Bob Derian
Partner
Business Accelerator Team
Bob was born and raised in the Boston suburb of Watertown, MA and graduated from Johnson & Wales College in 1979 with a degree in Culinary Arts and then from Bunker Hill College in 1982 with a degree in Hotel/Restaurant Management.
He has over 48 years of experience in the food industry with over 20 years in hotels, clubs, cruise ships and restaurants and over 20 years spent in Corporate R&D in foodservice, retail and manufacturing and the last seven years as a Chef/Owner of a multiple award winning food truck and restaurant concept in Colorado Springs. From 2009 through 2016 he worked in various capacities managing the foodservice division, initiating, developing and implementing a strategic plan and developing new and successful products, concepts and platforms for RaceTrac Petroleum, a privately held, $9+ billion, 400+ unit C-Store chain. The last 3 concepts he developed more than doubled the overall annual margin for foodservice.
He has a life-long passion for food and his career has been all about developing the very best products or menu items from a craveable/flavor but, yet customer/guest relevance perspective. He has extensive experience in the product development process from ideation through testing to rollout. He has successfully developed retail and food service products and processes throughout his career and many of his products are still on grocery store shelves or on menus throughout the US, today. Bob have successfully led the menu development for multiple concepts simultaneously while managing teams for each and has extensive experience working successfully with cross-functional teams from Marketing, Training, Operations, Finance, Procurement and others. He is an inclusive leader and an excellent coach who is results oriented and self-motivated. Bob has also visited over 40 countries and gained valuable knowledge of cuisines and cultures to help him understand what makes food taste great.
He has over 48 years of experience in the food industry with over 20 years in hotels, clubs, cruise ships and restaurants and over 20 years spent in Corporate R&D in foodservice, retail and manufacturing and the last seven years as a Chef/Owner of a multiple award winning food truck and restaurant concept in Colorado Springs. From 2009 through 2016 he worked in various capacities managing the foodservice division, initiating, developing and implementing a strategic plan and developing new and successful products, concepts and platforms for RaceTrac Petroleum, a privately held, $9+ billion, 400+ unit C-Store chain. The last 3 concepts he developed more than doubled the overall annual margin for foodservice.
He has a life-long passion for food and his career has been all about developing the very best products or menu items from a craveable/flavor but, yet customer/guest relevance perspective. He has extensive experience in the product development process from ideation through testing to rollout. He has successfully developed retail and food service products and processes throughout his career and many of his products are still on grocery store shelves or on menus throughout the US, today. Bob have successfully led the menu development for multiple concepts simultaneously while managing teams for each and has extensive experience working successfully with cross-functional teams from Marketing, Training, Operations, Finance, Procurement and others. He is an inclusive leader and an excellent coach who is results oriented and self-motivated. Bob has also visited over 40 countries and gained valuable knowledge of cuisines and cultures to help him understand what makes food taste great.