Spotlight On: Mitch Mehr, F&B Outlet Opening Expert

By Derek Gale, Senior Editor -- Hotels, 9/22/2008 10:28:00 AM

Mitch Mehr is vice president of food and beverage operations for Englewood, Colorado-based Destination Hotels & Resorts, a newly created position at DH&R as the company looks to heighten the profile of its restaurants to true destination dining. In this role, Mehr will oversee the development and implementation of DH&R’s new F&B platform and service standards. Previously, Mehr was vice president of food and beverage operations for Kor Hotel Group and vice president of restaurant operations for Kimpton’s West Coast hotels and restaurants. Recently he took a few minutes to talk with HOTELS about his job and where DH&R is headed with its F&B program.

HOTELS: How did you wind up in this role for DH&R?

Mehr: I was an associate of an ex-DH&R employee—we worked together at Kor. He recommended me at DH&R. They were looking for a hands-on F&B leader, someone who could be deployed to portfolio challenges, be creative in revenue generation, lower operating costs, create efficiencies, and liaison with consultants on board already.

HOTELS: How does your time at Kimpton, Kor and China Grill Management influence your work at DH&R?

Mehr: I think the biggest factor that is helping me is pre-opening and opening experience with restaurants, bars and nightclubs—the complete F&B portfolio of revenue centers. I’ve opened multiple venues and worked with consultants, designers, architects, etc. I’ve also put together training guides and job descriptions.

HOTELS: What is the vision for DH&R F&B moving forward?

Mehr: I think it’s very simply said—to go from hotel restaurants to restaurants in hotels. This won’t be true for all markets, but we want to have destination restaurants. We don’t want to be an amenity for guests, we want the restaurants to be an experience for guests and for local community.

HOTELS: How will you achieve that vision?

Mehr: Due diligence first and foremost. Go in and observe. I’ll give you an example—I just spent the last couple of days at The Royal Palms in Scottsdale. I observed, listened and met with every member of F&B management, along with guests, to understand what the restaurant is in that community. T Cook’s is an outstanding restaurant, a flagship F&B operation, but the perception is that it is a high-end, special occasion restaurant. In fact it is not—it’s very affordable. So my recommendation is that we need a strong PR effort in that area to change the locals’ perception of the restaurant.

HOTELS: What is your main focus right now?

Mehr: I have a distinct focus on the pre-opening of Terranea Resort and the refresh of the restaurant (Kitchen 1540) in L’Auberge Del Mar, as well as the transition of the Sheraton Universal from Starwood management to DH&R management and a conceptual change up in Vail.

HOTELS: Will DH&R continue to use prominent F&B consultants to assist with concept creation, renovation and rebranding?

Mehr: Yes. We have a great relationship and have had great success with Elizabeth Blau. Elizabeth is a consultant on the Terranea project, which has 11 revenue centers—restaurants, bars, catering, roomservice, etc. And we have an excellent relationship with Michael Bonadies, so yes.

HOTELS: Will DH&R outsource any of its restaurant operations or partner with celebrity chefs going forward?

Mehr: Not at this time. I think we can do it ourselves, with the help of consultants, so at this time we’ll keep it in house.

HOTELS: How are you finding and attracting talent for your restaurants?

Mehr: We are going for only the best, and that’s not a cliché. With the support of the consultants, Michael Bonadies and Elizabeth Blau, and me going through my associates in the field… Plus, calls are coming in. As we are reaching out, people are understanding what we’re doing here and very talented people are interested in joining us. We foster a creative and entrepreneurial work environment and people know it. That attracted me as I did my due diligence on the company.

HOTELS: What about training—how will you go about developing a true service culture and focus in DH&R’s restaurants?

Mehr: My expectation is emotional training—training from the heart. I’m taking the best of what I see in the field and putting together training manuals that will incorporate this training from the heart, as well as operational training. L’Auberge has put together excellent training—not just service knowledge of wine and food and specials, but understanding of guest needs and reading a table, which goes way above and beyond just F&B. We want to embrace our guests, bring them into our home, entertain them, make them feel comfortable, and bring them back.

I’m also putting together an affinity team of F&B directors, chefs and catering directors from different parts of the country to help me finalize and roll out procedures, manuals and best practices, all of which will be templates, not directives, as each market and [F&B department] is uniquely different.

HOTELS: What are your goals for the future?

Mehr: I have a big task ahead of me, but my focus for now—it is very important to me that Kitchen 1540 opens with a bang. We have put a lot of time and energy and thought and money into it, and plan to make a major impact both in the local market and maybe spread out even a bit further. And with Terranea opening in June 2009, my focus for the next six to nine months is on those operations making a major impact to show the industry that DH&R is serious about bringing the level of F&B much higher than it is today.