Portillo’s Names Denise Lauer CMO in Coordinated Push to Reignite Growth
Portillo’s appoints Denise Lauer as chief marketing officer, aligning marketing, operations, and technology to counter recent traffic declines and deepen guest connection.
Photo by Nataliya Melnychuk on Unsplash
A Timed Pivot at the Top
Portillo’s has named Denise Lauer its chief marketing officer, effective Sept. 22, a move that fills a key vacancy and meets the moment with precision. The appointment follows the departure of Nick Scarpino, who left late last year to become CEO of Giordano’s, and arrives as Portillo’s seeks to counter traffic declines in recent quarters. The timing is intentional: a seasoned growth leader stepping in ahead of the fall, with the rest of the executive bench sharpening to support demand-generation and customer engagement. This is a carefully composed reset—balanced in its focus on both immediate vigor and long-term structure. In a climate where every guest interaction matters, installing a CMO now suggests a thoughtful desire to align brand storytelling, value, and digital convenience. It reads as a nourishing choice for the brand: measured, coordinated, and designed to bring clarity to the way Portillo’s invites guests back, again and again.
Why Lauer—and Why Now
Denise Lauer arrives with over two decades of marketing and communications experience spanning foodservice and consumer product goods. Her career map—Informed Group, Morton Salt, PepsiCo, FedEx, and Eaton Corporation—signals a blend of enterprise discipline and category fluency. Most recently, she served as chief marketing officer at Marco’s Pizza, a remit that aligns with Portillo’s evolving need for brand storytelling tightly linked to commercial execution. With her start date established in a Monday announcement and her cross-industry tenure documented in public profiles, the choice underscores a pragmatic thesis: a leader who can translate broad-scale expertise into restaurant-ready programs. It’s a move that favors an integrated, balanced approach—one that treats narrative, value, and digital access not as separate courses, but as a single, nourishing plate for guests and teams alike.
The Playbook She Built
During more than two years at Marco’s Pizza, Lauer oversaw a comprehensive portfolio: brand, media, digital, field marketing, consumer experience, and product and channel innovation. She created a growth strategy oriented around branding, digital marketing, loyalty, and local restaurant marketing—connecting the stories guests hear with the channels they use and the value they perceive. In practical terms, that strategy helped establish a menu innovation pipeline that blended limited-time offers with select permanent additions, ensuring a steady cadence of variety and news to keep guests engaged. She also developed the “Marco’s More Menu” value platform to boost checks and frequency—an example of value architecture that respects perceived quality while inviting repeat visits. Complementing value and product, she spearheaded a modernization of the online ordering platform, upgrading a critical guest touchpoint and transaction engine. The through-line is a thoughtful coordination of parts: value, product, and digital stitched into one consistent experience. It is a playbook designed to be both balanced and adaptable—an approach that can be tuned to the rhythms of a brand like Portillo’s.
Signals from the Corner Office
Michael Osanloo, Portillo’s president and CEO, set clear intent around the appointment: “Denise’s proven track record of revitalizing customer experiences, growing sales and transactions, and building high-performing marketing teams will be instrumental as we continue to expand Portillo's reach and deepen our connection with guests across the country.” The emphasis on “revitalizing customer experiences” and “growing sales and transactions” frames the remit as both guest-centric and commercially grounded. Marketing is being asked to unify media, loyalty, local restaurant marketing, and e-commerce upgrades—an integrated approach where each element supports the other. The language points toward a balanced, systemwide lift: thoughtful messaging, dependable value, and convenient digital pathways that together nourish demand rather than spike it temporarily.
A Coordinated Bench Takes Shape
The CMO appointment slots into a broader reshaping of Portillo’s leadership designed to grow sales and transactions while addressing recent traffic declines. Late last year, the company named Tony Darden as chief operating officer, grounding the strategy in operational consistency. In May 2024, it appointed Keith Correia as its first chief information officer, signaling a commitment to technology foundations that support the guest journey end-to-end. Governance has been bolstered in parallel, with the addition of Gene Lee, former Darden CEO, and Jack Hartung, former Chipotle CFO, to the board within the past year. Together, these moves align marketing, operations, technology, and finance. Within this coordinated bench, Lauer fills the C-suite vacancy left by Nick Scarpino, ensuring continuity across core commercial functions. The structure suggests a composed, interconnected approach—where strategy is not siloed but synchronized, and where each role supports a shared goal of balanced, repeatable growth.
