Todd Demann

Founder and CEO

As one of the leading managers and entrepreneurs in Southern California's competitive hospitality and lifestyle sectors, Todd DeMann's passion for innovation and excellence has been the guiding spirit behind both Freshology and his several prior successful endeavors.

His more than twenty years of experience in finance, hospitality and real estate serve as a poignant counterpoint to the youthful energy and enthusiasm that Newsweek magazine saw in 1986, spotlighting him among its “New Crop of Young Entrepreneurs,” and which continues to animate every aspect of his work.

Todd DeMann founded Freshology in 2005, based on the firm conviction that healthy nutrition and top-level cuisine were not mutually exclusive, but in fact were natural partners. Recognizing the rapid growth of the organic food movement over the last several years and combining that inspiration with the management and client service skills honed over years of entrepreneurial experience, DeMann quickly built Freshology into the premier food delivery service in Southern California. As the organization's CEO, Todd oversees all aspects of the company's work, from menu creation, to staffing, to forging innovative partnerships with sister companies to expand the scope and quality of Freshology's offerings.

For DeMann, the path to Freshology runs through his two prior companies, DeMann Development & Design and Oldershaw & DeMann Associates. In serving both companies as President, Todd established himself as one of the top managers in his field, combining creative vision and leadership with rigorous organizational skills to create a potent force in the high-stakes world of urban real estate development and global hospitality. As he does with Fresh Dining, DeMann managed a diverse team, balancing a multitude of skills to allow for maximum flexibility in meeting the creative and logistical needs of a wide range of clients. With Oldershaw & DeMann, his work not only was directly responsible for the rapid expansion of the firm - averaging 30% annual growth in revenue - but granted him a unique understanding of the demands of the global marketplace, as his duties saw him meet organizational and management challenges in such varied locales as Korea, Bahrain, Singapore and the Bahamas, in addition to his numerous stateside projects.

Prior to embarking on his entrepreneurial journey, DeMann served as Executive Vice President of Industrial Consultants Group, Inc., a strategic consulting firm operating out of New York. In developing creative strategies to meet the needs of major corporate clients - taking into account such departments as sales & marketing, billing and customer service - DeMann had the opportunity to collaborate with and advise some of the most storied organizations and executives within the American business landscape, such as Lee Iacocca of Chrysler, Gary Wilson of Northwest Airlines and Linda Wachner of the Warnaco Group.

Todd DeMann received his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Boston University in 1986, following the submission of his thesis on “Quality Control within the Restaurant Business.” In the more than twenty years since - culminating in his co-founding of Freshology and his continuing service as its CEO - DeMann's dedication to and passion for both quality and creative problem-solving has never flagged.

Bruce Knight

Chief Operating Office

With over twenty years of experience in the food and beverage industry, Bruce Knight knows precisely what it takes to operate a top-notch food service organization.

Equally at home with a spatula or a spreadsheet, Knight prides himself on his skills in every aspect of food service management - including menu creation, staffing, vendor interface and budget & payroll. As Chief Operating Officer of Freshology - a position he has held since March 2007 - Knight is responsible for every aspect of the day-to-day management of the organization, and the extraordinary team that he has assembled to take on that assignment stands as the greatest testament to the leadership skills he has developed over the course of his career.

With national food service powerhouse The Compass Group, Knight served as district manager for the entire San Diego region, comprising eight separate districts. Despite featuring some of the most demanding hospitality and service challenges to be found in the U.S. - thanks to the city's status as a popular convention and conference destination - the region saw a 50% increase in profits over the three-year period of Knight's management. For the six years prior to his joining Compass in 2003, Bruce founded and served as President of Advance Awareness Corp., headquartered in Pleasant Hill, California, which grew to take its place among the premiere food and beverage staffing and management companies in the Bay Area.

