Rajeev Sabharwal

Rajeev Sabharwal is an accomplished Senior Executive with over 30 years of restaurant experience. Rajeev expertise includes building a culture of collaboration, engagement and inclusion, leading organizational transformations by developing and executing strategies that produce strong results.  He understands the importance of cultivating key partnerships and relationships both within the organization and externally with vendors.

In his most recent role, Rajeev was based in Dubai as the Vice President and Managing Director of Wendy’s International for the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa Region (APMEA). Rajeev was in this role for 5 years and oversaw teams in both the Singapore and Dubai offices. Rajeev worked with Senior Leadership in developing Long Range Plan (LRP) for his region and was responsible for driving key strategies to grow brand awareness in each of the countries within his portfolio. Under his leadership and with a “growth mindset”, the region expanded to new countries, saw significant growth in top line sales, had double digit “new restaurant” unit openings and experienced a healthy growth in EBITDA.

Prior to that from 2014 to 2019, Rajeev was the Division Vice President for the Columbus Division at the Wendys company. In this role Rajeev was based out of the corporate offices in Columbus and worked closely with Senior Leadership on testing and launching new products and operational tools for the Wendys system. Rajeev also led and collaborated with over 60 franchisees in 6 states to grow the Wendys market share by developing strong business plans, executing brand strategies, and improving customer experience. Under his leadership the Columbus Designated Market Area (DMA) received the “DMA of the Year Award” in 2017 from the Wendy’s system.

Rajeev worked as the Director of Area Operations for the Wendys Corporate (company stores) in Southern California from 2006-2014. In this role Rajeev worked closely with marketing, finance, training, and human resources team and executed strategies that lead to the successful turnaround of the business. Rajeev was recognized and received the “The Eagle Award”. This award was given to the director who operated at the highest standards within the Wendys System.

Rajeev has a B.S. from Iowa State University in Hotel Restaurant Management and an Executive MBA from California State University. Over his 29-year tenure with Wendy’s, Rajeev has relocated three times within the United States and once Internationally (Dubai). With each relocation he has demonstrated a willingness to take on roles with increased responsibility and complexity.