QSR June 2022

J.R. Galardi President and CEO GALARDI GROUP AGE: 33

J.R. Galardi is a realist. He’s the CEO of a 350-unit restaurant chain at 33 years old, and without his last name, he probably wouldn’t have got here, he admits. But while it’s something “always in the back of people’s heads,” Galardi isn’t carrying a chip on his shoulder. “I want to do my best to make sure I run this business as it should be run,” says Galardi, whose father, John, created the chain in 1961. “Regardless of who my dad is.” Galardi’s story isn’t your standard birthright. Growing up, he didn’t expect to run the family business and was, in fact, doing the opposite. He had a concert promotion company in Denver after following his father’s advice—to pursue his own interests. Yet things shifted when John was diag nosed with pancreatic cancer. Galardi grasped the gravity of what his father, who passed away in 2013, built, starting as a single hot dog stand six-plus decades ago. Galardi didn’t want Wie nerschnitzel to “get broken up,” or for private equity to swoop in. “We’re going to continue the upward trend,” Galardi says, “and really make sure that everything my dad worked for stays in place.” Galardi has a habit of going all-in when he sets course, he says. It drives his wife crazy. And it’s what happened with Wienerschnitzel. Galardi was promoted atop the world’s larg

GALARDI GROUP

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