Contributors

Brih Aguilar

Dhruv Kohli

Dhruv is the founder of Boba Bhai, a Bengaluru-based start-up that is building India's first Bubble Tea and K-Pop Burgers quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain by Indianising Bubble tea flavours. As a forward-thinking business leader, Dhruv is also a Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2023 recipient who believes in learning from both failures and successes. 

In line with the entrepreneurial spirit, Dhruv actively supports emerging startups and entrepreneurs through his role as an angel investor at PointOne Capital.

Dhruv holds a management degree marked with scholarship achievements and a notable three-time inclusion on the Dean's Merit List at Western Sydney University, reflecting his dedication to academic excellence. Previously, Dhruv was a co-founder at Geezy, an AI-driven growth platform that he successfully helped bootstrap and built a 150 Cr ($16.m) revenue business in just two years, expanding to over 14 countries. 

In addition to his hands-on involvement in the business world, Dhruv is also a passionate public speaker who loves to share his valuable insights on topics including hospitality tech, the QSR Industry, and fintech for restaurants.

Gemma Manley

Gemma's passion is helping people and businesses achieve their maximum potential, managing risk on that journey. A master of sales and communication, she brings 15 years of experience across a wide range of industries, with a specific focus on ASX 100 C-suite clients.

Five years ago, Gemma co-founded Aussurity, an insurance brokerage, with her business partner. Aussurity specialises in providing tailored insurance solutions for the QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) sector, as well as cafés and restaurants, offering policies and support uniquely designed to meet the needs of these fast-paced businesses.

Beyond insurance and risk management, Gemma is also a certified Dive Master and qualified nutritionist—testament to her curiosity, discipline, and commitment to continuous growth

James McCarthy

James McCarthy is Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Flipdish, the restaurant technology company helping thousands of hospitality businesses worldwide flippin' thrive through its all-in-one platform. 

Since launching Flipdish in 2015, James has helped scale the business from startup to unicorn status, raising over $150 million in funding and a valuation of $1.25 billion. An entrepreneur and active angel investor, he is passionate about building world-class teams, supporting independent businesses, and driving growth through innovation. James holds a degree in Architecture from Technological University Dublin.

Jean Magalhães

From Brazil to Australia, Jean's extensive career in technology spans more than a decade. Building experience at companies such as Google and Xero, Jean has specialised in helping small and medium businesses thrive in the digital world. Currently, Jean is Hospo Product Lead for Square in Australia.

Jess Aloi

Jess Aloi leads the Go To Market team for Square in Australia, and is responsible for the growth and profitability of Square in this market. Jess is an enterprise leader, a change agent and a strong believer in the power of technology to help the hospo industry thrive in Australia.

Kari Hensien

As Senior Vice President of Quality Management at FranConnect, Kari is responsible for the overall strategy, vision and execution of RizePoint, FranConnect’s quality assurance software solution. Kari works to ensure RizePoint is a dedicated partner in helping customers drive continuous improvement to product quality and client experiences.

Previously Kari has had over 25 years of software product and customer leadership positions at Workfront, Optimum Energy, and Microsoft to name a few.

Kim Ang

Lisa Raymond

Lisa Raymond is a specialist retail and leisure property partner at Keystone Law with a particular focus on the restaurant sector. Her clients range from nationwide established brands to beginners in the industry spanning the sectors of fine dining, food to-go, patisseries, fun eating chains and sandwich bars.

Lisa assists with all areas of the sector from the development and letting of multi-use leisure parks to the buying and selling of restaurants and leisure property, leases, licences, assignments and management issues.

Luis Bastos

Luis Bastos is a data-driven strategist at Rapida, specialising in helping QSR businesses leverage their customer data. With expertise in data warehousing and AI-powered solutions, he empowers restaurants to apply machine learning models to get the most out of their data, optimise their operations, and build lasting customer relationships.