Operations, marketing and menu consulting.
Aabi Shapoorian has been in the restaurant business for the past twenty-five years, launching several now iconic restaurants, while turning others around.
In the recent years Aabi has worked as a hands-on consultant, managing a number of projects, including restaurants in The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel and Half Moon Bay, The Westin San Francisco Market Street, Del Coronado Hotel in San Diego, Chicago’s InterContinental and Fairmont hotels, as well as Livingston Restaurant in Atlanta’s Georgian Terrace Hotel and Zocca in The Westin Riverwalk San Antonio. Aabi has also provided consulting services for Delicias, a free-standing restaurant in Rancho Santa Fe.
Breaking new ground and leading trends in the industry, Aabi created two exiciting concepts in partnership with Chef George Morrone: Tartare Restaurant in San Francisco, and Boca an Argentinean steak and seafood restaurant in Novato, California.
Because of his comprehensive experience and management skills, he is adept at assembling dynamic management teams and attracting some of the most talented chefs in the country: Gary Meany and Zeb Stevenson in Atlanta and George Morrone, Rick Corbo and Denis Soriano in San Francisco.
Over the course of eight years as a Director of Operations for the Kimpton Group, Aabi established himself as a leader who could take on the most difficult assignments. He was the project manager for six new restaurant openings – Tulio and Sazarac in Seattle, 312 Chicago and Mosant in Chicago, Fifth Floor Restaurant and Ponzu in San Francisco. He also played a key role in transforming Kimpton’s flagship restaurant, The Grand Café in the Hotel Monaco San Francisco.
Aabi is very proud to have played a major role in creating and leading The Fifth Floor Restaurant to success beyond expectation and pro-forma. Located in an obscure space on the fifth floor of the Hotel Palomar in San Francisco, the restaurant became a member of the very elite four-star restaurant set in the city by its second year. The Fifth Floor surpassed all of its financial goals by its first quarter, exceeding revenues by more than 90% of pro-forma.
Aabi was a lecturer at Washington State University’s School of Hotel and Restaurant management on the Seattle Campus from 1993 to 1995. Since then he has conducted seminars in restaurant management at San Francisco State University and the University of San Francisco School of Hotel and Restaurant management. He is also a guest speaker at the California Culinary Academy.
Paul O’Dowd
Paul O’Dowd is a hospitality industry professional with over 25 years of operational experience providing expertise in hotel/restaurant takeover, startup, opening and turnaround situations.
Paul has had success as General Manager of Ventana Inn and Spa, Corporate Director of Food and Beverage with Coastal Hotel Group, Director of Operations for the Midwest with Kimpton Hotels and assisting Hotel Groups in a consulting role. His most recent projects include opening properties for the Viceroy Hotel Group in Anguilla and Beverly Hills, The Siegel Group in Las Vegas, and Hotel Andaluz in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Between the world class Anguilla Viceroy and the Forbes 5-Star, AAA Five Diamond L’Ermitage Beverly Hills property, Viceroy Hotel Group has relied on Paul’s consulting services for the past two years. He has launched new initiatives and restaurant concepts, created infrastructure for ongoing operations, and trained staff.
The Siegel Group, a Las Vegas based hotel group, brought Paul in to assist with concept development, provide operational and cultural infrastructure for the group’s ongoing growth and train.
Paul acted as opening GM for Hotel Andaluz, coming on board less than 90 days before the property’s opening, driving the OS&E/ FF&E purchasing and staff hiring process. In the first eight months, the property attained AAA Four Diamond rating and 2010 Lifestyle Hotel of the Year Award by the Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association.
Paul Einbund is known as one of the countries most approachable sommeliers. San Francisco Weekly named him the Best Sommelier in the Bay Area in 2010. Most recently Paul has been garnering praise for his innovative House Wine Projects, including the much heralded beverage program at ongoing client, Frances restaurant, and its wines on tap. Seam Wines marks Paul’s second foray into winemaking, with his recent release of a 2008 Barbera from the Sierra Foothills. Recent consulting jobs include the Slanted Door, where he took the corporations five restaurants and reevaluated their beverage programs from product, to menu, to costing. At Piccino restaurant in the Dogpatch area of San Francisco, Paul’s consulting included reworking the layout of the restaurant during the construction process, as well as menu concepting and layout.