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It’s understandable why CJ Foodville USA, the company behind the fast‑growing bakery café brand TOUS les JOURS, sought out Ofelia Kumpf for its C-suite. The accomplished executive spent three decades at McDonald’s, driving a transformation within her own team that became a blueprint for the organization’s stateside operations.
But at this point in her career, there needed to be something for Kumpf to be excited about. There was.
“I came to CJ Foodville because I saw a brand on the cusp of something much bigger and knew my experience building high‑performance, franchise‑driven businesses could help unlock that next chapter,” the current chief operating officer explains. “The culture here is scrappy and entrepreneurial, and my role has been to pair that spirit with the systems, routines, and talent strategy you need to scale to a thousand units and beyond.”
Today, TOUS les JOURS operates over 200 bakery cafes across North America and is rapidly expanding its footprint across the United States. As consumer demand for premium bakery café experiences continues to grow, CJ Foodville USA is investing in the infrastructure, talent, and franchise support systems needed to accelerate that momentum.
As one of the few Latina chief operating officers in the foodservice industry, Kumpf recognizes the significance of her position. While her focus remains on business results, she understands the impact representation can have on future generations of leaders.
A Chance to Make ‘Great’ Even Greater
Kumpf says all of the core pieces were in place, and her focus has been to ensure that every initiative that is taken on, from real estate to supply chain, connects back to a coherent strategy that accelerates, not just moves, the company ahead.
The COO’s remit spans real estate, operations, training, franchising, supply chain, marketing, communications, and the multitude of ways in which each shows up in the everyday lives of the company’s franchisees. Although she’s only been at CJ Foodville USA for a year, she’s proud of the work that she and her organization have put in.
Since joining CJ Foodville USA, Kumpf has focused on creating stronger alignment across functions while deepening engagement with franchisees. Through expanded listening sessions, leadership task forces, and more structured communication channels, she has worked to ensure franchise owners have a greater voice in shaping the future of the brand.
“Our franchisees are our business partners,” Kumpf says. “The best systems are built when leadership and operators are solving challenges together.”
“What I’m most proud of is that the change has been embraced, especially by our franchisees,” Kumpf says. “This work is for them, and they’ve welcomed it with open arms.”
The popularity of Korean bakery cafés has surged in recent years as consumers seek globally inspired flavors, elevated presentation, and fresh-baked products made throughout the day. TOUS les JOURS has become one of the category’s leading brands, blending Korean-French baking traditions with a modern café experience that appeals to a broad audience.
That alignment matters in a category that is suddenly having a moment. Korean‑style baked goods—more colloquially known as the “Korean cake wave”— have captured American consumers’ attention, and CJ Foodville is investing in U.S. production infrastructure to sustain that demand. Kumpf, who was a fan of the cakes before they were trendy, saw the opportunity to marry that momentum with her experience leading transformational change at legacy brands.
“I love the challenge of expanding my own experiences while helping a brand expand its footprint,” the leader says. “This role lets me do both—grow the business and grow people.”
Kumpf sees the company’s next chapter as far bigger than unit growth alone.
“We’re building the systems, culture, and capabilities that will allow TOUS les JOURS to become a nationally recognized bakery café brand,” she says. “Growth is important, but sustainable growth requires operational excellence, strong partnerships, and a shared vision.”
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A New Frontier
Joining a Korean-owned organization after spending three decades at an iconic American company required its own learning curve. Kumpf says one of the most rewarding aspects of the transition has been helping bridge cultures while preserving what makes the organization unique.
“I’ve learned that some of the best ideas come from bringing different perspectives together,” she explains. “When you create an environment where people are willing to learn from one another, innovation happens much faster.”
Coming to CJ Foodville isn’t the only big change in Kumpf’s life. The COO’s longtime nonprofit work has extended into the for-profit sector, joining Frontier Group Holdings, Inc., Frontier Airlines’ board of directors in 2021. Kumpf’s previous service included the Latino Donor Collaborative, the Ronald McDonald House of Southern California, and Southern California Public Radio, and the Frontier role is a welcome evolution for a leader who loves a challenge and a chance to share her expertise.
“Being on a public company board teaches you very quickly what management should do and what a board must do,” Kumpf says. “Our responsibility is governance, questioning strategy, making sure it stays on track, and then getting out of the way so management can execute.”
Her board role has reinforced the way she approaches her day job. The COO says it’s made her more focused than ever on communication with her CEO and parent company, her peers and franchisees, and the teams she serves.
“The greatest growth I’ve had has come from the combination of my board experiences and my executive roles,” Kumpf adds. “As a C‑suite leader, I plug in deeply enough to ask the right questions, then I pull back and let the team try, learn, and sometimes fail, which I actually expect. That’s part of real learning.”
The Playbook
After leading a major transformation at McDonald’s, where the consumer‑focused Success Acceleration Plan she helped design became a blueprint for the U.S. system, Kumpf realized she had a story that more leaders, and especially more Latinas, could benefit from hearing.
“I started working on a book on transformation because there aren’t many women, and even fewer Latinas, in the business sector who have been able to write about leading transformation at scale,” the COO says. “What my team and I accomplished offered a real process, real ‘how‑to,’ and I felt those learnings could be beneficial to someone coming up behind me.”
The lessons draw heavily from both her experience leading large-scale transformation at McDonald’s and her current work helping guide one of the fastest-growing café brands in North America.
The project is part leadership manual, part reflection on the power of expectation. She traces her confidence back to her father, who insisted that his daughters speak up and never leave a room wishing they had voiced an idea. “It’s almost like he was writing my future with the words he chose,” Kumpf reflects. “He taught me to believe not ‘if’ but ‘when.’”
For Kumpf, visibility is less about personal brand than responsibility. She understands the feeling of being the only person who looks like her in a room and understands that her presence can shape the perceptions of others who look like her.
“I feel a great sense of responsibility to do my best because I represent many people who are aspiring to these roles and more,” she says. “If I do well—if I show that yes, I look different and may speak differently, but my ideas are just as good—then it opens the door wider for the next Latina.”
As TOUS les JOURS Bakery Café continues its rapid expansion, Kumpf remains focused on the same principles that have defined her career: inspiring stakeholders, building strong teams, creating clarity amid change, and helping people achieve more than they thought possible to drive growth both for franchisees and franchisor. For a leader who has spent decades transforming organizations, the opportunity to help shape the future of an emerging global brand may be her most exciting challenge yet.
