ATLANTA – Krystal Restaurants LLC has named Alice Crowder as its new Chief Marketing Officer. Crowder, who joins Krystal from Tropical Smoothie Cafe, previously served as the brand’s vice president of marketing from 2014-18 before leaving to head menu strategy and innovation at industry leader Tropical Smoothie Cafe. She is returning to work with a new management team led by industry veteran, Tom Stager. “We have an aggressive growth plan at Krystal, and Alice will be instrumental in ensuring we meet our goals,” said brand president, Tom Stager, in a press release. “Her restaurant industry insight, especially with Southern brands, and layered on top of her packaged-goods leadership foundation, makes her uniquely qualified to bring our message to our guests, and to connect with them in new and more relevant ways.”
FORT MYERS – Chico’s FAS, Inc. announced that Nancy Johnson has been appointed SVP, GMM Merchandising and Design for the Chico’s brand and Dimple Rao has been appointed VP, Product Management. In this role, Ms. Johnson is responsible for the product, design and overall strategy for Chico’s, and she will report directly to Molly Langenstein, president and chief executive officer of Chico’s FAS. Dimple Rao will oversee “architecting and designing end-to-end customer experience” reporting to Jay Topper, chief digital officer of Chico’s FAS. Johnson has more than 30 years of merchandise experience and joins Chico’s from Macy’s Inc., where she served as executive vice president of private brands. Rao joins Chico’s FAS from SPINS. She also led UX and design for the consumer and floral business units at FTD. “Nancy is a results focused customer led leader with deep knowledge of product and sourcing and has built multiple brands successfully that have contributed to consistent revenue growth across an omnichannel marketplace,” said Molly Langenstein, President and CEO, in a release. “Dimple has a proven track record of driving customer growth, revenue and digital adoption using product design and development, customer experience transformation and marketing. ”