Throughout his career, Knight has never forgotten the early lessons he learned as a chef, general manager and new-unit opening team member with such established franchise restaurants as T.G.I. Fridays, Applebee's and Tony Roma's. Bruce's hard-earned restaurant experience provides the foundation of his approach to management; even as he continues to refine his entrepreneurial focus and executive vision with Freshology, those quantities are supported and legitimized by the insight that only comes with years of ground-level, hands-on experience with demanding customers, limited resources and the hundreds of moment-to-moment decisions required to create a satisfying dining experience and guide a successful franchise outlet.

Bruce Knight received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from prestigious Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and currently resides in Carlsbad, California where he follows his favorite Boston sports team when not rooting for the Chargers, Padres and Clippers.

Rana Mansour

VP of Operations

Bringing a unique blend of health care expertise, operations experience and communications skills to every project she oversees, Rana Mansour stands as an exemplar of the contemporary management professional, demonstrating a range of talents and perspectives as accomplished as it is diverse.

As Vice President of Operations at Freshology, her extraordinary versatility is challenged each day as she oversees not only the company's communications and routing systems, but also its customer service and sales staff, while simultaneously reviewing menus, maintaining quality control and ensuring that the ongoing dialogue between the kitchen and administrative offices is comprehensive and constructive.

In a sense, it's a position that Mansour has been training for over her entire career. Her experience in the health and wellness sector is principally based on her positions as the founder and owner/practitioner of the Noor Total Health Center. Operating in the vanguard of health care professionals working to integrate the venerable traditions of Eastern medicine into the lifestyles and health management practices of its forward-looking Southern California clientele, the Noor Center specializes in acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, nutrition and Reiki. The Noor Center represents Mansour's commitment to providing a truly holistic approach to physical and mental well-being, a methodology she acquired and refined throughout her course of study at the Emperor's College of Traditional Oriental Medicine in Santa Monica, from which she earned her Master's degree, graduating summa cum laude. In addition to her founding of and work with the Noor Center, Mansour developed and managed the acupuncture program for the Meyer Family Health Care chiropractic office, not only providing services to patients, but training the office staff and familiarizing them with the unique records and billing practices required for acupuncture patients.

Mansour is no stranger to such oversight and management challenges, having spent over seventeen years in management and operations, gaining experience in the financial, manufacturing and retail sectors. While refining her skills as a manager and administrator for such organizations as Oldershaw & DeMann, Parallel (a division of BCBG), A. Morgan Maree & Associates and Far Western Bank, Mansour learned the intricacies of such industries as garment manufacturing, residential design, financial consulting and loan processing. A two year stint as co-owner and administrator of a popular Johnny Rockets franchise served to give her hands-on experience in the demanding food service industry, and sharpen the entrepreneurial acumen that would find its fullest expression in the creation of the Noor Center. Throughout her career, Mansour has showcased a tireless dedication to forthright, staff-oriented communications policies and practices, taking direct responsibility for training new hires and encouraging respectful and proactive resolution of intra-staff differences.

Mansour earned her Associate's degree in manufacturing from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade point average, an auspicious beginning to the journey that has ultimately brought her to Freshology, providing an ideal outlet for her distinctive balance of communications, management and health service skills.

Raffi J. Asadourian

Culinary Director, Gourmet Meal Programs, Local & National

As one of the most highly-regarded chefs to emerge from the Los Angeles culinary scene over the last decade, Raffi Asadourian brings a combination of rigorous training, farsighted leadership and an impeccable palate to the position of Chef de Cuisine at Freshology.

A product of Joachim Spilchal's Patina Group, Asadourian has worked alongside such mentors as Walter Manzke, David Myers and Mark Gold, synthesizing those master chefs' matchless guidance with his own creative ingenuity and passion for working with fresh ingredients and nutritious recipes.

