Contributors

Brih Aguilar

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

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.

Nick Sargent

Nick Sargent is Head of ANZ Delivery Advertising at Uber Advertising, leading a team that looks after the business' QSR customers. 

With almost 20 years of strategic sales, advertising, and digital media experience, Nick is a seasoned leader in the industry. He spent the last three years establishing and leading the restaurants advertising business at Uber Advertising for Australia & New Zealand. 

Prior to joining Uber Advertising, Nick spent nine years at Google as the Industry Manager across the QSR, Retail, Tech & Telcos industries, leading Google partnerships teams for Australian enterprise businesses.

Nidhi Singh

Nidhi, Co-Founder of Samosa Singh, brings over a decade of experience in sales, business development, and corporate strategy. Before launching the company, she led Business Development for a US-based healthcare firm, where she developed expertise in global commercial operations and market expansion.

Driven by a passion for healthy, hygienic food, Nidhi left her corporate career to create Samosa Singh with the vision to modernize India’s snack culture. Recognising the cultural importance of snack foods, she aimed to provide accessible, high-quality Indian snacks like samosas in a clean, fast-food format.

Her experience has been pivotal in Samosa Singh's growth. Nidhi led an initiative that successfully reached thousands of customers in one day, driving both online and offline sales. With a focus on health-conscious, hygienic food, Nidhi's goal is to dominate the Indian snack market, blending tradition with convenience and quality.