Restaurant Leadership Council
Grubhub’s Restaurant Leadership Council (RLC) is a group of restaurant owners and operators who regularly meet with Grubhub to help us whip up new ideas on how to best serve our restaurants. This partnership helps our team to gain actionable insights, providing us with an opportunity to learn from the restaurant community. We can better serve restaurant owners through the RLC by building strong relationships and delivering actionable solutions that make a difference.
The RLC was an amazing opportunity to work in concert with various levels and departments at Grubhub. It was a wonderful way to work in concert with the people who implemented change to speak about what is done well, opportunities to improve, bring up issues, and see real-time resolution. The best part is that everyone was very pleasant, making for a collaborative and enjoyable discussion. Overall, it was an invaluable experience, and I would love to help again!”
What are the goals of the Restaurant Leadership Council?
Our focus is on restaurant owners and their success. We use the RLC to better understand and serve the industry, listening and learning from professionals who eat, sleep, and breathe restaurant management. These interactive sessions give restaurant leaders a chance to:
Strengthen relationships
By regularly meeting with council members, our team can get to know who we serve on a more personal level. This builds our community and boosts our relationships with restaurant owners.
Provide industry insights
Our interactive sessions enable Grubhub to include restaurateurs’ perspectives on key industry topics. Then, we can pivot our efforts on what’s most important to them.
Share product feedback
During meetings, restaurant owners can provide detailed feedback so Grubhub can bring products and services to the table that align with their needs.
Sharing with others means learning for yourself. Participating as a Grubhub 2023 RLC member helped us improve our operation, while we also shared our years of experience with other operators and GH, so that they could improve as well. Truly, a win-win-win! Janis Deady”
Meet this year’s council
Angelo Velliotis
Clark Street Dog | Chicago, IL
Since 1977, the Velliotis family and Clark Street Dog have been serving the Chicagoland area delicious Chicago-style street food and drink. The restaurant has become known for its signature Clark Street Dog. Clark Street Dog sources and supports locally owned and sourced products and services. In addition, Clark Street Dog is the original Hot Dog Bar. The restaurant features a full bar and is the original home of the Pickle-Back Shot, the result of a creative conversation over what to do with the leftover whole spears pickle juice. Clark Street Dog is Lakeview’s favorite late-night stop and a friendly environment with affordable dining options, the perfect place to grab a beer and a bite.
Daniel Nasser
Maya Taqueria | Brooklyn, NY
For over 14 years, Maya Taqueria has been proudly serving a taste of the Mission District to the people of Brooklyn. Every meal is made from scratch and prepared with the freshest ingredients-never canned or frozen-creating dishes loaded with authentic West Coast flavors. The restaurant is a multi-location, fast-casual restaurant business that has grown to be a neighborhood staple. The team puts pride in what they serve and tries to have fun while doing so. Maya Taqueria has been highlighted in many write-ups including The New York Post, The Infatuation, and the New York Daily News, to name a few.
John Koumpourlis
Fotia Mediterranean | New York, NY
Founded in 2023, Fotia Mediterranean is a fast-casual restaurant that connects people with great-tasting Mediterranean-influenced food inspired by our Greek heritage. John is a 30-year restaurant veteran. He opened his first restaurant in 1997, which featured breakfast, lunch, dinner, catering, and delivery and later joined Fresh & Co where he was project manager for the buildout and construction of new locations. He later transitioned into operations overseeing the performance of multiple locations until 2019.
Justin Newbold
Patty Shack | Denver, CO
Justin has been involved in the restaurant industry for over 25 years, starting at Arctic Circle when he was 16 years old. He was a partner in several KFC/A&W restaurants from 2000 to 2011. Following that, he served as a District Manager for Five Guys Burgers and Fries from 2012 to 2022. In October 2022, Justin launched Patty Shack in Taylorsville, UT. Despite being in a less-than-ideal location right in the middle of a residential area, they have managed to build a dedicated following. Patty Shack recently received the 2023 Best of SLC award in two categories: "burger restaurant" and "fast-casual restaurant." In 2023 Patty Shack opened 3 additional locations including 2 ghost kitchens.
Nicky Servos
The Original Mexican Café | Galveston, TX
Nicky is a 3rd generation restauranteur with over 30 years and 7 different concepts under her belt. He specializes in business operations and lease negotiations. He graduated from Trinity University with a Marketing and Management concentration and was awarded the best 40 Under 40 in her field by the Houston Business Journal.
Nish Patel
Del Rossi’s Cheesesteak & Pizza Co. | Philadelphia, PA
Del Rossi's Cheesesteak & Pizza Co. is located in Philadelphia, PA, and was founded in 2012. The restaurant is best known for serving cheesesteaks with freshly sliced ribeye steak and pizza, which is very light and crispy. Nish takes a lot of pride in the quality of their food and is crazy about pizza dough. Personally, Nish has been in the restaurant business since 2013. He owned and operated multiple Saladworks franchises and acquired Del Rossi’s in 2020, right before the COVID pandemic.
