Experience Built in Kitchens. Proven in Business.
Food Service Mentors grew from a career that began in hands-on restaurant operations and evolved into consulting, institutional foodservice, hospitality development, culinary education and business strategy.
Founder Damon Sheppard has worked across virtually every level of the foodservice industry—from kitchen operations and restaurant management to institutional dining, catering, concept development, financial planning, facility development and restaurant consulting.
His consulting history includes restaurants, entrepreneurs, universities, corporations, public agencies and institutional foodservice organizations. His professional résumé documents more than 40 restaurant consulting assignments during the company's earlier years as well as consulting relationships with organizations including Emory University, Georgia State University, Aramark, Kodak, Nabisco, the National Cancer Institute, the City of Atlanta and the City of Decatur. Consultant_resume
Today, Food Service Mentors combines that operating experience with financial, development and strategic expertise to help clients move from concept to opening, from challenges to stability, and from stability to growth.
Founder | Hospitality Consultant | Foodservice Operator | Business Strategist
Damon Sheppard's career combines culinary operations, hospitality management, entrepreneurship, institutional foodservice, training, consulting and finance.
He earned his degree in Foodservice Management and Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University and has continued his professional development throughout his career in food safety, operations, financial management, project management and hospitality education. His professional record also includes service as a ServSafe and ManageFirst Instructor/Proctor, membership in the Foodservice Consultants Society International, and training through the Institute of Child Nutrition. Consultant_resume
His career began in restaurant operations and progressed through positions including sous chef, food and beverage management, restaurant ownership/management, consulting and institutional foodservice leadership before expanding into business development and finance.
That combination gives us an unusual perspective:
We understand the food. We understand the operation. We understand the numbers. And we understand the financing and development required to turn an idea into a sustainable business.
A CAREER OF DOCUMENTED EXPERIENCE
Damon's work in culinary consulting was already being publicly recognized in the late 1990s.
A 1998 Atlanta Journal-Constitution feature listed Culinary Concepts as providing culinary education and training in the Atlanta market, demonstrating that the company's roots extend back more than two decades. AJC 1998
His early professional work also included participation with the American Culinary Federation. A 1999 issue of The National Culinary Review identified Damon Sheppard as the Southeast Region representative on the ACCESS ACF committee, an initiative focused on culinary education standards and curriculum validation. National culinary review
He was also a member of the Association of Collegiate Conference and Events Directors-International during the 2011–2012 period while working within the collegiate hospitality and events environment.
SELECTED TRACK RECORD
Food Service Mentors' experience includes restaurant concept development, operational planning, financial modeling, menu development, facility planning, training, turnaround strategy and business development.
Documented consulting and operational assignments have included:
Catfish Station – Atlanta
Managing partner and restaurant/nightclub operations.
Carifesta – Decatur
Managing partner.
Club Mirage – Atlanta
Business planning and facility design.
MVP Sports Bar & Grill – Decatur
Business development planning.
Hickory Hams Franchise – Marietta
Supported the opening of two franchise locations.
The Palace Nubiaan – Atlanta
Business concept and development.
Jalapeños – St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Quick-service restaurant business planning.
Bene Pizzeria – Lake Powell Resorts & Marinas
Grand reopening support for a high-volume pizzeria serving resort, campground and houseboat customers.
The underlying consulting history also includes corporate cafeteria planning, restaurant development, institutional foodservice and government-sector assignments. Contracts
INSTITUTIONAL & CORPORATE EXPERIENCE
Damon served as a Culinary Nutrition Consultant on several health and nutrition initiatives, including the Eat for Lifeprogram.
He is specifically credited as Chief Culinary Consultant in the Eat for Life Cookbook. emorycookbook copy
His work connected culinary execution with nutrition education, public health and culturally relevant food programming.
Georgia State University / Bringing It Home
Damon also served as Executive Chef for the Bringing It Home Program, a school-to-family nutrition initiative involving Georgia State University and Atlanta Public Schools.
