After gaining expertise in plant design, project execution, and operational improvements across process industries and manufacturing, Jake joined AlixPartners to help companies unlock operational value and scale their businesses. Since joining, he's been primarily focused across the food value chain, translating engineering fundamentals and operational rigor into competitive advantage for food manufacturers, suppliers, and restaurant operators.
Jake is a pragmatic problem-solver who cuts through complexity to find actionable solutions. He's comfortable moving between the plant floor and the P&L—whether diagnosing why a production line is constrained or finding hidden savings across a franchise network. What drives him: helping operations teams move from "we've always done it this way" to "here's what better looks like."
At AlixPartners, Jake has worked on transformations across the food value chain, spanning manufacturing plants, supply chains, resort operations, and restaurant franchises. He's helped companies improve operational efficiency on constrained production lines, optimize utility costs across multi-facility networks, and unlock hidden savings through labor modeling, spend analysis, and supplier negotiations. His projects span across many industries, but have a spike in large food manufacturers, hospitality companies and resorts, and national restaurant franchises.
Before AlixPartners, Jake held project and design engineering roles at Linde Plc, where he designed industrial gas plants including air separation and liquid hydrogen plants for semiconductor manufacturers and major industrial clients. That engineering foundation is what sets him apart: he doesn't just solve operational problems; he understands the physics and constraints behind them. He holds a Dual BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University at Buffalo and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business.
Jake's real love is food—the business of it, all of it. He loves cooking, eating, and understanding what drives the industry from farm to consumer, supply chain to restaurant floor. He approaches every engagement with the mindset of someone who genuinely cares about the food industry's operational excellence, not just the financial outcomes. That passion translates into how he works with clients: he understands the business because he lives it.
Key achievements:
- OEE Transformation (Food Manufacturing): Identified and prioritized 100+ operational initiatives for a $1.8B PE-owned food manufacturer facing capacity constraints on condiment production, lifting Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) by 40%, improving on-time in-full delivery from 80% to 98%, and unlocking approximately $8.5M in EBITDA.
- Labor Model Optimization (Hospitality & Retail): Built 19+ labor models across a major hospitality company covering Resort Operations, Restaurants, and Retail locations, ingesting transaction data and demand drivers to optimize staffing levels. Implemented a live-updating labor model with management framework that reduced hourly payroll by approximately 10% within 3 months—a tool that continues to deliver value years later.
- Multi-Facility Utility Optimization: Helped shape over 200 utility-efficiency initiatives across a 50-facility network within a $4B food manufacturer, achieving a 5% annual cost reduction.
- Bottleneck Analysis & Capacity Unlock: Evaluated critical line-SKU structural and functional bottlenecks across a network of food manufacturing plants, identifying an average of 10% capacity unlock per site via systematic debottlenecking. Shaped a sequenced, prioritized roadmap worth $40M in identified benefits with ROI payback under 3 years.
- Spend Analysis (National Franchise): Identified 5+% in savings opportunities on a $100M cost baseline for a national restaurant franchise by analyzing third-party spend across commercial and compliance levers.
- Supplier Negotiations (National Franchise): Drove supplier negotiation strategy for a 400-unit national quick-service franchise, shaping long-term agreements and incentive structures that achieved over $1M in annual benefits through rate reductions, quality improvements, and supplier optimization.
