Cindy Galardi Culpepper leads Wienerschnitzel, the World’s Largest Hot Dog Chain, as Chief Executive Officer. Stepping into this leadership role in 2013 when founder John Galardi passed away, she now stands at the center of the 340-store franchise. Galardi Culpepper has since grown the business into what it is today, formalizing the company’s structures, culture, values and sense of purpose that used to operate under the surface.
Inaddition to supporting store operations and managing revenue, her main focus is helping others, especially those in the community without the means to help themselves. Fueled by the mission of “Serving Food to Serve Others,” Galardi Culpepper adopted a plan for Wienerschnitzel to contribute a portion of its annual revenue to charities and together with the California Restaurant Association Foundation (CRAF) awards 10+ scholarships a year to Wienerschnitzel crew members and their children.
Galardi Culpepper also took the lead to partner with the Roc Solid Foundation since 2009, and the company has been an official Play It Forward Builds sponsor since 2016. Wienerschnitzel crew members help Roc Solid by building custom playsets in the backyards of young children fighting cancer. The Irvine, Calif.-based company has sponsored 30 builds in the last two years.
Galardi Culpepper currently serves on the board of directors of theCalifornia Restaurant Association, as well as The Literacy Project, which helps to eliminate the literacy gap of emerging 2nd-graders who are functionally illiterate.