Corner Bakery CMO leaves to join Share Our StrengthCorner Bakery CMO leaves to join Share Our Strength

Corner Bakery Café chief marketing officer Diana Hovey is leaving to become managing director of Share Our Strength’s Dine Out for No Kid Hungry program, the nonprofit organization said Monday.

Hovey, who has been CMO at Dallas-based Corner Bakery since 2006, told Nation’s Restaurant News that she will start at Dine Out on Tuesday. Gary Price, president of Corner Bakery, a division of Atlanta-based Roark Capital Group, said the Dallas-based fast-casual chain is conducting a national search for a successor.

“I’ve been involved with No Kid Hungry from the very beginning, since the first Dine Out in 2008,” Hovey said, adding that she most recently served as co-chair of Dine Out’s 20-member advisory board with George McKerrow, CEO of Atlanta-based Ted’s Montana Grill.

“After spending 30 years in the restaurant industry, I don’t think there’s been anything I’ve been involved in that’s given me the passion and the happiness of seeing what No Kid Hungry has achieved,” Hovey said. “It excites me so much to see the potential.”

“Diana was an early adopter of Dine Out for No Kid Hungry,” said Debbie Shore, Share Our Strength co-founder, in a statement. “She’s played a key role in helping us grow it into a multi-million dollar program, and we are thrilled that she has joined the team. I have no doubt she will be instrumental in getting this program to the next level.”

Hovey noted that the restaurant industry is tight knit, and she’s excited to bring people together for the Dine Out campaign.

“There are few opportunities in your career when you can do something so impactful and something you are so passionate about,” she said.

“The restaurant industry is in the business of feeding people. That’s what we do for a living,” Hovey said. “But when I look at childhood hunger, I see that this is a problem that the industry can solve. We’re all competitive against goals and other brands, but as I get together with other marketing executives and CEOs in the industry, all those barriers drop. People can come together for something like this. It’s not polarizing. It really unites people.”

In her new role, Hovey said she will lead strategy for Dine Out and create “year-round efforts to really galvanize and bring together the entire industry,” collaborating with senior leadership of restaurant companies nationwide to join the September fundraising program. Participating brands include Arby’s, Bruegger’s Bagels, Bravo Cucina Italiana, Denny’s, Joe’s Crab Shack, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, La Madeleine Country French Café, Mimi’s Café, Restaurants Unlimited and Shake Shack.

Prior to joining Corner Bakery in 2006, Hovey led marketing at Brinker International’s Mexican concepts division and Macaroni Grill, and worked in several marketing roles at the former Carlson Restaurants, which owned TGI Fridays.

She is involved with the National Restaurant Association, chairing the NRA’s Marketing Executives Group, and served on the Technomic Advisory Council and Nation’s Restaurant News’ MUFSO conference executive planning committee.

Washington, D.C.-based Share Our Strength created the industrywide Dine Out in 2008 after working with a wide variety of independent fine-dining restaurants at “Taste of the Nation” events. In the years since, Dine Out has raised $28 million to support children’s meal programs. Last year, 11,000 restaurants nationwide participated in campaign.

“I think that number can grow exponentially,” Hovey said. “Every dollar raised connects 10 kids to nutritious meals. I think we’ve barely scratched the surface. Nearly 30 brands in the industry are involved with it today … and I think this can easily be 20,000 to 30,000 restaurants.”

Share Our Strength was founded in 1984 to work toward ending childhood hunger in the United States by providing nutritious breakfasts and developing families’ skills of shopping and cooking on budgets.

Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].
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