News

Salata promotes former CMO to president

January 15, 2019

Houston-based Salata Salad Kitchen has promoted its CMO, Michelle Bythewood, to president of the company. Bythewood joined the company in 2017, as its first CMO after serving as a brand consultant for Salata for a year. As CMO, she led brand management and strategy, national and field marketing, media, digital strategy, marketing technology and product innovation, according to a company press release.

"Since she joined Salata, Michelle has achieved numerous accomplishments that have strengthened our brand and driven our growth," Berge Simonian, founder and CEO of Salata, said in the release. "She has been an impactful catalyst for change. Michelle's leadership and endless talents will continue to propel Salata forward."

In her role as president, Bythewood is now responsible for management of operations, logistics, and creating, communicating and implementing the organization's vision, mission, and overall direction across all departments. With Salata's strategic growth initiative focused on franchise sales and restaurant openings, Bythewood will work closely with Salata's franchise sales team to determine opportunities for expansion into new and existing markets.

Bythewood's achievements as CMO include building an entire marketing team from the ground up, organizing and leading Salata's inaugural brand conference, and spearheading a number of initiatives related to Salata's restaurants and brand that will be unveiled in the first half of 2019, Simonian said.

Prior to joining Salata, Bythewood served as vice president of brand marketing for Cicis, senior director of field marketing for Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers and was a brand vice president of marketing for Schlotzky's/Cinnabon Express. Additionally, Bythewood is the founder and principal of Field Marketing Focus, a marketing consulting firm that leads overall strategy development while helping build partnership within communities, according to the release.

Founded in 2005, Salata has more than 80 corporate-owned and franchise locations in Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Florida, Georgia and Southern California and plans to open in multiple new markets, including Florida and Louisiana in 2019.