Brett joined El Jannah in early 2020 to partner with the founders in making the brand a strong national QSR player. Having transformed the brand, store formats and design, customer experience, technologies, governance and built a strong team, El Jannah is now growing locations across NSW, VIC and ACT and will look to expand significantly over the coming years across Australia. In 2022 the brand was recognised as QSR Multi Restaurant of the Year at the QSR Media Awards.

Brett was previously the Group CEO of Craveable Brands, leaving once he completed a successful sale from Archer Capital to PAG. Brett led the turnaround and transformation of the business, growing the network footprint domestically and internationally, significantly increasing network sales, franchisee profits, and group profitability.

Prior to this, he has held senior executive roles at the Star Entertainment Group, News Corporation, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Brett is a chartered accountant and company director, is married with 3 children, and loves surfing and running.

Chris is a seasoned industry veteran starting as a 14-year old with McDonald’s as crew in Sydney and spending 28 years progressing through the global system including roles in the USA, South Africa and Malaysia. After McDonald’s Chris moved back to Australia as the CEO of Red Rooster where he turned around and transformed the business. Red Rooster was the first traditional Quick Service
Restaurant to deploy a full service delivery model before the aggregators arrived in Australia.

A dynamic & authentic business leader with proven capability of leading large scale and high growth businesses, Chris became Hungry Jack’s CEO in 2019 focussing on making Hungry Jack’s even better and bigger. There is a key focus on developing the best restaurant teams in the industry, strong operations & marketing, with a particular focus on the Drive thru, Digital and Delivery channels. Many of the existing restaurants are currently being refurbished and extra lanes added to Drive Thrus. With currently 450 restaurants in all parts of Australia there is a rollout plan to increase the network to 600 restaurants in the next 7 years. The Hungry Jack’s system has developed a Growth Mindset & is fully aligned around the All Fired Up! Business Plan. The plan is guest obsessed with key menu enhancements including Jack’s Café Barista Coffee, Jack’s Fried Chicken, and a Plant Based Whopper.

Global executive with strong general management, strategic and operational skills.  

Currently the CEO of Retail Zoo, the parent company of Boost Juice, Betty’s Burgers, Salsas Fresh Mex and Cibo Espresso.  Overseeing the operations of close to 500 stores in Australia and over 800 globally.

Prior to Retail Zoo, the Chief Supply Chain Officer and Chief Marketing Officer for Skylark group based in Tokyo, Japan.  Managing over 3,00 company owned restaurants across 12 brands and 3 countries.  Played an instrumental role in taking the company public on the Nikkei stock exchange in 2004.

Prior to Skylark group, the Chief Operating Officer for Starbucks Asia Pacific responsible for the operation of over 3,500 cafes across 12 countries including China, Japan, South Korea and several South East Asian countries.

Ten years of experience consulting Fortune 500 companies in the US and Canada on business strategy, operations, and supply chain.

Proven track record working across multiple cultures and geographies in both developed and emerging markets.

Karen is a senior retail and consumer executive who has worked in some of Australia’s most iconic retail brands: Woolworths, BIG W, Caltex (now Ampol) and Rebel Sport. Karen has been a CFO, COO, GM of Strategy, Transformation and Replenishment and is now the Group CEO of Australia’s largest born and bred quick service restaurant group, Craveable Brands, who operate around 600 Red Rooster, Oporto, Chicken Treat and Chargrill Charlie’s restaurants. Karen is a CEW and ARA member, and is passionate about retail, people and diversity.

Sanjev is the Director of Foodservice at Circana, the leading foodservice market research company. In this role, he supports Circana’s clients and partners as an Industry Adviser. In addition to his work at Circana, he has over 10 years of market research experience in other sectors including social services, travel, technology, and FMCG.

Phil Reed is a highly successful CEO with a strong marketing background known for his ability to build great teams with strategic focus and cultural alignment. He has a proven track record of delivering sustainable growth and turning around businesses.

