Ashenafi Tekeste

Ashenafi Tekeste is the VP-Food Service at Casey's General Stores. Ashenafi has over 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry, including previously serving as the Restaurant Profitability Manager and Regional Operations Leader at CKE Restaurants, Inc. from October 2017 to March 2020. In their current role, Ashenafi is responsible for leading and directing Casey's food service division toward achieving the overall strategic objectives of the company. This includes ensuring operational excellence through training, coaching, and influencing of franchise owners and their management teams; identifying and monitoring sales and other financial lines at the assigned level and working with franchisees on any operational opportunities; assembling financial and operational metrics and tools and integrating with the strategic blueprint of the franchisee and franchisor; acting as a liaison between a franchisor and franchisees and working to eliminate obstacles for the franchise operations; evaluating franchisees' operations and their ability to meet Casey's operating standards; conducting periodic restaurant inspections and providing feedback regularly; recognizing excellence and providing coaching on areas for improvement; supporting and evaluating enterprise and local marketing strategies developed by the Marketing Department; and upholding company brand standards such as quality, service, and cleanliness of restaurants.

Ashenafi Tekeste obtained a B.Sc. in Chemistry-Chemical Physics from the University of Utah.

Ashenafi Tekeste reports to Darren Rebelez, President & CEO. They work with Jaime Robles - VP Procurement, Jon Hostasa - VP Construction, Maintenance, & Facilities, and Tom Brennan - Chief Merchandising Officer.