Menu Matters Welcomes Erin Murray as Senior Director, Client Partnerships

Food industry consulting firm adds veteran insights and foresight leader to its growing team.

CHICAGO, IL, UNITED STATES, September 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Menu Matters, a food industry consulting firm known for pairing culinary expertise with strategic thinking, is excited to announce that Erin Murray has joined the company as Senior Director, Client Partnerships. Murray brings more than 30 years of experience helping food and beverage brands understand what people want next, and why. She’ll work closely with clients to turn market signals, cultural shifts, and changing behavior into clear direction for innovation, positioning, and communication strategy.

Menu Matters, led by President Maeve Webster, helps food manufacturers, commodity boards, restaurant chains and ingredient suppliers understand where the industry is headed and what it means for their business. The firm’s work spans menu innovation, trend forecasting, consumer research, and thought leadership, backed by decades of experience in food industry research and a real love of food.

Webster said she was excited to bring Murray onto the team: “We’re so happy to welcome Erin to Menu Matters. She’s led insights work inside major food companies and advised them from some of the industry’s best-known research firms, so she knows what our clients are up against, because she’s done the work from both the brand side and the research side. That experience is going to make everything we do for our clients even stronger.”

Murray has spent her career combining rigorous research with real-world activation, holding senior insight and consulting roles at Sara Lee, Mintel, Datassential, GfK, Barilla and Bimbo Bakeries USA. She works across both quantitative and qualitative methods and has identified growth opportunities for food and beverage manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, retailers, chain operators, and food trade associations. She pays close attention to how food trends and their counter trends can exist side by side, and she’s always looking for the “sweet spots”: unique, ownable ideas that meet people’s changing needs.

Murray holds a B.A. in Psychology from William & Mary and a Master of Integrated Marketing Communication from Northwestern University’s Medill School, and she recently completed the Institute for the Future’s Foresight Essentials course. She’s especially interested in food as medicine, the future of fresh, and the benefits of biodiverse ecosystems in food production.

Webster also spoke to how Murray fits the way Menu Matters works with clients: “Most of our clients come to us with some version of the same question: What do people need right now, and what should our brand do about it? Erin has spent her career helping companies answer that question. With her on board, we can take on more of that work and go even deeper with each client.”

Murray said she’s ready to get started: “The food and beverage industry is moving faster than ever, and people’s needs are changing right along with it. What motivates me is seeing clients make progress, going from a new insight or idea to real decisions, action, and impact. I’m looking forward to helping Menu Matters’ clients do exactly that.”

Webster, Murray, and Vice President Mike Kostyo are available for media interviews about the company’s growth, 2027 food and beverage trends, and commentary on general food industry stories.

About Menu Matters
Menu Matters is a food industry consulting firm that combines culinary expertise with strategic thinking, analytical precision, and a creative touch to build collaborative solutions. The team brings decades of experience in food industry research, client solutions, and trend foresight to help clients navigate a fast-changing food landscape. Menu Matters is also proudly a certified women-owned business.

Maeve Webster
Menu Matters
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