After serving for a year and a half in the kitchen of Pinot Bistro in Studio City, California under the supervision of chef Octavio Becerra, Asadourian commenced his formal training, attending the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Scottsdale Arizona, ultimately graduating at the top of his class in 2000, sporting a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Upon his return to Southern California, Asadourian immediately sought out the biggest challenge he could undertake, serving in the kitchen of Patina, the Patina Group's flagship restaurant on Melrose Avenue. It was here that Asadourian truly began to master all aspects of his craft, working every station in what was arguably the most talented kitchen in Los Angeles. Under Executive Chef Manze and Sous Chef Myers, Asadourian absorbed the most intimate possible understanding of contemporary cuisine, learning not only the finer points of culinary technique, but essential insights into the “big picture” of how successful kitchens implement processes that allow them to create groundbreaking dishes for a broad clientele, night after night, week after week.

Following his tenure at Patina, Asadourian was promoted to sous chef at Café Pinot, serving under Mark Gold as executive chef. Asadourian thrived in this venue, taking advantage of his first true kitchen leadership role - as well as Chef Gold's astute guidance - to expand his horizons, inventing new and innovative menu items and supervising his own kitchen line. These skills were further put to the test with his promotion to Chef de Cuisine at the Patina Group's dual dining concept venue C2. At C2, Asadourian developed his own menu, as well as hired and trained his own staff; his kitchen and honed his leadership skills to perfection. He accepted a promotion to Executive Chef at Pinot Bistro - the very restaurant at which he began his career eight years prior. There, Asadourian trained and mentored a new generation of chefs, men and women who stood at precisely the same stations that he had occupied years before.

After two years of running the kitchen at Pinot Bistro (and nine years with the Patina Group as a whole), Asadourian departed to assume the position of corporate chef for Hana foods. The corporate position provided him with an entirely new set of challenges, as he quickly mastered the rigors of working within a multi-unit, multi-concept quick-service food company. Over his year and a half with Hana, Asadourian opened two of the company's seven units while developing numerous new recipes and operational systems.

Since February of 2008, Asadourian has served as the Culinary Director of Freshology's national gourmet meals programs. An avid tennis player as well as a chef, Asadourian looks forward to bringing his passion for outstanding food to Freshology's clients for years to come.

Rito Vital

Culinary Director, Special Programs

From his roots in the rich culinary traditions of his native Mexico to his experience at the upper reaches of the Los Angeles restaurant and catering industry, Rito Vital's extraordinary range of influences shapes his unique contributions as Culinary Director of Specials at Freshology.

From his youth in Jerez, Mexico, Rito absorbed the central role that fresh, local ingredients played in the region's renowned cuisine. It was a lesson that was reinforced with his entrée into the Los Angeles restaurant world at the legendary Old World Restaurant in Westwood and Beverly Hills, whose reliance on fresh ingredients lay at the heart of its sterling reputation.

Following his apprenticeship at Old World, Rito began to make his name in the catering world, working throughout the 1990s for such top-line outfits as LA Catering Works, Food Works and Tres LA Catering. In this capacity, his cooking was enjoyed and admired by countless Hollywood stars and power players, with a client list that included such clients as Disney, HBO, the Grammy Awards, and numerous A-list fundraising events. With his success in these organizations, he was soon spotted by acclaimed chef Bill Dertouzos, former executive chef of the award-winning Beverly Hills restaurant Pangaea.

After serving as Dertouzos' right hand at the chef's Flatbush Catering, Rito was ready for new challenges. Taking a position as private chef for Alesis Studio Electronics, Rito was responsible for providing meals for the company's 225 employees on a daily basis. Having mastered the caterer's trade, he found himself drawn once again to the restaurant world, where he further developed his talents at the popular Hollywood urban bistro Citizen Smith. Working as sous chef under executive chef Taylor Bordeaux, Rito particularly refined his skills in handling meat, drawing on Bordeaux's vast store of experience in selecting, marinating and cooking every kind of cut.

Rito's facility with menus extends around the globe, as his abilities are not only in his native Mexican and Latin cuisines, but in French, Italian and Mediterranean styles of cooking as well. This versatility has made him an ideal fit for Freshology, where he has worked since 2005. With our organization, as he has throughout his career, Rito continually demonstrates his deep commitment not only to delicious, fresh and healthy food, but to a superior level of customer service that meets the high expectations of Freshology's extraordinary clientele.