Lauren’s expertise spans restaurant operations and development; brand licensing; franchising; and consumer product development. In her career as counsel and corporate executive, she has established franchise partnerships, licensing programs, distribution, and supply chains for food and drug companies globally, and has guided them in growing new revenue streams.
Lauren was the co-founder of restaurant development firm Origin Development Group. As the Operating Partner, she turned around 3 underperforming Chicken Salad Chick® units and built an additional 8 units in less than 20 months. Lauren oversaw the deployment of a $10M investment, managing all company operations and development. Less than 3 years after founding the company, she led a successful exit in Q4 2018 at over 5.5x EBITDA.
Lauren served as General Counsel for FOCUS Brands (A Roark Holding), parent company of such brands as Carvel, Cinnabon and Moe’s Southwest Grill, where she was responsible for franchising administration of six brands and 4,400 units, and directed dozens of international deals. She also formerly served as Associate General Counsel and Global Trademark Counsel for CIBA VISION, a division of Novartis where she was lead counsel of an elite team that successfully launched a $2B new contact lens product in over 140 countries.
