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Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group names former Hewlett Packard executive Marissa Freeman chief marketing officer

The new CMO replaces Rani Yadav, who left in March

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

July 12, 2021

2 Min Read
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Union Square Hospitality Group has named Marissa Freeman its new chief marketing officer, replacing Rani Yadav.

Freeman most recently was chief brand officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprises, spearheading the launch of that brand as one of the companies that were created when Hewlett Packard split in two in 2015 (the other was HP Inc.).

Prior that, she was senior vice president for brand strategy at Time Warner Cable. Previously she held executive positions at several ad agencies, including BBDO, DDB and Deutsch LA, where USHG said she ran some of the largest and creative accounts and was known for “inspiring teams and greenlighting first-to-market ideas.”

Marissa_Freeman_.jpeg“I am thrilled to welcome Marissa Freeman as our new chief marketing officer at Union Square Hospitality Group,” founder and CEO Danny Meyer said in a release announcing Freeman’s appointment. “As we once again welcome guests to our dining rooms, meet new staff members, and even introduce some new restaurants into the fold, clearly communicating and sharing our purpose and brand story is more important than ever to our success. Marissa brings her entrepreneurial spirit, deep-rooted marketing expertise, and a true passion for extending Enlightened Hospitality.”

“Enlightened Hospitality,” is Meyer’s term for his New York City-based company’s style of service, which includes providing stable careers and advancement paths for all employees. Until recently, that included a tip-free service system that Meyer began rolling out in 2015, but ended up scrapping last July as he reopened many of the restaurants that were shuttered at the beginning of the pandemic.

Related:Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group lays off 80% of staff in wake of coronavirus-related restaurant closures

According to USHG’s web site, some of the new restaurants in the works are LoBall, a bar slated to open in New York City’s Flatiron neighborhood later this year, and Ci Siamo, an Italian restaurant near Hudson Yards, also in New York.

Yadav left USGH in March and is now at financial services software company Stripe.

Union Square Hospitality Group operates 17 restaurants, cafes and bars in New York City and Washington, D.C., including Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern and The Modern.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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