Mohaimina “Mina” Haque is the dynamic CEO at the forefront of Tony Roma’s, where she’s leading efforts to breathe new life into the beloved 53-year-old restaurant brand. With a keen eye on both domestic and international growth, Mina is focused on reinventing operations and paving the way for this chain to thrive in the future. Her talents aren’t limited to the business world; she’s also the driving force behind her own flourishing law firm that focuses on immigration and corporate law, including mergers and acquisitions.
Alongside juggling executive responsibilities, Mina influences the academic world as an Adjunct Professor at American University Washington College of Law, where she inspires the next generation of legal professionals. Her accolades have her being named one of Women We Admire’s Top Women Leaders of DC for 2024 and Top Attorney of the Year by the International Association of Top Professionals in 2023. Highlighting her impact, Washingtonian Magazine listed her as one of the Outstanding Women in the Washington, DC, Metropolitan area back in 2021.
In this interview, Mina opens up about her approach to leadership, the exciting changes underway at Tony Roma’s, and her vision for the future in both the business and legal spheres.
Her Agenda: What inspired you to go into law and open your own firm?
Mina Haque: I always wanted a career where I [would] be able to interact with people. What attracted me to law was the entire process of legal education. What it does is it takes your organic thought process and turns it into this organized, logical talk that you can apply in real-world scenarios to solve other people’s problems. I was extremely drawn to the essence of the legal process and how I would be able to help people. So the whole idea of service took me to law school.
Her Agenda: Tell us what your path was from lawyer to restaurant CEO.
Mina Haque: Right after law school, I was an honors attorney. An honors attorney is a program by the United States government across federal agencies for [lawyers at entry-level]. I was one of the honors attorneys in my graduate class. I worked for about two years in a federal agency in Washington, D.C. Right after that, I decided to start my own law firm. I wanted to create a space where I can not be limited to one skill set. Now this relates to the question you just asked, which is my path to becoming the restaurant CEO. At Tony Roma’s, I was working on an acquisition deal for the buy-side due diligence in the middle of the pandemic. As a result of that work, I started to know a lot about the company, gained the trust of the stakeholders at that time, and I was offered to be an outside general counsel. I did the company’s legal work for about two years before I was offered to serve as an interim CEO, and then eventually led the company across five continents.
Her Agenda: You wear a lot of hats and have a lot of jobs. What’s a typical day like in your life?
Mina Haque: That’s the thing. I don’t have a typical day. Every day throws its curveball, and it’s my job to solve problems. Every day is a new day with new problems to solve, new problems that challenge me, whether it’s my firm or Tony Roma’s. On the corporate side, my role is, since it’s an executive role, I need to provide oversight [and] guidance. So it’s a mix of everything, making sure everything is smooth sailing at the same time, doing a lot of vision-setting work, which is important for a company in this turnaround stage. For my law firm, working with my clients, [it is] pretty similar. I have law clerks and paralegals. It allows me to interact with people from all walks of life. I think that’s something I really enjoy and what I envisioned when I put myself on the path to pursue law.
Her Agenda: What does your legal and cultural background bring Tony Roma’s?
Mina Haque: My legal background is helpful for the company. It goes back to that same logical way of solving problems. I think that’s something the company needed, a fresh perspective, that’s a very special structured skill set to see where we can do some improvement, and how we can grow the company. My legal skill sets are extremely pivotal for the vision setting for Tony Roma’s. As for my cultural background, I do bring a very diverse background, something the company has never experienced in its 53 years, whether it’s through my gender or my cultural identity, and it allows me to embrace all the franchise partners we have all over the world because we have a very global company. It also helps me understand what they’re going through, where they need support, and I very much enjoy working with all our franchise partners across all five continents where we have a presence today.
Her Agenda: What is your plan to lower barriers for women to become franchise owners?
Mina Haque: That’s very close to my heart. For a woman to become a franchisee, there is some work that we need to do. One of the biggest impediments is access to finance. If you look at a franchise model like the one we have, Tony Roma’s, the build-up cost is pretty high. It could be anywhere from $1.7 million to $3 million, depending on the geographic location. We see women every day who are great operators, and how can we allow them to be owners, right? I’m trying to see if we can implement any programs where the operators who have served the company well [can have a] path to ownership. The first step is to ease that barrier to access capital. We’re talking with some stakeholders and financial partners and seeing how we can implement a program where we can increase participation as a franchisee for a woman in our system.
Her Agenda: Which field is easier to tackle as a woman, business or law?
Mina Haque: That’s a great question, and they’re both very male-dominated fields, as a C-suite executive and lawyer. Being in both fields concurrently, it prepares me well. Knowing what type of challenges I may face as a woman it also creates a type of resolve that’s unshakable. But in terms of which one is easier or harder, I don’t think I will be able to rank it, but I can talk about my concurrent advantage by being in both fields.
Her Agenda: Share some vital advice you’ve learned throughout your career.
Mina Haque: Keep an open mind, especially when you’re trying to consider a career path. Don’t think of a job as your goal. Think of skill sets. Don’t pay attention to the dream job. It’s the skill set that’s [prepared] your mind [for] the career that you will have.
[Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
