Craig Winning has spent his entire career leading, developing, growing, and scaling numerous companies across various industries such as hospitality and technology. His passion for delivering innovative ideas, concepts, excellent operations, and profitability has taken him around the world, from his native Scotland to Europe, Australia, Africa, Canada, and the United States.

Craig currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Batbox, a sports technology company redefining how people play and experience baseball through immersive simulator technology. As part of the executive leadership team, he has helped guide the company through a pivotal growth phase, including securing initial Series A funding and bringing Batbox’s proprietary simulator platform to market. Craig oversees operational strategy, venue deployment, and the scaling of Batbox’s hardware and software ecosystem, helping transform the company from an emerging concept into a rapidly expanding technology brand within the sports and entertainment industry.

Before Batbox, Craig was Senior Vice President at TOCA Social, a company specializing in soccer training technology. During his tenure, he directed the strategic growth of their competitive socializing concept, TOCA Social. Most of his efforts focused on expanding strategy, negotiating complex leases, overseeing construction and design packages, enhancing brand marketing, and launching a licensing agreement in Mexico.

In 2019, he partnered with the ownership group of Pittsburgh-based Burgatory to develop and launch a new entertainment venue. Believing in abundant hospitality and classic gaming like duckpin bowling, Shorty’s X was created as a new “Retro-tainment” brand. As Chief Operating Officer, Craig successfully launched two venues, Shorty’s Pins x Pints and Shorty’s Tap x Taco, each gaining a cult-like following, positioning Shorty’s X for further growth and investment.

Prior to Shorty’s X, Craig served as Head of Operations at Punch Bowl Social, a nationally acclaimed and Fast Company Top 50 Innovative Company. During his leadership, Punch Bowl Social doubled its size to 18 venues and surpassed $135 million in revenue. He implemented scalable systems such as Compeat and BevNet, built bench-strength managers for growth and expansion, and was a key leader in the due diligence process for the $140M investment by Cracker Barrel.

6 years were spent with Calgary, AB-based Franworks Group of Companies. As an Area Partner, he led a senior team overseeing multi-unit restaurant operations in the US and Canada. The team expanded and solidified the presence of 2 core brands, Elephant & Castle and State & Main, with new venue openings, extensive renovations, and rebranding of legacy venues.

Additional career achievements can be found on Craig’s LinkedIn page.