33. Q&A with Tim Hackbardt, CMO of Del Taco
Thanks for joining me for this episode where I speak with Restaurant CMO Tim Hackbardt.Tim is a 25+ year restaurant industry veteran who has served 25 restaurant chains across QSR, Fast Casual and Full Service Restaurant categories. A few of these brands include Del Taco, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Rubio’s, Pieology, Steak ‘n Shake, Johnny Rockets, and Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que.He is currently Chief Marketing Officer for Del Taco where he oversees brand strategy, marketing and menu strategy. Del Taco (NASDAQ: TACO) is the second largest Mexican quick service restaurant chain with over 600 locations in 16 states.Previous to his role at Del Taco, he was the CEO of the consulting firm BrandTrip Partners. His firm served restaurant chains primarily in the areas of distressed turnarounds, brand reinventions and new restaurant concept development. One of his most interesting projects during this time was to develop a new pizza chain in the Middle East for a multi-national company located in Saudi Arabia. Today there are eight Turnstone Pizza restaurants open around the city of Riyadh.Tim is originally from Michigan and is a graduate of Central Michigan University with a BAA in Broadcast & Cinematic Arts. Today, he resides in the San Diego area with his wife of 31 years.When he is not eating for his job, he is usually burning off the calories training for endurance races. A 2X Ironman, and 5X 70.3 Ironman, he also enjoys ultra trail running and cycling adventures in the Pyrenees, Sierras, Rocky Mountains and Dolomites to name a few.Tim can be contacted and followed here:linkedin.com/in/timhackbardtwww.oldguywhotris.comhttps://www.facebook.com/oldguywhotrishttps://www.instagram.com/oldguywhotris/