Earl Enterprises taps Reef vet to develop sites in airports, sports centers and more

The parent of Planet Hollywood and Buca di Beppo has hired Valentina Ellison as chief development officer for nontraditional locations.

In that role, Ellison is responsible for developing Earl Enterprises’ brands within such sites as airports, sports arenas and shopping malls.

She joins the company after working for Reef, a company that runs ghost kitchen centers, and Areas USA, an operator of travel-center concessions.

“We have worked together on projects in the past and I have been impressed with her drive and vision,” Earl Enterprises founder and principal Robert Earl said in a statement. “Now that she is inside the company, I look forward to supporting her plans for rapid expansion into these non-traditional settings where we clearly can adapt our core brands to work in a wide range of venues.”

Earl Enterprises’ concepts include the Earl of Sandwich, Bravo Italian Kitchen and Bertucci’s.

An affiliated company, Virtual Dining Concepts, licenses such virtual restaurant concepts as MrBeast Burger, Robert Irvine’s American Heroes and Mario’s Tortas Lopez.