About
I've spent my life in rooms where the work is real.
Bars, dining rooms, back offices and startups. I'm not a consultant who read about this — I'm an operator who lived it, and I still run my own businesses every day.
I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and got into the restaurant and bar business early. Forty years later I still think it's the best training ground there is: tight margins, no hiding, and immediate feedback from real people.
These days I'm based in Phoenix, Arizona, and spend most summers back in Ohio working. That split is intentional — two markets, two networks, and a genuine feel for what works in each.
What I actually do is unglamorous and effective: figure out what a business is really selling, build the digital machinery around it, and then run that machinery so the owner can go be good at their craft.
If you want the polished bio version, ask me on a call. If you want to know whether I can help, tell me what's broken.
The path
How forty years actually went.
The early decades
Learning hospitality from the floor up
I started in restaurants and bars in Cleveland and never really left. Service, bar management, beverage buying, staffing, ownership — I've held most of the jobs in a building, including the ones nobody wants.
Along the way
Starting things, and helping others start things
I kept launching businesses, and friends and staff kept asking me to help with theirs. The pattern was always the same: they were great at the actual work and lost in the paperwork, the website and the marketing.
Today
A portfolio I own and operate
Marketing, local commerce, food and drink media, festivals and travel — several companies running at once, all of them marketed with the same playbook I bring to clients.
Now
Two programs, kept deliberately small
An entrepreneur program for people starting from zero, and a hospitality consulting practice capped at about five venues a month. Small on purpose, so the work stays hands-on.
How I work
Small client list. Direct answers. No jargon.
I'd rather do excellent work for a few people than average work for many. That means I say no fairly often, and when I say yes, I'm in it.