TL;DR
First Watch, a daytime cafe concept, has become a billion‑dollar behemoth influencing how millions of Americans eat breakfast and brunch. Shane Schaibly, senior vice president of culinary strategy for First Watch, discusses how the brand has scaled its R&D process and won MenuMasters Awards.
Some people work in restaurants to make money; others work in restaurants because they believe they were put on the earth to do just that. Shane Schaibly is among the second group and has cooked in restaurants since he was a teenager.
These days, Schaibly is senior vice president of culinary strategy for First Watch, the daytime cafe concept that has become a billion-dollar behemoth influencing how millions of Americans eat breakfast and brunch. In his tenure, First Watch has won two MenuMasters Awards, including Best Healthful Menu Innovation in 2014 and Best Menu Line Extension in 2022.
In this episode of the MenuMasters Spotlight podcast series, from Nation’s Restaurant News and sponsor Ventura Foods, Schaibly joins NRN editor in chief Sam Oches to talk about what it’s like to innovate within the breakfast daypart, how he’s scaled his R&D process as First Watch has exploded in popularity, and where he turns for creative inspiration.
In this story
This story was originally published by Sam Oches in Nation's Restaurant News on November 13, 2026. Burnaze summarizes and links to the original reporting.
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