Trona Balkissoon is gearing up for her new role as chief financial officer of Golden Corral Corporation after spending the past 27 years at Nestlé, working her way up the ladder in positions that took her all over the world.
She decided to take the leap from the consumer-packaged goods industry to restaurants simply because she got to know the Golden Corral team at various foodservice events and was inspired by the company’s resilience through the pandemic, which was particularly unkind to the buffet category.
“Lance (Trenary, who has served as chief executive officer for the past 11 years) and his team are a gift,” Balkissoon said during a recent interview. “At this point in my career, if I wanted to make a change and try something different in going from public to private, this was the time to be part of that family.”
She takes over the CFO role as less than 20% of such roles are filled by women, which is one of the reasons she was inspired to join the Women’s Foodservice Forum board this year.
“In some cases, our experience is unique. You can be the only one in the room many times in your career, and it can be lonely,” Balkissoon said. “Being able to see other women have that experience and share how they’ve been able to navigate those different situations is powerful. It also helps me know we can do a lot more to help other women come through and maybe not be the only one in the room but have more representation going forward. It’s more important now than ever to see such representation.”
Her first experience with WFF was in 2022.
“It completely blew me away,” she said. “There’s something inspiring about being able to see women share their experiences and their career path and trajectory and have a safe space to discuss that. I think it’s magic,” she said.
Leveraging Golden Corral’s longtime involvement in the WFF, Balkissoon will encourage her new colleagues, including franchisees, to take advantage of the organization’s networking and programming opportunities, and invest in their personal growth and development.
Such development is critical at a time when the chain is plotting significant growth, including plans to double the business by 2035. Golden Corral has experienced nearly double-digit same-store sales growth in recent quarters across many of its 300-plus locations in 39 states and Puerto Rico. It also happens to sit in a strong category amid an intense value environment; according to Yelp, searches for all-you-can-eat buffets jumped 250% in 2025.
“We are looking at all strategic levers to support that growth. We want the core business to be profitable and we’re looking at other ways to be relevant and innovate as we go forward, as well,” Balkissoon said.
Those levers include smaller formats and conversions, as well as potential international locations, and maybe even an acquisition.
“There’s different ways to get there, but we want to make sure the buffet is growing and I think we’re in a fortunate position with having loyal fans and being relevant,” she said.
Those loyal fans are the reason Golden Corral was able to recover more quickly than most would have predicted post-Covid. The challenge now, however, is finding new guests, especially younger ones.
“We invest a lot into attracting new users to the brand and also making sure that we’re being relevant with (off-premises). But I think the beauty of Golden Corral is there’s something for everyone. You’ve got that variety with the buffet experience, and you’re not pigeonholed to one type of meal experience,” Balkissoon said. “It’s not just chicken fingers and fries — we’ve got the breadth of proteins and a salad bar, and all of that is critical. Gen Z consumers want variety.”
Golden Corral will also continue to invest in its people, which has driven much of its consistency. Not only does that include more training and development opportunities, but also technology solutions to make employees’ jobs easier. Balkissoon said the company’s turnover rate is “much lower” than industry averages and points to her predecessor Jim Laverty’s 40-plus years with the brand as a perfect example.
“I think people stick around because we value and empower our employees and there’s a lot of opportunity for growth,” she said. “At the same time, we’re investing a lot right now in digital transformation so that makes it more interesting and fun to be a part of the brand.”
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
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