GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Husein Kitabwalla, president of the Retail Brand Group LLC, Sodexo's award-winning retail restaurant development team, was appointed to the board of directors of the Fast Casual [Executive] Alliance (FCA) and will serve as chair of the FCA Education Committee. Kitabwalla leads the operations, sales and creative teams responsible for award winning concepts such as Pandini's and Jazzman's Café.
Founded in 2006, the FCA represents more than 375 leading companies in the fast casual restaurant market. FCA is dedicated to continuing the growth and expanding consumer awareness of fast casual restaurants, and supporting legislative issues to serve all of the restaurant industry. The FCA evaluates and recommends standards and practices, works to improve customer service effectiveness, and educates operators, associations, and media companies, as well as the wider business community, about the unique benefits of the fast casual restaurant business.
The FCA Education Committee's short-term goal will be to design value-added offerings such as webinars for FCA members.
"Our goal would be to give fast casual restaurateurs the opportunity to learn strategic business planning and operations through coursework created for their real-life situations," said Kitabwalla. "We envision an FCA curriculum that showcases fast casual restaurant best practices and fosters industry-wide growth."
Kitabwalla joined Sodexo in 1999. Prior to being named Retail Brand Group LLC president and senior vice president of Sodexo in 2007, he succeeded in cultivating the group's retail vision and establishing strong positioning within the food service industry as the vice president of brand development and operations.
