Roger David is president and CEO of Gold Star Chili, Inc., an iconic Cincinnati business with two well-known brands in its portfolio of companies – Gold Star and Tom & Chee.
Roger leads a team of dedicated professionals working to continue to build the brand his father and uncles started more than 50 years ago. Since being named president and CEO, Roger has grown Gold Star Chili, Inc. to include Tom & Chee, the famous grilled cheese and soup restaurant chain that rocketed to stardom thanks to an appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank.”
Under his leadership, Gold Star has completed strategic updates to all areas of its business in order to drive success and growth for the next 50 years and beyond. A $25 million investment translated into a new restaurant look, menu and guest experience for its 80+ locations throughout Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Roger believes restaurant brands are built tableside and has advanced the companies training and development efforts. The company also made a deliberate investment into facility efficiencies in order to build environmentally-friendly restaurants, which pays off for its franchise owners who are realizing improvements in labor costs, energy usage and employee productivity. Gold Star is in the process of bringing those same strategies to the Tom & Chee brand in order to position it for success for years to come.
Earlier in his career, Roger served as CEO of national sports restaurant franchise Buffalo Wings & Rings; director of brand strategy at Brandimage, a brand design and consultancy serving fortune 500 clients; and vice president of marketing at Gold Star. He has served a member of the Cincinnati Parks Foundation board, ArtWorks Big Pitch mentor and judge, President of the Music Resource Center and Vice President of the Council on Child Abuse.
Roger holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Xavier University. He is married to Ceci and has three children: Liza, Alex and Margo.
LOCATION: Hall of Mirrors
MENU: Mixed greens with shaved carrots, crispy rice noodles, wasabi peas, & ginger vinaigrette and chocolate mousse – salad appetizer and dessert for all entrees.
Regular Entrée – Sesame shrimp with basmati rice, bok choy & yum yum sauce.
Vegetarian Entrée – Baked tofu with basmati rice, bok choy & yum yum sauce.
Salad Entrée – Marinated salmon nicoise salad with field greens, hard cooked egg, haricot verts, tomatoes, olives & herbed mustard vinaigrette.
