Chili’s parent Brinker International is adding COO to Aaron White’s title. White, who started her 29-year career at Brinker as a Chili's server and bartender, will also continue her roles as executive vice president and chief people officer. She will oversee operations strategy and people at Chili’s and sister brand Maggiano’s Little Italy.
Gavin Felder is the new president of Smoothie King, while maintaining his role as CFO of the chain. Felder joined Smoothie King in 2024. Owner and CEO Wan Kim said his impact has been significant and expanding his role was a “natural next step.” Before joining the chain, Felder spent 16 years with Yum Brands Inc., where he was most recently chief strategy officer. He also was CFO of KFC Global, where he managed more than $1 billion in operating profit and nearly 25,000 restaurants across 140 countries.
Iced tea chain HTeaO made two additions to its executive ranks. Corey Horsch is the company’s new CFO. Adam Smith has been hired as VP of human resources.
The acai and smoothie brand South Block has named Steve Heeley as its new president. Heeley brings more than two decades of experience in fast casual to the role. He is the former CEO of Pokeworks, Veggie Grill and Earl of Sandwich. He has also held leadership roles at Baja Fresh, Au Bon Pain and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. At South Block, he will work alongside CEO and founder Amir Mostafavi.
Taco John’s has made three additions to its leadership team.
Tom Perella was named vice president/technology in March. He previously led technology initiatives at GoTo Foods and Duck Donuts.
Damian Hanft joined Taco John’s as vice president/human resources in April. He is the former head of talent at Inspire Brands.
Kristin Nuss was promoted to general counsel and corporate secretary in January. She joined Taco John’s in May 2021 as associate general counsel and director of franchise compliance and contracts.
Taiwan-based bubble tea brand Gong cha has appointed Michael Nedelkovich Jr. to the role of vice president of U.S. non-traditional franchise development. Nedelkovich worked previously with GoTo Foods as director of non-traditional frachise development.
Christian Kuhn, the former CMO of Blaze Pizza, has been named chief commercial officer of PopUp Bagels, overseeing IT, digital platforms, marketing, PR, loyalty programs and customer experience. Kuhn has been most recently with Blaze over the past 14 months, leading a brand moderinization effort. He spent three years with GoTo Foods (then Focus Brands) as head of loyalty and VP of customer engagement, and, before that, worked with Hilton.
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