EP 42: Amy Racine

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Welcome to Hospitality On The Rise, the podcast about the people shaping the hospitality industry and their journeys. I'm your host, Alice Cheng, founder and CEO of Culinary Agents, hospitality's go-to hiring platform. And I'm here to give you your dose of virtual mentorship.

Here, we'll be sharing the stories, lessons learned, and advice from hospitality leaders who've carved out their own path to success. After all, this industry is where many get their start and go on to do incredible things.

Whether you're a pro, starting out, or just love the hustle, this podcast highlights what makes hospitality extraordinary, the people.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

So excited to have Amy Racine here with us today. Amy is the Beverage Director and Partner at JF Restaurants, spearheads over a dozen unique national programs. She's also the Wine Consultant at Tatiana at Lincoln Center, an award-winning restaurant, along with several other accolades, including most recently Wine Enthusiast Beverage Director of the Year. Amy, thank you for joining us today.

GUEST: AMY RACINE

Thank you for having me. I'm very excited.

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

We are so excited. We were just chatting that we've been emailing for the past 10+ years and working together, but I've actually never met you. And so  although this is not in-person, this will do for now. I'm curious and we all want to know, how did you get started in food and beverage?

GUEST: AMY RACINE

My mom loves to entertain. She throws, still, incredible parties and bakes like a pro, and my dad's a great cook, and I grew up helping them prep for dinners, parties, whatever. It was just part of life, and I don't think I could have escaped this if I tried. I originally wanted to be a chef, so I went to culinary school and that's where I discovered wine. It was something that was always around at home, but never something I considered a career. Because alcohol, it wasn't forbidden or overly-precious in our house, so it didn't hold the bad mystique that it can have when you turn 21 for me. I just kind of never really thought about it. But once I started learning about or thinking about wine as art and saw how it could bridge to the culinary world in a meaningful way, I was pretty hooked on it. Eventually I started with wine, went to the spirits route, and then I realized being a beverage director is better than being a chef, and that you have fewer burns, and there's more perks, and you're not butchering lamb at 6AM, smelling like fish.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Sounds glorious. Now, where did you get your start? Like, where did you start working?

GUEST: AMY RACINE

I started working in restaurants in Cleveland, Ohio–Akron more specifically, if anybody knows that area–to get the credentials I needed to get into culinary school. I was working at a local Italian restaurant as a hostess. And then I said that I wanted to be a chef and could I get into the kitchen to help prep. And I was just this 16 year old girl that was part-time hosting part-time learning how to break down salmon from Ernesto in the kitchen.

I worked my way up through the Ohio ranks as best I could, and then I went to culinary school from there, and then started working in much more grand spaces, and did my externship at The Greenbrier and just kept trying to get more experience and more credentials as I went.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

That sounds exciting. So you're in New York, you're in school, and then Greenbrier, which is not in New York, but an amazing place. Was that when you were kind of like, “I want to do more wine stuff”? Or when did that transition start happening?

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

The transition happened after my externship. I don't know if it's like this anymore, but at the CIA, it's about a year, year and a half, I think, to get your Associates in Culinary Arts, and then you can continue on to your Bachelor's. It's a three-year program. And when I was in the bachelor's program, that's when they have the wine classes and the beverage classes. And there were several teachers that I had that I loved. One in particular, Vincenzo Lauria, I remember him teaching about bitters. We were doing Campari and Amaro, and I was like, this is crazy, this is amazing. 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

You're like a whole other world unlocked.

GUEST: AMY RACINE

Yeah, I was like, “I want to do what you do.” So that was an aha moment for me.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Nice, nice. And so did you finish school and then start working in the New York area right away? I mean, after your externship and everything?

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

So I wrapped up culinary school, and this was 2015. At the time the CIA Hyde Park had just started a nine-month wine and beverage program. That timing was so wrong. It was like 2017. I went to CA, Greystone, excuse me, in Napa Valley.

And they had just started this nine-month wine and beverage program, and it was led by Christie Dufault, who's amazing and a professional sommelier. And I did that for nine months. It was a certification program. And then when I came out of that, the economy was in a kind of tough spot, so I was really looking for where can I go. And I had to hang out at home for a while and was just doing all the interviews I could do. And eventually got a position at Amangiri, which is a resort in Utah, a part of the Aman Resort group. And it's an incredible property. And it caters to this 1% in the middle of nowhere. And it had this incredible inventory. And I had a great mentor there. And that's when I started building the beverage career.

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

Nice. Can you remember one piece–I'm sure you got some great knowledge nuggets–but do you remember one piece of advice that stuck with you from that mentor?

