BT Brands, Inc., West Fargo, North Dakota-BT Brands (NASDAQ:
BTBD) today responded to the inquires of many Noble Roman
shareholders (NROM) regarding BT Brands role in the upcoming
shareholders’ meeting with the following update setting forth the
continued efforts of Noble Roman Directors to prevent an open
shareholder vote thereby disenfranchising current Noble Roman’s
shareholders, including BT Brands, from exercising their
shareholders' rights under Indiana law.
SECURITIES & EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
NOTICE OF EXEMPT SOLICITATION
NAME OF REGISTRANT: Noble Roman’s, Inc. NAME OF PERSON
RELYING ON EXEMPTION: BT Brands, Inc., Kenneth W. Brimmer, Gary
Copperud ADDRESS OF PERSON RELYING ON EXEMPTION: 405 Main
Avenue West, Suite 2D, West Fargo, North Dakota 58078 Written
materials are submitted pursuant to Rule 14a-6(g)(1) promulgated
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934:
BT Brands, Inc., Kenneth W. Brimmer (Chairman and Chief
Financial Officer) and Gary Copperud (Chief Executive Officer and
Director) today released the following open letter to shareholders
of Noble Roman’s, Inc. Between them they own approximately 1.56
million shares of Noble Roman’s common stock.
Dear Fellow Noble Roman’s Shareholder:
We urge you to WITHHOLD your support for director
candidates when you vote in connection with the upcoming annual
shareholder meeting, scheduled for August 27, 2024.
We communicated our intention to nominate a competing slate of
three directors for this meeting but were stymied in that effort by
the Noble Roman’s Board of Directors. We believe that shareholders
should be aware of this fact as they consider the Company’s
proposal to re-elect three incumbents.
As you may recall, BT Brands nominated Gary Copperud for
director at last year’s meeting. We solicited proxies in support of
his nomination with support from an adequate number of shareholder
votes to defeat incumbent CEO A. Scott Mobley, the only candidate
seeking election.
Ten days before the scheduled meeting date, however, Noble
Roman’s announced that it had “recently determined” that BT Brands
was not a stockholder “of record” at the time of the nomination and
that Mr. Copperud’s nomination was therefore “disqualified” under
the bylaws.
The Company postponed the meeting until August 10, 2023, but
even with an additional month to lobby shareholders, the Company
was unable to muster a quorum. The meeting was adjourned with no
action being taken, and CEO Mobley was able to retain his seat on
the board for another election.
For the 2024 Annual Meeting, we pursued our plan to nominate a
slate of three qualified candidates, allowing the shareholders to
choose. After satisfying the Company’s technical objection, we
wrote to CEO Mobley in April 2024 to advise of our intention. We
are aware of the Company’s reasonable requirement that each
director candidate submit a questionnaire to be properly nominated,
and we asked if we could use the 2023 questionnaire or whether the
Company was using a new one in 2024.
CEO Mobley responded by e-mail to Kenneth W. Brimmer on April
24, 2024. Mr. Mobley’s e-mail stated in its entirety as
follows:
Kenneth
The materials for the 2024 Shareholder meeting have not yet been
finalized. There will, however, be a 2024 questionnaire for
director candidates, and it will be forwarded to you as it becomes
available.
A. Scott Mobley President Noble Roman’s, Inc.
Noble Roman’s never provided the materials promised by Mr.
Mobley, nor did the Company issue a press release or similar
statement identifying the date of the 2024 annual meeting, at least
not prior to the filing of definitive proxy materials on August 7,
2024, 20 days before the proposed meeting date.
Why did the Company never send us the materials needed to
complete and submit our nominations?
We posed this question to the Company, and its counsel advised
us that the window for nominating candidates ran from April 12
through May 12, 2024 and that we had failed to submit a complete
set of documents within that timeframe. In counsel’s words, we
failed to satisfy “all of the informational and procedural
requirements specified in the By-Laws.”
Let’s unpack that.
• We contacted the Company in time to submit a complete
nomination package within the Company now claims was the April
12-May 12 window for nominations.1
• On April 24 – 12 days after this 30-day window for nominations
supposedly opened -- CEO Mobley wrote to us stating that the
materials for the 2024 meeting “have not yet been finalized” and
that the questionnaire “will be forwarded to you as it becomes
available.”
• CEO Mobley never sent us the questionnaire. It was only after
the supposed May 12 deadline that the Company told us that we were
too late.
Question: How could we – or any shareholder, for that matter –
submit a timely nomination if the necessary paperwork is not made
available in time for nominations to be submitted?
In effect, CEO Mobley’s refusal to follow through on his written
commitment prevented us from submitting an alternative director
slate for your consideration at this year’s meeting. That omission
turned what could have been a contested election into an
uncontested election that will entrench CEO Mobley and two
incumbent directors for at least another year.
Is this how you believe that the board of directors should be
running the Company?
We asked the Company to postpone the upcoming meeting so that
nominations could be submitted and shareholders could have the
opportunity to consider a competing slate of directors. The Company
has refused to do so.
Thank you for your consideration of these points.
Very truly yours,
BT Brands, Inc. Kenneth W. Brimmer, Chairman
and Chief Financial Officer Gary Copperud, Chief Executive Officer
and Director
THE FOREGOING INFORMATION MAY BE DISSEMINATED TO SHAREHOLDERS
VIA TELEPHONE, U.S. MAIL, E-MAIL, CERTAIN WEBSITES, AND CERTAIN
SOCIAL MEDIA VENUES, AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS INVESTMENT
ADVICE OR AS A SOLICITATION OF AUTHORITY TO VOTE YOUR
PROXY.
1 The Company’s after-the-fact claim of a May 12 deadline is
dubious, given that there was no quorum for the supposed 2023
meeting, and no business was transacted. The bylaws indicate that
if no meeting is held, the deadline for nominations is 10 days
after the public announcement of the date of the next meeting. The
Company made no such public announcement prior to publication of
the Company’s proxy materials on August 7.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240816786705/en/
Kenneth Brimmer, 612-229-8811
BT Brands (NASDAQ:BTBD)
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