Dee Ann DeForest

Strategic hospitality marketing leader with expertise in elevating brand visibility and driving revenue growth through targeted marketing initiatives. Developed and implemented standardized operating procedures for sales programs, enhancing ROI across multi-site organizations. Trained high-performing teams and redesigned operational protocols to boost guest engagement and profitability. Created comprehensive training systems and consistent marketing playbooks for effective local execution.

• Drove exceptional sales and growth results. Served as SME to rapidly respond to declining sales in underperforming markets with a standardized marketing strategy, increasing restaurant sales to +4.7%, including improving struggling markets +1.7%. Exceeded restaurant growth goals by 2.3%, including contributions of $18M from group dining sales.
• Exceeded gift card sales goal by 25%. Imagined and created an e-commerce program that deployed a one-day sales promotion. Exceeded sales expectations and significantly contributed to exceeding a $1M goal by 25%.
• Optimized dining space to drive revenue growth. Identified ways to reconfigure dining space to accommodate large parties, resulting in higher overall occupancy and higher revenues.
• Launched online marketing strategies resulting in $2.2M in new sales. Identified new opportunities to boost the company’s online presence, including OpenTable, and implemented new marketing strategies. Assisted in the creative and content development to ensure proper execution of communication messages.
• Developed nationwide group dining program and field marketing programs. Collaborated with cross-functional teams to establish standard operating procedures for all group dining events. Created and delivered all training materials, reporting and marketing collateral to the field through all levels up to C-level executives on a weekly basis. Led training for field teams to enable and equip them to capture local business.