Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit

Speaker Spotlight: David "Rev" Ciancio, Salad House and more

Rev Ciancio, marketing and chief eating officer for Salad House, Crazy Pita, Handcraft Burgers & Brew and Branded Strategic, shares a look at his career, his achievements and industry trends ahead of his appearance at Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit 2025.

Image: Willie Lawless/ Networld Media Group

January 10, 2025

Today we're shining a spotlight on David "Rev" Ciancio, marketing and chief eating officer for Salad House, Crazy Pita, Handcraft Burgers & Brew and Branded Strategic. Ciancio will be a speaker at the upcoming Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit, which takes place on March 11-13, 2025, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He will be a panelist on a breakout session titled "Tech-Enabled Talent Acquisition and Retention in Restaurant Franchising."

We thought it would be fun to get to know Ciancio a bit better ahead of his appearance at RFIS.

Describe your current role.

I am the chief marketing officer of Salad House, a 20-unit fast casual health brand based in NJ. I oversee all marketing efforts for Crazy Pita, a multiunit fast casual Mediterranean brand based in Las Vegas. I am the chief marketing officer and co-founder of Handcraft Burgers and Brew, a quick service hamburger joint in New York City and I am also a hospitality marketing consultant. I helped both suppliers and operators with marketing.

What was your first-ever career role and what is one important lesson you learned from it?

Technically, my first ever career role in the restaurant business was a busboy at Victor's Novi in, and what I learned was it is important to show up on time, be a team member and work hard.

I also learned, and what I think is more important over time, is that everything in the restaurant business is figure out-able meaning there's no problem we can't get around, there's nothing we can't achieve and if you adopt a mindset of trying to figure out the best way to get something done with whatever resources you have, you'll be far better off.

What inspired you to work in your industry?

I love the story of restaurants and I'm very big on service and hospitality. My mother, when I was a kid, whenever I would get a good grade or she would get a promotion at work or something great would happen, wanted to celebrate by going out to eat and she really liked cheeseburger sliders, which my stepfather did not; so, my mom and I spent a lot of time celebrating things while going to restaurants to eat hamburgers.

So, I'm guessing that somewhere in there that implanted both my love of the restaurant business, spending time with family and also hamburgers and ever since then, I love the business I want to be a part of.

What do you enjoy most about your current role?

Being that my role is very multifaceted and I'm helping lots of businesses at once, I get to spend all day thinking about different things, solving different problems and ultimately that leads to me being able to help more people; so what I enjoy most about my current role is helping other people with their business goals.

What's a common misconception people have about what you do?

A lot of people think all I do is create content for a living. Creating content is fun and I do it often and it's a key driver of business for me, but it is only a small part of what I do.

Also, people think I have eaten at every single restaurant in the world, especially in New York City. While I wish that I could have eaten at every restaurant in New York City, it is a work in progress. I will get there.

What is one career achievement you're most proud of?

Honestly, starting and operating and maintaining a successful consulting business. When I got let go at singleplatform where I was A CMO due to Covid and then being purchased by TripAdvisor, I really thought I was on a path to continue to be a CMO. I started consulting just to try to make some money while I was looking for a job only to realize that the consulting life chose me and that this is what I'm most proud of. I wake up every day and I get to help lots of people with their business and that's more fun than helping one business with their business.

Who is/was your mentor and what's one important lesson you learned from them?

I have like 6 billion mentors, but I'm going to give you a couple.

Jeff Rohrs, former CMO of Yext. We worked together and he definitely inspired me to go outside of my comfort zone and to try things that I was interested in but not willing to do yet.

Josh Glantz, who was the CEO at singleplatform when I was the CMO. Lesson: sometimes you have got to find an efficient way to get things done regardless of what your capabilities or assets and resources are. Josh would find the black hole between two points and figure out how to draw them together.

My coach, John Shaw. Lesson: we do not make agreements with lack. If you use your mind to think about the bad things that can happen, you manifest them. Concentrate your thoughts on the highest good for all.

What industry trends do you think are currently over-hyped and why?

AI. All the companies that are trying to sell operators AI lead their pitch with "we are an AI driven, et cetera, et cetera." Let me tell you what, operators don't care if it's AI or not. Operators want a button that they push that either saves them or makes them time or money, and if it's driven by ai, great. Stop pitching that it's AI driven. Start pitching features and benefits.

What industry trends do you think don't get enough attention and why?

The importance and scalability of guest retention in marketing. Everybody is obsessed with marketing, branding, showiness and creativity, which are all super important and I do and I love, but the most scalable, easiest way to grow your business is to get every single guest to come back One more time. By the way, the secret is using email.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out in your industry?

Only join this business if you truly, truly, truly love restaurant operations, the plight of the restaurant operator and hospitality. If you can't wake up every day and be grateful for guests and you don't love the process of serving food, then this business is not for you. But if you actually love people and you love service and you love food and innovation and teamwork, then this industry is for you.

If you weren't working in your current field, what would you be doing instead?

I don't know. This is all I know. I did have a dream when I was a kid that I wanted to be a voice actor for cartoons, and sometimes I still flirt with this idea. So, if I could choose a path that I could automatically adopt tomorrow, it would be a voiceover for cartoons.

What do you do to have fun outside of work?

I'm an avid rollercoaster fanatic. My only bucket list item is to visit every single MLB park, and I love monster trucks and hanging out with my kid.

What's one interesting thing about you that even the people you work with every day probably don't know?

I came in third place in the Pinewood Derby when I was a kid. I sent the first promotional email blast in the history of the radio marketing music business. I have sung five commercially released chart albums. I have been featured in two number one MTV videos, and my spirit animal is Wiley Coyote.

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