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Punch Bowl Social reorganizes executive team

New finance and operations chiefs to oversee further expansion

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

February 9, 2019

2 Min Read
punch bowl social exterior
Punch Bowl Social

Punch Bowl Social has named three new executives as the brand prepares for further expansion, the company said this week.

The Denver-based Punch Bowl named Peter Gaudreau as the 15-unit casual-dining and gaming chain’s chief operating officer. He succeeds Rob LeBoeuf, who has taken the new position of Punch Bowl’s president of organization development and strategic projects.

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Peter Gaudreau, Punch Bowl Social COO

Gaudreau most recently was COO at Snooze: An A.M. Eatery, which grew from eight to 34 restaurants during his nearly five-year tenure. Punch Bowl Social’s management said last year that it was planning to expand to 25 locations by the end of 2019. 

Punch Bowl also named Stacy Galligan as chief financial officer, succeeding Robert Cornog, who remains a shareholder in the company. Galligan most recently served as CFO of the 500-unit fitness center concept Pure Barre. Previously, she served as corporate controller for the fast-casual Smashburger brand.

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Stacy Galligan, Punch Bowl Social CFO

In other executive changes, Punch Bowl named Linda Sim to the new position of executive vice president of sales. Most recently she was vice president of sales and event for concert venue operator Live Nation Entertainment. She also worked in the events and marketing team for energy drink company Red Bull North America.

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Linda Sim, executive vice president of sales at Punch Bowl Social

“We are at a pivotal moment in Punch Bowl Social’s history,” said Robert Thompson, the company’s CEO, in a statement. “The addition of these three top industry leaders positions the company to accelerate our revenue growth. We’ve built an executive team that has a proven record of success, an unwavering commitment to the Punch Bowl Social brand and a clear vision for the future of our company.”

The new appointments came after the company named Sheamus Feeley as its chief culinary and beverage officer.

Last year, Nation’s Restaurant News named Punch Bowl Social a Hot Concept for its imaginative brand positioning and growth potential.

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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