Pradeep Govindasamy
Marina Indian Restaurant | Frisco, TX
Founded in 2022, Marina Indian Restaurant is now the talk of the town with its customized culinary dishes catering to all sets of audiences in the city. Marina Indian Restaurant is based in Frisco, Texas, and provides fine dining with authentic home-style Indian food. The food is based on traditional family recipes with a modern interpretation for a healthy and enjoyable dining experience. Every entrée is made to order with an infusion of love from the team’s heart to our customers. Marina restaurant has recently been awarded "Best of Frisco 2023 - Finalist" by Star media and secured the Top 2nd spot among many restaurants in the city! Featured by several food bloggers and in the Dallas Observer — with a mention of Marina Indian Restaurant is a Seaside-Themed Foodie Destination Bright blue mariner lights line the walls of Marina Restaurant, an Indian eatery in Frisco that was named after Chennai's Marina Beach.
Sally Song
Dim Sum Garden | Philadelphia, PA
The restaurant’s story began in 2003 when Sally’s mom Shizhou Da came to the US with the original recipe for Xiao Long Bao — Chinese steamed soup dumplings. Sally is the 5th generation of the original chef who created the very first Xiao Long Bao in China and has over 30 years of experience in making fresh, traditional homemade Shanghai-style dim sum. In 2013, she and her mom opened Dim Sum Garden in Philadelphia. Sally coordinates daily front- and back-of-house restaurant operations, maintains safety and food quality standards, interviews and trains staff to follow restaurant procedures, and interacts with guests to get feedback on product quality and service levels. She believes both great food and great service are important to a restaurant.
Scott Medlock
Jazz - A Louisiana Kitchen | Kansas City, KS & Columbia, MO
Scott is a seasoned technology and restaurant professional with over 20 years of experience as a Chief Technology Officer for Jazz - A Louisiana Kitchen. He has excelled in transforming successful restaurant business projects into well-defined processes, where technology plays a pivotal role in driving business growth. With an emphasis on leveraging technology to inform and enhance business strategies, he finds sustainable success in the dynamic restaurant industry. Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen is a place for celebrating and reveling in some of God’s finest creations: food, drink, music, and most importantly, people.
Seán Patrick
Calibur | San Francisco, CA
Seán and his business partner have been involved in restaurants, catering, sales, and consulting for over 50 years combined. They opened Calibur Inc. in 2014, a quick-service burger restaurant focusing on quality ingredients. It’s located in West Portal, one of the many great neighborhoods in San Francisco, but with the help of GH et al, they service a wide area in SF and its suburbs. Caliber was recognized as the “most popular independent burger delivery spot in the country” by GH in 2019 and continues to increase sales every year through the delivery services and pick-up model. They pivoted to a 100% to-go model during the pandemic and plan on continuing with this model. They’ve explored cloud kitchens for about 2 years, having 8 Calibur Express locations at one point, but decided against that model in 2022.
Sebastiano Alighieri
Joe and Sal’s Pizzeria | Brooklyn, NY
Sebastiano wasn't always in the hospitality business. His background, in fact, is in technology; He has a bachelor's in computer information systems from DeVry University. He was approached by his partners, the founders of the Joe and Sal's Pizzeria brand, in early 2019. At the time they were looking to expand into a new location and needed an additional partner. Sebastiano seized the opportunity. While you won’t catch him flipping pies, when he’s not busy curating his customer's dining experience, building the brand, growing the business, establishing customer relations, or processing payroll, he’s behind the counter, serving slices with a smile. For most of his career, his focus has been on "Delivery;" Be it a resolution, a large-scale service, or an end-user system. He knows customer service, he knows food, he knows business, he knows people, and he knows technology; Sebastiano believes these are the key ingredients required to win in the contemporary "Hospitality Game!"
Sheila Foley
Neighborhood Restaurant | Somerville, MA
Sheila Foley is originally from Newark and has been in Boston for 30 years now. Her parents were legal immigrants from Portugal, and she is fluent in the language. Neighborhood Restaurant was opened in 1980 by her late brother and father. She is the third generation to own this restaurant. Neighborhood Restaurant is proud to have lots of best breakfast and lunch awards through the years! Bon appetite has been the establishment’s biggest award so far.
Participating in the Grubhub RLC as a restaurant owner has been invaluable. It provides a platform to share feedback, contribute insights and collaborate with Grubhub to enhance the platform’s performance. This mutual exchange strengthens our partnership with Grubhub and empowers us to make informed decisions that improve our business operations.”
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Join the Restaurant Leadership Council today.
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