2019 TechTable Summit

Justin Rosenberg is Founder and CEO of honeygrow, a fast-casual stir-fry and salad concept founded in Philadelphia in 2012. With a mission to create a unique, spirited brand focused on simple, wholesome foods, Rosenberg has led the company's creation and growth, which today consists of 27 units. 

Prior to launching honeygrow, Rosenberg worked as an Asset Manager and Manager of Energy Services for PREIT in Philadelphia, where he was responsible for purchasing and hedging strategies, energy costing, solar power development, capital budgeting, retail re-merchandising strategies and forecasting for a portfolio of over 35 national shopping centers and malls throughout the US. 

After seven years in the finance and real estate industry, Rosenberg decided it was time to pursue his true passions of entrepreneurialism, cooking and creative brand-building. Influenced by his recent adoption of a plant-based diet and his love for design and music, he drew inspiration for a concept set to differentiate itself from the rest. To prepare himself for this new venture, Justin staged at various restaurants from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. to gain further experience in kitchen operations, cooking, and leadership. 

In 2012, the first honeygrow location opened in the Rittenhouse neighborhood of Philadelphia, and Rosenberg’s vision catapulted to the next level. Since that day, honeygrow would continue to expand its unit count and team, with sights set for becoming an enduring, sustainable organization. The company has raised over $70 million in equity financing and has grown into the Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington DC and the New York City metro areas. 

Justin resides in the Philadelphia suburbs with his wife and three children. His passions outside of honeygrow include Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, cooking, all-things guitar, hiking, and surfing. He is a member of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s (CHOP) Corporate Council and a board member of the Common Market Mid-Atlantic. 

Michael Solomonov is the executive chef and co-owner of Philadelphia’s pioneering Israeli restaurant, Zahav, and the co-author of three cookbooks. He is the 2011 James Beard Award winner for “Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic”, a 2016 James Beard Award winner for “Best International Cookbook” and “Book of the Year” for his and business partner/co-author Steven Cook’s first cookbook, Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking, and the 2017 James Beard Award's “Outstanding Chef.” In 2018, Zahav was recognized by Food & Wine Magazine as one of "The 40 Most Important Restaurants of the Past 40 Years". In May of 2019, Zahav was awarded "Outstanding Restaurant" by the James Beard Award Foundation.

In addition to his duties at Zahav, Chef Solomonov co-owns Philadelphia's Federal Donuts, Dizengoff, Abe Fisher, and Goldie. In July 2019, Solomonov brought another slice of Israeli food culture to Philadelphia with K'Far, an Israeli bakery & café. By the end of 2019, the pair will also open Merkaz, an Israeli sandwich shop – and Laser Wolf, an Israeli shipudiya restaurant – both in Philadelphia. Since 2017, Solomonov and the Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) are partners in championing Israel’s extraordinarily diverse and vibrant culinary landscape.

Marguerite Zabar Mariscal is the CEO of Momofuku. Marguerite joined Momofuku in 2011 as an intern. She took on design and communications for the group and was named Brand Director in 2016. In 2018, she was promoted to Chief of Staff and Creative Director. She became CEO in 2019. Marguerite has lived in New York City every year of her life except four majestic years in Maine.

Basu Ratnam is the founder of INDAY Restaurants which has three existing locations in NYC and three additional restaurants under development. In addition to his work at INDAY, he currently serves as an advisor to companies in the hospitality and technology space. Prior to founding INDAY Basu was an investor at Sycamore Partners, a consumer and retail focused private equity fund and consulted at Bain & Co. where he worked with Fortune 500 clients in Consumer/Retail and Private Equity Group. Basu graduated from Brown University. INDAY combines Basu's passions for wellness, his Indian heritage and scalable businesses. 

Sarah Robbins, a founding partner of 21c Museum Hotels, oversees all hotel, food and beverage operations, as well as human resources. A natural leader with an innate understanding of the art of gracious hospitality, Robbins draws on her exceptional experience in restaurant management and consulting to lead team members and process for the company. 

