SALT LAKE CITY — Mrs. Fields Famous Brands, L.L.C., which includes Mrs. Fields Cookies and TCBY, the Country’s Best Yogurt, said it is ready for "aggressive expansion plans both domestically and abroad." As a key part of those plans, the company has hired Rob Streett as senior vice-president of development. Mr. Streett most recently was senior vice-president of non-traditional development for Quiznos, and earlier he worked with Cold Stone Creamery and Starbucks.

"We have two great brands that are loved by consumers worldwide," said Michael Ward, co-chief executive officer of Mrs. Fields Famous Brands and president of TCBY. "We are poised for rapid expansion in our traditional markets and, with the addition of Rob’s background and skills, we are now resourced to drive growth at unprecedented levels in our nontraditional markets as well. Within the next 12 months we expect to be reaching our customers from hundreds of new points of distribution."

Mr. Ward is in charge of forming partnerships with new master franchisees around the world, an area of Mrs. Fields Famous Brands’ business that had been on hold for the past five years. But since January, Mr. Ward has signed agreements for both TCBY and Mrs. Fields in more than five new countries, with new stores expected to open as early as this fall in Bahrain, Kuwait, Greece and Saudi Arabia.