Kate Unger Email and Phone Number

Experiencing 15 years most recently on the corporate/Franchisor side of the restaurant (QSR) business at Kahala Brands, then two years more consulting for both corporate and Franchisee groups, I wanted to round out my career by having this next chapter spent working on the Franchisee side of the business. I’m privileged to have consulted for, and now serve currently as VP of Marketing for, a multi-state owner of Popeyes, Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s & CoreLife Eatery restaurants in Tennessee, Arizona and 10 additional states throughout the Midwest.

Deciding to move on from a robust and fulfilling 15-year (QSR) career leading Marketing at Kahala Brands, I chose to take my marketing experience on the road for two years — affording me the opportunity to work with many amazingly talented marketing teams and companies along the way (mainly within the restaurant / food & beverage industry. ) The ability to wear different hats and to have the chance to contribute to multiple companies at one time, and all with varying levels of marketing needs, was both challenging each week and highly rewarding. Having the privilege of going in and out of different organizations and quickly seeing / learning what works and what doesn’t had many positives, but I knew that I missed the power, synergy and results that come from collaborating, strategizing and executing upon a shared vision with a set Marketing team and company — long-term. When a position was offered to head up marketing efforts within a QSR-based company I recently began consulting for, I knew it was time to leave consulting behind and establish some new brand roots.

Serving at the marketing helm of Kahala Brands (Cold Stone Creamery, Pinkberry & more) as Sr. Vice President of Marketing, I was both extremely fortunate and humbled to serve the thousands of domestic & global Franchisees of Pinkberry, Cold Stone Creamery, as well as the larger company as a whole, in a role that allowed me a front row seat to the day-to-day opportunities and challenges that come with marketing some of the world's most iconic and beloved brands. While I held a few very different marketing roles during my 15 years with Kahala, I most recently / notably served as Sr. Vice President of Marketing of the company beginning in March 2011, when I stepped into the head marketing role of Cold Stone Creamery for domestic and international locations - and the Pinkberry concept coming into the fold with Kahala's acquisition of the frozen yogurt brand in December of 2015. Overseeing Kahala’s portfolio of brands for so many years - even winning an Emmy for producing an award-winning commercial for Cold Stone - created an unbelievably strong foundation for me within the restaurant industry, I could never have planned for on my own.