Sarah has been with 21c Museum Hotels since 2005, having previously served as Chief Hospitality Officer. Robbins, along with the 21c Museum Hotels team, oversees the hotel and restaurant development process from design to operations – while ensuring a seamless relationship between each hotel and its restaurant. Under her leadership, the company’s restaurants have earned numerous accolades, as 21c’s chefs are among the best in the country. Chef Matthew McClure from The Hive at 21c Bentonville is a five-time James Beard Foundation Semifinalist for “Best Chef: South.” Proof on Main at 21c Louisville was named to Tasting Table’s list of the “Best Hotel Bars in America” and The Hive was listed on Eater’s list of “The South’s 38 Essential Restaurants” in 2017. She is an active member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, a James Beard Foundation Women in Culinary Leadership mentor and serves on the board of the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau. In 2015, she was a featured speaker at The Welcome Conference, and at the 2017 and 2018 FAB Workshop – a series of educational and inspirational workshops created by women, for women in the hospitality industry. 

Robbins began her career working for Myriad Restaurant Group at the famed Tribeca Grill in New York City, where she served in a variety of management positions. Robbins eventually left New York to return to her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky while staying on with Myriad. She continued her role as a project director and lead trainer for opening teams consulting with Noble Hospitality, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Destination Hotels and Interstate Hotels & Resorts, amongst others. Robbins was a part of the team that opened Proof on Main, ultimately accepting a permanent role with 21c in 2006. Sarah Robbins is a Captain (Ret.) in the Army Reserves and a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. She lives in Louisville Kentucky with her husband and two sons. 

Andy Hooper is a restaurant industry veteran with 15+ years of people, operations, brand and technology leadership experience. He has led diverse multi-unit teams for both domestic and international brands, responsible for shaping culture, product + culinary innovation, talent development and guest satisfaction + engagement.

Andy currently serves President + COO for &pizza, the anti-establishment establishment built on the renown of its creative pies and craft beverages, shop design and the unit of its ampersand-tattooed Tribe of employees. He previously served as Chief People Officer. Prior to &pizza, Andy served as the Chief Innovation Officer and Chief People Officer for Cafe Rio Mexican Grill, and earlier in his career he held a variety of leadership roles in HR for Burger King Corporation, both domestically and internationally. Andy holds a degree in Marketing and Human Resources from the University of Miami Business school. He and his family live on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.

Alice Cheng is the Founder & CEO of Culinary Agents, a professional networking and job marketing website designed for the hospitality industry.

Having spent 13 years working at IBM helping companies apply technology to solve business problems, Alice brings her experience into the hospitality industry to solve inefficiencies and gaps around talent sourcing and career development. Passionate about helping people build careers, Alice takes leadership roles in mentoring across all industries with a focus on helping talent succeed in their careers.

Culinary Agents is a website to find career-related information about the hospitality industry. The platform empowers aspiring and existing talent to easily discover and apply to the best jobs. Culinary Agents also provides job marketing, recruiting and employer branding solutions to help businesses hire the best talent.

Chris Cocca is Global Vice President of Digital at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. In this role, Chris and his teams are responsible for global distribution, ecommerce and digital product development teams, including Fourseasons.com and Four Seasons mobile app and chat. Before joining Four Seasons, Chris worked at Big Spaceship and Rogers Media in strategy and UX roles.

Elizabeth Dunn is a James Beard Award-nominated journalist who writes about food and innovation for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Entrepreneur, The New Yorker, and other publications. She lives in Harlem with her husband and two sons.

Jimmy Suh is the President and Founder of One Night, Inc. One Night was created to become the most trusted hotel distribution platform for both the hotels and users, alike - empowering independent hotels to maximize incremental revenue while increasing brand equity with its affiliation. For the users, One Night delivers innovative channels to discover and book independent hotels that offer unique stay experiences.

