Denny’s CEO Kelli Valade on building a successful career by "coloring outside the lines"

Take-Away with Sam Oches

Nation's Restaurant News

Business, Entrepreneurship

2.5 • 15 Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Kelli Valade, CEO of Denny’s and Keke’s Breakfast Cafe. This is the second edition in NRN’s new Signature Series, which are conversations with some of the biggest CEOs in the restaurant industry, powered by The Coca-Cola Company. This interview is rolling out in two parts, and in this episode Kelli talks about her career, her leadership style, and the lessons she imparts to young and upcoming leaders in the restaurant industry — particularly women in foodservice. Kelli spent 22 years at Brinker before going on to CEO roles at Black Box Intelligence and Red Lobster, and she joined Denny’s as CEO in the summer of 2022. Along the way she developed a knack for building culture and connecting with teams, and she learned about the importance of raising your hand for tasks and responsibilities that may not technically be part of your job description.

In this conversation, you’ll find out why:

· If you see potential in someone, take it upon yourself to help unlock that potential

· You can go far in restaurants if you raise your hand for new opportunities

· Every leader needs a personal board of directors

· Culture is everything in building a world-class workforce

Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, welcome to Takeaway with Sam Okas, a podcast from Nation's Restaurant News.
0:14.4	I'm Sam Okas, editor-in-chief here at NRN, and this is the show where I give you an all-access
0:18.8	pass to the restaurant industry's most influential decision-makers.
0:23.0	This week, I'm talking with Kelly Vallade, the CEO of Denny's and Kiki's Breakfast Cafe.
0:29.2	This is the second edition in our new signature series,
0:32.6	which are conversations with some of the biggest CEOs in the restaurant industry today, powered by the Coca-Cola
0:38.5	company. This interview is rolling out in two parts, and in today's episode, I talked with
0:43.5	Kelly about her career, her leadership style, and the lessons that she imparts to young
0:48.2	and upcoming leaders in the restaurant industry, particularly women in food service. Kelly spent
0:53.4	22 years at Brinker before going on to
0:56.3	CEO roles at Black Box Intelligence and Red Lobster, and she joined Denny's as CEO in the summer of
1:02.8	2022. Along the way, she developed a knack for building culture and connecting with teams, and she
1:09.3	learned about the importance of raising your hand for
1:12.3	tasks and responsibilities that may not technically be a part of your job description.
1:17.3	In this first part of the interview, you will learn more about why you should take it upon
1:20.9	yourself to help unlock potential if you see it in someone, why you can go far in restaurants
1:26.7	if you raise your hand for new opportunities,
1:29.3	and why culture is everything in building a world-class workforce.
1:33.3	Tomorrow, we will dive deeper into the Denny's and Kiki's Breakfast Cafe businesses in particular,
1:38.3	and how Kelly and her team are working to ensure that Denny's can be America's Diner for today's America.
1:45.0	As always, be sure to like and subscribe to take away on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen
1:49.8	to podcasts.
	...

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