Chicago, Illinois, United States
Experienced Food & Beverage Operations leader in the hospitality industry, with a proven ability to pin-point weak areas of the business and establish performance improvement programs.
Led Bars and Beverage programs at Bernard’s Cocktail Lounge, Brass-Tack, Banquets & IRD. Overseeing service execution, financial performance, and team leadership in a luxury hospitality environment. Increased revenue through strategic menu engineering, elevated cocktail programming, and upselling initiatives aligned with brand standards. Improved beverage margins by implementing cost controls, inventory optimization, and recipe standardization, strengthening COGS performance. Managed ordering, par levels, and monthly inventory while ensuring operational efficiency and cost accountability. Utilized Hilton LMS platforms for staff onboarding, compliance training, and ongoing performance development.
Restaurant and bar manager of five locations within the St. Regis hotel, plus in-room dining — Rime Seafood & Steakhouse, Brasserie 7452, St. Regis Bar, The Vintage Room, Mountain Terrace Cafe, and Wild Ember. Handled all aspects of management of over 60 employees in all locations, including onboarding, scheduling, payroll, sensitive situations, and others. Handled all procurement and developed my knowledge of the Food & Beverage P&L. In charge of developing the cocktail, beer and wine menu for all locations. Personally responsible for developing and launching the three new bars within the hotel - The Vintage Room, Mountain Terrace Cafe, and Wild Ember.
Supervised a team of 40+ staff members in the restaurant and St. Regis Bar, doing scheduling, productivity management, payroll, disciplinary and performance improvement actions, among others. Learned to place inventory orders and strengthened my Micros, POS, knowledge. Covered all areas of need - expeditor, maitre’d, bartender, serving - and handled all situations with guests and ascertained their experience was up to par with St. Regis standards.
The St. Regis Deer Valley hotel, part of the Marriott family, is known as one of the prime ski resorts in the country. I started as a sever in the St. Regis Bar, and moved up to fine dining server in Rime Seafood & Steakhouse. Worked at the highest standards of fine dining established in Forbes, AAA Diamond, and CCHG.