Jessicah Pounds is Vice President of Training & Leadership Development for GoTo Foods, where she leads learning and leadership strategy across North America for the company’s portfolio of brands, including Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Schlotzsky’s Deli. She is responsible for building modern, scalable training ecosystems that enable frontline teams and leaders to perform with confidence, consistency, and speed in highly dynamic QSR environments.
Leading a team of more than 20 training and leadership development professionals, Jessicah partners closely with operations and brand leaders to align learning strategy with business priorities. Her work emphasizes frontline enablement through technology-enabled learning, leveraging digital platforms, data, and emerging AI-informed approaches to deliver personalized, just-in-time learning at scale. Known as a strategic yet people-centered leader, Jessicah is passionate about translating innovation into practical solutions that strengthen leadership capability, elevate the frontline experience, and drive sustainable performance across multi-brand organizations.
With inflation persisting, how restaurants deliver hospitality is often the key to whether a customer feels they got a good “value,” or not. And that starts with how you train, coach, and develop team members to deliver the type of service that stands out.
