A consummate career professional, Ketaki has been into brand and product marketing, public relations (PR), and consumer loyalty for over 12 years. She has led the airline partnerships and loyalty program for a leading airline in India and headed the marketing and PR functions at iconic global restaurant brands in the UAE.

Starting her eventful career with Kingfisher Airlines based in Mumbai, India, Ketaki worked closely with the ownership, senior leaders, High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI), and VVIP high fliers as Manager of Airline Partnerships and King Club – the loyalty program. Ketaki led a team of 100-plus customer care executives at 13 airports across India.

Currently, Ketaki is the Head of Marketing at Jollibee, based in Dubai, UAE. Jollibee is a much-loved restaurant chain founded in 1978 with over 1,500 locations across 17 countries. In his hit food and travel documentary show, Parts Unknown on CNN, the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain referred to Jollibee as the “wackiest, jolliest place on Earth.” Despite being at the helm for only a year now, Ketaki has spearheaded the brand’s reach in other demographic groups after being the de facto brand of choice for Filipino nationals worldwide. Her recent campaign – King Bee of the Ring with Virgin Radio Dubai and UAE’s most influential radio personalities – Kris Fade and Priti Malik was a smash hit! The campaign assisted Jollibee in securing the non-Filipino populace as 25% of its clientele – the highest ever recorded since the brand started operations in the UAE. Her focus is to continue attracting more diversity in the clientele of Jollibee by encouraging trials and increasing access to and visibility for the brand across the nation. Ketaki plans to use regional radio and digital and traditional media to reach her target audience.

Localizing the brand positioning of Jollibee is critical to remain relevant in the UAE and attract mainstream audiences. In this regard, Ketaki is working closely with the Operations and R&D teams to launch new menus. She is instrumental in achieving revenue targets and gross margins with double-digit growth YOY. Ketaki also manages the annual brand marketing and promotions calendar involving significant investment towards advertising across multiple media channels.

Ketaki was the Marketing and PR head honcho at Nando’s Flame Grilled PERi PERi Chicken Restaurants, in Dubai, UAE, till recently. Under her decisive leadership, the brand achieved unprecedented success – Nando’s was accorded “Superbrands” status in 2020 and 2021. With the spectacular grand opening of its new flagship store at The Dubai Mall and later in Mall of the Emirates, Nando’s was back in the big league of premium casual dining in the UAE.

Through relentless networking, attention to detail, and perseverance, Ketaki ensured the Nando’s brand voice and presence was felt across all spheres of the UAE F&B landscape – be it as the exclusive subscription drive partner of Gulf News, UAE’s leading English daily newspaper, or by securing big wins for Nando’s at Caterer ME and RetailME awards. It also tremendously helped that she had spearheaded Nando’s call center operations and was their Learning and Development (L&D) Manager before leading the marketing team.

Ketaki regularly speaks at industry events, participates in panel discussions, and actively champions industry-relevant issues.

A graduate in Business Administration, she also holds a Masters in International Marketing with specialization in Digital Marketing from the Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University.