Dirk J. Smith 229 C.N Hilton Hotel Houston Texas 77204-3028 CAREER Dirk Smith grew up in the hospitality industry. At the age of 10, he began working in the kitchen of his family’s award-winning restaurant, Chateau Louise, outside of Chicago, Illinois. 1986: Dirk began his professional restaurant career as a successful manager at Taco Bell. His operational successes helped him rise through the ranks to a corporate position, including: 1991 Zone Manager of Operation Services, Houston, TX 1990 Market Manager Houston, TX 1989 Manager of Operations, Planning & Development Irvine, CA 1987 District Manager, Houston, TX 1996: Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and Brinker International. As Regional Manager, Dirk developed CORNER BAKERY CAFÉS on the West Coast. 1999: Senior Director of Operation, Diedrich Coffee, Inc. Responsible for U.S. Company Operations.
Entrepreneurship 28 Years 1991: Dirk developed and opened Sizzlin’ Quick Hamburgers, a new value driven QSR in Pasadena, Texas. His distribution method was franchising. The company opened nine (9) restaurants in two years. 1993: Hot’ n Now Brand Dirk purchased sixty-four QSR restaurants from Taco Bell & PepsiCo. The negotiation evolved into purchasing sixty-four (64) restaurants and a development agreement included territories in Portland Oregon, Las Vegas Nevada, Kansas City Missouri, Omaha Nebraska, Birmingham Alabama, Jacksonville and Orlando Florida. 2001: Diedrich Franchisee Dirk purchased three Diedrich Coffeehouses in Houston, Texas from the troubled franchisor Diedrich Coffee, Inc. Since 2001, Diedrich Coffee has won several local awards including "CITY'S BEST AWARD". In 2006, Zagat created a survey guide to the top places across the nation for coffee and tea specialty drinks. In Houston, Dirk’s coffee shops won the top spot in 8 of the 14 categories surveyed. The following are the 8 coveted categories Diedrich Coffee won: Telephone: 714-336-9005 E-mail: dirkjons@aol.com