Guidara was previously with Au Bon Pain for five years. Guidara led an extraordinary turnaround of the Au Bon Pain business through a chain-wide remodel program, expanded menu offerings and upgrades to the food and operational systems. The "new Au Bon Pain" harkens back to the concept's French roots with an urban marketplace format, abundant displays of food, and sophisticated stylish décor.

Guidara joined Au Bon Pain from the Wolfgang Puck Food Company, a national, multi-concept food service organization, where he served as President and CEO from 1996. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing the operations of both the restaurant and packaged food divisions of the company. Guidara successfully doubled the size of the chef-driven company during his tenure.

In his ten years as President of the Restaurant Division of Restaurant Associates in New York, the post he held prior to joining the Wolfgang Puck Food Company, Guidara developed and managed a host of fine dining and foodservice concepts including Savories, The Sea Grill, Tropica and Café Centro. In addition, Guidara oversaw dining services for such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Metropolitan Opera House and the United Nations, and for corporate clients that included Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Frank Guidara received a BS in Restaurant and Hotel Management in 1968 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Guidara serves as an advisor on the UMass HTM Board (Hospitality and Tourism Management), a trustee for the Boston Children's Museum, a director for the National Restaurant Association, a director for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association and a member of the Nutrition Roundtable for the Harvard School of Public Health.

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