Bites, Brands & Business: The Future of Restaurants in Houston

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  Aaron Bludorn

  Chef & Partner

  Bludorn Restaurant

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  Chris Shepherd

  Founding Director

  Southern Smoke Foundation

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  Benjy Mason

  Benjamin Mason is a bar owner with three locations in Houston. With over 15 years in hospitality doing everything from head chef to dishwasher, he has focused on creating “neighborhood cocktail bars” that combine the innovative techniques of modern cocktails with the soul of an old school neighborhood dive bar. He is married with two children and is generally overly enthusiastic about a new hobby or project.

  Johnny’s Goldbrick, Winnie’s and Starduster Lounge

  Owner

  Benjy Mason

  Owner

  Johnny’s Goldbrick, Winnie’s and Starduster Lounge

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  June Rodil

  Born in the Philippines and raised in Texas, June joined Houston-based, freshly formed Goodnight Hospitality as a partner in 2019 and opened two new concepts the same year: Montrose Cheese & Wine and Rosie Cannonball, a 2020 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Wine Program. Ever nimble and fighting for survival in the landscape of independently owned restaurants amidst a global pandemic, her company opened three seasonal pop-ups, evolved and added online sales, webinars, and catering in the last year. Goodnight Hospitality opened their fine dining concept, MARCH, in spring 2021. Previously, June was VP of Operations for McGuire Moorman Hospitality, based in Austin, TX, and headed operations for 11 concepts. She remains a partner in June’s All Day, her namesake restaurant that was named one of Food & Wine magazine's Restaurants of the Year in 2017. In her career June has opened over a dozen hospitality concepts with numerous James Beard Award winners and nominees and Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs. She is known as a leader in the beverage community and her accolades include: Wine Enthusiast’s Sommelier of the Year 2018; Wine Enthusiast 40 Under 40 2016; Key Panelist at Women in Wine Leadership Symposium and numerous Food & Wine festivals across the nation; Food & Wine magazine's Sommelier of the Year 2014 (she is the only person to have received the Restaurants of the Year & Sommelier of the Year accolade in Food & Wine history), Star Chef's Rising Star Sommelier 2012, Wine & Spirits Best New Sommelier 2011, TEXSOM Best Sommelier Winner 2009 and is one of 29 women in the Americas to earn the Master Sommelier credential. June is a board member of the Southern Smoke Foundation, which provides crisis relief to those in the food and beverage industry. An avid sparkling wine drinker and determined to find cause for celebration in day to day life, in 2017 she launched her private label wine, June's Brut Rosé, with Austrian winemaker Markus Huber. Outside of her passion for restaurant operations and championing diversity and inclusion in the hospitality industry, June loves doing crossword puzzles with her husband, obsessing over her dog, admiring art she can't afford, avoiding regular exercise, and laughing really heartily with her friends.

  Goodnight Hospitality

  CEO, Partner

  June Rodil

  CEO, Partner

  Goodnight Hospitality

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  Matt Ragan

  Matt Ragan is Rebees' Director of Retail Programming & Operations. After earning History and Business degrees from the University of Kansas, Matt tried his hand at acting (where he found just enough success to still be talking about it) before finding his true calling in the world of hospitality and food and beverage. Matt would go on to run and develop multiple upscale restaurants in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, prior to joining Rebees in 2019.

  Rebees

  Director of Retail Programming & Operations

  Moderator

  Matt Ragan

  Director of Retail Programming & Operations

  Rebees

Local Flavor & Community Vibes: Placemaking through Experiential Retail

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  Sarah Thobae

  Assistant VP

  Weitzman

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  Jeffrey Kaplan

  Principal

  Concept Neighborhood

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  Paula Musa

  VP, Retail Services

  Transwestern

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  Gin Braverman

  Gin Braverman is the founder and creative director of the visionary firm gin design group. She has spent the last decade shaping Houston’s burgeoning hospitality scene, developing originative and fully integrated designs for award-winning food and beverage concepts, independent chefs, sommeliers and national restaurant and hospitality groups. Like all worthwhile paths, Gin’s was winding. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin, her career began in NYC working in production for TV and film, ultimately designing for HGTV’s extreme home remodel show Home Rules. She also spent significant time abroad, traveling Europe and living in Asia, at one point working with a Taiwanese design firm. When she moved to Houston, she joined the team at Installations Antiques, where she deepened her appreciation for and understanding of artisanship in the built-environment apprenticing in their workshop. Multi-cultural fascination and global immersion define her approach and inform her diverse design portfolio both in and outside of Houston. The firm's work has been featured in such esteemed publications as GQ, Architectural Digest, The Architect’s Newspaper, Texas Monthly, PaperCity, Wallpaper* City Guide, Interior Design, The New York Times, Hospitality Design, and others.

