The Resilient Restaurant

​​Meredith Sandland and Carl Orsbourn are co-authors of the new book Delivering the Digital Restaurant: Your Roadmap to the Future of Food, which explores the massive disruption facing American restaurants through first-hand accounts of food industry veterans and start-up entrepreneurs innovating the future of food. Combining sociological observations, rich industry data, and insider knowledge, Delivering paints a picture of how food is evolving and how leaders, owners, and operators can successfully innovate and meet the new consumer demands to capitalize on the opportunities ahead.Meredith Sandland spent two decades in consulting, corporate strategy, and restaurant development. After building 1,000+ restaurants as the Chief Development Officer at Yum! Brands' Taco Bell, Meredith observed that the on-demand economy was starting to affect restaurants. Meredith joined ghost kitchen start-up Kitchen United as employee #4 to create their business model, raise initial capital, and serve as the public face of the GV (Google Ventures)-backed disruptor. Carl Orsbourn led BP-owned ampm and its billion-dollar grab-and-go food and beverage offering across the brand's 1,000+ convenience retail locations. At BP, Carl obsessed over consumer convenience and transformed ampm's fresh food offerings to deliver record growth. In 2018, Carl joined Kitchen United to lead Operations, working with restaurant brands to reinvent an operating system that capitalized on the rapidly changing face of food delivery. Carl & Meredith created Delivering the Digital Restaurant's online companion, LEARN.DELIVERY, to help restaurants succeed in the digital economy. Learn. Delivery provides access to tools designed by leading experts that enable restaurants to chart their own path to digital maturity.

Michael Liu has over 15 years of F&B and food-tech experience. Prior to joining JustKitchen he held the role of Head of Commercial for Deliveroo in Taiwan and prior to that, he was COO of Supreme Café Group and Director of Operations for Waves Coffee International.

Nick Bogacz is the President and Founder of Caliente Pizza & Draft House, a bar-restaurant located in the Pittsburgh region. ​With over 20 years of experience in the industry, he opened his first location in 2012 and has grown quickly to the 5+ locations today. Bringing in a gourmet chef as his top pizzaiolo, Caliente's pies have received national and worldwide acclaim, including the World Championships at the Pizza Expo for three years in a row and The Best American Pizza at the World Pizza Championships in Italy. Nick is also the author of the book The Pizza Equation: Slicing Up How to Run a Successful Pizza Enterprise and podcast host of the Business Equation Podcast.

Nadav Solomon is the Co-Founder and President of Tabit Restaurant Technologies, a cloud-based point of sale and tableside ordering system. Nadav ​​was a former Lieutenant commander for Israeli Navy in charge of all command and control systems and before studying biotechnology and food engineering. He co-founded Tabit in 2014 with Barry Shaked.

Shahpour Nejad immigrated from Iran to the USA at 16 years old where he attended high school and college. During his college years, he began working at a local pizza restaurant where he gained a passion for the pizza business. Although Nejad earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, he decided to pursue his love for pizza and opened Pizza Guys with his partner, Reza Kalantari. The company has grown from a single store operation opened in 1986 to over 75 locations in three states. 

Matt Rolfe is a coach, speaker, bestselling author, and entrepreneur who mentors the top 10 percent of the hospitality industry in unlocking their true potential. With a primary focus on personal development, Matt enables high-performing leaders to build unified teams and effectively delegate responsibilities for maximum growth. He is the founder of Results Hospitality and Westshore Hospitality Group, where he has worked with hundreds of leadership teams throughout North America. Beginning his career with companies like Bacardi and Labatt/Anheuser-Busch, Matt is an industry expert dedicated to helping leaders examine the human element of their business and execute effective team-building strategies unique to their needs. Matt lives in Toronto with his wife Lindsay, their two children, and their golden retriever.  

Executive Chef Joshua Karther brings years of experience to Hyatt Lodge Oak Brook. Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Chef Karther graduated from Northland Career Center with a degree in Culinary Arts in 2002. Chef Karther joined Hyatt Lodge Oak Brook as Sous Chef, moved up the culinary ladder and was appointed Executive Chef in 2021. With each dish he creates, he strives to be innovative and cutting-edge, providing guests at Hyatt Lodge Oak Brook with an exciting and ever-changing culinary experience. Outside of the restaurant, Chef Karther volunteers for Feed my Starving Children in Naperville, IL, a nonprofit dedicated to feeding children and empowering communities, and a cause close to his heart. 

Shawn Lalehzarian is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Red Chickz, a Nashville hot chicken concept based in LA. He started working in the restaurant industry as a dishwasher and moved up the ranks as a server and cook before landing a management position. Because Shawn saw firsthand how each role in the restaurant operates, he has gained strong leadership skills and management strategies that has led The Red Chickz to become a fierce competitor on the West Coast's Nashville hot chicken scene.

