Rick Camac

Rick Camac is a proven brand builder and concept creator with strong leadership skills. In a career spanning two industries — technology and hospitality — he launched several successful startups and led large territories for billion-dollar organizations.

In the restaurant industry, Rick’s focus is concept development, branding, fundraising, operations and management. Known as a results-oriented troubleshooter, Rick has been involved in the opening of 12 restaurants in the U.S. and abroad. He owned two restaurants that survived 10-plus years in New York City (5 Ninth and Fatty Crab), and every restaurant he’s opened was reviewed in The New York Times (with two-star reviews from three New York Times reviewers and 11 New York Times stars in total).

Rick received the coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand award for two concepts and is a sought after speaker and television guest judge. He was also a New York City Chapter Board Member for the New York State Restaurant Association from 2012 through 2015, participating at the state level by serving for two years on its Member Benefits Committee.

Rick trained tech and restaurant managers, taught leadership and team building, and guest lectured at ICE before becoming its Dean of Restaurant & Hospitality Management. In 2024, he was named Executive Director of Industry Relations at ICE, tasked with cultivating and maintaining strong ties between the school, its students, and the hospitality industry at large.

He continues to be an active player in the industry through his consulting company, RDC Hospitality Consultants and as a strategic advisor to the board of Sizzle Acquisition Corp., where he helped to launch their first initial public offering (IPO) in 2023 and complete their second public offering in 2025 – at a valuation of over $200M.  

“Having a well-rounded background and understanding basic business fundamentals is important,” he says. “Oftentimes, in the real world, employees – including managers – only learn about a small piece of the business… FOH, BOH, Admin. I believe everyone benefits from understanding the goals, financial and otherwise, that the restaurant is looking to meet. Having that understanding makes the employee a stronger contributor, which in turn makes the organization better and stronger.”