Shipley Do-Nuts, a national donut restaurant franchise and specialty food product manufacturer, has named Flynn Dekker as its new chief executive officer. Dekker’s predecessor, Clifton Rutledge, will remain with the company as a returning member of its board of directors.

According to Shipley, Dekker has more than 30 years of executive leadership experience in the restaurant and retail industries as well as a “strong track record of executing significant growth.” Past positions that he has held include the CEO of international fried chicken restaurant franchise Bonchon Chicken and chief marketing officer of international chicken wings restaurant chain Wingstop Inc., the latter of which saw him lead all branding, media, marking, strategic advertising and franchisee communication efforts for the company.

“I feel privileged to lead such an iconic company and support our continued expansion,” Dekker says. “Shipley has a strong foundation established over the last 87 years and a tremendous group of employees and franchisee partners. I look forward to working with the team to further accelerate Shipley’s growth trajectory by continuing to expand our footprint and invest in our franchisees’ success with exceptional ingredients, equipment, technology and service.”

Shipley says it has added more than 200 units to its development pipeline and completed many strategic growth acceleration initiatives since 2021, which include exhibiting new branding, launching online ordering and establishing a new systemwide coffee program.