Phil has more than 25 years’ experience in transforming business and brands across Europe and Asia. Phil’s career spans some of the biggest names in the fast-food industry. He is currently CEO of Pizza Hut Australia, leading a strategic turnaround of 260 restaurants with 5,000 employees. Under Phil’s leadership, Pizza Hut has achieved a 100% growth and system turnover of $175 million.

In June 2023 the master franchise for Pizza Hut Australia was acquired by Flynn Restaurant Group, the largest restaurant franchise operator in the United States. Flynn Restaurant Group appointed Phil as Director of its International Business in recognition of his vast experience in driving QSR brand growth across global markets.

Prior to joining Pizza Hut, Phil was CEO of Burger King Indonesia, where he led an 18-month turnaround for a private equity investor. Under his leadership, Burger King Indonesia achieved record sales, guest visits and EBITDA growth. Phil has also previously held several leadership positions in marketing and management at McDonald’s Corporation, including as Chief of Staff and Senior Marketing Director of McDonald’s Europe.

Emma is a Consulting Leader focusing on technology transformation in KPMG Australia, particularly within the Retail and Food Services Industry.

Prior to KPMG, Emma worked with Genpact as the Australian Transformation Lead, focusing on large scale retail and consumer goods digital transformations.

Emma also previously worked for McDonald’s for 26 years, spanning roles from working in Restaurant Operations through to Finance and Technology leadership roles. This included her role as the technology business partner for the then Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region.

Ross is a Partner in KPMG Australia’s Cyber Security Practice with a focus on corporate businesses. He brings over 17 years of experience working in both professional services and operational roles, across the UK, Europe, Middle East and Australia.

He works with organisations to first identify the assets that require protection and the possible threat actors (attackers) who may target them, their motives and objectives. With this understanding Ross helps organisations to build the correct defensive cyber security and technical controls to best manage these threats and protect the business.

Ross maintains a deep technical interest in cyber and technology and enjoys working with clients to think about future opportunities, threats and how best to approach them.

Josh Ludski leads River Capital’s Strategic Investments business which takes a long-term view to investing in great Australian businesses (both private and listed). River Capital manages approximately $1B on behalf of Australian high net worth and family office investors. Josh is a non-executive director of portfolio companies The Cheesecake Shop, Cannatrek and Lightning Broadband. Prior to River Capital, Joshua advised some of Australia’s largest businesses as a strategy consultant for global management consultancy, Bain & Company, where he focused on consumer product and retail business, as well as private equity. Joshua holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University.   

Tom joined Barrenjoey in July 2021. He has over 18 years of buy and sell-side experience. Prior to Barrenjoey, Tom was an investment analyst at Firetrail Investments, and spent 11 years at Morgan Stanley including as Head of Consumer Research. Tom ranked #2 and #3 in the 2022 Peter Lee survey in the Food & Bev and Retail sectors, respectively, in both the Top 20 and All Investors segments.

Shaun Cousins is an Executive Director and Head of Retail & Consumer equities research in Australia. Shaun joined UBS in July 2021 following 20yrs at J.P. Morgan. Shaun has been Top 3 rated in Retail since 2006 and Top 3 rated in Food & Beverages since 2016 in the Peter Lee survey, including being #1 rated in both sectors in 2020. Shaun holds an MBA from the Judge Business School within the University of Cambridge and a B Com (Hons) and LLB (Hons) from the University of Sydney.

Maxine is Brand Manager at KFC Australia, where her expertise lies in marketing across the sports, social and music sectors.  As a gen Z herself, music is a key passion of Maxine’s -- and she’s been able to bring this passion to life through her work with KFC and its ongoing presence in Australia’s music scene.

Andrew joined Taco Bell as Chief Marketing Officer in July 2022, tasked with growing the Taco Bell brand across Australia and New Zealand. With nearly 20 years of marketing and advertising experience, he is focused on building a profitable and scalable business that sets up Taco Bell for long-term success in the region.  

Prior to Taco Bell, Andrew worked at Amazon Australia, Westpac Bank and led the MLA Australian marketing team for five years before that. 

