Shula’s Restaurant Group announces Dave Shula as President, returning the longtime company leader to the role as the restaurant group enters its next phase of growth. Shula, the eldest son of Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach Don Shula, previously served as president for nearly 20 years and will lead the organization as it expands its six-concept portfolio nationwide.
Under his leadership, the company will focus on supporting growth across its existing franchise concepts while pursuing new opportunities, including the opening of Shula’s American Kitchen at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel and Executive Meeting Center Palm Beach Gardens this winter. Expansion plans also include entry into Thomasville, Georgia, a new market for the brand, in 2027, with additional opportunities under exploration nationwide. As president, he will also lead team building and development within the corporate organization, while working to reinforce the Shula culture across the company’s restaurant portfolio.
“My family name is on this organization and each of our franchised locations, so it’s important to me as an owner that the company reflects the goals my dad laid out for me when I first joined in 1997,” Shula said. “He told me, ‘I didn’t get into the restaurant business to do anything but enhance the reputation I built as a football coach.’ That sets the bar high and continues to guide how we operate today.”
Shula’s leadership approach draws from the principles that defined his father’s career: preparation, discipline, accountability, teamwork and integrity. Coach Don Shula led the Miami Dolphins to the only perfect season in NFL history, finishing 17-0 in 1972, a feat no other team has matched in the NFL’s 105-year history. Shula’s Steak House was founded in 1989 to bring those same standards to hospitality and has since grown into a restaurant group with six concepts and more than 30 locations nationwide over the last 37 years.
Before entering hospitality, Shula played for the Baltimore Colts in 1981 and began his coaching career with the Miami Dolphins under his father in 1982. He later served as Offensive Coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys before serving as Head Coach of the Cincinnati Bengals from 1992 to 1996. Following his NFL coaching career, he joined the family restaurant business in 1997 and spent more than two decades helping lead its growth and development as President and National Ambassador, Shula returned to football in 2018 as Wide Receivers coach at Dartmouth College, his alma mater, where he coached through 2023.
Outside the company, Shula has served on the Orange Bowl Committee since 2016 and was named vice mayor of Jupiter Inlet Colony earlier this year. A lifelong athlete, he has completed four full Ironman events and several half Ironman races over 25 years of triathlon competition. He and his wife, Leslie, married 44 years after meeting as student-athletes at Dartmouth, enjoy spending time with their three sons and six grandchildren.
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