Eric Coolbaugh

Background

About Eric Coolbaugh

A SEASONED & UNIQUE LEADER I am a roll-up-the-sleeves marketing leader with a passion for building counter-culture brands. Seasoned in driving growth for casual dine, fast-casual and QSR restaurant concepts, I’ve always been focused on finding new and meaningful ways to make timeless connections with Guests. I provide a unique blended approach to driving sales and brand preference that is data-driven, while also intrinsic to understanding the evolving customer. Back on the agency side with Nice + Company, I am in the unique position of being able to help lead our team to support restaurant marketers in whatever capacity they might need. PROPELLING GROWTH FOR MULTI-UNIT, FAST-CASUAL BRANDS By leveraging technology (Online Ordering, Loyalty, Digital Brand Representation) to drive brand engagement and loyalty, I’ve played an integral role in transforming underperforming brands to achieve double-digit growth. As a member of the agile but hungry leadership team at Freebirds, we successfully navigated the impact of the COVID-19 crisis with the rapid deployment of a robust digital delivery platform that included a streamlined, user friendly online guest experience, curbside pickup, and leveraged the third-party marketplace, all while making sure our front line employees felt as safe as possible in very uncertain times. Prior to Covid, I played an integral role in transforming an underperforming brand to achieve 4 years of positive sales, including 3 years of double-digit comps. Prior to being called back to Freebirds, while at Togo’s Eateries, I helped drive positive sales comps within a highly competitive and challenging franchisee landscape, successfully opening 3 new markets to record sales. BUILDING TEAMS THAT DELIVER As a transparent leader, I value, appreciate, and strive to understand people and their contributions. I lean on my years of experience to help pull the best ideas forward to not only help drive the company forward, but also the people. I’ve always placed a high emphasis on quality relationships, as I believe it leads to better work, understanding, comprehensive, execution, and ultimately job satisfaction and work-life balance.