A program recommendation describes him as a significant faculty contributor who brought culinary and nutritional knowledge into classrooms and communities and participated in an educational video series. GSU Dept Nutrition copy
The larger project focused on improving healthy food choices among children and families through nutrition education and family involvement. BRINGING IT HOME: CREATING HEAL…
Atlanta Public Schools
Damon's food and nutrition education work continued with Atlanta Public Schools, where he was identified as representing Culinary Concepts & Consulting for an education program focused on culinary nutrition. APS
City of Decatur
His work has also included community culinary education through the City of Decatur, including instruction in international cuisine, baking and wine education.
A City of Decatur Recreation and Community Services publication highlighted his culinary education, professional certification and teaching experience. Decatur Recreation Dept
COLLEGIATE & EVENT MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE
Aramark at Agnes Scott College
As Catering Director within the Agnes Scott College foodservice operation, Damon was responsible for menu development, catering and departmental operations.
His résumé credits him with:
800+ events managed
and
approximately $120,000 in additional annual revenue generated through improved service and operations.Consultant_resume
He also chaired foodservice sustainability efforts during the engagement.
Those experiences are particularly relevant today because Food Service Mentors understands both sides of hospitality:
creating the guest experience and managing the economics behind it.
CORPORATE & ORGANIZATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Over the course of his career, Damon and Culinary Concepts/Food Service Mentors have worked with or provided services involving organizations including:
Emory University
Georgia State University
Atlanta Public Schools
Agnes Scott College
Aramark
Nabisco
Kodak
National Cancer Institute initiatives
City of Atlanta
City of Decatur
Sherwin-Williams
American Culinary Federation
Historical business records contained in the company's files also document payments and commercial relationships dating to 1998, further supporting the longevity of the operation. Clients
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BEYOND THE KITCHEN
One of the defining differences between Food Service Mentors and many restaurant consulting firms is that our experience does not stop with food and operations.
Damon's professional background expanded into lending, construction financing, real estate analysis and business development. He served as a Certified Builder Representative with Countrywide Home Loans and later held finance leadership positions involving cash-flow analysis, credit underwriting, profitability modeling and construction financing. Consultant_resume
His mortgage and finance résumé also documents experience training loan officers and consistently generating approximately $1.5 million per month in mortgage fundings during an earlier phase of his lending career. DAMON SHEPPARD mtg new
That financial background now complements the hospitality practice.
It allows Food Service Mentors to approach a restaurant or hospitality project from multiple perspectives:
Concept → Feasibility → Business Plan → Financial Model → Facility → Operations → Funding Strategy → Opening → Growth
CONSULTING WITH MEASURABLE RESULTS
Our philosophy has always been that consulting should produce more than a report.
It should produce a result.
Damon's professional résumé documents foodservice financial, construction and business plans representing more than $15 million in projects during an earlier period of the consulting practice. Consultant_resume
His experience also includes resolving complex construction-finance issues, including clearing a $10 million builder pipeline through construction financing and completing financing associated with a $3 million hotel-related builder commitment in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Consultant_resume
This ability to connect operations with capital is now one of the firm's primary competitive advantages.
LEADERSHIP THAT CLIENTS TRUST
Technical knowledge matters.
Character and leadership matter just as much.
In a professional recommendation, Jon Milam of The United Methodist Children's Home described Damon in terms of:
professional competence, leadership ability and character.
Milam specifically cited Damon's ability to lead large staffs, manage food preparation for hundreds of people, maintain professional standards and stand behind commitments to clients and employees. milam recomendation
That philosophy continues to guide Food Service Mentors today.
OUR ADVANTAGE
We have operated restaurants.
We have managed institutional foodservice.
We have developed menus and concepts.
We have trained culinary professionals.
We have managed hundreds of events.
We have worked with universities, corporations and government organizations.
We understand construction and real estate.
We understand business plans and financial statements.
We understand commercial lending and capital structure.
And we understand what happens after the doors open.
That breadth of experience allows Food Service Mentors to see problems—and opportunities—that a consultant working from only one side of the industry can easily miss.
FROM CONCEPT TO CAPITAL TO OPERATIONS
Whether a client is developing a first restaurant, restructuring an existing operation, planning a multi-unit concept, evaluating a hospitality property or preparing a business for expansion, our role is the same:
Turn the idea into an executable plan.
We bring together hospitality operations, financial analysis, facility planning, development strategy and access-to-capital experience under one advisory relationship.
Food Service Mentors
Hospitality Experience. Business Discipline. Real-World Execution.