Dharma Southern Kitchen

After many years of gettin’ into trouble as a punk kid on a motorcycle, Shaun dove mouth first into the world of fine dining. He took orders from the most austere of chefs and meticulously plated little artsy things in Chicago, Orlando, Atlanta, and most memorably, Bulgaria. A few short phases later (including working in the kitchen of a Hare Krishna temple), he said his temporary goodbyes to the kitchen and hit the open road in an 18 wheeler, livin’ the trucker life. Trucking can quite possibly be considered one of the most vast research and development trips throughout the culinary realms of the American South, especially with home base being North Georgia. Once enough funds were saved, Shaun took on the first food venture to officially call his own: The Vegan Hot Dog Cart. It is iconic in Orlando, y’know… for drunk people. From there, after lots of dreamin', Dharma Southern Kitchen came to life in the form of a charmingly rickety trailer.

A forward-thinking restaurant executive and franchise expert with 25+ years of experience providing transformational and strategic leadership instrumental in building/growing world-class fast-casual/specialty-concept/fine dining restaurant chains, both domestically and internationally. Has driven multi-million dollar franchise operations, created strong organizational cultures, built high-performing teams, and established the right branding/ marketing strategies to rapidly drive revenues, catapult growth and achieve industry recognition. Served in both Company and Executive roles for Ruth's Chris Steak House and Another Broken Egg Cafe’ as well as being a franchisee for both brands.

A veteran of the industry since the age of 13, Darren has worked almost every position in the restaurant from dishwasher to district manager. Through his journey he became an expert in restaurant technology systems and shifted his career focus to providing support to the restaurants from the IT and Accounting side of the business. Darren loves the chaos and energy of the restaurant industry and enjoys meeting happy guests and team members.