Café Yumm! has promoted longtime team member Kimberly Ely to the new position of Chief Operating Officer. This strategic promotion is important to a three-year development plan that Beau Delicious! International, LLC (BDI)—the franchisor of Café Yumm! restaurants—is putting in place.
Kimberly Ely’s promotion to Chief Operating Officer will allow her to supervise operational initiatives in supply, restaurant operations, information systems, and administrative departments, as well as oversee the financial services at Café Yumm!. Ely will transition from her primary duties as Director of Finance by hiring a controller.
Since 2006, Ely has been employed by BDI, which owns and operates as Café Yumm! in addition to selling franchise restaurants and distributing proprietary fine food products to franchisees, grocery stores, and by mail order throughout the US. Ely’s education includes a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Oregon, completion of the Eugene-Springfield Leadership Program, and an MBA (management focus) from Willamette University. Her previous work experience includes quick service restaurants, retail, and banking.
Mark Beauchamp, President and Co-founder of Café Yumm! states, “Kimberly Ely was one of the first people I hired who didn’t work in our restaurants. We had an office with 3 people—myself included. Kim came on as part-time bookkeeper. With exceptional focus and sharp analytical abilities, Kim developed a bookkeeping team and drove many of our greatest projects and initiatives over the past 12 years. Kim has actively invested in her continued education, leadership training, and the development of those around her. She has put a lot of time and energy into managing the growth and well-being of Café Yumm!”
“Early in our business, my wife Mary Ann and I had to cover multiple positions. For example, I was dishwasher, marketing manager, and handyman, among other duties. Similarly, Kim has covered everything from bookkeeping and HR to filling in at our warehouse. It is wonderful to have outgrown those days with our continued expansion in recent years. With Kim’s new position as COO and recent strategic hires in facilities, operations, sales, marketing, and project management, I can focus on innovation, as well as restaurant and food development,” adds Beauchamp.
Kimberly Ely states, “My top priority is to help Mark execute Cafe Yumm!’s ambitious 3-year strategic plan guided by our newly formed Board of Managers. To do this, we will add new departments and key hires, while growing our franchising capabilities and adding new restaurants. Training and support initiatives are essential to our plan.”
“I aspire to bring more organization and build efficiencies through process innovation. I’m all about metrics. Helping Café Yumm! exceed industry benchmarks, while maintaining our unique focus on social and environmental aspects, will set us apart,” adds Ely.
Café Yumm! is an Oregon-based restaurant system, franchisor, and fine foods distributer founded in Eugene in 1997. Café Yumm! had two restaurants when franchising began in 2007. Twenty restaurants, both franchised and company-owned, have opened in the past decade (including one location opening later this month).
