In his former position as senior vice president of franchising at Uno Restaurant Corporation, Clifton was responsible for directing the domestic and international franchise activity for more than 90 units. 

His other duties included managing day-to-day activities such as legal documentation preparation, lead generation, contract negotiations, transaction closing, operations, new unit openings, management training, and design and construction.  Previously, Clifton served as vice president of sales and business development for the Arnold Palmer Golf Management Company where he created the first golf course branded franchise system in the golf industry.

Prior to Arnold Palmer, Clifton spent 17 years at Carlson Company, working for several of the organization’s brands including Country Hospitality, Inc., TGI Friday’s, Inc., and Radisson Hotel Corporation.  Clifton acted as senior vice president of development at Country Hospitality and directed all international and domestic development activity for the 65-property hotel chain and 250-unit restaurant company. 

As vice president of development at TGI Friday’s, he led franchise, joint venture and management contracts from initial contact though negotiations and execution.  In five and a half years, he grew revenues to $175 million domestically and $75 million internationally from a start-up position and doubled the number of units.  Clifton held various roles at Radisson Hotel Corporation including regional vice president, director of research and product development, and director of employee staffing.  

Over the past five decades, Sbarro has grown into the nation’s leading quick service Italian restaurant company with more than 1,000 locations across 30 countries.  Sbarro’s deep Italian roots date back three generations to Naples, Italy and later Brooklyn, N.Y.  The company offers an extensive menu of more than 200 items based on authentic Southern Italian recipes passed down through the Sbarro family.  Sbarro restaurants can be found in shopping centers, airports, universities, rest stops, hotels, stadiums and hospitals throughout the world.  For five out of the past six years, Sbarro has been ranked by Entrepreneur magazine as the #1 quick service Italian restaurant.  Other brands owned by the company include Mama Sbarro and Carmela’s of Brooklyn.  Sbarro is in a joint venture under the name Boulder Creek Ventures, operating steakhouses including Boulder Creek Steakhouse, Rothmann’s Steakhouse, Sagamore Steakhouse, Blackstone Steakhouse and Burton & Doyle.