One Night launched in September 2016 with its One Night app - a same-day booking app selling distressed inventory for a curated list of highly sought-after independent hotels at great rates. The app is now operating in 18 cities.

Later this year, One Night will capitalize on the growing intersection of the social media and the sharing economy with a launch of a new online distribution channel. The channel is poised to disrupt the existing OTA’s and introduce the next generation of travel agents.

Jimmy previously served as the Chief Commercial Officer for The Standard hotels. Prior to The Standard, he has held executive positions with Loews Hotels, Kimpton Hotels, and was the managing director of The Private Label Company, a white-labeled sales and distribution technology provider for over 30 international hotels brands.

Executing Toast's mission to "empower the restaurant community to delight guests, do what they love, and thrive," Chris led the team in recent achievements including, but not limited to: becoming a finalist in the 2019 SXSW Interactive New Economy category, being named to the 2019 Forbes Fintech 50 and the 2018 & 2017 Forbes Cloud 100, Toast's listing as a "leader" in the IDC 2018 POS landscape, and, reaching number three on the 2017 Deloitte Fast 500 Fastest Growing Companies in North America. 

Previous to Toast, Chris has been an accomplished Executive and General Manager with an extensive background leading best-in-class SaaS, software and consulting organizations. Prior to Toast, Chris led all Customer Success functions with Acquia, spearheading the Acquia Experience during its continued high growth. Previously he led all client facing functions for Endeca (now Oracle) after a consulting career at well-respected firms such as Keane and Cambridge Technology Partners.

With 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Nick has played an important role in helping brands develop business operations and financial strategies. Through his career, he has focused on developing high performance teams and organizations. As Vice President of Finance, he is responsible for the oversight of finance, accounting, business analysis, human resources, information technology, security and interior design teams at Blackberry Farm and related brands including Blackberry Farm Brewery, Blackberry Mountain and Blackberry Real Estate & Development Companies. Nick also plays an active role in the administration and management of the Blackberry Farm Foundation. 

Prior to Blackberry Farm, Nick held multiple leadership positions with Ruby Tuesday in operations, human resources, finance and IT. He is a graduate from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a B.A. in Mathematics and an M.B.A from LSUS. Outside of work, Nick is an avid cyclist and craft beer enthusiast and enjoys spending time with his wife and children. 

Brita brings 15 years of investment, strategy and M&A experience within the food and food tech verticals. She is recognized as an expert on the food tech ecosystem and works with start-ups, entrepreneurs, and institutions. Brita’s comprehensive Food Tech & Media Landscape map and analysis on the sector is regularly used by participants in the space to understand the quickly evolving ecosystem. Before joining Better Food Ventures, Brita founded the food tech advisory firm Rosenheim Advisors, and previously was an investment banker focused on the consumer and media industries at ThinkEquity Partners, SG Cowen & Co. and Robertson Stephens.

Nicholas Miller is co-founder and CEO of events platform Gather. In 2013, Miller and his co-founders launched Gather to help restaurants, venues and hospitality groups make event management simpler and more fun. Under Miller’s leadership, Gather has become the ultimate growth engine for hospitality businesses of all sizes and now works with over 6,000 restaurants and venues throughout the United States.

Prior to founding and leading Gather, Nick worked at Bain & Company as a senior associate. Miller graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in philosophy and psychology.

Brad Hargreaves is the founder and CEO of Common, the nation’s leading residential brand enhancing the value of real estate through convenience and community with 27 coliving homes in six markets across the country. Before founding Common in early 2015, Brad was the co-founder of General Assembly, a global education institution with campuses in more than 15 cities worldwide. As part of the General Assembly founding team, Brad led the growth of the company's education business from its launch in 2011 into a global institution with over a dozen campuses. Most recently, he was a Venture Partner at Maveron, General Assembly's lead investor. Brad has been named to Vanity Fair’s “The Next Establishment”; Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30”; Business Insider’s “Silicon Alley 100”; and Crain’s 2017 “40 Under Forty.”

