly created position of Vice-President of Real Estate.

As Luna Grill’s plans call for doubling their number of locations in 2014 to 20, and doubling again by late 2016 to 40 units, locating and securing first rate sites in a swift and effective manner is absolutely essential. 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 their 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 over 300 locations where new practices opened, and managed the expansion from 2 to 14 states over a 7-year period.

Sean Pourteymour, Luna Grill’s CEO, commented, “Greg Thorburn is a strategic addition to our organization. The management skill set he brings is exactly what we need to ultimately have all bases covered and achieve our expansion plans moving forward.”

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, where he resides with his lovely wife and their three boys.

“I’m extremely happy to join Luna Grill. The exceptional talent of their operational and leadership teams was an important factor in 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 thriving 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 an effective multi-store management system.

Luna Grill is owned by Premier Food Concepts LLC, headquartered in San Diego, CA.