CEO of Hot Head Burritos Talks Wanderlust and Why She Questions the Coffee Craze

In her monthly "Grab Bag" column, Editor in Chief Laura Michaels asks the tough questions—What superhero power would you most like to have? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?—to show a side of franchising execs you don’t normally see.

Who would play you in the biopic about your life?

Sandra Bullock. She’s both serious and funny, and I like to think I am, too. I love all her movies, but probably my favorite would be ‘The Blind Side’ or ‘Miss Congeniality,’ so that kind of shows her diversity

What’s one restaurant or food trend you wish would disappear?

The trend that I’m questioning right now is coffee. Good God! How much coffee do we need? There’s more coffee than gas stations now. It just amazes me, the cycle of things, and the amount of money people pay for the coffee or the refreshers. I hit my Keurig every morning before I leave my house, so you know I’m not their consumer.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Where do I start? I think on a business level, one of my biggest pet peeves is people not including their full contact information in their email signature. Don’t make me go look for your phone number or mailing address or anything like that. Or when people submit a real estate site to me, and they don’t say what city and state it’s in. Don’t make it hard for your customer.

Who do you find most interesting to follow on social media?

Right now, Sophie Cunningham. I’m actually going to go see an Indiana Fever game tonight. I’m so excited to see her and Caitlin Clark play. Those two women are changing women’s sports for all of us. They’re really bringing women’s sports to the front and I’m just in awe of what they’re doing.

What’s something you would seriously stockpile if you found out it wasn’t going to be sold anymore?

I would stockpile wine. I can’t image they’d ever stop making wine, but I’d have to stockpile a bunch. Right now, I’m on a big Prosecco kick. I first went to Italy about seven years ago and I just love it. The Italians think it’s like water. You walk into a restaurant and they set down a glass of Prosecco and I’m like, these are my people.

If you could be a member of any TV show family, which would it be?

Maybe ‘Yellowstone,’ the Dutton family. Although I’m more the city girl than the country girl.

If money wasn’t a concern, what is something you would do every day?

Travel to see the world. Traveling is really my passion. I’m going back to Italy next year, but I did a 12-day British Isle cruise last year and went to England, France, Ireland and Scotland. I loved that. And Greece is maybe next on my list.

Which time period in history would you want to visit?

I’d be interested in the early 1900s, just to watch the transformation of society. Everything now just changes so fast. I mean, I graduated high school in 1986—no internet, no cell phone. Now, your phone is your computer. It’ll be really interesting to see where artificial intelligence and electric cars go next. I bought a Tesla a couple of years ago, and I’m telling you, I don’t need to drive every again.

What superhero power would you most like to have?

I’d want to fly. I just want to get places faster and I wouldn’t have to count on airlines being on time anymore.

If you were reincarnated, what would you want to come back as?

I’d come back as a rock star, 100 percent. I want to be on stage, performing. I cannot sing at all right now, so it’s not going to happen in this life.