Speakers

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.

Nicole Aguilar is a catering sales professional with over a decade of experience turning relationships into revenue. Her career has been the perfect blend of her passion for hospitality, relationship building, and restaurant industry expertise. After nearly 10 years with Cafe Rio Mexican Grill, where she helped the brand grow from 36 locations to over 130, Nicole joined Houston TX Hot Chicken (HHC) to build its catering department from the ground up. Today, she leads catering and off-premise growth strategy across sales, marketing, and operations, driving revenue through meaningful community connections, grassroots sales efforts, and targeted marketing initiatives. With experience supporting multi-unit, multi-market growth, Nicole understands that what happens behind the scenes is just as important as what happens in the field. Her focus is building the right systems, infrastructure, and partnerships to make catering growth repeatable, scalable, and sustainable.

Angie Andresen is Director of Product Management at Olo, where she leads product for Serve and Catering+, the platforms restaurant brands use to power direct digital ordering and catering. With over 20 years in the restaurant and hospitality industry, Angie has spent her career translating complex operational challenges into product roadmaps that help brands grow revenue and strengthen the guest experience. She’s passionate about helping restaurant brands scale catering and direct ordering channels to drive incremental revenue.

Michael Attias began his career in the restaurant business at the age of 16, starting as a dishwasher and working his way up the ladder. Fresh out of college, he launched one of the first Corky's BBQ franchises just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Faced with the challenge of building restaurant and catering sales, Michael discovered direct marketing. His mastery of direct marketing led him to build a three-million-dollar-a-year operation out of a 104-seat restaurant, with catering sales exceeding a million dollars a year. As a result of these accomplishments, Michael began speaking, consulting, and providing educational tools to help restaurant owners, caterers, contract foodservice operators, and grocery stores increase their catering sales.

Dave Baer started as a driver for Domino’s Pizza while in college 1991. He managed a Domino’s Pizza restaurant in 1994 and was immediately named Rookie manager of the year. From 1994-1998 he quickly ascended the ranks at Dominos where he held positions of Supervisor, Senior Supervisor and Training Director of Corporate operations at Domino’s Pizza in the Northeast. From 1998-2012, he was the VP of Operations for a 17 unit Franchise Domino franchise. Since 2012, he has been creating and scaling multiple emerging brands including Zinga and Firenza Pizza. Most recently he has been honing HCK Hot Chicken as well as acting as the Chief Operating Officer for Mahana Fresh.

With more than 25 years of experience in delivery, Chris Barnes began his career at just 16 years old, building expertise across last-mile logistics, courier services, fulfillment, and every stage of the delivery process—long before GPS, smartphones, and real-time tracking transformed the industry. Today, he leads the Delivery Pillar at dlivrd Technologies, overseeing four brands: Expedite, FULFLLD, Logiscal, and Couri. Each brand addresses a unique aspect of the delivery ecosystem, and together—alongside dlivrd Technologies' broader suite of products—they provide a comprehensive catering and delivery solution. His operational philosophy is simple: build systems that perform when real-world conditions become unpredictable. He believes there is a critical difference between a well-designed plan and an operation that consistently delivers results. At its core, he views delivery as a people business enabled by technology—not the other way around—and that perspective continues to guide his leadership and approach to innovation.

Cherryh Cansler is VP of Events for Connect Media and publisher of FastCasual.com. She has been covering the restaurant industry since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine, among many others.

Rev Ciancio is a New York City restaurant owner and knows exactly how hard it is to operate and brand a hospitality business. He is a hospitality marketing consultant, customer and technology evangelist at Branded Strategic Hospitality, with more than 20 years experience in B2B digital marketing and business development, specializing in hospitality marketing, content, local SEO, reputation management and demand generation. He helps technology companies, brands and restaurants to acquire and retain more customers. Rev is known as an “expert burger taster,” pens hospitality and marketing tips on his Instagram @revciancio, as well as his LinkedIn Profile and hosts the Restaurant Marketing Podcast. He believes that Pizza is a religion.

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.

Jerome Dees Jr. is an award-winning sales leader with nearly 20 years of experience in the restaurant and CPG industries. Recipient of the National Restaurant Association’s Advanced Leadership Award in 2024 and named among the Most Influential Restaurant Executives in 2021 and 2022, Jerome has driven growth at brands like Bagel Brands, Le Boulanger, Wise Sons, and Tacolicious. Passionate about empowering others, Jerome mentors aspiring entrepreneurs and has sold millions of bagels and tacos while fostering community impact through leadership and education.

