Tabassum Zalotrawala

About Tabassum Zalotrawala

Tabassum joined McDonald’s in 2023 after over four years as Chief Development Officer at Chipotle Mexican Grill where she led a holistic restaurant turnaround strategy and all aspects of real estate development for the US, Canada, and Europe. At Chipotle, she also oversaw the Center of Excellence for Design and Construction to ensure restaurants reflected the appropriate brand image and provided a convenient and welcoming customer experience. Prior to Chipotle, Tabassum served as Chief Development Officer for four years at Panda Restaurant Group where she championed a fundamental shift around innovation and development to drive growth for the organization. She also comes to McDonald’s with significant experience in quick service restaurants from Arby’s Restaurant Group where she was employed for nine years. Tabassum’s experience is matched by her ongoing extensive executive education. Her bachelor’s in Fine Arts is complemented with her completion of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program, an intensive program that creates transformational leaders capable of tackling an organization’s toughest challenges. She was honored with the Exceptional Women Awardee award in 2020 and serves on the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Board of Trustees. Tabassum also serves on the Board of Directors of Diamond Rock Hospitality Company, a publicly traded self-advised Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and is involved in non-profit work as a sponsor for Sahiyo, an organization with a mission to empower Asian and other communities to create positive social change through dialogue, education, and collaboration based on community involvement.

Experience

1. SVP Global Restaurant Design & Chief Development Officer, Mcdonalds Usa

   McDonald's

   May 2025 — Present · Chicago, IL, US

   In addition to her role as Chief Development Officer, McDonalds USA, Tabassum will oversee Global Restaurant Design Strategy and Standards, ensuring alignment with McDonald’s Accelerating the Arches strategy, leading the development and implementation of design standards for restaurant formats, facades, interior décor palettes, family & play solutions and signage across all McDonalds segments. Her responsibilities include driving the delivery of innovative, efficient, and sustainable restaurant design solutions to support profitable new openings and reimagining of existing locations by collaborating with global segments, markets, and cross-functional partners, leveraging diverse perspectives to grow sales and enhance brand perception.

Education

• Harvard Business School Executive Education

  Advanced Management Program (AMP195)

  2018

• American Intercontinental University

  Bachelor's degree, Interior Design

  1999 — 2002

• Stanford University Graduate School of Education

  Customer Focussed Innovation (CFI), Innovation

  2017

Skills

• Space Planning
• Branding & Identity
• Project Planning
• Strategic Planning
• Autocad
• Restaurant & Retail Development
• Powerpoint
• Microsoft Excel
• Food Service
• Leadership
• Project Management
• Sales
• Process Scheduler
• Hospitality
• Management
• Team Building
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Marketing Strategy
• Submittals
• Budgets
• Franchise Development & Strategy
• Microsoft Word
• Visual Merchandising
• Restaurants
• 3d
• Interior Design
• Space-Planning
• Retail
• Merchandising
• Photoshop
• Sketchup
• Conswtruction, Real Estate & Facilities