“Roger has done several projects for Wendy’s and has done exemplary work. He has a strong culinary background, but also knows operations which is a unique skill set. He has been very valuable to us. He is dependable, honest, and extremely thorough, and I would recommend him highly.”
Gerard Lewis
Senior Vice President of Research and Development
Wendy’s
“Your work has helped deliver a new sense of purpose and clarity on how the brand better engages with the team, and most importantly, our guests through great food. You work has been over and above expectations and has made a real difference! I look forward to the opportunity to continue the association in the future.”
Ricky Richardson
Chief Concept Officer
Friday’s
“Boston Market leveraged the innovative culinary development abilities of Roger Kaplan at Restaurant Innovations to augment our small culinary team. Rogers abilities to assimilate into our team, understand the concept needs and develop concepts which were easily commercialized and executable at store level were invaluable. His experience across all levels of dining concepts allows for creative ideation and cutting edge concepts.”
Richard Davis
Vice President of Research and Development
Boston Market
“We had the opportunity to have Roger Kaplan to assist us in recipe development and standardization in our new concept. I worked closely with Roger and can confidently recommend him to anyone in need of someone that can bring creativity and “real world” application to recipe development. Roger was passionate and totally engaged in understanding our concept and what we are trying to get accomplished. His follow up was timely and thorough.”
Nick Koustis
Director of Concept Development
Juniper Grill
“Einstein Noah Restaurant group has proudly used the services of Roger Kaplan for many projects in both R&D and operations. Roger brings a very creative perspective on menu innovation and understands how to develop products that our operators and franchises can incorporate into their stores with minimum impact to their operating systems. Having a small R&D team, it is nice to know that I have a resource in Roger that I can call on when I need professional start to finish R&D project help.”
Chad Thompson
Senior Director of Research and Development
Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Inc.
“…I was impressed with Roger’s ability to combine strong culinary skills with business acumen and operations know-how. The key in my mind to a successful restaurant is translating creative concepts into an operational reality, something that actually can be executed at the restaurant level. This is Roger’s strength. He has a keen sense of current food trends and is a gifted chef. But most importantly he has the operational chops of figuring out what will work in your particular concept…”
Jim Baron
Owner
Blue Mesa Grill
“Roger Kaplan was instrumental in the opening and operational development of our Rusty Taco concept store and no doubt that his efforts helped us to succeed well beyond our hopes and pro forma. Roger currently is sharpening our operations and improving our recipes as we prepare for a three store corporate expansion and four store franchisee openings.
Roger’s detail orientation and years of experience have enabled us to greatly shorten our own learning curve and eliminate much of the risk usually associated with restaurant start-ups. Roger understands business and his contributions are always logical and simply executable.”
Rusty Fenton
Owner
Rusty Taco
“Restaurant Innovations was instrumental in developing our core menu identity and conceptualization as well as leading our kitchen design prototype. Both helped deliver significant improvements in our overall margins and profitability. Roger Kaplan provided excellent hands-on oversight of the project from pre-planning through result analysis. I highly recommend Restaurant Innovations. They were a very valuable resource to our concepts development.”
Fred Meyers
Executive Director
CinéBistro
“Thank you for doing a great job for us! Your top to bottom review of our concept led to better systems and controls. Best of all, your out of the box thinking helped us to revise our menu to allow for better customer value and insanely craveable flavors. We look forward to a long-term partnership with you and Restaurant Innovations! Thank you so much!”
Bill Campbell
Owner, Executive Team
Planet Burrito
“Roger is one of those rare chefs that develops creative, on-brand products while managing the logistics of the innovation process. He delivers items that are highly appealing to guests; that kitchens can execute efficiently and profitably. He is a seasoned and well-rounded professional, bringing insights and contacts that are valuable.”
Stephanie Hoppe
Chief Marketing Officer
Bar Louie
“We at East Hampton love working with Roger Kaplan and Restaurant Innovations. Roger played a key part during the conceptualization phase of the original East Hampton menu, helping me cultivate an efficient as well as tasteful array of menu offerings.”
