Russ Benson, Founder & CEO
As a nationally recognized hospitality executive, Russ brings over 35 years of experience and expertise in culinary arts, on-site hospitality programs, restaurants, hotels and, of course, consulting.
After graduating from Johnson & Wales University with multiple degrees in Culinary Arts and Food Service Management, Russ worked in the hotel industry for 5 years, primarily at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago in various department head positions.
For the last 25 years, Russ has been in non-commercial on-site foodservice where, for 10 years, he was a senior member of the MBNA America client liaison team managing a $40M dining & hospitality workplace amenity program. From there, Russ was a senior executive with a Chicago based foodservice management company where he partnered with dozens of Fortune 200 companies.
Since 2013, Russ has been an industry leading consultant having led complex projects for some of the biggest Fortune 100 companies in the nation.
Russ is also very active in industry associations. Most notably, he has served on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Society for Hospitality & Foodservice Management (SHFM), ultimately serving as SHFM President in 2006. Other notable accomplishments & recognitions:
- SHFM Board of Directors (2002 - 2007)
- Hennessy Traveler chosen to evaluate the United States Air Force foodservice program (2005)
- SHFM President (2005-2006)
- Recipient of the exclusive NAFEM’s Doctorate of Foodservice Award (2006)
- Past President of Johnson & Wales University’s Chicago Alumni Chapter (2010-2015)
- IFMA Chicago Board of Directors (2011-2017)
- Awarded the SHFM Richard Ysmael Distinguished Service Award (2018)
- Speaker, panelist and faculty member of the Foodservice Design BootCamp (2018 - present)
- Awarded the SHFM Spirit Award (2019)
- Speaking engagements at Johnson & Wales, SHFM, MenuDirections, FCSI, MAFSI, NRA, MUFES & IFMA
Amelia Shuja, Senior Associate
Amelia is a results driven professional with extensive experience in corporate foodservice and workplace programs. Her 26 year love of hospitality, centered around bringing people together over delicious food, encouraged her to round out her knowledge with a culinary degree. She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in 2008 and has built and implemented several successful large scale on-site foodservice operations.
Most recently, she was Manager of Business Services and Programs for Palo Alto Networks, with 8,000 employees worldwide. Prior to Palo Alto Networks, Amelia built and operated a commissary catering operation for Bon Appetit in San Francisco servicing Uber, LinkedIn, and Yahoo. This was a unique role in that she successfully managed employees between 8 buildings including a baking and pastry operation servicing 14 clients. One of her biggest accomplishments was her role as Chief Culinary Officer at Zynga. She started cooking lunch for 18 people, was innovative in the space, ending up with a team of 115, serving more than 7000 meals per day. This team hugely impacted the company culture via the immersive culinary and wellness programs that she built.
Amelia is constantly monitoring the food and wellness trends to ensure her programs are forward thinking and cutting edge. She enjoys taking on new challenges and providing sustainable solutions while taking great care to deliver the highest level of hospitality to her clients.