Alexa Bunting’s career began in sales at fine jewelry retailers, where she grew curious about the psychology behind why customers buy. That curiosity sent her back to school for a master’s degree in integrated marketing.
Her first taste of food and beverage marketing came at Black Rifle Coffee Co., where she led marketing for the brand’s retail coffee shops. She dove headfirst into a fast-moving environment with a constant rotation of new beverages, new menu items, and seasonal flair to promote.
But her biggest takeaway was how to build a community and tell a story.
“I learned the importance of building a community around your brand,” Bunting says. “Black Rifle has a strong customer base, and I learned pretty quickly that although sales and discounts drive consumers in, it’s the brand that keeps them coming back.”
Today, Bunting is the director of brand marketing at P.F. Chang’s.
“That’s what I’ve carried through to P.F. Chang’s,” she says. “The question here is, how do we build something that goes beyond our food? How do we create a community and that emotional storytelling component that keeps people coming back and supporting us? Those little moments where you can be involved with your community make your marketing so much stronger, and your brand so much stronger.”
There, she approaches marketing as a sequence: It starts with a strong menu, followed by a compelling story that draws guests in, then operational execution and interactive touches in the dining room. It’s a fully integrated approach that spans every channel, but it all starts with the brief.
That approach is part of a broader resurgence at P.F. Chang’s. Under CEO Jim Mazany and chief marketing officer Holly Smith, who joined in January, the chain posted a 7.7 percent same-store sales gain in the second quarter, with traffic up 6.8 percent.
“Holly and I sat down and thought to ourselves: How do we create something that’s uniquely ownable to P.F. Chang’s?” Bunting says. “How do we tie it back to something culturally relevant that only we can own?”
Working with brand manager Olivia Liu, the team built 2026 around a series of seasonal campaigns inspired by Japanese culture. It started in February with Flavor In Bloom, a nod to Japan’s cherry blossom season that paired best-sellers like Chang’s Lettuce Wraps with spring cocktails, led by a Cherry Blossom Martini. Summer brought the city lights and street culture of Tokyo with Summer in Tokyo, which combined a new seasonal menu with the debut of the Sushi Boat, a shareable platter that arrives tableside in a cloud of dry ice.
“At the heart of every campaign we’re doing, we give the consumers an educational element or a story that will pull it all together for them,” Bunting says. “We’ve really started to color a little outside of the lines with our LTOs and integrate them with things that are P.F. Chang’s at its core.”
For fall, the brand turned to Kyoto. With Autumn in Kyoto, it added duck to the menu for a deeper, cozier experience inspired by one of Japan’s most celebrated seasons. Maple appears on the menu, including in the bourbon-based Kyoto Cabin cocktail, and throughout the campaign’s fall-inspired design.
“In the spring, we centered around the Japanese cherry blossom, and what we realized after our research is that the maple tree is the twin flame to this during the fall in Japanese culture, so we really channeled that for this campaign,” she says.
Bunting, who joined P.F. Chang’s two years ago, says the brand’s growth accelerated once Smith arrived.
“She’s allowed us to explore things that maybe we weren’t able to before,” Bunting says. “She let us think outside the box about bigger ideas and challenge ourselves to push it a little further.”
That’s been the focus of their conversations over the past year: how to keep building the storytelling and create an experience that brings guests back.
“We know it’s a longtime love brand, and we have that brand equity,” Bunting says. “But how do we continue to evolve it for the future?”
Part of the answer has been reshaping the team. Patrick Benson joined about a year and a half ago in a social media role and grew the channel into a community of its own. Seeing the chance to take it further, the brand created a dedicated communications department that he now leads, with a broader, integrated scope.
“It’s really pertinent to us that we start everything from an integrated lens,” she says, “to make sure all of our channels are speaking the same language and we’re having the same message across the board.”
Bunting credits much of her creative energy to that team, including Liu, new creative lead Jared Keller, and the brand’s graphic designers. Weekly standups give the broader marketing team a chance to weigh in on campaigns, and she welcomes ideas from well beyond her department.
“Something really important to me is that everyone gets a seat at the table,” she says. “If someone in finance has an idea, I want to hear it. If someone in culinary shares an idea, I’d love to hear that too. You can always build off something, and you never know when one idea can spark another.”
Bunting’s own rise at P.F. Chang’s reflects the advice she gives women entering the industry. She first joined as a senior marketing manager and now oversees both brand and creative.
“I’ve had people tell me not to take on too much or say yes to too many opportunities,” she says. “But what has accelerated my career is saying yes to opportunities that get me in a room I wouldn’t otherwise be in or expose me to something I hadn’t thought about before.”
“Don’t be afraid to raise your hand and invite yourself to the table,” she adds. “Over time, you’ll notice you naturally start getting invited to more things as your voice is heard … If you’re saying yes to the right opportunities, then the right things will come your way.”