Tanya B. Dixon joined Salata in 2016 and has since held several key leadership roles, including Director of Operations. With 18 years of experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry, she now leads Salata’s Off-Premises Department, where she drives innovation and growth across catering, delivery, and digital channels. Under her leadership, the brand has significantly expanded its digital presence and off-premises strategy, aligning operations with evolving guest expectations and market trends.

Michael Dolinger is a veteran in multi-unit restaurant operations, having worked for companies like Caribou Coffee and Glory Days Grill. Mike started his career as a franchisee with ExxonMobil and earned degrees from Johnson and Wales, L’Academie de Cuisine and Radford University.

James Field is Chief Marketing Officer of Dog Haus, where he leads growth strategy as the award-winning craft-casual brand prepares to expand from approximately 60 to 300 locations. Previously, he served as Chief Innovation Officer of Jersey Mike’s Subs, building its enterprise innovation function during the rapid-growth period preceding the company’s approximately $8 billion acquisition by Blackstone. Field has also served as Chief Marketing Officer of L.A. Libations and Head of Foodservice Marketing for Cholula Hot Sauce. Throughout his career, he has helped restaurant, CPG, and beverage brands translate consumer insight and ambitious ideas into scalable products, partnerships and revenue growth.

Gabriela Keown is a hospitality and operations professional with extensive experience managing catering, client relations, and multi-brand restaurant operations. She specializes in event coordination, corporate accounts, operational problem-solving, and creating seamless guest experiences across multiple concepts and teams. Known for her strong communication skills and hands-on leadership approach, Gabriela works closely with partners, vendors, and internal teams to drive growth, improve processes, and deliver exceptional service in fast-paced environments.

Crystal Leuty is a Marketing Manager focused on off-premise sales at Jim ’N Nick’s Bar-B-Q. With over 25 years in the hospitality industry, Crystal brings a strong background in catering sales program execution, community relations implementation, and strategic brand development. Notably, she helped launch Jim ‘N Nick’s online catering platform, streamlining the off-premise ordering experience. She champions the brand’s growth with a dedicated passion for expanding community relations and elevating brand awareness while strategically driving off-premise sales development. Throughout her career, Crystal has focused on executing regional marketing strategies and building impactful community partnerships within the food and beverage industry.

Carrie Lucas has 34 years of experience in the food and hospitality industry and currently serves as Director of Catering Operations for DiBella's Subs, a Rochester, New York-based brand with 38 locations across five states. She began her career as a crew member at Wendy's and worked her way through numerous leadership roles, gaining a unique perspective on the business. Eight years ago, she joined DiBella's as a Regional Catering Sales Manager and has continued to grow with the brand. Today, Carrie leads seven Catering Sales Managers and oversees catering operations across the brand, focusing on growth, new catering opportunities, client relationships, and strategic partnerships. She believes in thinking outside the box, finding ways to say yes, and creating solutions that help meet clients' needs. Carrie is passionate about catering and hospitality and about building lasting relationships that turn great service into long-term partnerships.

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.

Brittany Mercer is a results-driven marketing executive with over 16 years of experience leading high-impact strategies across the restaurant industry. She specializes in local store marketing, off-premise growth, and brand development that drives both top-line sales and long-term brand equity. With a background rooted in operations and catering sales, Brittany brings a deep understanding of what matters most to restaurant operators: practical, actionable marketing that moves the needle. Known for blending creative storytelling with data-informed decisions, she’s passionate about building loyal guest relationships, supporting field teams, and creating marketing programs that feel as authentic as they are effective.

Magdim Metshin is Co-Founder and CMO of Cartwheel, an enterprise delivery orchestration platform helping restaurant brands manage in-house drivers and third-party delivery providers. With more than a decade of experience in restaurant delivery, Magdim began as a restaurant operator in Los Angeles and later advised Gourmet Runner, one of Los Angeles’ leading local delivery providers. That experience ultimately contributed to the creation of Cartwheel, which today powers delivery operations for leading restaurant brands including Jason’s Deli, Portillo’s, P.F. Chang’s, Potbelly, WOWorks and more.

Quinn Newhall is Chief Operating Officer of Clean Eatz, the fast-growing healthy-food franchise with 100+ locations nationwide. A veteran restaurant operator, he brings deep multi-unit and franchise experience from leadership roles at brands including Charleys Philly Steaks and CiCi's Pizza to Clean Eatz's mission of changing lives through clean, balanced food.

