The activist investor Sandell Asset Management is once again agitating for change at the restaurant chain Bob Evans.
On Thursday, Sandell nominated eight candidates to the Bob Evans board in its push for change at the company, which it said had “dramatically underperformed†various peer groups for years.
“To fix this woeful track record of underperformance, Bob Evans needs a fresh, independent, highly qualified board of directors that is able to provide effective management oversight and bring new perspective and ideas to the company as they seek to effect positive comprehensive change,†Sandell said in a statement announcing the nominations.
A representative for Bob Evans could not be reached immediately for comment.
Sandell’s choices include Doug Benham, the chief executive of the fast food chain Arby’s; Steve Lynn, the former chairman and chief executive of the hamburger group Sonic; and David Head, the former president and chief executive of the restaurant corporation O’Charley’s.
The other nominees are Charles M. Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware; Annelise Osborne, senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service; Aron Schwartz, a former managing director of Fenway Partners; Michael F. Weinstein, former chief executive of the Triarc Beverage Group; and Lee Wielansky, chairman and chief executive of the Midland Development Group.
Sandell also proposed Joe Crace, the managing director of the Legacy Consulting Group, as an alternate nominee.
The Bob Evans annual meeting has traditionally taken place in August but has not been scheduled yet for this year.
Sandell, which owns 6.8 percent of Bob Evans Farms, has made rumblings about trying to change the company’s board for months. In late September, when Bob Evans faced weak profit and sales performance, Sandell disclosed that it wanted Bob Evans to consider other options including splitting itself up, borrowing against its real estate holdings and repurchasing stock.
Sandell made it clear that it was still pushing for Bob Evans to review investment proposals from third parties and to consider splitting off from BEF Foods, its subsidiary food service business.
Bob Evans, which runs 561 restaurants across the United States, has maintained that keeping the operations together is better for business.
Sandell has so desired to shake things up at Bob Evans that it brought the company to court. In January, Sandell filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing its board of trying to strip rights from its shareholders. Sandell later dropped the suit.
