Nextbite, a leader in virtual restaurants, announced that Jeff Haskell, Iron Chef winner and renowned New York City chef, has joined the company as Culinary Director. Haskell will lead menu development as the company expands with innovative new concepts for its thousands of restaurant partners across the country.  Nextbite is the only virtual restaurant company that combines restaurant and technology expertise to help restaurants be more successful in the fast-growing off-premise dining model.

Haskell joins the culinary team in Denver to oversee Nextbite’s current brands and spearhead the creation of new menus using innovative ingredients and recipes that give traditional foods an edge and are optimized for delivery.  Prior to Nextbite, he worked in New York City as Culinary Director for IGC Hospitality, a chain of boutique hotels; was Executive Chef for City Winery; and served as Executive Chef for Big Time Restaurant Group. Haskell won Iron Chef in 2012 as sous chef along with Jesse Schenker and was trained at the Culinary Institute of America.

Food and beverage expert Liz Moskow, who holds the position of Vice President of Brand Development for Nextbite, leads the culinary team and brings her extensive background building restaurant, hotel and consumer packaged goods (CPG) food brands for both independents and chains. She heads up the group responsible for identifying and developing innovative brand trends for the company as it leads the new virtual restaurant segment.

“I’m thrilled to join Nextbite, with its winning combination of delicious menu items and technology that enables restaurants to thrive during these challenging times,” said Haskell.   “We’re developing great tasting menu items that will drive consumer demand, but are also designed to be easy to prepare. We thoroughly test menus out in our Test Kitchen for quality of flavor and to optimize for delivery-only, and then carefully select the best new menu items for our restaurant partners.”

Currently, Nextbite has a brand portfolio that includes 10 house-brand virtual restaurants and two celebrity-branded menu options. The company has aggressive plans to double the number of menus offered to its restaurant partners by the end of the year.

Nextbite’s culinary team also includes Vice President of Food Experience, Daniel Carpenter, who oversees the food experience and quality, supply chain and test kitchen for Nextbite. Carpenter spent 20 years leading a consulting company specializing in restaurant/retail operations, culinary innovation and brand development. His team is meticulous in overseeing food quality, including partner training and instruction, while also focusing on delivering a high level of hospitality. They have streamlined a robust supply chain, so that partners are able to tap into a reliable and competitively priced model.

“Nextbite’s recipe for success is the perfect blend of restaurant know-how, smart technology, and great food – but it really comes down to how fabulous the menu is,” says Alex Canter, CEO and founder of Nextbite. “It all begins and ends with serving delicious food that customers crave. Our superstar culinary team delivers on that and is helping Nextbite drive this next chapter in off-premise dining.”