CMOs turned CEOs are trending across the restaurant industry, with brands including True Food Kitchen, Duck Donuts, First Watch, Primanti Bros, and more elevating their head marketers to the top position. Usually, the story of a CEO’s rise follows the same trajectory—a COO or similar operational background—but this is starting to change.

What is it that makes CMOs attracted to the highest level of a company, and what makes them so successful once they get there? For Duck Donuts CEO Betsy Hamm, it’s the cross-departmental exposure marketers receive within their roles.

“Being able to work with other departments and have a very integrated understanding of different groups [within the organization] is key for us as marketers, but the other piece is having the ability to get customer insight and use it,” Hamm says. “This is why we’re starting to see more marketing people in the biggest seat.”

Her journey began as a marketing coordinator for Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, where she climbed to director over the course of her 15-year tenure. What made her excel, she says, is her ability to adapt and change, a trait that good marketers are comfortable with.

“Marketing has changed so much and it’s so different … It’s more data-driven than ever and continuing to evolve, so I think we [marketers] have gotten so much smarter and strategic compared to 15 years ago,” Hamm explains.

Hamm never imagined herself as a CEO; when she joined the Duck Donuts team in 2016, she started off overseeing and growing the marketing team.

“I met with the founder, who was the CEO at the time, and he told me about his vision to serve doughnuts across the country,” Hamm recounts. “As a marketing person, it was like a dream come true, trying to figure out how to take this brand from scratch and make it a household name.”

It didn’t take long for Hamm to accept a job working with both the marketing and operations teams, acting as an intermediary for the two. When founder and former CEO Russ DiGilio stepped down in 2021, Hamm says he pinpointed her to be his successor because of her leadership philosophies.

“Asking questions and really trying to understand what’s best is why marketing people make good CEOs, and that’s always been my approach,” Hamm shares. “They [marketers] generally do what’s right for the customer and different teams, like operation and finance.”

Under Hamm’s direction, Duck Donuts broke growth records in 2023 with the opening of 23 domestic shops and 10 international locations and securing 34 franchise agreements. In 2024, the brand plans to roll out over 45 new units while sticking to Hamm’s original ideology, rooted in marketing basics: going back to the customer and knowing what they’re looking for in a brand.

Duck Donuts isn’t the only concept to hand-pick a CEO from its marketing team. In January 2023, Pittsburgh-based sandwich chain Primanti Bros. Restaurant and Bar promoted Adam Golomb, previously president and CMO, to the level of chief executive.

Golomb has always aspired to lead a company and broaden his experience in what he calls “the world of marketing.” He’s loved the Primanti Bros brand since childhood, and always admired it from a distance.

It wasn’t until a recruiter approached him for the role of CMO in 2018 that he realized how big the brand had become and the opportunities it presented to him. The only thing better, he says, would be a job with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he was much more suited to marketing.

“[Primanti Bros] is a storied Pittsburgh brand, and we used to call it the coolest job in the city,” Golomb recalls. “When I was interviewing, my mentor told me I had to be the biggest cheerleader for the brand … so my understanding and appreciation of the culture made it easier for me to take the job versus someone coming from outside the market.”

Hamm and Golomb both point to a marketer’s ability to be flexible and ask questions as the reason they make well-suited CEOs.

“Today’s marketers are so different than they were 25 years ago,” Golomb says. “Especially current restaurant marketers, who look through thousands of options and can figure out which one is going to drive business right.”

Golomb explains that a great marketer exhibits a blend of creative and analytical energy, constantly digging for a better understanding of what customers are looking for. Because of the speed of marketing and the instant judging capability of data, today’s marketers are more dynamic than ever.

“Marketers were never thought of for CEO until now,” Golomb adds. “But they’re showing that they can drive topline sales, look at data, interpret results, and start putting points together across the board. You’re seeing marketers given broader responsibilities on their way to the top … as part of strategic planning.”

In the past year of being CEO, Golomb has used his familiarity with the world of marketing to approach operations from a customer lens and position the company for profitability. Shaking hands with so many different departments as a marketer gave him wide-reaching experience in driving and implementing strategies within hours of their inception.

“Lately, it’s been a lot of learning for me, and transitioning into an overall leader on a broader scope,” Golomb says. “I still find myself going back in at times and doing marketing campaigns. But now it’s really about pushing the strategies forward and surrounding myself with a talented team.”

With Golomb at the helm, the 90-year-old company continues to grow its fan base outside of Pittsburgh and potentially into Baltimore, with four openings in 2023 and four more coming this year. He continues to use his marketing background to monitor guest receptiveness as the chain expands, and he continues to root for marketers within the restaurant segment.

“I think it’s great to see so many different marketers out there getting a president or CEO role,” Golomb says. “It’s happened to some of my friends in the industry, and it’s nice to see happening.”