Like so many in this industry, Chris Hellmann got his start in restaurants by washing dishes as a teenager. From those early days as a 15-year-old at Ponderosa to his final career chapter as Chief Commercial Officer at Restaurant Technologies (RTI), Hellmann’s career has been defined by a deep-seated passion for the “guts” of the foodservice business. With nearly three decades at Coca-Cola—where he famously spearheaded the global expansion of the Freestyle division to over 50,000 customers—and a recent tenure at RTI that saw the brand scale to 45,000 nationwide partners, Hellmann has become an expert in product growth and operational efficiency.
As he prepares to trade the boardroom for retirement equipped with a custom-built Sprinter van this April, Hellmann sits down with FSR to reflect on the staggering evolution of the industry, the current “margin compression” facing full-service operators, and the timeless lessons of building trust in the commercial kitchen.
Chris, you’re retiring this April after more than three decades in foodservice. How did you get started in the industry, and what has kept you here so long?
Well, I started working in foodservice when I was 15. I was a dishwasher at Ponderosa, and proud to say I worked my way up to Fry Cook. I had many restaurant jobs throughout high school and college and have always loved the pace and energy of the business. Fast forward to my first job at Coca-Cola. I started in the Fountain Division and spent most of my career at Coke working in foodservice—and was fortunate enough to work on the business all over the world.
Fast forward again to 2023, when I was introduced to the CEO and CPO of Restaurant Technologies. I immediately loved the culture, the people, and the product. Lucky me to be attached to the foodservice/restaurant business virtually my entire career.
What are the biggest lessons you took from working at Coke?
Coke taught me to never get too far away from the end consumer. Branding and product innovation have the best chance of working when you are consumer centric. It also taught me that foodservice operators are in the business of serving their customers…simple but really powerful if you are a vendor/partner in the foodservice industry.
Since joining Restaurant Technologies as CCO in 2023, you’ve helped the company grow to over 45,000 customers nationwide and further elevated the brand as a trusted industry partner. What has been your approach to driving that growth?
The great thing about Restaurant Technologies (RTI) is that the core value proposition is so solid. Managing the oil and fryer in commercial kitchens is arguably the hardest and messiest job. RTI’s approach simplifies that entire process from fresh oil to recycling used cooking oil. From day one I was a true believer in the process and the business model—so to answer your question directly, I think I helped sharpen and amplify this message. We have used technology to help us segment our customers and make our selling process more efficient. And, we’ve adopted a real “CUSTOMER IN” culture.
For our FSR readers specifically: How do you view the current state of the full-service restaurant segment? Between labor pressures and rising costs, what do you see as the biggest hurdles—and opportunities—for FSR operators over the next 5–10 years?
Margin compression. The cost of operating a full-service restaurant or foodservice outlet is staggering. Operators have seen nothing but steep increases over the last five years—from food cost to labor and everything in-between. In many ways, those costs were passed on through aggressive pricing and consumers have shown a great amount of tolerance for price increases. Until late 2024-early 25. Most industry data points to a time in early 2025 when consumers started saying no to the high prices and became much more selective in their food purchases. So that leaves operators with very high costs and an inability to take more price.
There are bright spots, however. As history repeats, those brands and concepts that have a very clear proposition, are differentiated, and deliver great quality can often survive these times and thrive.
You’ve successfully scaled products like Freestyle globally and Restaurant Technologies’ solutions nationwide. What are your core principles for scaling a product and building trust within the foodservice industry?
It’s important to be genuine and transparent. It’s the easy path to make a sale by telling prospective customers a partial story, especially if you don’t have full understanding their buying situation. The longer and ultimately more successful path is to do your research, build your products and propositions that really drive business or solve problems—real problems. At Coke, we helped operators make more money by selling more. We do the same thing at RTI in a very different way. At RTI we make the commercial kitchen more efficient, and safer—while delivering higher quality food. To scale products you have to have a real value proposition that works.
Looking back on 30+ years, what are the biggest lessons you’re taking with you into retirement?
a. Great things happen when you build great teams.
b. Take time to learn the guts of the business…how do operators make money, etc.
c. This business is fast, so be fast.
d. Be solutions focused, for real.
What’s next for you after April? Any fun family travel plans you’re looking forward to?
This one is easy. I’m going to spend time travelling with my wife; I’m building out a Sprinter Van. So, this could be the best or worst decision of my life. As far as work goes, I’m going to spend my time, energy and resources working with organizations that matter to me.
Listen to Hellmann talk about the role of automation in restaurants, tips to optimize your vendor relationships, controlling costs in the back-of-house, and more on this FSR Restaurant Innovator podcast episode from September 2024:
