Tom Bené has resigned his position as CEO of the National Restaurant Association, and will take the helm at Breakthru Beverage Group, a wholesaler with a large presence in the US and Canada.
Bené served a relatively short tenure of 15 months, guiding the Association through difficult times of Covid shutdowns for the nation’s restaurants. He replaced Dawn Sweeney, who led the organization for over 12 years.
Bené had previously been CEO of Sysco Corp and spent 23 years at PepsiCo, culminating as President of PepsiCo Foodservice.
Breakthru Beverage is family-owned and operated, and employs more than 7,000 associates. The company represents brands of wine, spirits, hard seltzer, and beer comprising over $5 billion in sales annually.
Breakthru operates in Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, and Wisconsin.
“I’m very excited to join Breakthru at such an important time for the company,” Bené said in a statement. “Breakthru’s strong positioning in the marketplace provides a springboard to accelerate growth.”
The appointment is effective October 4.
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