Director of Business Development of Fearless Restaurants

I very rarely look for expertise when hiring, unless it is a highly particular position like a Beverage Director, Sommelier, or Chef. For all of our front of house positions I look for personality. Does this person have a positive attitude, are they excited about hospitality, what is his/her/their energy level? I also look for an entrepreneurial spirit and ambition. I want to hire people who want my job, who want to open their own restaurant. Hiring someone who has their own career aspirations or desire to open their own business should never intimidate you. I like hiring people with entrepreneurial spirit because they will treat our business as their own.

I love the app Coast. I handle all of the Facilities and Maintenance for our collection of restaurants and hotel, it helps me prioritize all of the work orders I need my engineering team to complete, it allows my management team (both FOH/BOH) to communicate with the engineers, and it allows me to communicate and provide to-do lists to all 110 managers on the fly. It’s super handy and a necessity for keeping my brain organized.

Hospitality and working in restaurants is ALL about teamwork. The highlight of my career was opening a 400 person circus tent in the parking lot of our restaurant Tuckers Tavern in LBI during the summer of 2020. It was by far the most challenging mentally and physically on myself and my team. Our team had to erect this tent with 42 picnic tables, server stations, décor, operating supplies, power, lights, POS stations, and a full bar with 40 seats – all socially distanced mind you with “distancing police.” It came together because of the entire team chipping in to make every piece of that happen. Without the effort to get the tent not only functional, but also to run it safely and efficiently was a massive team effort.