“The restaurant industry is most rewarding when you are delivering hospitality,” says Regynald G. Washington, CEO of Hojeij Branded Foods, the largest restaurant provider of food and beverage at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He considers the keys to success to be “wowing the guest and developing, inspiring, motivating and educating your employees and management leaders to become professionals in this industry.”
Inside the world’s most traveled airport, Hojeji Branded Foods operates 20 restaurants representing 20 different brands. Across the U.S., the Atlanta-based company operates a total of 73 restaurants representing more than 45 popular and widely recognized brands in 13 of the nation’s top 20 airports. The company employs more than 700 food and beverage employees in Atlanta and spends over $13 million each year with local food and beverage suppliers. To build its restaurants in the Atlanta airport, Hojeji’s capital expenditures exceeded $17.5 million, helping fuel the state’s economy.
Washington has been involved with the GRA since its inauguration. He was the elected president of the restaurant segment and went on to represent the state of Georgia as a director on the National Restaurant Association Board; he went on to serve as Chairman of the Board.
Washington is a long-term, forward thinker who cares about the future of the industry. He has served on Georgia State University’s Cecil B. Day Hospitality Board for 15 years, promoting and working with education for our industry.
In 2015, he gave a $1-million endowment to the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality Administration at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business. The Regynald G. Washington Master of Global Hospitality Management program offers graduate student scholarships, allows for enhanced global experiences and provides expanded teaching technologies. “I’m very impressed by the quality of faculty, the structure of the academic programs and the courses and content,” Washington said at the time of the endowment. “But most importantly, I think the students are truly awesome. They’re grounded, respectful, hungry for knowledge and eager to learn about and grow in the industry, all of which are the attributes of successful hospitality professionals.”
A native of Marathon, Fla., Washington began his hospitality career at age 13 busing restaurant tables. After graduating from Florida International University with a degree in hospitality management, he joined The Walt Disney Company in 1997, rising to vice president of worldwide food and beverage operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. In 2010, he joined Hojeij Branded Foods as chief operating officer; he was named its CEO in March 2015. In 2007, he was inducted into the College of Diplomats of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the advancement and enhancement of the restaurant and food service industry.
This story first appeared on restaurantinformer.com.
