Rachel Richal is the Vice President of Restaurant Experience and Training for Buffalo Wild Wings, part of the Inspire Brands family of restaurants. Inspire is a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 32,000 Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC restaurants worldwide. In her role, she leads the strategy of operations systems and processes, and training and development for both the company owned and franchise system. Her team’s goal is to operationalize initiatives and design engaging programs that improve performance, drive brand culture, and positively develops the team member experience.
Rachel began her hospitality career at 15 at a local restaurant in Miami. Growing up in a family in the wine business, food and beverage was always a huge part of her life. Prior to joining the team at Buffalo Wild Wings in 2019, Rachel led training and development for the Florida based restaurant chain, TooJay’s Deli and Restaurant. She is an alumnus of The University of Central Florida with a degree in Hospitality Management.
Rachel has a passion for giving back to the industry and has spoken on culture and team member engagement topics at a variety of industry conferences such as the National Restaurant Association Show, the Women in Restaurant Leadership Conference and CHART Hospitality Training Conferences.
She was recognized in FSR magazine’s Rising Stars list in both 2019 and 2024. She is a Certified Hospitality Trainer from the Educational Institute and was awarded Chief Learning Officer’s Learning in Practice Awards in 2021 for the Trailblazer and Innovation, and in 2024 for Innovation and Business Impact.
Rachel serves on the Advisory Boards for Women in Restaurant Leadership and the Next Gen Restaurant Council. She is actively involved in the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers (CHART), for which she is a Master Facilitator and served five years on the Board of Directors focusing on the education of hospitality trainers across the industry. She is a Past President having served as the President of the national training association for the 2022-2023 term.
Rachel currently lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband, Dan, son, Crosby and dog Rory.