Andrew has won numerous creativity and effectiveness awards locally and globally including Grand and Gold Effie’s as well as Gold at Cannes and AWARD.

Carlos Cacho is Chief Economist for Jarden in Australia. Prior to joining Jarden, Carlos spent three years as Australian Economist at UBS Australia, and previously five years at Colonial First State Global Asset Management.

Carlos holds a Bachelor of Economics, as well as a First Class Honours in Economics from the University of New South Wales. 

Shane has over 25 years’ experience in managing and driving growth for multiple MNC food brands across ANZ, Asia, Middle East & Africa. With taste, food, innovation, and multi-regional development at the heart of his career, Shane joined Subway® in 2022 and has quickly focused on driving brand growth and partner returns to ensure Subway® is set for the future.

Shane has multi-regional experience across commercial, operations and product development within the packaging, flavour and ingredient companies across multiple industries including QSR, retail and commercial. Having previously held senior leadership roles in two of Asia Pacific and ANZ’s major QSR food and packaging companies, Kerry Taste & Nutrition and Detmold Packaging, he is no stranger to change and growth.

The food industry has been at the heart of his career for many years and will continue to be with Subway®.

Olivia has worked in marketing for over 20 years, primarily within FMCG working with brands such as Kraft Foods, Kellogg’s, PepsiCo, and Thank You. Her career has taken her from the UK to Australia and New Zealand, as well as working across ASEAN.

Olivia made the move to Krispy Kreme and the QSR sector 3 years ago and hasn’t looked back. She loves the fast-paced nature of a daily fresh product, owning your own retail stores helps drive connectively to our consumer and the brand. With a 10 year plus partnership with 7E and recent expansion into BP and Woolworths Aus / Progressive NZ, every day is different and brings a new challenge.

With 12+ years experience in the media industry, Daniel has worked on some of the top brands in Australia, and the world, both at incredible creative agencies, and now at TikTok. In his current role as a Client Partner, he works with leading QSR, FMCG and tech brands to create and execute innovative campaigns that leverage the power and reach of TikTok. Daniel also leads the TikTok for Good Launchpad initiative, a global-first program empowering Australian NFP's, NGO's and agencies to build more entertainment that drives impact. Launching in 2023, this program provides guidance, support, and funding to causal TikTok campaigns that move the world forward.

Marty is currently the National Media Manager at McDonald’s Australia, managing the strategy and investment & effectiveness of McDonald’s media spend across paid and owned channels alongside owning the econometric modelling for the AU market. Prior to his move to the corporate sector, Marty spent 15 years in various media agency & holding group roles across investment, planning & strategy functions within Australia and Europe.

His life outside work involves supporting his country music singing, and current Female Artist of the Year, wife, and trying to wrangle his precocious 5 year old son.

Simon-Kucher is a global consultancy firm with over 2,000 employees in 30+ countries focused on unlocking better growth that drives measurable revenue and profit for their clients. Mitchell Taylor is a Partner based out of Simon-Kucher’s Sydney office. He leads the Consumer Goods and Retail practice within Australia, and the Restaurant practice across APAC. He specialises at working with clients in the Restaurant space to use levers like Pricing, Menu, Promotions and Customer Management to drive long-term measurable growth.

Engaging and captivating, Therese inspires audiences to think less and do more. With a warm presence and relatable style, she passionately speaks on various topics, including driving high engagement from your Franchise network, effectve multi-site leadership, transforming organizational culture, how decision fatigue and cognitive load, impact leadership effectiveness, and the power of working with founders. Therese has 20+ years experience in the QSR industry and is currently the CEO of Mad Mex.

Jessica is a young marketing professional with a passion for delivering unique and meaningful customer experiences. Despite being a relative newcomer to the QSR industry, she has cemented herself as a key member of Grill’d’s marketing team having played a crucial role in delivering their recent Barbie: The Movie partnership across a network of 160+ restaurants. Jessica specialises in relationship management and clear communication, and loves nothing more than an exciting new challenge.