It is always a pleasure and a deep honor to get to know someone like Frank Guidara.  Unless you are in the restaurant, hospitality, or food service industry, you probably never heard his name.  Frank is the CEO of Uno Chicago Grill, formerly known as Pizzeria Uno. 

I first started to work with Frank as we were planning the pizza delivery for the 4th of July 2009 to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We contacted Uno's to help us with what will be the World's Largest Pizza Party for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We were very pleased to find out that Frank is a Veteran having served in the Army (1st Cav) in VietNam. 

Over the years, Frank has given very generously of his time working with Veterans groups here in the states, as well as trying to get pizzas delivered to the 1st Cav serving in Iraq.  Delivering pizzas to the middle of a war zone is a pretty tough assignment.  Fortunately, Pizzas 4 Patriots founder, MSgt Mark Evans (ret) (in picture on left with Frank) had two successful deliveries under his belt from 4th of July, 2008, and for Super Bowl 43 in February of 2009.  But those were for 2,000 pizzas, and we were tasked with filling an entire cargo jet - in the neighborhood of 28,000 pizzas!

Frank and the incredible folks at Uno Chicago Grill were not only ready to step up to the plate, but told us they would be honored to be the official pizza for this project.  Uno is currently celebrating 65 years since inventing the Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, so there was nobody better to handle a project of this scale and quality. 

Frank's story obviously doesn't end there, or for that matter, it definitely doesn't begin there.  Frank has had one of the most distinguished resumes in the foodservice, hospitality, and restaurant industry.  Prior to taking the helm at Uno, he was the CEO of Au Bon Pain, having led an extraordinary turnaround of the Au Bon Pain business through a chain-wide remodel program, expanded menu offerings and upgrades to the food and operational systems.  Before that, he served as President and CEO of Wolfgang Puck Food Company, a national, multi-concept food service organization. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing the operations of both the restaurant and packaged food divisions of the company. Frank successfully doubled the size of the chef-driven company during his tenure.

However, my favorite bit of history about Frank deals with his military service, both as a young man, and his involvement with Veterans support efforts today.  We see a lot of people on the news always ready to get in front of the camera and tout their great service to this group or that charity, and we instantly know that they are doing this for their own benefit.  Frank is the complete opposite.  He doesn't do all the great work for Veterans and their families because he wants or needs attention.  Instead, he quietly does things like supporting soldiers and their families, along with Vietnam Veterans.  When he was with the 1st Cavalry, prior to getting his infantry platoon, Frank's hospitality mindset led him to do unique things like sterilizing the insides of large munitions shells, packing dry ice in the bottom, and filling them with ice cream so they could be air-lifted to the troops serving in the jungle. He did the same thing with bacon and eggs for breakfast!

Frank will be going over with us as we deliver the pizzas to the brave men and women serving in the Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We are very proud to have him as a partner on this and future projects, but even more proud to have gotten a chance to work with him and call him a friend. 

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