About Us

 Morgen began his career as a chef and owner before founding his consultancy, Bread and Butter Advisors; he focuses on the creation and operation of relevant restaurants and bars with the correct mix of art and commerce for their audience.  As a chef and operator with experience that ranges from luxury dining (chef at the legendary Quilted Giraffe and his own restaurant, Quince, both in New York City) to high volume concepts, his experience includes the rehabilitation of restaurant brands as well as new concept development and implementation. His international projects include the creative development and restaurant launches of two brands in the U. K., and menu development for four restaurant concepts in Spain, including the NBA Cafe Barcelona.

Morgen is engaged as the Creative Director for Restaurants, Bars and Lounges across the portfolio of Hotel brands owned by Blackstone LLP.  Active projects include seasonal menu changes for all the restaurants of the Boca Raton Resort and Club, Boca Raton Florida, and multiple restaurant and bar renovations with Interstate Hotels and Resorts, the international Hotel management company. In January 2016 he formed an F&B asset management company with two partners, Equal Measure Hospitality LLC.

He has extensive knowledge of wine and spirits through study with the Court of Master Sommeliers and the Wine and Spirits Education Trust.  Morgen indulges his love of coffee liberally through forensic espresso bar research in each city he visits.

 With over 20 years of operational and management experience, Darlene Marcello is a true Food and Beverage professional. Recently, as the VP of Food & Beverage and Procurement with HRI Lodging, she oversaw the operations of all F&B operations in over 30 hotels as well as procurement including 36 additional multi-family properties.  Darlene has proven experience turning once bankrupt F&B operations into profit centers.  Her brand development is savvy and eclectic creating new concepts such as Grayson Social and Killer Biscuits in Dallas, TX.  In San Francisco, she led Puccini & Pinetti transition and created Verge in Los Gatos.  Other top concepts: The Roost, Flannel, Market 104, Powdered Sugar and Batch Bar, a Top 10 Hotel Bar in New Orleans.

Darlene has also owned and operated a multi-unit restaurant group and was the VP of Operations with Semolina, Inc.  Darlene mastered managing daily operations in a large multi-state portfolio including managing P&L, contract negotiation, revenue forecasting, and creating SOP’s for all departments.

Darlene has her CSW certification and her CEC certification. She was a member of the Hilton Worldwide Food and Beverage Advisory board and is currently an active board member of the Hotel F&B Executive Advisory board and the New Orleans Healing Center board.

 Peter Vestinos is an award-winning bartender with years of experience designing and implementing cocktail programs; training bartenders, sales teams and consumers; and consulting with multiple spirit brands. With over 15 years of experience in the bar and restaurant industry, he has worked at all levels of the business including behind the bar, distribution and supplier.
Vestinos pioneered the modern craft cocktail movement in Chicago with the opening of Michelin-starred Sepia in 2007. There he developed a fresh ingredient and seasonally inspired cocktail menu based on then-forgotten classics. A “game changer for the city’s beverage programs,” according to Modern Luxury magazine, Vestinos helped to firmly place Sepia and Chicago on the national cocktail map. 
 

From Sepia, he was recruited by Wirtz Beverage Group, one of the nation’s leading luxury and premium beverage alcohol wholesalers, in the role of beverage Development Director. He acted as a liaison between the supplier, distributor and trade industry, as well as contributing his expertise to cocktail and beverage programs, as well as trade and industry events.

 In 2012 Vestinos launched the beverage consulting company, The Bar Medic, to develop cocktail programs, train bartenders, assist with brand marketing, and to educate consumers through classes. Vestinos has developed cocktail programs for such prestigious Chicago locations as Michael Jordan’s Steakouse, The Winchester, bellyQ, Sepia, Nomi, Gibson’s Steakhouse, The Roof, Elate, The Exchange, City Tavern and the recently opened AceBounce
Vestinos also oversees the beverage program of Footman Hospitality’s establishments, including the upscale gin bar and restaurant, The Betty and the 1940’s Cuban rum bar, Sparrow. He currently proudly serves as the Chicago President of the U.S. Bartenders Guild.
Some of his accolades include: National 1st Place winner in the 2009 Hendrick’s Gin Cocktail and Limerick Competition, National 1st Place winner at the 2008 Bombay Sapphire’s “The Nation’s Most Inspired Bartender” Competition, 1st Place winner in the 2007 Chicago Iron Bartender Competition, and the 2008 U.S. Bartenders’ Guild National Cocktail Competition. He also received 2nd place at the 2008 Las Vegas “Shake It Up” Competition and was honored with the 2008 Time Out Chicago Editor’s Choice Award for “Best Modernizer of the Classic Cocktail.”  

 Paul has more than 25 years of food and beverage leadership experience and is recognized in the hospitality industry as an innovative, creative thinker who knows how to get things done. Most recently, Paul led food and beverage for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. 

During his tenure, he introduced

over 20 new restaurant and bar concepts including Jean-Georges Philadelphia, Marcus in Montreal, Milos in Cabos, Mina’s Fish House in Oahu, Zuma in Boston and multiple local chefs partnerships including Greg Vernick, Gavin Keyson, Alon Shaya, Gerard Craft, Eric Anderson, and Jonathan Sawyer. 

Leading operations, strategy, and finances for 250 restaurant and bar outlets in 50 hotels across Canada, United States, Mexico, South and Central America, and the Caribbean for this

international luxury hotel company with direct oversight of $900M in annual food and beverage revenue. Paul had oversight of 50 Directors of Food and Beverage. 

Prior to his tenure at Four Seasons, Paul led food and beverage for Starwood’s full-service hotels, developing restaurant and bar concepts and chef collaboration partnerships for St. Regis, W, Sheraton, Westin and Le Meridien brands. During his tenure at Starwood, he was hand picked to lead the company’s franchise food and beverage division.

Paul’s extensive development and renovation experience allowed him to work with some of the

most exclusive restaurant and bar designers in the world such as Avroko, TAL, Meyer Davis, Zebulon, Martin Brudnizki, Alexander Waterworth and EDG.

Paul is also a hands-on operator where he was Chief Operating Officer for Big Red Hospitality, a group of 11 restaurants and two boutique hotels. He led the group through the challenging 2008 economic downturn with a focus on driving results through creating operational efficiencies while growing same store sales.

Paul was a founding member of Four Seasons Restaurant and Bar Council; Starwood’s Food and Beverage Council as well as Starwood’s Franchise F&B council. He has extensive experience sourcing restaurant partners and negotiating deals.