Lisa Kartzman, Senior Director of Purchasing, Shake Shack, New York City, New York
Shake Shack, the world-famous modern-day version of the roadside burger stand, serves fresh, simple, high-quality versions of classic burgers and shakes, hot dogs, fries, frozen custards and more.
Lisa Kartzman, the Senior Director of Purchasing for Shake Shack based in New York City, says The Perfect Purée contributes to Shake Shack’s success by helping its R&D chefs develop dynamic recipes with full confidence in their supply pipeline as Shake Shack continues to expand. Shake Shack uses various flavors in its standard menu as well as limited-time-offers.
“From the very beginning, The Perfect Purée was unique in flavor, color and taste,” Lisa says.
Shake Shack started in 2001 as a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park to support the park’s first art installation. The cart was such a success that it became a summer fixture, attracting long lines of enthusiastic customers for three years until a permanent kiosk opened in 2004. Today Shake Shack operates 136 locations and counting worldwide.
Lisa has spent most of her life in the food industry and has always joked that she was born with corned beef grease in her blood and the smell of good rye bread in her nose from her family’s deli and bakery business in Irvington, New Jersey.
Lisa worked in foodservice distribution for seven years as Director of Purchasing for Ciavarella Foodservice in Riverdale, New Jersey, and Senior Manager of Dry Grocery and Non-Foods at A. Bohrer in Moonachie, New Jersey.
She then spent 15 years as the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for American Roland Food Corp. before joining Shake Shack in 2014.
Lisa has participated in the significant growth and expansion of Shake Shack, which had just 24 locations when she arrived. As the Senior Director of Purchasing for all U.S. locations, she manages a team of four as part of Shake Shack’s Supply Chain Department encompassing food, beverage, disposables, equipment and small wares.