---
title: "Zaxby’s Welcomes Donny Lau as New Chief Financial Officer"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/ec408fc6-621c-4ff8-916c-302403fcd1ab
source: "Franchising.com"
original_url: https://www.franchising.com/news/20230724_zaxbys_welcomes_donny_lau_as_new_chief_financial_officer.html
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
topics: ["People"]
published: 2023-07-24T12:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T22:32:49.798Z
image: https://imgs.franchising.com/brands/social/zaxbys.jpg
---

# Zaxby’s Welcomes Donny Lau as New Chief Financial Officer

**TL;DR:** Zaxby's appoints Donny Lau as Chief Financial Officer, bringing over 20 years of experience from Dollar General and Yum! Brands. Lau will lead the finance function at Zaxby's, including financial strategy, planning and analytics, accounting and treasury.

*originally published in Franchising.com on 2023-07-24. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/news/20230724_zaxbys_welcomes_donny_lau_as_new_chief_financial_officer.html).*

## Story

ATHENS, Ga. - Zaxby’s® welcomes Donny Lau as chief financial officer effective July 25. With more than 20 years of experience, Lau comes to Zaxby’s most recently from Dollar General, where he served as senior vice president, finance & chief strategy officer. Prior to his Dollar General tenure, Lau held numerous roles at Yum! Brands. At Zaxby’s, Lau will lead the finance function, including financial strategy, planning and analytics, accounting and treasury.

“Donny’s proven track record in driving financial growth in QSR and retail organizations, implementing effective strategies and navigating complex financial landscapes makes him a perfect fit for Zaxby’s as we embark on our next phase of growth and expansion,” said Bernard Acoca, Zaxby’s CEO. “I am confident that his expertise and leadership will further elevate our organization’s financial performance and position us for continued success.”

Lau joins Zaxby’s from Dollar General where he served as the senior vice president, finance & chief strategy officer. Since joining Dollar General in 2017, Lau held a variety of leadership positions overseeing many of the company’s key corporate finance functions including strategy, corporate development, investor relations, financial planning & analysis and strategic planning.

While at Yum! Brands, Lau held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, including mergers and acquisitions, FP&A, investor relations, corporate strategy and corporate planning. He also helped architect and played a lead role in the 2016 spin-off of Yum! China into a separate publicly traded company and the subsequent financial refranchising strategy to transform Yum! Brands into a capital-light pure-play franchisor.

Lau received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky and holds an MBA in finance and strategy from Vanderbilt University.

Zaxbys is a fast-growing QSR brand specializing in the highest quality chicken and sides. Established in 1990 in Statesboro, Georgia, the company pioneered the concept of serving chicken tenders as an entrée, a novel idea at the time.

## Entities

- Franchising.com (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- Yum Brands (company)
- Zaxby's (company)
- leadership appointment (topic)
- qsr brand (topic)
- Bernard Acoca (person)
- Dollar General (company)
- financial strategy (topic)
- chief financial officer (topic)

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Originally reported by Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/news/20230724_zaxbys_welcomes_donny_lau_as_new_chief_financial_officer.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/ec408fc6-621c-4ff8-916c-302403fcd1ab).