Executive Team

The key to Extreme Pita’s ongoing success has been its people. Co-Founder’s and owner Alex and Mark Rechichi have added an energetic, seasoned group of managers and now, Extreme Pita is a Popular Pita, with nearly 200 locations across Canada and the U.S. with plans for Extreme Expansion throughout the next several years. We believe this is due to one fundamental belief:

“Think like a customer, deliver outstanding food value and work closely with our partners.”

Meet the people behind our Pita Personality:

Alex Rechichi

President & CEO
Alex Rechichi is President and Co Founder of Extreme Pita, with over 250 franchised restaurants across North America and looking to expand internationally by 2010. Alex is a graduate of Queen’s University with more than 11 years experience in the QSR industry. In 1997 he left a successful sales and marketing career to fulfill a dream to build a uniquely successful food retail organization –Extreme Pita was the answer to that quest.

Alex has been awarded the Caldwell Partners Prestigious Top 40 under 40 award 2008, Foodservice and Hospitality’s Entrepreneur of The Year in 2006, Extreme Pita has been recognized as one of the top 110 leading global Franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine. Today Alex’s focus is on the strategic development of the Extreme Pita organization and he oversees International Development.

Mark Rechichi

CA, CFA, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Co-Founder
No kidding, these brothers were born to run a successful business, that is! Mark holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) degree from Queen’s University, with a concentration in accounting and finance. He also holds the Chartered Accountant (CA) and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designations. Mark worked at Price Waterhouse, in Toronto, Ontario in the Business Advisory Group. He then joined Merrill Lynch where he worked in the Treasury and Finance Group in Toronto for two years and in the Equity Marketing Group for one year before he joined Extreme Pita full time in 2001.

Sean Black

V.P. of Real Estate & Franchise Development
Sean supports our regional offices in the selection of future Extreme Pita Franchisees and locations across Canada and the United States. Sean is also involved in franchise development primarily in the United States and the provinces of Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He started out with Extreme Pita as the second franchisee in the chain and has grown with the company to become a shareholder of Extreme Pita.

David J. Newcombe

Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
David joined Extreme Pita in 2005 as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. David oversees the activities, and is responsible for the direction of Operations, Marketing, Purchasing and Construction. Prior to joining our team, David was the Chief Operating Officer of Afton Food Group Ltd. doing business as Robin’s Donuts and 241 Pizza. David also was Senior Vice President of Operations and Procurement at Mr. Submarine Limited, a 580-unit Canadian owned and operated chain of sandwich restaurants. David has more than 30 years experience in management roles in the Canadian quick service restaurant industry.

Ray Zandi

Vice President of US Business Development
Ray joined Extreme Pita in 2005 as an Area Developer for the Northern California market. He has played an integral role in the development of the brand in the United States utilizing his more than 20 years experience in the Sandwich Category with 2 of the category leaders. Ray is still involved in the Area Development partnership for Northern California and in 2008 he became V.P. of Business Development for the United States overseeing real estate selection, franchise sales and brand development in the United States.

Mark Cunningham

Executive Vice President of International Operations and Business Development
Mark joined Extreme Brandz in October 2009. Mark is a seasoned QSR Professional that brings a wealth of International and Domestic experience. Mark has over 25 year of experience in the QSR industry and has worked for strong and successful brands such as McDonalds and Second Cup. In Mark’s most recent role as Vice President of International Operations and Business Development with the Second Cup Coffee Co. Inc. Mark led the organizations International development opening their first cafe in Dubai United Arab Emirates and growing to 11 countries in five years.