QSR June 2022

YOUNG LEADERS

est hot dog franchise in early February. He added CEO to his president title, which he held since 2017. Galardi also stepped into his mother, Cindy Galardi Culpepper’s, role, who stayed on as executive chairman. In recent years, Galardi says she stepped back and let him learn from the front. That was nothing new. At 13, Galardi helped out at a Wie nerschnitzel in Newport Beach, California. He was a janitor, fry cook, and drive-thru win dow attendant. He even poured beer out of the store’s tap. When his father got sick, however, Galardi returned with a directive: to learn the busi ness while also earning his stripes. On day one, “nobody knew what to do with me,” Galardi recalls. They had him update pricing stickers on a menuboard that hung in the conference room. “It’s not only that I wanted the perception to be that I just didn’t take over, but also, I’ve been a big believer that you shouldn’t be able to tell people what to do if you don’t know what to do yourself,” he says. Galardi took jobs across the organization, from operations to development to marketing. He started with the latter, which proved a natural extension from Galardi’s background. Addition ally, this was during the “rise of the millennials,” and the best way to reach them, Galardi says, was to market to himself. He created a “Vision ary Department” in 2014 that amplified social media, digital, and outreach. They’d connect with events—concerts, Supercross, music fes

founder Mike Smith. The Hot Dogs for Home less Tour visited 20 cities and raised $200,000. It gave away more than 40,000 hot dogs. Another end result—seven people inked matching tat toos of a skateboarding hot dog. Galardi got one on his left arm. Interestingly, the notion of a Wienerschnit zel tattoo isn’t all that crazy, he says. Galardi has seen them often. CMO Doug Koegeboehn once even walked into the office and pulled his pant leg up to reveal Wienerschnitzel’s famed pole. “He’s like, please don’t ever fire me,” Galardi jokes. This kind of loyalty struck Galardi from the moment he rejoined the company. “People live and die by this food,” he says. And now he’s tasked with guarding it. Under Galardi’s time as president, same-store sales jumped 42 percent. Digital sales ballooned 400 percent. This past year marked the brand’s 11th consecutive run of comps growth. Wienerschnitzel’s unit expansion in recent calendars, however, has been mostly stagnant. Galardi says it’s a product of some external real ities—construction costs and the landscape being what it is—and a footprint with perhaps too many variations. He says the chain is work ing to develop a modular concept to lower costs and improve scalability. Meanwhile, Wienerschnitzel contin ues to explore technology and become more efficient. It implemented third-party deliv ery pre-pandemic and worked on packaging and streamlining off-premises. The company

JENNIFER Lewis DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS CHRONIC TACOS AGE: 34

Jennifer Lewis graduated from college and dove into her family’s business, overseeing 10 Las Vegas McDonald’s. When Lewis’ par ents retired, she began to look for a fresh chapter and found Chronic Tacos. Lewis’ purchased her first store in 2015 in the Palms Hotel and Casino. Soon, corporate took notice. They asked her to join as fran chise support manager and assume direction of a portfolio of units. Lewis developed stra tegic plans and spearheaded a COVID response that centered on ground-level support and com munications, particularly with mandate tracking and federal aid. In 2022, after four years, Lewis was named Chronic Tacos’ direc tor of operations. “I feel the most important part in my role is build ing strong relationships with our franchisees,” she says. “Gaining their confidence is fundamental. Especially, operating in a time of uncertainty, providing franchisees with strong support helps them maintain high levels of confidence and in turn deliver on our brand promise.” Being an owner/operator established credibility quickly. “The franchisees I support have an appreciation for the fact that I can see things from their per spective,” Lewis says. “I look at myself as a liaison, providing an ,

teamed with Olo to build out its web site for mobile ordering. “I think it jumped us probably five years, at least, in the first year,” Galardi says of COVID. He also oversees 13-unit Ham burger Stand and Tastee Freeze, which Galardi Group acquired in 2003. The latter has four units, but is on the menu at nearly all Wienerschnitzels. Galardi believes both have legs to grow, especially overseas. Hamburger Stand, in particular, appears to be the company’s most viable vehicle, just given the product’s familiarity with

WIENERSCHNITZEL’S COMP SALES HAVE GROWN 11 STRAIGHT YEARS.

tivals—and meet guests by handing out product and talking about the legacy chain. The goal being to get in front of a younger demographic while remaining loyal to a core guest who has stuck around for generations. Through this, the brand brought the average age of its consumer down from 49 to 44. Galardi’s marketing role tailed into another position, which carried over into another. And he kept asking questions and figuring things out. One outlet Galardi wanted to explore was phi lanthropy. Then the company’s chief visionary officer, he ignited a program called, “Hot Dogs for Homeless,” partnering with Skate for Change

international consumers (the hot dog isn’t quite an established daypart outside of America). It incorporates Wienerschnitzel’s menu, which typically mixes about 49 percent of sales. As Wienerschnitzel’s growth unfolds, Galardi will continue to drive his father’s legacy forward. At 33, he’s a young CEO by most measures, in addition to being the founder’s son. “I think defi nitely in the beginning, when I was in my mid- and early-20s, I would show up to meetings and peo ple would think I was there to set up the projector, bring them coffee,” he says. “Now, I’ve estab lished a good relationship with vendors and franchisees.”

WIENERSCHNITZEL

CHRONIC TACOS

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JUNE 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com