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

You know, she told me so many great things. And I think I really admired the way that she carried herself. I think just generally in terms of advice that I've received, it's probably been whatever your equivalent is of “keep your head down and just keep working,” that kind of a thing.

Because for a long time, I found the industry just so overwhelming and was just trying to survive and not disappoint anyone. So there were a couple of moments that kind of came through both in the culinary side and the wine side where I was like, this is amazing. I can do this. And she was one of the people that definitely encouraged me and brought out the confidence in me, I should say. But in general, I think my mentality was always just “work.”

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah, I mean, that is a great mentality. And I feel like it's one of the first times–not saying that because it's not something that's common–but you hear a lot of that “put your head down and work” a little bit more on the back of house. And maybe that was like your initial training into the wine world. But also it speaks to the generation, right? Things have evolved, things the industry has evolved, workers have evolved.

But that's still a common thread I think that always serves pretty well in general, which is do the work and observe and connect with folks who, I think in this point, makes you feel confident or brings out the confidence in you so that you can be the best version of yourself. Also working in hotels–or resorts, if you will. I think Aman has its own category in itself. How is the transition to, because there's obviously a lot of similarities, but there's some differences between going from there to then working with restaurants.

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

There are. I mean. Aman was an amazing experience because, yes, it's a resort, but it's so isolated. It's two hours to the nearest city, and it's not even a city. So you just had to be resourceful and make it work, and you had to make it work at a very high level. So that was a great experience. And then I moved to, kind of to your point, a totally different animal in San Francisco, a restaurant called Son & Daughters, which was 14 tables, tasting menu only, wine pairings. They were both excellent, but I was flexing totally different muscles at both of them. And I think those were both very early impactful experiences for me.

 And now in hindsight where we operate in several hotels and we also try to execute at a very high level in some of those restaurants in the hotel and others we are more casual. But I think I was able to pull a lot of the experience in both and found a way to make it work today.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah, because not only do you have multiple different concepts underneath one umbrella, if you will, they're spread out even though not too far from each other. But they're all different. And that can be challenging in and of itself, right? Making sure that you're creating the beverage, the wine list, the program that's true to that particular concept and vision, if you will, since you're a chef-led group, I'll call it.

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

We are, yeah. That's the fun part of it as well. And I mean, the goal when I was coming into beverage was I want to be a beverage director in a hotel. And that felt like a lot, like there would be a lot going on inside of the hotel, and I would have maybe different restaurants, in-room dining, all that kind of stuff. And now it's like this is far beyond that. And I love it. I absolutely love it. And I'm so happy and grateful for being in this position and having this opportunity. But it's funny how things change and opportunities arise.

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

Yeah. Well, speaking of opportunities, you do work as well with Tatiana, which is not part of the said-group we're talking about. So how did that come about? It's a very big project in and of itself and separate.

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

It's a big project. So Tatiana is Chef Kwame Onwuachi, and then the company that I'm a partner in is JF restaurants, which is led by Chef John Fraser. So Tatiana opened three years ago now in Lincoln Center, and it was an opportunity that–not an opportunity that was presented to me as you can have it. I had to work for it and basically audition for it several times and beg and say why I thought I should be there. And I still can't believe I am, but I so believe in everything that that restaurant stands for. And we've built this incredible wine program together, everybody that works there and Chef and his team of this wine list of producers that are very diverse as human beings, all different walks of life, all different backgrounds, race, age, gender, all of that. 

So in the world of wine, the people behind the wine wasn't really ever something that was spoken about. And you kind of assumed who was behind a burgundy or bordeaux or whatever.

Given Chef's vision there and then the direction of the wine list, it felt appropriate to speak to all of these amazing people that are creating amazing wines everywhere. And then on top of that, you're in Lincoln Center, which is beautiful and incredible. And when I first moved to New York, I would walk by it every day and be like, “This is what New York's all about.” Like walking by at night and people hanging out at the fountain. It's super easy to get chills whenever I walk in that building. It's amazing.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

I love it. How do you balance all–I mean, they're two very different, just by default, they're two different companies, different groups. How do you balance your time or the stuff that you have to do?

GUEST: AMY RACINE

Well, in general… So within JFR, we have 16 concepts between Florida, New York, and Boston area. And then consulting at Tatiana. What I try to achieve for the restaurants that are local to me–because I do live in Manhattan–I try to be at each space once a week, which might be one a day or two a day. It's usually two a day. When I'm at Tatiana, it's in the evening on the floor. And then the other restaurants differ based on what the concept is. In the summertime, I'll head out to Long Island to the North Fork, which is the busy season on the weekends. And then once a month or two months, depending, I'll travel to the ones outside of New York. 

