Director of Concept Development & Director of Operations at The Fifty/50 Restaurant Group

We are constantly facing a changing environment from sourcing products, to managing a labor force that has higher expectations for the industry, to following food trends and changing behavioral trends of our guests that affect our businesses. We really try to simplify our objectives to be focused on our guests, our team and our goal of inspired hospitality. Our teams are tired and often feel overworked and underappreciated. I try to be real with everyone and not make excuses for what we need to improve, there is always room to improve. That said, more often than not our team mates need someone to listen to them and validate how they are feeling and sometimes simply need encouragement to carry on. We all appreciate encouragement even if we don't think we need it.

Working with LEYE was a great experience for me. Prior to becoming a manager I explored going to culinary school and couldn't consider adding more student debt after undergrad and decided to try to learn the business as a manager with Lettuce. I was lucky to have a path within LEYE that I had access to Rich Melman and many other partners within their organization. I met my current business partners there, learned how LEYE operates and met a ton of incredible individuals along the way (including my wife). I was with them for a long time and I learned more than I ever expected to. I now have aspirations to make our company a place where we can nurture young entrepreneurs and help others along a path in hospitality.

I took a trip in college to Italy with some friends and had a life changing experience where a restaurant owner made our experience so incredible that it changed the way I looked at restaurant work. So often I heard restaurant folks talk about someday working in a "real job." This experience changed my perspective and I understood this industry to be incredibly powerful to have an impact in people's lives that could last a lifetime. I was hooked.

I played the violin in the orchestra when I was younger and through that experience learned how beautifully a well conducted team could perform when everyone is on the same page. I've opened multiple restaurants and never could have done any of that on my own. Most recently, in 2023, we opened Kindling Downtown Cookout & Cocktails in Willis Tower. It was a challenging opening, as all of them are, but through the efforts of our opening team and all of the leaders who have been a part of this team since, we have a restaurant that we are incredibly proud of.

I often think the idea that we are a "family" in restaurants isn't healthy. Many families I know don't communicate well and have all kinds of resentments and "baggage." The truth is we choose to do this work and we don't choose our family. I don't like to think of myself as a parent in my work relationships, but more so a teacher/coach/mentor.

Communication is key and doing so in a healthy and honest way is the best way I can serve my teams. It's not always easy to be honest in every situation but easy isn't usually the best path.

The charity work we were able to participate in during the pandemic was something I am very proud of. We were all questioning everything during that time and while we had to close most of our establishments and furlough so many of our employees, we were able to provide food and connection to a number of people in the industry that really helped our team move forward and really connect with the service of hospitality in its core. That time really gutted our industry and we've been rebuilding since. Our charity work is something that people mention to me in interviews still to this day.