3/27 CMO Breakfast with:

Boloco

About John Pepper

John is the co-founder and CEO of Boloco (www.boloco.com), a 17-unit fast-casual Boston-based restaurant chain, which opened its first location in 1997. Boloco was a recipient of The Mayor’s Green Business Award (Boston) in 2010 to recognize extraordinary performance related to sustainable environmental practices. It also received the Business Innovator of the Year Award in 2010 in Hanover, NH for its continual creative support of the communities it serves. With locations open in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, Boloco expects to have 22 company-owned units operating by year end 2012, including at least 1 outside of New England.
 
Prior to founding Boloco in 1997, Pepper spent four years in sales and marketing at Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon Endo-Surgery medical device division. Spending most of his time in the surgical operating room helped Pepper develop a strong stomach, which served him well years later when he went on to taste some of the best and worst burritos in the land.
 
Pepper is also a founding investor and board member of b.good, (www.bgood.com) an 8-unit fast-casual burger restaurant concept that aims to make real food fast. He serves on the Alumni Council of Dartmouth College and is a current or past Board Member of Community Servings (www.servings.org), the VT-based Farmer’s Diner restaurant concept, and the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. Pepper was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2011.
 
Pepper graduated from Dartmouth College in 1991, and received his MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1997. The first Boloco business plan was written as part of an Entrepreneurship class during his second year at Tuck.
 
Pepper is originally from Cincinnati, OH and continues to salivate over 2 cheese coneys and a 3-way from Skyline Chili followed by Black Raspberry Chip Ice Cream from Graeter’s. He lives in Boston with his wife Maggie and 2 young daughters Tibby and Isabelle.