How Growth Could Be Engineered
The mechanics of Lauer’s recent work outline a roadmap Portillo’s can adapt. Value architecture—like the “Marco’s More Menu”—demonstrated a way to lift both checks and frequency without diluting perceived quality. Pairing that with a menu innovation pipeline creates predictable moments to re-engage guests, a steady drumbeat that keeps the brand present and the teams aligned on what’s next. These are the small, deliberate moves of a thoughtful kitchen: select ingredients, clear cadence, and a presentation that feels fresh without being fussy. Modernizing an online ordering platform then connects the story to the sale. When demand is stimulated by brand narrative or local restaurant marketing, a reliable and intuitive digital path to purchase keeps friction low. It’s a balanced portfolio—media, loyalty mechanics, local activations, and e-commerce—that treats each component as part of one nourishing whole. When executed together, the design encourages consistency and builds trust, meal after meal, visit after visit.
Operations, Tech, and Marketing on One Track
Portillo’s leadership configuration sets the table for coordinated execution. With Tony Darden focused on operations and Keith Correia establishing technology foundations, the company can concentrate improvements at the guest touchpoints that drive transactions and repeat visits. Board-level guidance from Gene Lee and Jack Hartung adds depth in restaurant growth and finance—complementary perspectives that can help translate strategy into sustainable rhythms across the system. The intended outcome is explicit: align programs that grow sales and transactions while addressing traffic declines. As Lauer begins on Sept. 22, Portillo’s has positioned a cross-functional slate of leaders to deepen its connection with guests and support expansion across the country. It’s a composed, single-track plan—one that prioritizes clarity, consistency, and a guest experience designed to feel both convenient and considered.
What’s Known—and What Isn’t
Several facts are defined with precision. Lauer’s start date is “Sept. 22.” Her recent scope included brand, media, digital, field marketing, consumer experience, and product and channel innovation. She helped establish a menu innovation pipeline, created the “Marco’s More Menu” value platform that helped boost checks and frequency, and led the modernization of an online ordering platform. Portillo’s has experienced traffic declines in recent quarters and has responded by strengthening marketing, operations, technology, and governance in concert. What remains unspecified are the precise magnitudes of those traffic declines, the budget or timing of specific Portillo’s campaigns, and quantified outcomes from Lauer’s prior initiatives beyond the directional results described. These boundaries don’t diminish the storyline; they encourage a disciplined read of the facts. In a moment that calls for mindful execution, clarity about what is known—and what is yet to be measured—supports trust and keeps the focus on building a balanced, durable growth engine.
The Stakes and the Next Chapter
Portillo’s is addressing a demand challenge with an integrated strategy that aligns marketing programs to operational execution and digital readiness. The appointment of a chief marketing officer with cross-industry experience—and a recent record of knitting together brand building, value, innovation, and local programs—aims to steady near-term traffic while laying groundwork for expansion. Framed by the expectation that “Denise’s proven track record of revitalizing customer experiences, growing sales and transactions, and building high-performing marketing teams” will be instrumental, the mandate is clear: ensure continuity after leadership transition, tighten the guest connection, and convert that connection into consistent transactions. If there is a lesson in this chapter, it is that sustained growth is most resilient when it is thoughtfully composed. Value must feel honest, digital must be intuitive, and product news must arrive with a cadence that respects both guest curiosity and operational flow. When these elements move in harmony—marketing, operations, technology, and governance—they create a balanced, nourishing cycle of demand. With the stage set and the timeline marked by a Sept. 22 start, the measure to watch is whether Portillo’s can turn a coordinated bench into a coordinated result: a single, repeatable growth engine where brand storytelling, loyalty mechanics, local restaurant marketing, and upgraded e-commerce experiences operate as one.