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About RZ


Restaurant Zone provides the best service, consistency, and expertise in the restaurant & hospitality space. Whether it's hiring talent or landing that exciting new job, there's a way forward – and we're going to tackle it together!

Who We Are

RestaurantZone helps companies hire and scale for growth. Focusing on helping deliver bottom-line results through its recruiting efforts. Resulting in increased sales, profits, retention, growth and happier teams & cultures.

At RestaurantZone our goal is to provide our customers with the best-in-class, customized hiring solutions. Our expertise is spread across restaurants, retail, food-service, hotels and the hospitality industry in the US & Canada. At RZ, you have the option of selecting from a variety of hiring options that get you actual results. We deliver hires that fit your culture but also perform and deliver bottom-line results, increased sales, profits and growth.

RestaurantZone was founded in 2014, and has recruiters who have recruited exclusively in these sectors for over 35+ years. Many of recruiters have direct operations experience, unique talent connections in this industry and have a deep understanding of industry trends and hiring challenges.

 

Meet The Team

Our recruiters have 50+ years of cumulative experience recruiting executives, corporate office, management, & hourly employees:

Matthew Rodgers, Chief Executive Officer

 
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Ken Benavides, Chief Operations Officer

 

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Sherry Brown, Recruitment Manager

 

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RZ ACCOUNT MANAGERS!

Greggory Skoch 

Account Manager

 
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Allison Rice

Account Manager

 

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RZ HOSPITALITY RECRUITERS!

McKenna Brewer

Hospitality Recruiter

McKenna joined the RestaurantZone in   2021 as a Hospitality Recruiter. Based out of the Bay Area, in California she has extensive experience in hospitality recruiting. She loves being able to match candidates with fantastic clients. Creating long lasting relationships has been the key to her success as a Hospitality Recruiter.

Since joining RestaurantZone, she has placed Executive Chefs, Sous Chefs, General Managers, and Assistant Managers. McKenna has worked with a variety of clients across the United States, from California, New York, Florida, Ohio, and a variety of other regions. Through extensive sourcing and outreach, she has developed a pipeline of candidates for a variety of positions such as, Director of Operations, Multi – Unit Manager, FOH & BOH Managers, Executive Chefs, Sous Chef, Line Cooks & Prep Cooks.

She is a graduate from Suffolk University in Boston, MA where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Associate’s Degree in English. While attending college, McKenna worked full-time at Bar Louie as a Bartender and Assistant Manager. McKenna’s passions are travel, animals, and her family.

Work with McKenna, email her at sales@therestaurantzone.com

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Maximilian Vlach

Hospitality Recruiter

Max joined the RestaurantZone team in July 2021. His love for staffing and recruiting was able to be met with his fifteen years of restaurant experience. Now he can use his industry knowledge and love for recruiting to find the best candidates for his clients. He is currently working with clients such as Pilot Travel Centers, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Applebee's, Tastes on the Fly, Condado Tacos, and more. He truly enjoys recruiting for all positions from Line Cook to General Manager to Area Supervisor, so long as he is getting people back to work so they can provide for their families.

Max graduated from the University of Colorado Denver with a Bachelor of Science in Audio Engineering. He is a musician at the end of the day, but comes from years of restaurant management experience between the states of California and Colorado. Taking that experience and translating it into recruiting has become his passion.

He currently resides in beautiful Bend, Oregon with his wife and children. He belongs in the outdoors and on his off time he is hiking, snowboarding, and fishing, but you will also find him cooking in his kitchen!

Work with Max, email him at: sales@therestaurantzone.com

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Whitney Armistead,

Recruitment Manager

Whitney has worked with Restaurant Zone since 2021 and has a passion for leadership and hospitality. Having worked in the hospitality industry for most of her career as a Chef and Director of Operation, recruiting for specific positions within the industry and creating relationships with the clients has been a key component to her success in staffing for the companies that she has grown with in her career. Within her time with Restaurant Zone, Whitney has worked with companies from fast casual, large franchise groups, and independent restaurants hiring positions from crew members up to key managers in both the back and front of the house as well as the executive team.

She attended Johnson and Wales University for both her Bachelor’s in Food Service and Hospitality Management as well as her Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership. This has allowed her to understand the nuances of hiring with the hospitality industry as well as understanding the leadership needs for large organizations with their upper management staff members. She also lives in the resort community of Vail, Co which has allowed her to learn much about the needs of similar high end resort organizations as well as providing an opportunity to enjoy all that the Rocky Mountains provide for recreation and fun. From volleyball, tennis, hiking with her dogs, and spending weekends paddle boarding on the lake, you will find her outside enjoying the sunshine in her free time.

Work with Whitney, email her at sales@therestaurantzone.com

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Jennifer Chen, 

Hospitality Recruiter

With over 15 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, Jennifer has had the opportunity to work in leadership positions for corporate restaurant environments and mentor franchise owner operators. She is not a stranger to all the field operations positions as she has had the opportunity to work from the bottom up. She has a deep passion for people and development.

Prior to joining The Restaurant Zone, Jennifer has held positions in QSRs as a Multi-Unit Manager, Training Manager, General Manager, and has extensive experience with new store openings overseeing recruiting, hiring, training, and developing associates into leadership roles or to successfully grow in their career paths. She built loyal clientele through friendly and professional interactions and consistent appreciations.

In additional to the Restaurant Industry, Jennifer has worked in finance, health and wellness, retail, and in administration as an Executive Assistant for C-level executives. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development with a minor in Business.

