From Capital to Culture: What It Actually Takes to Scale a Restaurant Brand


Scaling a restaurant brand is often where the dream meets a messy reality. In this unvarnished fireside chat, Savory Co-Founder Shauna Smith sits down with CEO Clay Dover to move past the spreadsheets and get into the trenches of hyper-growth. This is an insider’s look at the "Savory System," a repeatable framework designed to professionalize brands without stripping away their soul.

Shauna and Clay will bypass the PR polish to discuss:

  • The Breaking Point: Why most brands fail at scale and the #1 operational failure point.
  • Founder Dynamics: Navigating the high-stakes transition of control and protecting brand identity.
  • The PE Disconnect: What traditional Private Equity gets wrong about restaurant culture.
  • The "Savory System": How to build a management infrastructure that handles growth while others flame out.

Get a rare perspective from two leaders who have sat in the founder’s seat, the investor’s seat, and the operator’s seat. This session is for those ready to hear the honest truth about what it takes to build a national powerhouse.

Keynote Speakers
Clay Dover
CEO
Savory Fund
Clay Dover is the CEO of Savory, where he leads the strategy, growth, and performance of a portfolio of founder-led restaurant brands. He partners closely with brand leaders and platform teams to scale concepts through disciplined development, operational excellence, and a strong, people-first culture. Clay is known for his hands-on leadership style, his ability to build high-performing teams, and his passion for helping founders unlock the full potential of their brands while preserving what makes them special. Prior to joining Savory, Clay served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and Taco Maker at Velvet Taco. Under his leadership, the brand grew from 4 to 54 restaurants across the United States and internationally, delivering industry-leading performance and earning award-winning consumer recognition. Clay also led the successful sale of Velvet Taco from L Catterton to Leonard Green & Partners in late 2021, and the company was recognized by QSR Magazine as a Best Place to Work in 2023. A restaurant industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience, Clay has held a variety of senior executive roles, including President and Chief Marketing Officer at Raising Cane’s. He has been named one of the most influential restaurant CEOs in the country by Nation’s Restaurant News and currently serves on the boards of the Texas Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association Fast Casual Industry Council. He previously served as Co-Chair of the National Restaurant Association Marketing Advisory Group.
Shauna K. Smith
Managing Director & Co-Founder
Savory Fund
Shauna K. Smith is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Savory Fund, a private equity firm focused on investing in and scaling emerging restaurant brands. In her role, Shauna leads Portfolio Management and Value Creation, partnering closely with leadership teams to drive revenue growth, operating discipline, strategic transformation, and scalable infrastructure across the Savory portfolio. Shauna is an accomplished executive leader with 18+ years of experience building and growing Food & Beverage businesses. Since 2008, she has helped develop, acquire, operate, and manage 530+ restaurants across a dozen states, generating more than $3 billion in aggregate sales and creating tens of thousands of jobs throughout her career. Her work has been centered on improving unit-level performance, strengthening teams and culture, and driving enterprise value creation through operational excellence. Savory’s growth and impact have earned multiple industry accolades, including fast-growth recognition from Restaurant Monitor and over a dozen appearances on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list. Shauna has also been recognized individually for her leadership, including being featured on the cover of Franchise Times (November 2018 and May 2023), named one of Utah Business Magazine’s “30 Women to Watch” (2019), and receiving CXO of the Year (2020) and CEO of the Year (2022) honors from Utah Business.
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