Manask & Associates consultants are experienced restaurant, foodservice and retail operators that provide expert advice and knowledge with offices from coast to coast to serve you.

PRINCIPALS

ARTHUR M. MANASK
Arthur M. Manask is President and CEO of Arthur M. Manask & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in management advisory services to cultural institutions (museums, botanical gardens, historic homes, aquariums, and zoos), corporations, colleges, schools and others with in-house restaurant and catering services from its offices in California, New Jersey and Michigan.

Manask has 30 years of operating and consulting experience in the foodservice, restaurant and hospitality industries. His experience includes 16-years as President and owner of his own foodservice management companies and 14 years experience in senior operating positions with two national foodservice organizations.

His multi-unit operating experience includes corporate dining, school and college dining, leisure and recreational foodservices, museum restaurants/cafés, on-premise, off-premise and special event catering, commercial restaurants, and tablecloth dining.

He is a past chairman and member of the Board of Directors of the California Restaurant Association for twenty years. He is a former member of Young President’s Organization. Manask & Associates’ professional affiliations include American Association of Museums, American Society of Technological Center and the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.

DON J. AVALIER, FCSI, FMP
Educated at UCLA, his professional experience includes positions as Vice President-Operations for Longchamp’s, Inc. of New York; Area Director of Food and Beverage for Sheraton Corporation of America; Corporate Director-Food and Beverage for Princess Cruises Resorts and Hotels; and Corporate Director-Food and Beverage of American Golf Corporation. Don is a member of Food Consultants Society International (FCSI), the California Restaurant Association and one of a limited number of Foodservice Management Professionals (FMP) accredited by the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association.

Don began working with Manask & Associates in 2000 after more than 25 years of operational experience and 10 years as a foodservice consultant. Accepted by the courts as an "industry expert," Don also provides litigation support to attorneys with expert witness support and consulting services Recent client projects include City of Santa Monica – Resource Management Department, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Latin Museum of American Art, Hanford Reach National Monument Interpretive Center, Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Center, Audubon Zoo, California State Railroad Museum, Experience Music Project, Honda Proving Center of California, Indian Ridge Country Club, Moon Valley Country Club, Spencer’s Restaurant, Four Oaks Restaurant, Johnny Rockets, Maple Drive Restaurant and many others.

GARY S. GUNDERSON, FMP
Gary Gunderson’s office is located in Philadelphia, PA, convenient to the northeast region of the U.S. His experience includes more than twenty nine years in "on-site" foodservice working for Motorola, Compass Group and MBNA Bank. He has completed project work in strategic planning, operations reviews and programming for design services. He has also earned a reputation for his international work creating "center-of-excellence" employee foodservice and retail operations in Singapore, China, Mexico and Brazil. His strong operations background, combined with "on-site" experience as a self-operator, foodservice contractor and client liaison are the core competencies that qualify him as a leader in this field. Gary is an active member of both the National and Delaware Restaurant Associations. He currently serves on the executive committee for the Delaware Restaurant Association. He received his BA with a Business Administration major.

Gary was the recipient of the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) Silver Plate Award in 2004 representing the Business and Industry/Foodservice Management segment. He is a founding member and past president of the Society for Foodservice Management (SFM), and was recognized with Lifetime Achievement and President Awards. He has also received Leadership Award recognition from both Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI) and National Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM).

PETER A. MILLER
Peter A. Miller was educated at Monmouth University and Paul Smiths College’s School of Restaurant and Hotel Management. Peter brings 32 years of foodservice experience to Manask & Associates. Initially after college, he managed foodservice programs in country clubs in northern NJ. He then joined Canteen Corporation holding various management positions over a five year period. Peter then accepted an opportunity with Service Dynamics, a regional foodservice management company in the New York metropolitan area where he reached the position of Vice President of Business Dining. He oversaw and developed that division for 17 years.

Peter’s consulting career began with and included the re-structuring of operating, financial and marketing programs of another regional company. Peter joined Clevenger Frable LaVallee, a renowned consulting firm from White Plains, NY. Peter was Director of Management Advisory Services for clients such as, Consumers Union, TIAA-CREF, Ciba Chemical, Polytechnic University and most recently, The Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT.

Peter has belonged to The Society of Foodservice Management for 18 years. Peter is providing consulting services for Manask & Associates’ cultural institution clients in the metropolitan New York, New Jersey and Northeast areas. Some of Peter’s recent projects include The Jewish Museum, the Isabella Gardner Museum, Delaware Art Museum, Longwood Gardens and many more.

