One week after announcing that he sold his remaining 50% stake in former C3 parent company, New York City-based SBE Entertainment Group's hotel business to Accor Hotels, C3 (Creating Culinary Communities) founder and CEO Sam Nazarian is investing in the growth of the C3 platform with the announcement of 20 new leadership hires on Wednesday.
With new senior positions including Doug Koob, senior vice president of franchise and licensing and Thomas Negrel, senior vice president of finance and strategy, the ghost kitchen network and food hall hybrid platform is on track to grow to 200 digital kithens and eight brands by the end of 2020.
Doug Koob, formerly of independent contracting and consulting company, Circle Alliances, Starbucks and First Watch, will be in charge of the development of “strategic business partnerships” for C3’s portfolio of virtual restaurant brands. Thomas Negrel, formerly a vice president of finance at San Francisco-based Specialty’s Café and Bakery, will take the lead on accelerating the acquisition of new brands and venues for C3’s arsenal of virtual restaurants.
“Doug brings with him over 30 years of industry experience, including 23 years at Starbucks. Thomas, as well as so many of our new hires, has a wealth of knowledge that will prove invaluable as C3 continues to disrupt the food and beverage industry,” C3 CEO and founder Sam Nazarian said in a statement.
Other hires include:
- Jack Acland (Bark of BarkBox, Shake Shack) as vice president of finance and strategy
- Joey Simmons (Blue Ribbon Restaurant Group, Beyond Restaurant Group) as vice president of operations,
- Mike Beck as director of business development
- Chris Benton (Dine Brands Global) as director of financial planning and analysis
- David Haisely (Urbanspace, The Spotted Pig) as vice president of operations for Citizens
- Andrea Sigmund (Specialty’s Café & Bakery) as director of operations
- Chris Bousquet (Hillstone Restaurant Group) as director of operations for Citizens Manhattan West
- Chef Damien Brassel as culinary director
- David LaForce (Guy&Larry Restaurants, True Food Kitchen) as brand chef
- Karm Sanchez (Speciality’s Café & Bakery) as facilities manager
- Tony Lawrence (Specialty’s Café & Bakery) as vice president of technology
- Dale Amler (AutoGravity) as senior director of marketing
- David Cingari (Red Bull) as director of partnerships
- Robby Hoyt (Carlo’s Bakery, Muscle Maker Grill) as marketing manager
- Lauren Green (Beverly Hilton) as marketing manager
- Mason Adams as digital marketing content specialist
- Liza Rubin (dineLA) as social media manager
- Fiona Schor as brand ambassador
“Our incredibly dedicated C3 team, made only better with the addition of 18 talented individuals, is working together to fundamentally disrupt how we address customers’ changing relationship with restaurants and shape the future of food service,” Nazarian said.
The new leadership team was named right after C3 announced their partnership with Lunchbox to launch virtual food hall, CitizensGO, which units all of the C3 brand under one digital roof and will allow app users to place singular orders with food from all of the Citizens brands including Umami Burger, Krispy Rice, Sam’s Crispy Chicken, Plant Nation, EllaMia, In a Bun, The Other Side, and La Gente Tacos.
“With both the launch of our new CitizensGO app and our venture to re-think hotel F&B and reshape the use of hotel kitchen space, we are developing solutions for culinary and hospitality brands that generate supplemental revenue during these uncertain times,” Nazarian said.
Contact Joanna Fantozzi at [email protected]
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