Bill Chait is the Managing Partner of S/III LA. He has been involved in the restaurant industry for more than 30 years during which time he has developed and operated over 20 highly successful restaurant concepts.

Through 2015, Chait operated as the founder and Managing Partner of Sprout LA, he was responsible for the development and the opening of several of Los Angeles' most exciting restaurants including restaurants such as Bestia, Petty Cash, Republique, Barrel and Ashes, Otium, Redbird, Sotto, Rivera, and the Rose Café and Restaurant.

After leaving Sprout, Chait formed S/III, a development company and investment vehicle for restaurants. As founder & CEO of S/III, in addition to his principal project, Tartine, he has partnered with Carl Schuster’s Cast Iron Partners. Together they developed The Fields LA, a food hall adjacent to the Banc of California Stadium, home of the new LAFC Major League Soccer team. The duo are also working on the restaurant at the forthcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax.

In 2016, Chait joined the wildly popular Tartine Bakery, co-founded by Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt, as a managing partner and investor. In this role, he is focusing on the next phase for Tartine and their expansion to Los Angeles, and additional locations in San Francisco and Seoul Korea. In 2018, he partnered with Michelin-starred chef Raphael Francois, to open Tesse, a French-leaning restaurant located in heart of West Hollywood. Most recently, Chait took on the revamp and new ownership of Church and State, one of the original restaurants lauded for helping to kick off the Arts District restaurant boom.

Chait and his restaurants have been featured in countless publications including, most recently, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Bon Appétit, Nation’s Restaurant News, Sunset Magazine, and Los Angeles Magazine. He is on the Advisory Board for OpenTable. Chait attended the University of California, Berkeley and is married and lives in Los Angeles.

Meredith Sandland is the Chief Operating Office at Kitchen United. Prior to joining Kitchen United, Meredith Sandland was the Chief Development Officer for Taco Bell, a division of Yum! Brands. In that role, she added more than $1 billion in sales to the system through the addition of 1,000 restaurants. She was responsible for concept, franchise sales, expansion strategy, market planning, real estate, architecture, construction, and maintenance. She also led International Development Strategy and overall Brand Strategy in other roles during her tenure at Taco Bell. Previously, Meredith worked for more than a decade for Bain & Company, specializing in Private Equity due diligence and post-acquisition alignment of management teams and owners.

Max Goldberg is co-owner of Strategic Hospitality, the company responsible for dynamic destinations across Nashville, including Merchants, The Patterson House, The Catbird Seat, Pinewood Social,The Band Box located in First Tennessee Park, Bastion, Henrietta Red, Downtown Sporting Club, and newly opened Locust. Strategic Hospitality recently announced a partnership with Airport Restaurant Concepts in which the company will have a 5,000-square-foot presence within the massive overhaul to Nashville International Airport’s ‘BNA Vision’, expected to open in 2023. Strategic Hospitality was created in 2006 as a modest company of two and has grown to a thriving hospitality group employing over 500 people across each of its venues.

Max is active in the Nashville community by sitting on the boards for the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, Oz Arts Nashville, theCommunity Foundation, and Habitat for Humanity Advisory Council. He is a member of the Young Presidents Organization, Entrepreneurs Organization, Urban Land Institute, a 2016 graduate from Leadership Nashville, and a member of the 2019 class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. Max was recognized as one of Forbes30 Under 30 in 2013, Nashville Business Journal 40 Under 40 2016, and Nashville Business Journal Power 100 in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

The Goldberg brothers’ nomination for the 2015, 2016, 2018, and2019 James Beard Foundation Awards for Outstanding Restaurateur attests to their entrepreneurial drive, innovative ideas, and focus on exceptional customer service within each of their establishments