Outside of work, Jennifer is a life-long learner and family oriented. She loves learning about functional medicine and applies healing arts in her daily life. She loves a delicious cup of coffee or hot tea while appreciating nature hikes, strolls by the ocean. She looks forward to bringing her experience to make a significant impact in recruiting top talent for the hospitality industry.

 

Work with Jennifer, email her at sales@therestaurantzone.com

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Carolina Basave

Hospitality Recruiter

Carolina joined the Restaurant Zone team in March 2022 as a Hospitality Recruiter. She is new to recruiting but she quickly adapted to this fast-paced environment and realized hospitality is her passion.
 
She is a graduate of San Francisco State University where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in History with a minor in Political Science. Her experience in university and previous internship experience led her to hospitality recruiting because she is all about communication, building trust with clients, taking charge and going after what she wants. Her friendly personality and her drive for success makes her a great addition to the Restaurant Zone team.
 
Carolina is a friendly and outgoing person who enjoys life to the fullest. She resides in the sunny lands of Central California. Where she loves to hike and enjoy nature as much as she can, she loves to explore different cities (San Francisco and Paris are her favorites), visit art museums, new restaurants, baking pastries, and playing with her dog.
 
 Work with Carolina, email her at sales@therestaurantzone.com
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Joan Juele,

Office Administrator & Research Associate

Joan is from the Philippines and an Office Administrator & Research Associate. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Joan started working at RestaurantZone in 2015 and went from Resume Specialist and worked her way up to where she is right now.
 
She supports the recruiting team and helps place qualified candidates faster. Also, she handles the software subscription and ensures an exceptional customer experience through determining clients' needs, maintaining personal interaction with clients, recommending products, and answering inquiries.
 
Work with Joan, email her at sales@therestaurantzone.com
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Austin Breen

Hospitality Recruiter

"Be it small- the change we enact daily can be great still." Austin is devoted to improving the lives of Hospitality Operational Management and Associates alike. He has a keen perspective into this culture with over a decade of mentored, on-the-job learning from over 20 establishments, through stagiaires or employment. With a degree in Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management, he knows our industry's hardships, needs, and the people it takes to be successful. Utah native, Colorado resident, frequent flyer, and van dweller. Austin enjoys being outside and experiencing the cultures of new towns and people. He loves a conversation about food, treasure detecting, or even a litter mitigation debate. See, before moving to Colorado, Austin founded a Non-Profit 501c(3) for litter removal in wild areas called W.I.L.D (What If Litter Disappeared). He comes from a mixed family of adoptive and biological siblings. Fijian, Utahn, and Southern cultures in one home.

Work with Austin, email him at sales@therestaurantzone.com

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Lalaine Brounsuzian 

Hospitality Recruiter

MS in Leading Innovation and Change, she loves hearing about their experiences, career goals, and how they move to the next level. Lalaine loves to make a difference and be part of the success of an applicant. She chooses RestaurantZone because she gets the support, fun, and learning to become the best at what she does. Lalaine also loves reading, cooking, traveling, food and culture. She also aims to continue touching lives and making a difference for everyone crossing her path.
 
Work with Lalaine, email her at sales@therestaurantzone.com
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Francisco Medina Ceceña

Hospitality Recruiter

Francisco Medina Ceceña is an expert Sales Leader and coach/mentor. Has worked in the IT Industry as a consultant for twenty years, and developed a career in technical and commercial aspects. Additionally, Francisco has developed multiple courses and seminaries in technical and commercial areas of the industry. As an instructor, he has imparted over 15,000 hours. He also has implemented corporative programs which cover all areas of the organizations. He joins the TRZ team as a Senior Recruiter bringing all his expertise in HR to select the right resources for our client needs.
 
Work with Francisco, email him at sales@therestaurantzone.com
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RZ MANAGEMENT TEAM!

Joseph Pushnam 

Strategy & Operations Analyst Lead

 
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Cromwell Barredo

Project & Accounting Coordinator

 

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Companies That Trust RestaurantZone

Why Choose RZ?

  • We’re heavily focused on client needs. While recruiting for each and every one, our clients have similarities, every client has different specific needs. Our job is to understand our clients unique needs and develop a recruitment strategy that actually delivers & works for them.
  • RZ is an agency that has the best-in-class technology & resources to recruit for customers. We have a proprietary database of 770,000 unique candidates in the industry and access to over 250MM+ candidates with our technology, advertising and partnerships. This leads to clients having access to the best talent and many quality options.
  • Our team has worked & recruited in restaurants, hotels and hospitality. Working with a large traditional agency can be costly and many times they don’t deliver the candidates you need (or longevity, for that matter!). Many just send resumes, while at our agency you can expect quality over quantity (but still deliver quickly!). We send robust notes, background checks, but spend time doing our due diligence on candidates on behalf of our clients. Which yield in producing better retention rates and hires that last & deliver value for several years. 97.5% of the time RestaurantZone gets the  first-time hire correct the first time around. 
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Where You Can Find Us

RZ is a nationwide firm and operates in every U.S. state. Here is a short list of some of the cities we serve:

New York, NY

Los Angeles, CA

 

San Francisco, CA

Tampa, FL

Washington D.C.

Atlanta, GA

 

Dallas, TX

Minneapolis, MN

📞 Call 1-800-513-5096 

Ready to find your next Superstar?

Speak with a Recruiter to help you find the right solution today. Every client has a customized cost structure based on their business size, market, location, and unique hiring needs. Our team works to create a structure that can deliver maximum value, impact, and is cost-effective for our client. Please call 1-800-513-5096  or email contactus@therestaurantzone.com to request a detailed quote & contract.

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(800) 513-5096