National Restaurant Association reviews

Everything changed under the current CEO. Despite limited leadership experience, she quickly created a narrative that the business was failing — one the Board unfortunately accepted without fully validating. What followed has been a steady erosion of trust, talent, and financial stability. Significant spending on outside consultants has produced little to no measurable value, while the organization has fallen deeper into debt. Expanding the "C" suite with people with no knowledge of the business who now owe their new career to the CEO, building on the underlying morass in the organization. Entire departments, including HR and most of Finance, have been eliminated and replaced with outside companies with no knowledge of the organization or its businesses, leaving basic operations under-resourced and chaotic. Many long-tenured and highly competent leaders have either been laid off, have chosen to leave or are preparing to leave due to the toxic environment and lack of strategic direction. The CEO routinely blames staff for poor performance while taking no ownership of decisions that have harmed the organization. What was once a respected, stable organization has become demoralized and vulnerable to competitors because of executive inexperience and poor judgment.

The tech leadership really struggled with being open, supportive, or even just professionally respectful. There was a growing culture of fear in the department, where people didn’t feel safe speaking up or asking questions.