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

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.