Webcasts

Moderator
Joe Carbonara
Editorial Director
Foodservice Equipment & Supplies

Panelist
Ed Doyle
President
RealFood Hospitality, Strategy & Design

With more than 35 years of hospitality experience, Ed has worked in some of the finest kitchens and foodservice operations across the industry, including a long list of award-winning and nationally recognized hotels and restaurants. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, his accomplishments have received equal attention in Food and Wine, Restaurant Business, restaurant development + design, and Food Arts magazines. Ed was recognized as 2021 Adviser of the Year by Golf Inc. magazine for his contributions to club and resort food and beverage, and in 2023, he was inducted to the Massachusetts Restaurant Association Hall of Fame for his track record of success and contributions within the hospitality industry.

A dynamic and charismatic leader, Ed’s role at RealFood Hospitality, Strategy & Design is focused on aligning his team to help achieve clients’ objectives. Ed brings his extensive operational and culinary expertise to the broad portfolio of clients that RealFood serves, leveraging his ability to understand and articulate vision, identify opportunities and implement highly effective foodservice designs and solutions.

The original founder of the company, Ed and his team have been serving clients and partners in a consultancy capacity since 1996. Today, RealFood is part of the Troon® family of brands and is positioned as a premier hospitality strategy and design firm, helping clients to define, design and deliver unique and memorable hospitality experiences. In addition to his role at RealFood, Ed also serves as the senior vice president of the Troon Food and Beverage division.

Panelist
Khaled Halabi
Director of Design
Cini-Little International, Inc.

Khaled is a proven leader in foodservice concept development and facility design with global experience in various market segments, most notably hospitality. As Director of Design, he is responsible for Cini-Little’s Northeast and Central U.S regions, and the Canadian region. Khaled brings a fresh approach to his designs, creating unique solutions that address both current and future client needs. He understands that a tailored design approach affects the success of the operation and encourages designers to integrate emerging technologies with the tried and true to deliver the best project outcome.

Khaled shares a solid fusion of international experience, coupled with industry education and training. He is a Senior Associate Member of Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI). Khaled holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Design & Project Management from Les Roches International School of Hotel Management in Valais, Switzerland, as well as an Associate degree in Food and Beverage Operations and a Diploma in Hotel Management, both from Les Roches. Khaled also continued his education at Parsons, The New School, in New York, with a course of study in Applied Science in Interior Design.

Panelist
Karen Malody, FCSI, MSW
Founder & Principal
Culinary Options

Karen founded Culinary Options consultancy in 1997 after departing Starbucks where she had been Food, Beverage and Menu Development Director. Prior to that time, she had been vice-president of Food, Beverage and Product Development for Larry’s Markets, an upscale multi-unit supermarket in Seattle, WA. For six years prior to that Karen was Senior Director of concept and menu development for Satisfaction Guaranteed Eateries, a multiunit restaurant group in Seattle, WA. Her efforts led to the development of concepts and menus for four new locations as well as the reengineering of three legacy operations.

Karen’s earliest foray into the foodservice world, after shifting her career from psychiatric social work to food, was establishing one of the first cooking schools in Seattle, which later also provided highly reputed catering services. During that time, she wrote a weekly food column for the Seattle Times and co-founded of the Northwest Culinary Alliance.

Karen has received the Excellence in Management Advisory Services from the Foodservice Consultants Society International, Top Achiever Consultant of the year from Foodservice Equipment & Supplies and the Industry Service Award from Restaurant Equipment Reports. She has been a featured speaker at multiple foodservice industry conferences, chaired FCSI’s Council for Professional Standards for six years and contributes articles frequently to various foodservice publications.