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Speaker Bios
Elizabeth Blau, Founder & CEO, Blau & Associates
Elizabeth Blau’s impressive food service career spans nearly three decades. Widely credited with transforming Las Vegas into a world-class culinary destination, she continues to lead the industry with her innovative and fresh approach to hospitality. Deftly distinguishing fad from trend, irrelevant from significant, Blau’s skilled touch defines her work in Las Vegas and around the world. Blau parlayed her extensive experience and expertise in the restaurant industry to found Blau & Associates in 2003. She adeptly assembled an impressive team of experts and turned the firm into one of the foremost restaurant development companies in the field. Blau & Associate’s client list reads like a Who’s Who of hospitality: Celebrity Cruises, Destination Hotels and Resorts, the Kor Group, One and Only Resorts, Montage Resorts, Paragon Gaming, the Ritz Carlton Hotels and Resorts, Trump Casinos, Viceroy Hotels and Resorts and Wynn Resorts, among many others. Read More...
Greg Dollarhyde '80, MBA '81, President & CEO, The Veggie Grill, Inc.
Greg Dollarhyde is a successful, 39 year veteran of the restaurant industry in the United States, having had hands-on responsibility for all major aspects of the business during his career. He has been Chairman or Chief Executive Officer of seven separate restaurant companies and Chief Financial Officer of two publicly-held restaurant companies, among other responsibilities.
Currently, Dollarhyde is President and CEO of The Veggie Grill, Inc., a rapidly growing, seven store chain of premium, fast-casual restaurants based in Santa Monica, CA. Founded in 2005 by Kevin Boylan and T.K. Pillan, Veggie Grill is reshaping the way people eat, talk, and think about feel-good, comfort food. Read More...
Susan Sarich '91, Founder, SusieCakes
As a 20-year veteran of the hospitality industry, SusieCakes Bakery owner Susan Sarich knows what it takes to satisfy even the pickiest of customers. Combining her business savvy with her grandmother’s
4 x 6 recipe cards, Sarich created one of Los Angeles’ top destinations for satisfying the sweet tooth. Harboring dreams of opening her own restaurant, Sarich attended Cornell University’s School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration. Upon graduation, she spent the next five years working in the event planning and catering departments of various Hyatt Hotels & Resorts across the country. In 1996, Sarich joined the famous House of Blues in Chicago as their Special Events Manager. There, she developed menus and pricing, created event systems and procedures, and organized a variety of events from beginning to end. She then went on to lend her talents to the catering departments of a variety of renowned Chicago-based corporations where she oversaw events for restaurants, including the Mobil 5-Star and AAA 5-Diamond winning Everest, and Ian Schrager’s Clift Hotel in San Francisco. Read More...
Chris Simms '97, CEO & Founder, The Lazy Dog Cafe
Born and raised in Southern California, Chris Simms has been involved in the restaurant business all of his life. While attending Loyola High School and then Cornell University, Chris worked his way up the ladder through various restaurants both in the kitchen and the dining room. In 1997, Chris graduated from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and began working with P.F. Chang’s China Bistro. After three years with P.F. Chang’s, Chris decided to continue his education in the restaurant industry by beginning work with Mimi’s Café, the restaurant company founded by his father, Tom Simms. Chris and Tom opened their first Lazy Dog Café in Huntington Beach, CA in 2003. Read More...
Michael Simms '00, Managing Partner, Simmzy's, Tin Roof Bistro, and Manhattan Beach Post
The Simms Restaurant Group is comprised of Tom, Chris, and Mike Simms, and holds over 40 years of operational knowledge and restaurant launch experience. Tom Simms, Sr. opened his first restaurant, the French Quarter in West Hollywood in 1973, and soon after, purchased the Kettle Restaurant in Manhattan Beach in 1975. Eager to expand, he acquired a bankrupt restaurant group and grew it into the successful chain, Mimi’s Café. In July of 2004, after opening 81restaurants, Tom and his partners sold the company. He now pursues other interests including the growth of the Lazy Dog Café, Tin Roof Bistro, Simmzy’s, and Manhattan Beach Post. Read More...
