Former CEO and Chairman of Darden Restaurants, Inc., brings his business and leadership expertise to America’s first ever B2B and B2C restaurant nutrition digital health company
Clarence Otis, Jr., will join the board of directors of Healthy Dining, the leading provider of nutrition-related services and technologies to the restaurant industry and the creators of HealthyDiningFinder.com, the web and mobile site that makes it easy for consumers to dine out and meet healthy lifestyle goals.
Otis, former chairman and CEO of Darden Restaurants Inc., the world’s largest full-service restaurant company, joins Healthy Dining at a time of great growth for the California-based company. Otis also serves on the boards of Verizon Communications, Inc.; apparel giant VF Corporation; the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He is also a member of the National Board of Governors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the board of trustees of Williams College, the board of trustees of Cleveland Clinic and the board of visitors of Stanford Law School.
“I am pleased to be joining Healthy Dining’s board, especially at such an exciting time for this innovative company which has great potential to make a real difference for restaurants, their guests and for public health,” Otis said. “With consumer demand for nutritious meals on the rise and the FDA mandating the posting of nutrition information on restaurant menus,” Otis explained, “there is an imperative need for Healthy Dining’s expertise, products and services.”
“I am thrilled and honored to have Clarence join our board. He is a renowned leader in the restaurant industry – and has an admirable dedication to health and wellness, so he will be of great benefit to our company,” said Anita Jones-Mueller, president and founder of Healthy Dining. “We are in an exciting period of growth as we amplify our traction and help the restaurant industry best meet the nutrition-related needs of their guests through Healthy Dining’s expertise and new programs and technologies.”
Under Otis’s leadership, Darden Restaurants enacted several high-profile nutrition initiatives, including partnering with Healthy Dining and featuring all restaurant brands on HealthyDiningFinder.com; getting ready for menu labeling compliance with nutrient analysis services provided by Healthy Dining; and being the first restaurant company to make a pledge to the First Lady’s Partnership for a Healthier America to reduce their restaurants’ calorie and sodium footprint and to offer healthier children’s meals.
The Healthy Dining board is led by Jones-Mueller and also includes members Alan Gould and Jose Mallabo. Gould has spent more than 35 years in the foodservice and hospitality industries. He serves on the boards of the Multi-Cultural Foodservice and Hospitality Alliance and Johnson & Wales University. He was the publisher of Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN), the largest foodservice industry publication, and corporate vice president of Lebhar-Friedman, Inc., NRN’s parent company, until he retired in January 2008. Prior to NRN, Gould was head of the corporate public relations for Hilton International. Mallabo is the co-founder and CEO of startup Vireo Labs and has also held senior level positions at LinkedIn, eBay, GSI Commerce, Tweetalicious and Savannah College of Art & Design.
Healthy Dining’s signature web and mobile site, HealthyDiningFinder.com is the only search engine of its kind providing personalized dining out recommendations validated by Healthy Dining’s team of registered dietitians. HealthyDiningFinder.com features more than 4,000 menu choices from participating restaurants nationwide enabling diet- and nutrition-conscious consumers to find nutrition information and Healthy Dining options emphasizing healthful lean protein, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and unsaturated fats. HealthyDiningFinder.com also features a Kids LiveWell platform, a program developed by the National Restaurant Association to help parents find restaurants offering healthier meals for children.
With 25 years of nutrition-related expertise in the restaurant industry and hundreds of thousands of restaurant recipes analyzed for nutrient content, Healthy Dining is the most experienced restaurant nutrition services provider in the world. Capitalizing on the intersection of restaurant nutrition and digital health in the midst of growing consumer interest in nutrition, Healthy Dining provides technologies and services to hundreds of restaurant brands in “all things nutrition,” including upcoming menu labeling legislation, new gluten-free standards, heightened demand for food allergy identification and marketing of healthier cuisine offerings. Follow Healthy Dining on Twitter @DineOutHealthy and sign up for industry and consumer newsletters.