ROBERT D. SCHWARTZ
Rob joined Manask & Associates in 2003 and resides in Detroit, MI. and works with cultural institutions throughout the country. Rob has over 30 years experience in the hospitality business that covers contract management with ARAMARK and Sodexho as well as private restaurants. He received his MBA from Michigan State University and majored in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management. He received his BA from Alma College with a Business Administration major.

Rob’s experience covers operational and financial management for foodservice in Businesses, Hospitals, Colleges, and Museums. His experience includes working with the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Zoo Atlanta, Anchorage Museum of History & Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Central Illinois Regional Museum, Cincinnati Museum Center, Amgen, Inc., RAND Corporation, Louisville Science Center, Toledo Museum of Art, Paramount Pictures Studios and EdVenture Children’s Museum. His international experience includes three years in Mexico focused on the Maquiladora industry on the border as well as project consulting/analysis in Argentina. Rob is fluent in Spanish.

MARJORIE SHELDON
Marjorie Sheldon, recognized internationally as an expert in her field, serves as a consultant to non-profit organizations including aquariums, botanical gardens, museums, and zoos. Projects have included directing the planning, design, and merchandising of new stores, managing store renovation projects, business reviews, concession evaluations, new business development, business start-up, and visual merchandising. She has provided services to many different types of cultural and environmental institutions, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hanford Reach National Monument Interpretive Center, Seattle Aquarium, Seattle Chinese Garden, Detroit Zoological Institution, Melbourne Zoological Garden, and the San Francisco Zoo.

As director of merchandising for the Zoological Society of San Diego for 20 years, Marjorie was responsible for all merchandising activities for the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park, as well as management of the Society's 38,000-square-foot warehouse facility. She provided leadership to more than 300 employees and directed all planning, budgeting, buying, display and revenue tracking for more than 40 sites within the two facilities. Under her leadership, the retail sales tripled, and numerous revenue opportunities were realized. She was instrumental in the Society's long-range planning efforts and introduced innovative practices to ensure a leading edge in the industry.

SHELLEY L. STEPHENS
Shelley Stephens has been in the retail profession for almost 30 years. She spent seventeen years as Director of Merchandising at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where she expanded the retail operations from two stores to six permanent stores and set up 12 special exhibition stores. She also produced a wide variety of custom products and established a wholesale division to market these products to venues worldwide.

Since 1993, Shelley has been providing consulting services to stores at cultural institutions across the country. She specializes in directing the planning, design and merchandising of new stores, as well as managing store renovation projects. She has also assisted institutions in areas such as providing store audits and evaluations, retail management and point of sale searches, producing new products, compiling feasibility studies, implementing e-commerce sites, concession evaluation, buying, and visual merchandising. She has provided services to a wide range of institutions, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, City of Los Angeles (Griffith Observatory), California Academy of Sciences, Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Central Library, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Ocean Institute, and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington.
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ASSOCIATES

RAY COEN
Ray Coen has teamed with Manask & Associates to work with the Los Angeles Zoo, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Science Museum of Minnesota, among others, in developing marketing and business plans for the Special Events Department of public attractions. Ray started his consulting firm in l981. He has built a successful practice, building sales volume for a variety of clients in the restaurant industry. He works with chains and institutions of every size and at every dining level on issues of business strategy, and marketing.

His client list includes the revival of Boston Market, KFC, Islands Burgers, King's Hawaiian Restaurant and Bakeries, Winchell's Donuts, Sizzler, Ponderosa, The Daily Grill chain, and others. Uniquely, he also consults to supermarkets and other retail chains, and packaged goods companies. This enables him to bring retailing expertise and brand building skills to the foodservice industry.

CHARLES J. GONZALEZ, C.P.A., M.B.A.
Charles Gonzalez is a CPA and a partner in the accounting firm of Church, Gonzalez and Warner. He received a B.S. degree from San Diego State and an MBA from the University of Southern California before becoming a CPA in 1974. He was an instructor a Loyola Marymount University for two years and he taught classes at California State University Northridge for seven years.

He spent three years with a major accounting firm, was a corporate chief financial officer for five years, a sole practitioner for eight years, and a partner with Church, Gonzalez and Erickson since then. He is a member of the California State Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of CPAs.