Mark Canlis joined his family's restaurant, Canlis, in 2003 after graduating from Cornell University. He officially took over the company with his brother, Brian, in 2007. Since then, they've continuously worked towards putting other people first and understanding what it truly means to turn towards one another in hospitality. This pursuit is what has allowed them to successfully pivot more than a dozen times during the pandemic. Canlis has received 22 consecutive Wine Spectator Grand Awards, has been nominated for 15 James Beard Awards, and won three James Beard Awards.

Andrew Pudalov founded Rush Bowls in 2004 after deciding to leave the hustle and bustle of New York's financial scene to pursue his dream of creating a healthy, fast-dining restaurant that fueled people's lives with honest ingredients and delicious recipes. As a result, Rush Bowls was born in Boulder, Colorado, offering meals crafted from the finest fruit, topped with granola & honey, and blended with protein, vitamins and other nutritious ingredients that taste delicious while promoting a healthy lifestyle.

In 2018, Cliff Kennedy turned his love for an afternoon popsicle with his children into a side business by becoming the owner of Gulf Coast Treats. Frios now has franchise locations in Mobile and Baldwin county. He sought out well-connected investors, hired diverse team members, and identified strategic partners to acquire the full company.

Mario Vivas is the founder and owner of Criollas, an authentic Argentinian empanadas restaurant located in New York City's Columbus Circle in the Turnstyle Underground Market. Vivas founded Criollas in December 2020, using inspiration from his grandmother's family recipes. Vivas lived with his grandmother, Stella, in Buenos Aires,  while attending college. During this time, he began making empanadas alongside Stella, learning how to perfect the family recipes which are now staples of the Criollas brand, carrying on an Argentinian tradition.  Vivas founded Criollas in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with the aspiration to bring his Argentinian culture to the United States. He, like so many others in New York City, faced the difficulties of the pandemic with determination by honoring his heritage and overcoming adversity while one of the largest cities in the world closed for several months.  Known for his big smile, Vivas attended dental school in Buenos Aires - during which he lived with his grandmother - ultimately moving to New York City where, like many ‘new' New Yorkers, he held several contract jobs at one time. Ultimately, he realized his true passion was food, as it was a large part of his culture, roots and family background. Five years later, Vivas started his own catering company, working with large corporate clients across the city. Due to the COVID-19, Vivas' catering company had to close its doors. He quickly pivoted, offering private catering for some of his former clients and his business grew through word of mouth. It is then, that the idea of Criollas was born, when he realized his private catering clients enjoyed his empanadas the most. Criollas was born from his grandmother's traditional Argentinian family recipes, highlighting the country's clean and delicate flavors, textures, and aromas that now fill the Criollas kitchen. Vivas enjoys traveling back to Argentina regularly to visit his family and friends. He is currently working on growing Criollas' to bring comfort food to people's homes across the country. “Empanadas are a food that brings people together - I want Criollas to help bring people together again,” Vivas explains. “Empanadas have always brought every social class together in Argentina. It's considered the "popular food": no matter your background,  this belongs to everyone. 

Mark Kelnhofer is the President & CEO of Return On Ingredients, international speaker, hospitality educator, and author. With a managerial accounting background, he covers numerous topics about recipe costing, menu engineering, and just-in-time (JIT) practices. He's the author of two books including "Return On Ingredients: Controlling Food & Beverage Costs To Improve Efficiency & Profit" and "The Culinary Pocket Resource of Yields, Weights, Densities & Measures".

Andrew Martino is the Founder/CEO of Ghost Truck Kitchen, a private label multi-brand hybrid ghost kitchen, inspired by food trucks and optimized for takeout. He was formerly the Director of Operations for a San Diego-based restaurant group as well as the GM for several restaurants on both coasts. He has spent the last six years as a consultant and analyst in future food trends and operations.

Cary Mosier is the owner of Cafe Gratitude and Gracias Madre, a group of leading family-owned organic plant-based restaurants based in California. Cary has been running operations for 17 years, growing to eight locations.

David “Rev” Ciancio is a Hospitality Marketing Consultant, and customer and technology evangelist with more than 20 years of experience in B2B digital marketing and business development, specializing in hospitality marketing, content, local SEO, reputation management, and influencer marketing.

Desi Saran is the Founder and CEO of Sweetberry Bowls, a healthy, fast-casual concept based out of New Jersey. Since its founding in 2017, Sweetberry Bowls quickly grew to 20 restaurants across the United States including units across South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Bret Thorn is Senior Food & Beverage Editor of business-to-business publications Nation's Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country as well as guiding their overall F&B coverage. He also hosts a biweekly podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn.

Alexandra Clark has dedicated her life to the art of chocolate, traveling the world and studying her craft as an economist, confectioner, and retailer. With $32,000 from a taxi accident that she was in, Alexandra opened up Bon Bon Bon in the heart of Detroit, Michigan. Bon Bon Bon creates “good goodies”, believing that good people deserve good chocolate.