Since it launched franchising in 2017, Coolgreens, the Oklahoma-based healthy lifestyle eatery, has been focused on building up its strong leadership team to support its new franchise model. With CEO Robert Lee at the helm, Coolgreens announced its newest leadership addition—Todd Madlener, Vice President of Operations.
For the bulk of Madlener’s career he worked with Red Robin, totaling more than 20 years with the brand. At the time Madlener joined the team, the brand was faltering with 100 locations. He was part of a team that re-energized the brand, which soon grew to become an industry leader with more than 400 locations and 22 franchisees operating 137 restaurants in the U.S. and across Canada. Madlener also worked closely with multiple departments within the Red Robin system, leading the brand’s audit to ensure Red Robin operational brand standards were being met across all facets of the organization. Throughout his final 10 years with Red Robin, Madlener was asked to support the franchise system as the Senior Director of Franchise. In the last few years in his role, Red Robin’s franchise system outpaced the brand’s corporate locations in sales and profit.
From Red Robin, Madlener went onto work with MAD Greens where he spearheaded the brands regional growth, and eventually partnered up with a large Red Robin franchisee, PB&J Restaurant Group, and worked in many supporting roles for the various brands the group represented including, operations, design and construction, training, and development.
Building on his seasoned experience of fine-tuning operations and leading franchise growth, Madlener is excited to make the next move to join the Coolgreens system, as the healthy eatery really makes it mark in the fast-casual franchise space.
“I am very excited about the opportunity with Coolgreens and get back into an underserved segment of fast casual dining—the salad segment,” says Madlener. “There are burger and pizza joints at every corner, while the salad and healthy concepts are underserved in the U.S. Coolgreens gives me a chance to get back in the segment and offer something different to franchisees who are looking to diversify their business portfolio or want to join the growing healthy fast causal segment.”
At Coolgreens, Madlener will be working directly with the operations team to fine tune daily operational standards, training and onboarding, improving guest experiences, rolling out a new catering program, and the list goes on. He will be creating policies and procedures for future franchisees as they partner with Coolgreens, ensuring franchisees are equipped with a strong model to follow as the new franchise launches into growth mode. Madlener will also be assisting Lee as the leadership team shifts its focus to a new prototype, continuing to value engineer and streamline the build, as well as put a large focus on equipment and technology trends, making Coolgreens one to follow in the segment.
“My experiences working with the incredible teams at Red Robin, MAD Greens, and PB&J have set the stage for this exciting new opportunity to get into a brand during the initial stages of franchising, helping to build an infrastructure and culture where people and partnerships come first,” adds Madlener. “Coolgreens has a menu that is different from what is already out there, serving great salads while also offering hot items such as sandwiches and flatbreads. I am excited to continue to support the brand and franchisees as they come on board, without driving up costs or complexity, so our franchisees can focus on supporting their teams and guests in world class fashion.”
“As we build momentum for 2019, it’s crucial to have the right people supporting the brand on our leadership team,” Lee says. “Todd has the proven experience taking brands to the next level and we are so excited to have him on our team as we head into growth mode. We are excited for what’s to come and taking the healthy segment by storm.”
