Ask the Experts Roundtable

Justin Coogan is the Director of Operations for Hawaiian Bros Island Grill’s Nebraska franchise, overseeing three restaurants and more than 125 team members. A 20-year restaurant industry veteran, Justin has spent the past 15 years in multi-unit leadership and has helped his market achieve system-leading catering sales through strategic partnerships and a strong focus on offsite growth. He has also led eight new restaurant openings and two market acquisitions, bringing an operator’s perspective to building catering programs that create meaningful, sustainable growth.

Kelly Grogan is a highly successful executive in the hospitality industry with extensive experience and achievements in driving revenue growth in both B2B and B2C settings. With a keen understanding of market dynamics and consumer preferences, she has consistently devised and executed innovative sales strategies that have propelled her employers and clients to new heights of success. Her tenure in the restaurant space has been marked by a series of notable accomplishments. Through strategic partnerships, targeted marketing initiatives, and an ability to build from the ground up, Kelly has grown both new and established departments to achieve significant incremental revenue growth. By leveraging her expertise in identifying and capitalizing on emerging trends, as well as her ability to work cross-functionally across all departments, she has seen great success at both the corporate and local store levels.

Maureen McCarthy is the Catering Sales Manager for Slim Chickens in Northwest Arkansas, leading catering strategy across ten corporate locations. Like many in the industry, she got her start waiting tables and bartending through college, discovering a passion for the fast-paced energy of restaurant life. That experience carried her into a General Manager role in the NWA market before she moved into catering sales, blending hands-on operations know-how with a relationship-driven approach to growing catering revenue. Maureen serves on a companywide catering taskforce focused on strengthening brand recognition and elevating the guest experience at events. She's passionate about helping restaurants turn catering into a meaningful growth driver — one built on genuine connection with clients, teams, and the communities Slim Chickens serves.

Karim Wadskier, Director of Business Insights & Operational Strategy at Mezeh Mediterranean Grill, is a restaurant operations and analytics leader focused on helping growing restaurant brands turn data, technology, and operational insights into measurable business results. At Mezeh, Karim leads business insights and operational strategy across 54+ locations, partnering closely with senior leadership and field operations to improve performance across sales, labor, food cost, customer experience, compliance, and digital operations. She built Mezeh’s business intelligence and customer insights function from the ground up, developing performance dashboards, forecasting tools, and improvement strategies used across the organization. Prior to her current role, Karim spent several years in restaurant operations. Her background also includes supply chain, commercial strategy, and operations. Today, she brings a combination of hands-on restaurant experience, analytics, and strategic decision-making to help restaurant leaders identify opportunities, solve operational challenges, and drive sustainable growth.

Zach Welborn has been a part of the Condado Tacos team since 2018. As a part of the operations managment team, he played an intrigual role in brining the brand to new markets across the midwest. He stepped in as the leader of off-premise in 2024 and has helped take Condado Tacos to new heights. Over that time, he has overseen catering grow by 12% and has become a staple for Condado's continued growth stratagy. In his spare time, Zach enjoys fishing, playing guitar, and pretending that he knows how to golf.