Food Service/Restaurant
Alejandro Garcia-Palacios
Title: President
Company: Café La Fortuna
Location: Hinsdale, IL, United States
A third generation coffee grower, Alejandro Garcia-Palacios takes great pride in providing his customers with a cultural coffee experience. He is the president of Café La Fortuna, a premium Mexican coffee boutique and producer that offers a wide range of fresh specialty blends and coffee beans, and also exports coffee.
Mr. Garcia-Palacios started the company more than a decade ago and has watched it gain a stellar reputation for its products and services. His company is recognized as an ambassador of coffee as it has a hand in exporting, importing and producing high quality coffee beans. Mr. Garcia-Palacios guarantees only the finest coffee beans are grown and roasted in order to provide customers with a delicious and unique coffee experience.
As the president of the company, Mr. Garcia-Palacios is responsible for overseeing daily business operations, including the operations of two production plants in Mexico and numerous boutique coffee houses in Chicago, directing sales initiatives, supply chain management, business development and customer relations, and serving as the company’s in-house roastmaster. He also markets the coffee and beans on an international and domestic level. Read the rest of this entry »
Denise Hoskin
Title: Owner, Distributor of Xocai
Company: MXI Corp.
Location: Ontario, Canada
After being approached by her friend, who knew about the company, Denise Hoskin made the decision to pursue a career with MXI Corp., a chocolate distribution company that sells chocolate, beverages and Xocai products. Ms. Hoskin believes in the products and is enjoying her work for the company. In her role, she is responsible for selling company items, following up with consumers, and focusing on products with high levels of anti-antioxidants.
Ms. Hoskin is a positive person with many goals that she plans to achieve. She believes that once an individual has a firm belief in one’s self, anything can be achieved. She feels she has been able to excel in her professional endeavors due to her consistency, follow-through, helpful nature and confidence. Ms. Hoskin takes great pride in her work and gets great satisfaction out of working with a diverse group of clients. An entrepreneur at heart, Ms. Hoskin would like to start another company and further her professional success. Read the rest of this entry »
Syed Absar
Title: Director of Operations
Company: Sbarro, LLC
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Syed Farhan Absar is a talented and results driven professional with more than 10 years of experience in leadership positions. He always loved the restaurant business and wanted to work on larger level. He worked his way up the industry’s ranks and has garnered a reputation as a strong leader who has a global perspective due to extensive traveling in Asia and North America.
Mr. Absar started as the assistant manager and moved up quickly in the company to co-manager and to his current position. In his role, he serves as the training manager, and works to hire and mentor employees. Mr. Absar also ensures customer satisfaction, designs and implements business plans, handles budgeting and forecasting, conducts inventory reports, works on the opening of new storefronts from construction to setup, sets contracts with vendors, and manages $1.7 million in revenue, and profit and loss at his location. Read the rest of this entry »
Joe Tutino
Title: President
Company: Vivere Express
Location: Quebec, Canada
In 1999, with the backing of investors, Joe Tutino opened his first establishment, Ristorante Vivere. He quickly realized that most individuals were always on the go and he decided to create a company that provided ready-to-go lunches without long lines. With that in mind, he opened a second express take-out restaurant that featured new concepts and a fresh look. Vivere Express was formed in November 2013 and provides customers with takeout food services containing foods with no preservatives or additives. All menu items are prepared using natural ingredients and are cooked to order to ensure optimal freshness, and come in biodegradable packaging.
The company caters to downtown Montreal, and offers fresh sandwiches and menu items, including illy coffee, produced by Illycaffè S.p.A. Mr. Tutino’s goal is to provide people on the go with quick and healthy breakfast and lunch options. “Backed by quality products, served quickly, and at a fair price – this is something that our customers will appreciate even more,” said Mr. Tutino. “The time constraints of a person’s typical work day provide us with an opportunity to offer our customers lunches that work within that normal lunch hour and even breakfast-to-go.”
As the president of the company, Mr. Tutino is responsible for overseeing branding, purchasing, logistics and the restaurant’s daily operations with the assistance of a team of managers and staff that has been with him for an extended period of time. While a major part of his job is managing the business, Mr. Tutino still enjoys using his creativity to develop fun and new recipes, as well as healthy and delicious salads. Read the rest of this entry »
Kimberly Lane
Title: Store Owner (Retired)
Company: McDonald’s
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Kimberly Lane was a second generation owner of one of the most famous and most popular fast food chains in the world. She began working for McDonald’s as a part-time employee after graduating from high school. Ms. Lane enjoyed the variety of being in an industry where each day is always different and made the decision to stay on and establish a career with the company.
For more than 12 years, she worked tirelessly to ensure her customers ate the highest quality food and that her business experienced profitability. Ms. Lane also improved the restaurant’s cash flow and managed the daily operations. She was successful in doubling her facility’s cash flow. Read the rest of this entry »
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