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Terry Ramsett- CEO -Founder Tram Foodservice Management LLC, dba foodbarz!

Terry Ramsett founded Deli-Time and proceeded to open over 50 successful Deli-Time restaurants in suburban Chicagoland. Mr. Ramsett exited Deli- Time in 2007 for personal reasons. During his 3 year non-compete, he consulted with restaurant chains in Hong Kong and China contemplating expanding their chains in the US. He went on to become the founder-CEO of TRam Foodservice Management L.L.C., dba foodbarz!, foodz! Corporate Catering & Events, coffeebarz! (Starbucks kiosk) and a new Micro-Market 24/7 cashless concept called grab n’ goz!, a commercial foodservice quick-casual restaurant chain which focuses its growth in suburban multi-tenant office buildings.  Prior to COVID, foodbarz  was operating a variety of their concepts at 13 buildings  and post COVID,has signed an additional 5 locations with various offerings that consist of either phase 1  or 2 menus. All locations that are temporarily closed will reopen once buildings repopulate.

B.S.- Indiana University in Marketing and Finance

Eddie Lou is Managing Partner of JEL Holdings

An investment holding company that focuses on early to growth stage technology and technology service companies.   Lou acts as a mentor, coach, angel investor, and board director to high potential entrepreneurs both experienced and first-timers.  Lou is a board director at, The Mom Project, Paro.io, Albert.io, Human Predictions, FoodBarz, and Chowbus.   He is an advisor or coach at Red Shelf, Lemon Light, Route, Popular Pays and Spark Equation.   He is an investor in Cameo, house Amp, Laws In Motion, Livly, Morae Global, Noodle Partners, and Supernova.   Exits include Cleversafe (sold to IBM for $1.3B), HomeChef (sold to Kroger for $700M), Hongfa (IPO), Alert Logic (sold to Welsh Carson), Factor (sold to HelloFresh for $277M), ShowingTime (sold to Zillow for $500M), Avail (sold to Realtor.com) and Archaia (merged with Boom Studios).Lou is also the Executive Chairman and co-founder of Shiftgig, the mobile app that connects people with business shifts. Lou grew the company from idea to 200 full-time employees across 13 cities serving 2,000 business clients and 30,000 hourly workers; he raised over $50M of institutional capital during a rapid growth period.  An experienced organizational leader with exceptional talent for meshing the right ideas with the right people, Lou is poised for a success story in Shiftgig. Formerly a general partner with OCA Ventures, in Fund I and Fund II, Lou invested in ten portfolio companies in software, consumer internet, and business services. As a board director or observer, Lou worked closely with management teams to scale their business, raise capital, and attract talent. Lou is also co-founder and board director of One Goal, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit that improves college acceptance and persistence by empowering urban high school students through a teacher-led 3-year fellowship.  In the past few years, One Goal has grown to over 180 staff members and a $20 million annual budget in large part due to the program’s success – 98% of program fellows get accepted to college and 78% are persisting.  Since its inception, the program has grown from seven students in one school to 13,000 students in 500 schools across 6 cities.

Lou received his M.B.A. in Finance and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in Saint Louis. He was recognized in 2010 as one of Crain’s Chicago Business’ 40 Under 40, in 2011 as Chicago United’s Business Leader of Color, and in 2012 as a Forbes Up and Comer, in 2015 as Techweek100, in 2016 as Crain’s Chicago Business’ Tech 50, and in 2016 as E&Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year Midwest finalist.


Mr. Schulson is CEO and a Director of Lunan Corporation and also the founder and CEO of Burrito Beach LLC and B-SMOOTH LLC.

Lunan Corporation is a fully integrated multi-unit restaurant company with disciplines in operations management, human resources support, financial/accounting management, payroll services, site selection, construction support, restaurant marketing, food procurement, and new concept development. Mr. Schulson is also the immediate past Chairman of the Illinois Restaurant Association, the former Chairman of the Chicago Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization.  Additionally, he has served on several corporate boards including HighTower Holdings LLC, Restaurant Technologies, Inc. and Peter Piper Pizza, Inc. Mr. Schulson holds a B.S from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and a M.B.A from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.

 

Gordon C.C. Liao


A life-long Chicago area native, Gordon is an investor, entrepreneur, operator and performer. Through Promise Holdings, a holding company he founded, Gordon is a co-owner and Board member of several companies including Hickory Farms, AKIRA, Maya Romanoff, Gateway Newsstands, IgeneX Inc., MVI and Chicago Switchboard. Gordon is also a former board member of the Goodman Theater, the Chicago Sinfonietta, and Co-founder of AAAIM, the Association of Asian American Investment Managers. Earlier, Gordon was a Principal with Private Equity funds Baird Capital and Reliant Equity. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Toigo Fellow and Founder of the Asian American Business Association. He received his BS from University of Illinois, graduating with Highest Honors and receiving the Bronze Tablet. Gordon is a published author and speaker on diversity in corporate America, and is also a published poet, produced playwright, spoken word artist and wedding singer.


Reena Kothari is VP of Operations at foodbarz

Reena started with the company in 2013 as a register/barista and worked her way into catering, accounting, marketing, and human resources for foodbarz. After 8 years within the company, she was promoted to VP of Operations. 

B.S. Psychology Degree- Northern Illinois University

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