But we have amazing teams at all of them. I mean, these people inspire me all the time, and the beverage leads… I mean, these are sommeliers, head bartenders, beverage managers, general managers, depending on the space and what the leadership calls for. But they're always bringing so much to the table, new ideas, new ingredients, and things I've never heard of. Not only do they inspire me, but they are very much running their property as well.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah, the secret sauce is the people.

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

Oh yeah, for sure. I'm sure you know much more than I do, but yeah, they're amazing folks that I just love.

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

So what are some of the qualities? Because I would imagine, and correct me if I'm wrong, you probably play a hand in making sure that you're bringing on the right leadership or that they're properly trained. What are some of the, I'll say, the skills and qualities that you look for when you're looking for that leadership layer, since you rely on them so much to run the properties?

GUEST: AMY RACINE

Well I think a lot of the skills can be taught. Obviously if you're coming in as a sommelier, we love sommelier experience. But we do a lot of mentorship from within and love to see when a server moves into a sommelier a bartending position and moves up through our company. That's always incredible. In terms of bringing somebody in from the outside, I think something that can't be taught is just general sense of care, which you can usually feel when you're talking to somebody or the way they speak of their past positions or past colleagues. And probably self-awareness too. Self-awareness is pretty important. I mean, you're with other people that are paying to be in your restaurant all the time. So you have to be aware of how you're speaking and handling yourself at a table. So I say that a little tongue in cheek, but it's true. If you're going to be in the service industry, you should be self-aware.

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

Yeah, I hear you. And you cannot predict what's going to happen when you're interacting with all these different folks. But the only thing you can kind of control is yourself, right? 

GUEST: AMY RACINE

As long as you can smile when it gets crazy, great.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah, some of that comes with experience. 

GUEST: AMY RACINE

That's true.

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

And so for someone–because I'm always fascinated, and we do a lot of career pathing and that's the basis for these interviews as well as our Hospitality Career Paths on our site. And we're always talking about the foundational skills that you build when you start in this industry. It can take you in any direction. And oftentimes you do find folks progressing into or becoming more involved in the wine side of things after they've discovered something, or they've done something else and they're like, “I like this area that I want to specialize in.”

So for someone who is like, “I'm interested in wine, but I'm a server”, or maybe “I'm a host,” “I'm starting out” or “I'm just in a different position,” what would you suggest to them to get started or to get to the next level?

GUEST: AMY RACINE

Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of great educational resources now that weren't around before. And it depends where you are. Some of them are regional or local, and some of them are large-scale. So for example, I studied through the Court of Master Sommeliers. And this isn't something that I require anybody else coming onto our team to go through. But it worked for me because the structure of it, I guess, felt actually very similar to a kitchen. It was pretty militant, and you had to put your head down and work a certain way. But you can also sign up for GuildSomm, which is their community basem and it's a subscription for, I think, $100 a year, and you can get all of this information that they base their exams off of, which I think is great. I also think joining tasting groups, and going out to tasting events and wine tastings, and just using anything that's accessible towards you. And there's also online platforms now. 

My biggest tip, I guess, or something that I always thought of when I was uncomfortable, my dad always told me to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. And I think that's something that helped a lot putting myself in rooms where maybe I didn't necessarily feel I belonged or signing up for things that maybe I didn't think I could do or achieve, or maybe I couldn't taste the way the other people in the room could or whatever. If you make yourself comfortable with being uncomfortable and put yourself into the room, I think that is like that's step number one through ten.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, talking specifically about beverage, I think that the community, there's a huge community that exists. And I have found, even though I'm not a beverage professional, I know a lot of beverage professionals, that for the most part, everybody is really welcoming and encouraging of people who are interested, who want to learn more, who want to figure out what's the best path to get to where they want to go. And there are many, right? Becoming a Master Sommelier is not the only route to being a beverage professional. And getting into wine doesn't mean you stay in wine. You can take it in other directions as well.

GUEST: AMY RACINE

Totally, you can specialize now, and say sherry speaks to you, there's a job for you. Say sake speaks to you, there's a job for you. And to that point, I think the industry looks so much different now in a great way compared to what it was like when I was growing up. Just the number of women that are in leadership roles alone, I think is amazing. And I think everybody in my generation, or a lot of my colleagues and my friends in the industry, I think everybody just wants to not create the atmosphere that we came up in. And we want to be welcoming, and we want to share, and we also know that there's a lot to learn from people that are coming up as well. So I hope that that's very much a shared mentality these days, and I think it will only get better.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah, I agree. And that, I think, is a statement for the entire industry, dare I say. You know, I think one of the unique things about hospitality is that it's like this one giant family, but there are a lot of different subgroups and specialties in each area that you can find your community and your people. But at the end of the day, everybody, I believe, genuinely and generally wants to support each other because everyone wants this industry to continue to grow and develop and thrive. So I love that, and I agree with that, and I'm looking forward to continuing to highlight more and more of that because they exist, and voices need to be lifted. 

