Sam Oches

2 weeks ago | nrn.com | Sam Oches |Jonathan Maze

Join NRN editor in chief Sam Oches and Restaurant Business editor in chief Jonathan Maze as they discuss the latest headlines from around the restaurant industry, including the news that Hooters had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. What might the chain with strategically dressed waitresses do next to reclaim relevance among US consumers?

2 weeks ago | nrn.com | Sam Oches

Mohammad Faraj wasn’t supposed to be the cofounder and chief marketing officer of one of the most exciting young chains growing out of South Florida today. He wasn’t supposed to be in the restaurant industry at all; he’d gone to college first to become a dentist and later a surgeon. But in 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, he teamed up with his childhood friend Omar Al-Massalkhi to open a taco truck in Miami, thinking it might help him pay off some of his student debt.

2 weeks ago | nrn.com | Sam Oches

Foodservice is the most wonderfully diverse industry in the nation, boasting a workforce that is representative of every demographic making up the broader American melting pot.  But that diversity begins to fade the higher one climbs the leadership ladder. Just look at gender parity in restaurant leadership: A National Restaurant Association survey in 2022 found that while 63% of entry-level and 69% of mid-level restaurant employees were women, that percentage at the executive level was only 38%.

2 weeks ago | nrn.com | Sam Oches

For Jennifer Schuler and Hillary Frei, serving in the C-suite at Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream — an Ohio-based franchise celebrating its 80th anniversary this year — seems like a matter of destiny. After all, their careers have intertwined throughout decades, starting with their first gig out of business school: Schuler and Frei were interns at General Mills in Minneapolis at the same time. “It was really foundational learning.

2 weeks ago | nrn.com | Sam Oches

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