Grounded

Go behind the scenes of one of the fastest-growing foodservice brands with Joe Gordon, Chief Supply Chain and Technology Officer at Krispy Krunchy Chicken. With experience at household names like Wendy’s, Portillo’s, and Smashburger, Joe brings a sharp lens to innovation, growth, and resilience in supply chain leadership.

In this episode, Joe shares how Krispy Krunchy Chicken is combining smart supply chain strategies with data-driven decision-making. From leveraging AI and managing vendor relationships to crisis planning and product consistency, his insights offer a blueprint for scaling with quality and agility.

Takeaways:
  • How building supply chain flexibility with multiple vendors allows brands to scale fast and stay resilient.
  • Why investing in AI and analytics gives operators real-time insights and smarter decision-making power.
  • What focusing on value-added work and critical thinking can do to improve team impact and outcomes.
  • How crisis planning and nearshore contingencies helped mitigate global shipping delays.
  • Why maintaining product consistency across locations is key to brand trust and customer loyalty.
Quote of the Show:
  • “I use the definition for value added as, does the customer see a value in what I'm doing? And if they don't, we shouldn't be doing those things.” -Joe Gordon
Connect with Joe:
Ways to Tune In:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@The-Grounded-Podcast 

Creators and Guests

Host
Lauren Mitchell
Lauren Mitchell is the Director of National Accounts and Custom Distribution at Produce Alliance, LLC. She is a dedicated fresh produce spend & spec maximizer for multi-unit national restaurant chains & groups. She gets to know your brand and infuses your expectation for quality, consistency and transparency to create more reliability in your produce category.

What is Grounded?

Join us as we engage with top tier producers in the foodservice industry to hear their perspective from all links throughout the supply chain. Here, we discuss brand development, company culture, global supply chain strategy, culinary innovation and leadership from folks who founded, operate or manage multi-unit restaurant chains. Each show is tailored around the guest to dig deep into their unique journey and how it shapes their current procurement strategy in order to aggregate the best insights toward the future of foodservice.