Claudie Newman is a hospitality leader with more than 20 years of experience in food and beverage, event sales, private dining and catering. Her career has taken her from South Africa to Las Vegas, and San Francisco and Washington, DC, where she has focused on driving growth and innovation for multiple nationally recognized restaurant brands. Claudie currently leads catering sales for New York Based Founders-Table, the company behind: Chopt Creative Salad Co. and Dos Toros Taqueria. Claudie is focused on strengthening brand reputation and sales to deliver a best-in-class catering product that continues to expand in step with her company's rapid growth.

Dipesh Patel is a strategic operations and brand leader with over a decade of experience driving growth across the restaurant and foodservice industry. He currently serves as Vice President of Driver Operations at Meals Now, where he oversees driver staffing, recruitment marketing, and delivery quality standards. Prior to Meals Now, Dipesh held senior leadership roles spanning some of the industry's most recognized brands: as Vice President of Catering & Off-Premise at Steele Brands, he directed digital and off-premise strategy for the CRISP & GREEN and PURALIMA brands; as Sr. Manager of Off-Premises Strategy at CAVA, he led catering, first-party, and third-party delivery businesses, growing digital sales revenue by approximately $100 million; and at Inspire Brands, he led off-premise brand experience and value strategy for Buffalo Wild Wings, including the national launch of the Buffalo Wild Wings GO® brand.

Ben Pidduck is the Chief Executive Officer at MONKEY. Ben joined MONKEY in April of 2025 as part of MONKEY’s divestiture from ezCater and to herald in organization’s new era of partner growth, product revitalization, and client service. Ben’s experience spans food & beverage, restaurants, software, and consumer industries, helping leading organizations around the world craft strategies, drive hands-on operational change, and upgrade product, sales, and marketing processes. Ben has worked across several Fortune 500 restaurant franchisors and franchisees -touching everything from new market expansion to culinary innovation, stood-up end-to-end operations for a meal kit startup, and most recently worked for McKinsey & Company’s Private Equity practice.

Gracie Prasanson is the VP of Sales for Jason's Deli where she has served for the last 26 years developing and expanding off premises channels for the brand. Gracie has over 40 years of experience in sales management, operations, and off premises. She has worked for other large national chains such as Denny's, Cracker Barrel and IHOP. Gracie achieved Ranger level in Salesforce Trailhead in 2022.

Arya Rashtchian is Co-founder and CEO of Omnirev. His graduate education is in AI and machine learning, and he started his path in the restaurant industry building products including hyperlocal marketplaces, then an end-to-end catering platform, Omnicart, which was acquired by Dlivrd Technologies in 2025. Since then, Arya has brought his background in catering, sales, and AI together to build an AI-driven sales engine that helps restaurant brands grow their catering revenue. He has been recognized on British Columbia's Top 30 Under 30 list and was named Canada's Top Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2024.

Heather Rideaux is the CEO and Owner of The RedWagon Delivers, a white glove, last mile delivery company specializing in catering and food logistics. Headquartered in Carson City, Nevada, RedWagon operates across Los Angeles, Northern Nevada, and Midwest metros including Cleveland and Detroit, partnering with restaurants, caterers, and marketplace platforms to deliver large orders with precision and professionalism. Under her leadership, RedWagon has built a reputation for reliability in the moments that matter most: corporate lunches, events, and high volume catering where there are no second chances. Heather brings a rare combination of operational rigor and genuine food passion to the industry, and she is focused on helping restaurants turn catering into a dependable growth channel.

Becca Ridgway is a hospitality and catering professional with more than a decade of experience across restaurant operations, catering sales, and multi-unit growth. After eight years with honeygrow, Becca helped grow the brand from 27 to 79 locations while building its catering department from the ground up. Today, she serves as Director of Catering & Sales at NAYA, leading catering strategy across sales and operations. Becca believes sustainable catering growth starts with the foundation: strong operations, well-trained teams, and the right systems to deliver a consistent guest experience. Her approach combines operational strategy, sales, and relationship building to develop the infrastructure needed to make catering growth repeatable, scalable, and built for the long term.

As the CBO and Co-founder of Popmenu, Tony Roy is a key figure driving next-generation technology for restaurants. With extensive expertise in revenue operations, Roy works with thousands of independent restaurants and hospitality groups to help them engage with more customers and increase sales, both on-premise and online, while improving profitability. He leads corporate development and strategic partnerships for Popmenu and is often called upon to provide industry insights for national media and events around the globe. Prior to Popmenu, Roy oversaw international operations for CareerBuilder and spearheaded partnerships and

Nader Samadyan is the co-founder and COO of Omnirev, an AI-powered CRM built to help restaurants grow catering revenue. Acting like a supercharged sales agent, Omnirev automates outreach and customer engagement, enabling brands to double their catering sales with less effort. Nader previously co-founded and exited Omnicart, a platform that helped restaurants launch first-party catering channels. Drawing on years of experience working with leading restaurant brands, he now focuses on applying cutting-edge AI to transform how restaurants scale their off-premise business.

