QSR June 2022

YOUNG LEADERS

its a restaurant and eats the food. That’s why he helped Bojangles launch the NFT Supremes cam paign, with a microsite called, “Chickenverse.” The site features work produced by local artists, which has led to increases in Bojangles’ web traffic. “The restaurant experience is now an omnichannel experi ence where the real world meets the digital world, where brands can generate demand and rele vance by creating new ways for consumers to engage, experience, and transact, and where food does more than make people full,” Perez says. CASEY Hilder DIRECTOR OF MARKETING STARBIRD AGE: 28 role in the mar keting strategy behind Starbird, a young quick service concept that’s seeing same-store sales trending above 20 percent through 2022. This includes the launch of the chain’s TikTok account, which grew to 25,000 followers in only six months. Recognizing the importance of measuring digi tal marketing performance, Hilder was also instrumental in building a custom advertising dashboard that allowed his team to analyzes results across Google, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Hilder believes digital rep resents the future of restaurant marketing. Using that mindset, he implemented a loyalty program at the start of 2020 and grew Star bird’s web and mobile app usage to more than 90,000 users, which accounted for 25 percent of streetside restaurant sales. “There’s a certain synergy between marketing and technol ogy that’s more crucial now than ever before, especially as every customer acquisition strategy is now automated and executed through our tech stack,” Hilder says. Casey Hilder has played an integral

with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for the brand’s 12 days of 5ďWL FDPSDLJQ ,Q WKDW WLPH WKH IDVW casual and its customers raised more than $5,000 for the hospital. In another effort, he allowed FRQVXPHUV WR XVH 5ďWL̵ V QHZ mobile app to nominate their favorite nonprofit to receive 2,000 meals. After hundreds of sub missions, the brand worked with organizations to give away 10,000 meals across the U.S. Pilking WRQ DOVR H[HFXWHG 5ďWL̵ V &OHDU WKH List campaign, helping nominated teachers receive much-needed school supplies. At the time, it was the chain’s most engaged social campaign in brand history. “Long gone are the days of simple product marketing as brands will have to continue to immerse themselves in culture and be transparent about their social impact beyond their prod uct,” Pilkington says. “Whereas data used to lead, it is now more of a complement, as intuition and serving the community in various ways supersedes any trend.” ERIC Gilson VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE & OPERATIONS RUSH BOWLS AGE: 28 a jack of all trades who oversees finance, training, operations, and a variety of other tasks. He makes himself available to his team at all hours of the day, assisting with everything from a simple menu update to an all-out store flooding. During the pandemic, he remained up-to-date on all unprecedented changes and effectively communicated busi ness adjustments with the corporate team and franchise network. That includes the imple mentation of a completely remote training program to ensure company employees and new Eric Gilson went from managing a company-run restaurant in Boulder, Colo rado, for more than two years to becoming

ANCHAL Lamba PRESIDENT GONG CHA TEA, LLC (Largest U.S. Master Franchisee) AGE: 31 Anchal Lamba, a first generation Indian American, was obsessed with bubble tea growing up and the idea of owning a business. So once she graduated from Fordham University, she negotiated the U.S. franchising rights for Gong cha, a global bubble tea concept. She was 24 years old when she opened her first store in Flushing, a neighbor hood in Queens, New York. Since then, Lamba has opened 80 loca tions across the Northeast and Texas and has plans for 30 more by the end of 2022. In light of COVID restrictions, she launched an e-training sys tem to enable virtual learnings and rolled out third-party deliv ery and pickup to meet customer demand. Lamba also ensured franchise development remained on target by helping subfranchi sees with site selection through long-standing real estate partner

OLIVER Barwin CEO BUSHFIRE KITCHEN AGE: 28

After a five-year career on Wall Street, Oliver Bar win left New York and made his way to Southern California to lead his family’s con

cept, Bushfire Kitchen. He did so in March 2020, when the restaurant was flipped upside down by the COVID pandemic. Under Barwin’s leadership, the fast casual transitioned to Toast’s POS system and began offering curbside pickup, direct delivery, and an enhanced online order ing platform to drive off-premises sales. The chain also imple mented a number of software and technology products designed to improve operational efficiency and the customer experience, like a new website, third-party POS integration, accounting software POS integration, kitchen display screens, customer order status automated texting, automated email marketing, and digital gift cards. “The restaurant industry has changed more in the past two years than it did in the past 20,” Barwin says. “To be a successful leader in the ‘new age of restau rants’ means to always embrace change, proactively invest in technology and people, and uncompromisingly provide high quality products with top notch hospitality and service.” MARK Pilkington BRAND MARKETING MANAGER RŌTI AGE: 33

ships and market planning with a new AI platform. “In the past two years, the industry has been challenged in ways we could’ve never imag ined,” Lamba says. “Looking toward the future, as a leader in my organization and the indus try, I know how critical it is to stay nimble, flexible, and ready to meet our customers wherever they are. At the same time, never losing our focus on our key strategic goals; fueling our growth and support ing it with product innovation and cutting-edge marketing and loy alty initiatives.”

– TI, RUSH BOWLS

Mark Pilkington has been known to use his mar keting talent to give back to the community. In December 2021, he led an initia tive to partner

CASEY HILDER: ALBERT LAW, GONG CHA TEA, BUSHFIRE KITCHEN, RO

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JUNE 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com