PRESENTERS

BISCUIT BELLY

Chad Coulter | Founder & CEO | Biscuit Belly

Chad Coulter dove into the restaurant industry after a short and successful career as a clinical pharmacist. His first concept, LouVino, is a Southern inspired small plates restaurant and wine bar with over 40 wines by the glass. LouVino has grown into 5 locations in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. Chad and his Culinary Director, Tavis Rockwell, played around with the idea of opening a biscuit concept since opening the first LouVino location in 2014. After the last LouVino opened, focus shifted towards diving into the idea of opening a biscuit focused concept. In 2019, the first Biscuit Belly was born after months of meticulous menu, branding and concept development.

CLUSTERTRUCK

Chris Baggott | CEO & Co-Founder | ClusterTruck

Chris Baggott has been an entrepreneur, leader and futurist in data driven software and data innovation for more than 20 years and has created a lasting and significant impact on the technology ecosystem. In the early 2000s, Chris co-founded ExactTarget, a provider of digital marketing automation and analytics software and services. In 2012, the company successfully executed an IPO and was later acquired by Salesforce for $2.7 billion. In 2006 Chris co-founded Compendium Software that was later acquired by Oracle. In 2015, he brought his tech background to the on-demand food delivery market as co-founder and CEO of ClusterTruck, a software platform that powers profitable, vertically integrated delivery-only kitchens.

HOT MAMMA’S KITCHEN

Gina Rae Hendrix | Founder & Owner | Hot Mamma’s Kitchen

Gina Rae Hendrix started her career in the restaurant business as a server, making her way through college and learning about food and beverage from the ground level. She relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in her early early 20’s and quickly moved up through the ranks to restaurant manager and then began to focus on wine and spirits. On New Year’s Eve 2017 she woke up after having a vivid dream of opening a Nashville-style hot chicken shack in Mexico. Six months later she and her partner, Alan Skinner created a test unit in a small modern food market. After 1 year they sought partnership to create another Hot Mammas with a slightly larger space and it’s own store front.

MEMPHIS SEOUL

Bart Hubbuch | Owner | Memphis Seoul

Memphis Seoul founder and owner Bart Hubbuch has taken an extremely unorthodox path to this point — to say the least. A prominent sportswriter for nearly 30 years for the New York Post and several other major newspapers, Bart had always dreamed of creating his own food concept and finally acted on it in the spring of 2018. Memphis Seoul began as a food tent in New York City’s vibrant street-festival scene before becoming a full-fledged restaurant in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn in January 2019. He created all the recipes and sauces for Memphis Seoul in the tiny kitchen of his family’s 600-square foot Brooklyn apartment.

Richard Blue | Director of Operations | Memphis Seoul

Richard Blue handles daily operations for Memphis Seoul, with a focus on supply-chain management, vendor relations and labor management. Richard came to Memphis Seoul from New York City fast-casual startup Mr. Bing, where he was a team member in general operations and in the catering unit, as well as helping to create the company’s marketing unit. He attended DePaul, where he also worked for Lettuce Entertain You as a host. While at DePaul, he was a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi and served on the fraternity’s pledge committee as well as director of social programming. He has a deep passion for people and food, so hospitality comes naturally for him.

ADVISERS

Jim Balis | Managing Director | Strategic Operations Group

Jim Balis leads CapitalSpring’s Strategic Operations Group, supporting due diligence, portfolio management and industry knowledge building initiatives. Jim has several decades of management and turnaround experience in the restaurant industry. Prior to joining CapitalSpring, Jim was Founder and President of RMG, a boutique advisory and turnaround firm serving the restaurant sector. Jim has directed numerous turnarounds and has acted as interim CEO or Chief Restructuring Officer for 15 restaurant companies. He began his foodservice career in high school, during which he held multiple management positions for local restaurants in New York. Jim holds a BA from Duke University.

Jason Moles | Director of Marketing | Henny Penny

Jason Moles serves as Director of Marketing for Henny Penny, a manufacturer of premium foodservice equipment. He is a 22-year veteran of the foodservice industry and is responsible for managing and growing the Henny Penny brand globally. Over the last 60 years, Henny Penny has partnered with the world’s largest and emerging restaurant chains to provide pressure frying, open frying, holding and combi oven solutions known for ease of use and low operating costs. Henny Penny delivers proven technology saving restaurants in QSR, Fast Casual and Casual Dining thousands of dollars each year in frying oil, labor and energy costs.

Ryan Rogers | Founder & President | Eternal Optimist Hospitality

R. Ryan Rogers is a 2015 Eater Young Gun, the Founder of Eternal Optimist Hospitality, a chef, restaurateur, Southern nomad, and Americana enthusiast. In 2012, at the age of 26, he opened Feast BBQ, a barbecue restaurant framed within the scope of his childhood memories of Southern barbecue. In 2014, Ryan opened a second Feast BBQ location in downtown Louisville’s walkable NuLu neighborhood, and quickly followed that restaurant with his third restaurant, Royals Hot Chicken, his ode to Nashville Hot Chicken featuring scratch made sides. 2017 brought Ryan and executive chef and partner Andrew McCabe together to open bar Vetti, a neighborhood Italian spot featuring fresh housemade pasta, brick oven pizza, and shared plates.