Brandon Smith comes from a background in catering and events, having built Officewell, a New York City-based events and catering business serving some of the city’s largest companies and offices. Through that experience, he saw firsthand how challenging it can be for restaurants to build and scale their catering business. Today, Brandon is the Co-Founder of Coordi, a platform helping restaurant brands grow first-party catering through outbound sales, customer re-engagement, and AI.

Courtney Smith is Head of Brand Partnerships at MONKEY. Courtney joined Monkey Media in March of 2024 with a passion to help brands utilize the Monkey Media software to the best of their capabilities while also partnering to influence first party sales building. Courtney brings over 25 years of food and beverage operations, off premise implementation, catering sales program creation, training and strategy development experience. Courtney has held positions as Vice President of Sales for Newk’s Eatery, Director of Catering & Banquet Sales for Firebird Restaurant Group, which included 6 brands. Director of Off-Premise Sales for la Madeleine, a total of 11 years with Corner Bakery Café, including several roles and Operations Management with Hillstone Restaurant Group.

Kori Sparks is the Director of Catering & Sales at Urbane Cafe, where she was brought in to take the brand's catering program to the next level, building the team, strategy, and systems to scale it into a core part of the business. With 10 years of experience spanning catering operations, sales leadership, and program development, Kori brings both a strategic and executional lens to everything she oversees. She has a track record of driving double digit catering sales growth by building high performing field sales teams, developing first party loyalty and partnership programs, and creating the operational infrastructure that supports consistent, scalable guest experiences. Kori believes the brands winning in catering today are the ones investing in the right people, the right processes, and the right relationships!

Samuel Stanovich is part of the leadership team of Big Chicken. Prior to joining Big Chicken, Samuel worked with Firehouse Subs brand as an Area Representative and Franchisee. Samuel’s past experiences include: Director Partner Product Development & Industry Relations, National Restaurant Association, President & CEO of the Heritage Corridor Convention and Visitors Bureau, in addition, he is a 12-year veteran of Marriott International. In 2020 Samuel co-authored the top catering book “Catering Domination” and is co-host of the Takeout, Delivery and Catering podcast. Samuel is an alum Johnson and Wales University and adjunct faculty at the College of DuPage.

Ali Templin, VP of Sales and Partnerships at Palona, is a restaurant technology leader focused on helping brands drive profitable growth and operational impact through AI. She works with enterprise operators, franchise organizations, and technology leaders to deploy Palona’s suite of AI solutions for Revenue Expansion and Operational Excellence. Prior to Palona, Ali spent nearly a decade at DoorDash, where she helped build and scale new business lines and strategic partnerships during a period of transformational growth for the restaurant industry. Working alongside many of the country’s largest restaurant brands, she developed deep expertise in enterprise technology, digital commerce, off-premise strategy, and first-party growth. Today, she brings that experience to helping restaurant leaders identify and deploy emerging technology that delivers measurable business impact.

Kelly Tranfaglia is a Catering District Manager with Tatte Bakery & Cafe, overseeing catering operations across the Boston and Washington, D.C. markets. She brings more than 20 years of leadership experience, including five years focused specifically on catering operations, team development, and business growth. Kelly is passionate about building strong teams, creating efficient operations, and growing catering businesses while never losing sight of the guest experience. Her experience is rooted in high volume, drop off and corporate catering, giving her a practical perspective on how to balance sales growth, operational execution, food quality, and profitability. A recipient of Tatte’s Founders Award, Kelly especially enjoys developing leaders, solving operational challenges, and sharing the lessons both successes and opportunities that come with growing a catering business.

Mary Ziola-Vega brings decades of hands-on experience in restaurant marketing, operations and business development, with extensive experience supporting Papa Johns franchise operations. Her work has focused on local store marketing, catering, community partnerships, customer engagement and finding practical ways to drive restaurant growth. Working closely with operators has given Mary a firsthand understanding of the challenges restaurant teams face—from increasing sales and building repeat business to managing limited time and resources. She has a particular interest in how technology, AI and customer data can help operators make smarter decisions without adding complexity to their day. Mary believes the best strategies are the ones that work in the real world—practical, measurable and designed around the people running the restaurants.