Company: BTBDW
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001477932-25-002248
Chunk: 273

Company: BT Brands, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 2
Chunk 273
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 from time to time by the resolution of our board of directors. Currently, our board comprises five members, three of whom qualify as “independent” directors under any applicable standard.

Election of Directors

Our bylaws provide that a majority vote of our stockholders will elect a member of our board of directors.

Independence of our Board of Directors and Board Committees

Rule 5605 of the NASDAQ Listing Rules requires a majority of a listed Company’s board of directors to be comprised of “independent directors,” as defined in such rule, subject to specified exceptions. In addition, the NASDAQ Listing Rules require that, subject to limited exceptions, each member of a listed company’s audit, compensation and nominating committees be independent as defined under the NASDAQ Listing Rules; audit committee members also satisfy independence criteria set forth in Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act; and compensation committee members also satisfy an additional independence test for compensation committee members under the NASDAQ Listing Rules. If a listed company does not have a nominating committee, as permissible under NASDAQ Listing Rules, director nominees must either be selected or recommended for the board’s selection by independent directors constituting a majority of the board’s independent directors in a vote in which only independent directors participate.

Our board of directors has evaluated the independence of its members based on the rules of the NASDAQ Stock Market and the SEC. Applying these standards, our board of directors determined that Mr. Anderson, Ms. Tochihara-Dirks, and Mr. Croci are “independent” as that term is defined under Rule 5605(a)(2) of the NASDAQ Listing Rules. The other seated directors will not be considered independent because each is an officer of the Company.

Leadership Structure of the Board

Our bylaws provide our board of directors with the flexibility to combine or separate the positions of Chairman of our board of directors and Chief Executive Officer in accordance with its determination that utilizing one or the other structure would be in the Company’s best interests.

The board of directors currently separates the roles of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors to recognize the differences between the two roles. Our Chief Executive Officer, who is also a member of our board of directors, is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the Company and the day-to-day leadership and performance of the Company, while the Chairman of the board of directors provides guidance to the Chief Executive Officer, sets the agenda for the board meetings, presides over meetings of the board of directors and seeks to reach a