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Bento Design Awards: Judges Spotlight
March 20, 2019
Meet the judges recognizing the most talented designers in hospitality
BentoBox offers thousands of restaurants worldwide a design-forward web presence to connect with customers and drive revenue online. With the launch of our first-ever Bento Design Awards, we’re recognizing and celebrating the most talented designers in the hospitality industry.
The first edition of the Awards is focused on menu design, with entries judged on readability, innovation, and overall design of restaurant menus made for print. The winner will be announced in April, but in the meantime, meet our judges, a wide-ranging panel of experts from across the hospitality industry, and check back here for more updates in coming weeks!
Liz Stinson is a writer covering the way design intersects with the world. She's currently the managing editor of Eye on Design, a magazine published by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the oldest and largest not-for-profit design organization in the United States. As a writer, Liz has contributed to publications including WIRED, Metropolis, and more.
Aaron Epstein
Aaron co-founded Creative Market in 2012 to help independent creators around the world make a living doing what they love. He has nearly two decades of experience founding and leading startups through bootstrapping, fundraising, Y Combinator, acquisition, spinout, and everything in between.
Brian Stegall has nearly 20 years of design industry experience, ranging from his early days in advertising at Big Spaceship and Your Majesty, to his more recent career in product design at companies like Punchcut and now Square. He has also toured the world with punk and metal bands, and ridden his bicycle across the US.
Carla Echevarria
Carla has led product design (UX/UI), brand design, creative, and strategy teams at Google, Facebook, MakerBot, and R/GA. Her role at Google is to ensure a cohesive product strategy and help formulate a long-term vision for the Assistant. She also teaches UX/UI Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Krystle Mobayeni
Krystle Mobayeni is Co-Founder and CEO of BentoBox, a platform for restaurants to connect with their guests and drive revenue online. Krystle spent over 12 years working as a digital designer in New York City and recognized the need for a website platform designed specifically for restaurants to deliver the same great hospitality experience online. BentoBox was launched in late 2013 with this mission and today works with thousands of restaurants worldwide.
AJ Camara
AJ is a multi-faceted designer, director and mentor with an extensive background in web and graphic design. As BentoBox’s Design Director (and resident BBQ buff), he leads the design team through all phases of the design process, from discovery to implementation. AJ focuses on exhibiting hospitality in the form of problem-solving design thinking to ensure an exemplary customer experience.
Chef and restaurateur Aaron Silverman has been named Best Chef Mid-Atlantic by the James Beard Foundation and Best New Chef by Food & Wine Magazine. His restaurants Rose’s Luxury and Pineapple and Pearls have earned one and two Michelin stars, respectively. In 2018, Pineapple and Pearls was one of eight restaurants in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean to join AAA’s list of Five Diamond restaurants.
Camilla Marcus
Camilla Marcus is committed to giving back to the community. With the launch of west~bourne, an accidentally vegetarian and decidedly mindful concept in SoHo, Camilla cultivates her passions for design and food, as well as a desire to make an impact. west-bourne brings people together to eat well and do good, which means a business model that incorporates youth job training, an emphasis on organic and local produce, and a zero-waste approach to benefit the planet and its people.
Anna Dunn
Anna Dunn is a freelance editor, as well as a food and crime fiction writer with an affinity for Bruce Springsteen, rescue mutts, mezcal, and “Murder, She Wrote.” Anna is the co-author of two cookbooks, Dinner at the Long Table and Saltie: A Cookbook, and the Editor In Chief of Diner Journal, an independent food, art and literature magazine which launched in 2006.
Joseph serves as the principal and creative director of Vigor, a restaurant branding and marketing agency based in Atlanta. He's written a number of articles and books on the subject, serves as a thought leader for industry publications, curates and critiques work on the Grits X Grids blog, and hosts the Grits X Grids podcast. He lives his passion: do it with Vigor.
Lukas Volger
Lukas Volger is a cookbook author, food writer, recipe developer, and editor. His most recent book is Bowl: Vegetarian Recipes for Ramen, Pho, Bibimbap, Dumplings, and More, and he's also co-founder and editorial director of Jarry, an award-winning semiannual queer food journal. Previously, he founded Made by Lukas, a Brooklyn-based line of premium veggie burgers.
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