  Gin Design Group

  Founder & Creative Director

  Gin Braverman

  Founder & Creative Director

  Gin Design Group

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  Chef Troy Guard

  Raised in both Hawaii and San Diego, Troy Guard spent much of his youth in the ocean or the kitchen. His career started in college at the famed La Costa Resort in San Diego. At the age of 21, Guard began his tutelage under fusion legend Roy Yamaguchi in Hawaii. During their eight-year journey together, Chef Guard developed a distinct multicultural style that would lead him to executive chef positions all over the world; from acclaimed New York hotspot TAO and Doc Cheng’s in Singapore, to Richard Sandoval’s award-winning Latin-Asian fusion restaurant Zengo. Troy joined Yamaguchi for his next culinary adventure – the launch of Roy’s New China Max in Hong Kong. By age 25, he was responsible for several Roy’s outposts throughout Asia. Troy spent eight years working closely with Yamaguchi before taking the coveted post of Executive Chef at New York City hotspot, TAO. Leading a high- volume operation with a large kitchen staff prepared him for his next calling at The Raffles Hotel in Singapore—where, as Chef de Cuisine at the world-renowned Doc Cheng's restaurant, he developed his own unique Pacific Rim style. It was at Doc Cheng’s that Troy met Richard Sandoval, the visionary behind award- winning “Modern Mexican” concept restaurants across the United States. Together, Guard and Sandoval hatched the idea of creating Denver’s first Latin-Asian fusion restaurant, Zengo, in the city’s emerging Riverfront area. After life at Zengo, Troy led several other restaurants to success – including nine75 and Ocean. Still, the calling of owning his own restaurant beckoned – and 2 years later, TAG became that reality. Chef Guard opened his flagship restaurant, TAG, on Larimer Square in the bustling LoDo District of downtown Denver. A culmination of a life-long dream, TAG embodies Guard’s unique vision of Continental Social Food – a combination of his Hawaiian roots, his Pan-Asian expertise and fresh, local Colorado ingredients. Since the opening of TAG, Guard has created that of a restaurant empire across Denver with concepts including Los Chingones (“badass” Mexican), bubu (quick-casual), TAG Burger Bar (imaginative, handcrafted burgers), Guard and Grace (modern American steakhouse), Mister Tuna (American eclectic), HashTAG (breakfast/brunch) and FNG (neighborhood wood-fired eatery). In 2019, Guard will make his first move outside of Colorado with the opening of Guard and Grace in Houston, Texas.

  TAG Restaurant Group

  Owner & Chef

  Chef Troy Guard

  Owner & Chef

  TAG Restaurant Group

• Moderator

  Lynn Spencer

  Director

  Waller Economic Development Corporation

Mixed-Use & Placemaking Transformations

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  Don Quigley

  EVP, Investment + Development

  Midway

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  Cassie Hoeprich

  Director of Planning & Economic Development

  Downtown Houston

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  Matthew Kelley

  Founder

  Market Square Companies

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  Matt Ragan

  Director of Retail Programming & Operations

  Rebees

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  Devon Rodriguez

  Devon Rodriguez is the Director of Redevelopment. She is responsible for leading the City’s community development, redevelopment and reinvestment strategy to ensure the remaining property in the City is developed with the highest and best use in mind, acknowledging that as the community is built out, the taxable values put in place will have to sustain the City into the future. Devon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Community and Regional Development from the University of California at Davis and has worked as an Economic Developer in California and Texas for over 15 years.

  City of Sugar Land

  Director of Redevelopment

  Devon Rodriguez

  Director of Redevelopment

  City of Sugar Land

• Moderator

  Katherine Rorie

  Principal

  Method Architecture