How Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants Continue to Innovate In the Boutique Hotel Space

On Foodable

In this episode of On Foodable, Paul Barron is at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. Barron sits down with George Morrone, Director of Culinary Development for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, to talk about how this boutique hotel chain builds out independent restaurants; what they look for in specialty food, and tips on recruiting employees, among other topics.

“What drew me to the Kimpton hotels was just this whole approach to every detail mattered, you know, from the hotel side to the food and beverage side, which is usually where in hospitality… that’s where it separates,” said Paul Barron. “If it’s going to break down, it’s going to break down at the restaurant.”

Morrone replied that the reason why Kimpton Hotels places such high importance on the food and beverage side of their business, as well, is because the late Bill Kimpton, boutique hotel developer, had a great passion for both sides of hospitality and instilled this philosophy to his employees early on.

George Morrone, a trained chef who is now focusing on guiding the growth and development of future culinary talent, as well as, the menu for Kimpton’s 70+ restaurants and bars, has turned to hiring from within when it comes to promoting executive chefs for new Kimpton concepts.

“What we’ve looked at and we’ve been successful with it is grooming the number twos and promoting them as we grow as a company and that way they already know our philosophies, financially how we operate,” says Morrone. “So, it’s been a successful formula for us.”