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Teenage job at McDonald’s taught First Watch executive valuable lesson

Lilah Taha-Rippet says doing something you hate "could be good for you" and lead you to previously unseen career opportunities.

By Mark Gordon
| 5:00 a.m. August 25, 2023
| 0 Free Articles Remaining!

Lilah Taha-Rippett has been a supply chain executive at First Watch since 2017.

Manatee-Sarasota

First Watch Restaurant Group executive Lilah Taha-Rippett was in desperate need of truck drivers in August 2020.

She wasn’t moving. And she also wasn’t seeking to hire anyone at that time — at least not truckers. Instead, Taha-Rippett (her first name is pronounced like Layla) was trying to find some drivers hauling stuff for U.S. Foods. First Watch, one of the leading and largest breakfast-brunch-lunch chains in the country, with more than 500 locations, had just switched suppliers. And Taha-Rippett, who oversees supply chain for the east Manatee County-based company, wanted to thank the people driving that switch by giving them First Watch gift cards and personal appreciation.

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author

Mark Gordon

Mark Gordon is the managing editor of the Business Observer. He has worked for the Business Observer since 2005. He previously worked for newspapers and magazines in upstate New York, suburban Philadelphia and Jacksonville.