Foodservice Operations Leadership

Thirty years in hospitality and food. From the floor to the P&L.

Senior operating leadership for the moments that decide whether a business grows or stalls.

Executive, interim, fractional, and project-based leadership for restaurant groups, multi-unit and franchise operators, contract dining, hospitality businesses, and the private equity firms invested in them.

Let's walk the floor

Jenifer Duggan, foodservice operations executive, Crafted Spark Consulting

My perspective was built on every side of the table: evaluating the vendors, making the purchases, driving the change, scaling the growth, and owning the outcome.

Twenty years of buying decisions, and nine with full executive responsibility for what happened after.

Why people call me

Underneath most of it is the same thing: the operation outgrew the systems that built it. That part is fixable, and it is most of what I do.

Any of this sound familiar?

You've got two units on the same brand and the same playbook, and the numbers still don't match. Nobody can say why.
Your food cost moved three points, and none of the explanations hold up.
You signed the franchise agreement, and the first brand audit is coming.
Your strongest manager left, and the system left with them.
You open in ninety days, and the plan lives in one person's head.
Your contract renews next year, and nobody has modeled the alternative.

Some situations need an outside read. Others need someone in the seat, close to the decisions and accountable for what happens after.

Who I work with

The setting changes. The questions rarely do.

Restaurant groups, franchise systems and multi-unit operators

Full service, fast casual, QSR, and multi-outlet properties. Unit economics and turnarounds, menu engineering, labor models, franchise development, and new location launches. More locations should not mean more variation.

Private equity, advisory firms and expert networks

Operational due diligence and value creation for firms evaluating or holding foodservice and hospitality assets: where the margin actually is, what it will take to get it, and who has to execute. For advisory firms, bench depth when your pipeline outgrows your roster, including assessments, project delivery, interim leadership, and white-label work under your brand.

Contract dining and multi-service programs

Contract assessment and renewals, RFP development, self-op feasibility, meal plan program strategy and administration, and contractor accountability. I know what good looks like in a foodservice contract because I have enforced them and replaced them.

Hospitality and venue-based F&B

Hotels, resorts, clubs, venues, and travel hospitality. The guest experience is only as strong as the food quality, the service execution, and the operation behind both.

How to work together

Consulting, fractional, or interim? Sprint or marathon?

However we start, it ends the same way: with an operation your team can run without me.

Consulting

Outside judgment on a cadence. A standing review, a specific decision, or short- or long-term advisement.

Fractional COO

Executive depth and consistent accountability, before the business is ready to carry a full-time C-suite salary.

Interim Leadership

A seat that has to be filled now, while you run a real search. Full accountability until the permanent hire starts.

Defined-Scope Projects Diagnostics, turnaround plans, RFPs, sourcing, labor and COGS work, concept and menu strategy, workflow analysis and improvement, technology evaluation and adoption planning, systems implementation, and launch readiness.

Atlanta based. I work locally, regionally, and nationally, with travel built into the engagement.

See how engagements work

Operator. Executive. Both sides of the table.

Decades running foodservice and hospitality operations, events, and catering programs. Twenty-plus years of buying decisions. Nine years with full executive responsibility for operations, finance, people, technology, procurement, and facilities. Whether the seat needs filling or the problem needs solving, let's get acquainted.

Discuss an Operating NeedConsulting, fractional COO support, interim leadership, defined-scope projects, concept and opening support, PE and investor work, and expert-network inquiries.Start here Discuss an Executive Leadership OpportunityExecutive recruiters, search firms, boards, hiring managers, and permanent COO, VP Operations, Executive Director, and Chief of Staff roles.Start here

Let's walk the floor.