Rita Ugarte

Rita Ugarte has over 28 years of experience in the restaurant industry. Rita began their career in 1992 as a General Manager for Hard Rock International, where they were part of the Groundbreaking and Pre-Opening teams for five restaurants in four different cities. In 2000, they joined Yum! Brands as an Area Director, where they supervised 6+ business units and achieved 5.2% sales growth. From 2009 to 2020, Rita worked at Mimis Cafe as the Director of Operations/Ops Services & Training. During this time, they led and directed 40+ managers and 500+ hourly teammates, and achieved 11% Manager Turnover, the lowest in the company for six consecutive years. Most recently, Rita has been the Director of New Restaurant Openings and Ops Excellence at Plant Power Fast Food, where they focused on Brand Standards through development and implementation of systems and processes to achieve consistent Ops Excellence in all restaurants.

Rita Ugarte obtained a Bachelor of Science in Strategic Planning, Management and Operations from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California between 1987 and 1991. In addition, they have obtained certifications from LinkedIn, Bob Evans Farms, Inc. - Ops College, The Ken Blanchard Companies, John O'Keeffe, ServSafe Food Protection Manager Instructor & Proctor, Yum! Brands, and more.