Haven Hot Chicken has appointed Gretchen Bartkus as chief operating officer, overseeing corporate and store day-to-day operations as well as working closely on growth strategy.
Bartkus was previously a Starbucks Coffee Co. leader, having started as a store manager before moving to regional food specialist to handling category management, according to a press release.
“With more than 25 years of QSR experience, the entire Haven Hot Chicken family is excited to have Gretchen on board as we continue to quickly grow,” Etkin Tekin, CEO and co-founder, Haven Hot Chicken, said in the release. “Her operational and leadership experience at household names including Starbucks and Amazon, coupled with her culinary and foodservice background, provide our team with the perfect skill set at our young, but rapidly expanding brand.”
In her numerous roles at Starbucks Coffee Co. she led teams of up to 2,000 employees across multiple time zones and managed a portfolio of up to 100 business units. After departing Starbucks, Bartkus served as VP of operations at startup, Green & Tonic. Most recently, she was a logistics leader with Amazon, leading her team to deliver 92,000 packages in a single day during the 2022 holiday season. Bartkus holds a B.S. in food service management, A.O.S in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University, has Serv Safe certification and completed the WBDC Entrepreneurial Program at the University of New Haven.
“I am excited to join a company of enthusiastic, dedicated and hardworking team members,” Bartkus said in the release. “This role offers me the opportunity to come ‘full circle’ and apply so many pieces of my previous experience to the current operations of its three — almost four! — locations, as well as future openings throughout the region. I’ve been inspired by the culture and community I’ve already observed within this company as a whole and cannot wait to dive in and be a part of it!”
Haven Hot Chicken was founded in 2020 and has three locations (New Haven, Orange and Norwalk, Connecticut). Its fourth location will soon open in North Haven (146 Washington Ave.).
