Juanita Dickson

As the President of Gusto 54 Restaurant Group, Juanita’s passion for brand loyalty; exceptional customer experience and culture as king is what guides her direction.

When appointed in 2014, her mandate was to transition the group from owning a couple of restaurants in Toronto to becoming a global restaurant group. She is responsible for establishing the Gusto 54 brand and expanding it beyond the existing restaurant experiences in a scalable and sustainable way. 

Since joining as President in 2014 the company has transitioned from 3 to 10 concepts and has received international acclaim. She oversees the development and launch of new business opportunities, like the Gusto 54 product line, catering division, partnership agreements, real estate acquisition, transporting concepts and overall restaurant expansion in both Canada and the United States.

 Juanita came to Gusto 54 with almost two decades of brand and marketing agency experience and a strong track record of exponential brand growth with some of the world’s top fortune 500 brands providing strategic counsel and execution on product launches, customer experience design, employee engagement and brand loyalty solutions.

Juanita holds her Masters in Marketing and Communication from Schulich School of Business, an undergrad in Hospitality & Business Administration from Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and studied Neuroscience at Harvard.

Juanita is often on the speaker circuit talking about Branding; Women in Leadership, Customer Experience, Employee Experience and overall Culture building. She has a contagious entrepreneurial spirit that turns a strong vision into reality in a journey that is fun, collaborative and as quick as they come!