Capital One announced that it has named Paul Westra Managing Director of Restaurant Investments, supporting its Food, Beverage & Agriculture (FB&A) specialty banking team. “Over the course of more than 20 years, Paul established himself as one of the most authoritative restaurant analysts on Wall Street,” said Paul Baisley, Managing Director and Head of Food, Beverage & Agriculture at Capital One. “Our decision to selectively build our team with professionals of Paul’s caliber reflects our commitment to providing deep expertise and customized solutions to our clients.”

The FB&A group specializes in leveraged lending and full-service corporate banking to private, public, and sponsor-backed companies across the entire food value-chain. In addition to corporate lending, it provides a range of corporate services including treasury management, corporate card, derivatives, foreign exchange, and more. Although Capital One has a long history of serving the food and beverage industry, it formally launched the FB&A specialty group in 2018 to better serve this vertical.

“Our food and beverage specialty team has the expertise to deliver additional value because we understand the industry nuances and loan structures common in the sector,” Baisley said. “This can translate into better credit outcomes for our customers.”

Westra brings a wide range of experience to his position. Prior to joining Capital One, he was Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of iPic Entertainment Inc., where he helped lead the company’s successful initial public offering. On Wall Street, he was a market-share leader in new-equity issuance for over a decade, serving as lead manager for transactions including Chipotle, Einstein-Noah Bagels, and Buffalo Wild Wings. Westra also spent two years as Vice President of Business Development for Food.com, an outsourced information technology company for restaurants, and cofounded two New York City restaurants, Phebe’s and Dylan Prime.