Dennis Lombardi
Foodservice Industry Consultant
For more than 30 years Dennis has done research on and consulted with restaurant chains. His experience and responsibilities include: directing research and analysis for strategic business planning, new concepts, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, operations, benchmarking, best practices, operations improvement, financial analysis and financing, market and consumer research, expansion planning, opportunity assessment, and litigation support.
Dennis presents for industry events and private groups of executives. He has presented keynotes at the Restaurant Leadership Conference, and the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference. In addition, Dennis speaks at major restaurant and hospitality seminars, conferences, and corporate meetings, as well as a guest lecturer at many top hotel and restaurant management schools.
A frequent resource for the media and analysts, he has shared his industry knowledge and perspective on national broadcast news and radio, and has been widely quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Nation's Restaurant News, USA Today, and Forbes. He has contributed expert commentary for a number of radio and television programs, including: NPR's Morning Edition, APM's Marketplace, The Today Show, FoxBusiness News, BBC, CNBC, WSJ MarketWatch, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and The Nightly Business Report. Dennis also has served on the editorial review board for Journal of Foodservice Business Research, and on the Advisory Board of the University of Central Florida's Chain Restaurant School.
Dennis is a former Executive Vice President with Technomic, Inc. where he led their restaurant consulting practice. Prior to joining Technomic, Dennis was a Senior Principal with Laventhol & Horwath, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants, where he was the Managing Director of the Midwest Region's Hospitality Industry Consulting Services. In addition, he has served as a board member for several emerging foodservice brands: Qdoba, a quick-casual Mexican restaurant chain, and El Pollo Loco, a California-based limited-service chain restaurant chain. He currently sits on the Board of Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy, a casual-dining Mexican chain, and Togo's, a quick-service chain. Dennis also provides counsel to several private equity firms.
Dennis earned a B.Sc. in Hotel Administration at Cornell University, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
At WD Partners, Dennis provides growth strategies and analysis for positioning new and existing concepts, and in addition, leads WD Partners' operations consulting group.
Operations Consulting Services:
Menu Rationalization
Due Diligence
Predictive Financial Modeling
Litigation Support / Expert Witness
Operations Enhancement
Growth Planning
Executive Mentoring
Consumer Research and Insights
Brand Positioning
Acquisition Search
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Contact Dennis
Learn more about the services Dennis provides and how to engage him to help your business.
About WD
WD Partners is a customer experience expert for global food and retail brands. The company helps food and retail brands innovate through strategy, design, architecture & engineering, and implementation services. Its clients include The Home Depot, Frito-Lay, Whole Foods Market, Best Buy, and ExxonMobil. For more information, please visit www.wdpartners.com.