So what's next for you? You got a lot of balls in the air. You're managing them all. How do you manage your stress by the way? What are your tricks?

GUEST: AMY RACINE

I don’t know if I do well, but I try. I've started intentionally making time for things that I love. So running, and running in general usually means you're getting up earlier than you normally would and maybe not having martini number two or whatever the night before. But I love it. And I've started taking Italian classes because I've always wanted to learn to speak Italian. So I think last year I was like, if I ever want to do these things, I'm the only one that can make it happen. I ran my first marathon in New York last year, and it was one the most amazing things I've ever done.

  

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

Wow! Congrats.

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

Thank you. And it just reminded me that I need personal goals outside of work. And I think that that shows a lot when you're fulfilled outside of work. I think it can show a lot inside of work and taking the time to make sure you're not burned out by working all the time is something that shows to the rest of your team. And therapy also.

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

Yeah, I mean, that's so important. We heard that commonly from leaders is, you’ve got to take care of yourself. Especially when you reach a certain level, it's really easy to kind of… lines can get blurred. We don't talk about work-life balance. I'm like work-life harmony, right? You know, find what balance works for you. Like, how can all the things that you want and you enjoy work together in harmony, right?

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

Yeah, and I think that's such a good way to put it. And I'm sure, I don't think anybody has it perfectly down, and everybody's still trying to figure it out, but it's to unplug and protect your space to be creative or just empty your brain for a minute is really important, I think. And it might be an overused term at this point, but setting boundaries is not something that was a part of my vocabulary when I entered this field. And I've realized that if I don't rest, it shows up in the work.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

That's great. And like I said, common in leadership. That's great advice. Well, what's next for you?

GUEST: AMY RACINE

I've got a few things that I'm working on. I want to continue the mission that we've kind of been speaking about this whole time, which is celebrating the community that we now have in the hospitality industry. So I have these projects focused on that. I will say that last year I did a project called the Wine Project with this photographer Marcos Alberti, which shows different people after none, one, two, and three glasses of wine. It's a really cool project. But I joined him last year to do it with the industry. And we, again, got all walks of life in the industry, all stages in people's career, from very established, well-known chefs to people that are just getting into the industry for the first time. All abilities, backgrounds, everything, and it was a really cool project. There's interest in doing more of those.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Nice. Just keep piling it on.

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

It's such a meaningful part of it. It's being in this position now and having the opportunity to do things like that that are meaningful to me and I hope others is why you work so hard to try and get here.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Exactly. I was just going to reference your comment before about doing things that you enjoy and taking care of yourself. Oftentimes when you're starting out in general–this is just general advice or an observation, I'll say, because I also think about it as well–when you start out, the boundaries are a little more difficult to to maintain because you are trying to either prove yourself or learn and take every opportunity to learn and prove yourself, right? So it's harder to set the boundaries and stick by them. And in certain aspects, and depending on the situation, it could potentially be frowned upon, right? Because it's like, wait, but you're starting out, and the whole point is to really take advantage of every moment to learn and grow. 

And then once you kind of progress in your career and you're in leadership, that's when you can take a step back and say, “Wait a second. I love this, I want to have longevity in it, I want to set an example for others,” etc. So it's almost like you paid your dues, and now you're ready to reset and get to the next step. And there's truth in that and there is real validation that that is a process that works for a lot of people as well.

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

I agree 100%. Yeah.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Well on that note, we're gonna go to quick-fire. First question, what advice would you tell your younger self?

GUEST: AMY RACINE 

You're never ready, you'll never feel ready, so just do it.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

And get into the room, right? 

GUEST: AMY RACINE

Yeah, just get into the room, girl. Just stop thinking. You can do it.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

What's your advice for someone struggling in the industry?

GUEST: AMY RACINE

I think what you said earlier, find your people. This work is too hard to do alone.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

What's your advice for fellow hospitality leaders?

GUEST: AMY RACINE

I think lead like somebody's watching. Not for appearances, but because your standard kind of sets a tone for the rest of the room and for everybody else. And culture starts with you.

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Perfect. On that note, Amy, thank you so much for sharing your career timeline, your advice, your experience, and we can't wait to see what's next.

GUEST: AMY RACINE

Thank you. Thank you so much.

HOST: ALICE CHENG
Remember, success looks different for everyone in hospitality. No two paths are the same. If you have a leader or a topic you want to hear about, email [email protected].

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