David B Townsend
Townsend's two decades in Restaurant management and ownership in San Francisco and the Monterey Peninsula serve as a Hospitality Consultant's core expertise. In 1980 New York Times reviewer Robert Lindsey stated Pacific Grove's Old Bath House Restaurant, his favorite on the Monterey Peninsula, highlighting the trajectory as Townsend began a decades-long career in fine dining.
He was instrumental in several new restaurants in the Bay Area and consulting on POS systems and menus at several North Beach restaurants. He later was managing partner at the Half Shell, South of Market district, early in its gentrification.
Moving back to the Peninsula, he went on to open and manage Carmel's first Organic restaurant under the direction of Chef Wendy Little, and develop an off-site catering program for the Mediterranean Market.
After moving to the Sierra Foothills, Townsend spent another decade as a Marketing Administrator with a 35-unit Convenience Store/Energy company in Northern California.
Recently, he has managed or helped coordinate more than 100 weddings and other special events at one of California State Parks 'premier event sites' in Grass Valley. He continues to consult with small hotels, caterers, and restaurants.
" I coach, create, design, observe, mentor, and implement change in various restaurant and hotel food-service businesses. I have three decades in restaurant management and partnerships. My services help you actualize your vision by understanding that all aspects of an operation are related. I examine Staff training, procedures, and marketing from a systems approach to integrate a cohesive operational system. Changing one aspect can bring both good or bad influences on all other parts of a successful restaurant."
"My goal is to share knowledge in F&B business practices, show you how visual marketing and excellence in guest service can help to brand your foodservice operation, whether it be an events venue, a hotel, or restaurant. I can help bring in new revenue sources, increase returning guest loyalty, and increase your community's overall patronage. I offer logistics management, create dynamic visual marketing, and copywriting to communicate your'Brand."
Details
David Townsend with Staff- 1987- Mark Hopkins- S.F.
David Townsend with Herb Caen- 1986- Café Majestic S.F.
As General Manager of The Old Bath House Restaurant in Pacific Grove, he honed his skills in cooking, management, and marketing under the leadership of Peninsula restaurateur, David Bindel. A time when the traditional French forces on dining were beginning to be influenced by California Cuisine, and its impacts on menus and wine lists were changing, Townsend was at the forefront of developing a wine list of upcoming California Wineries, introduced Salinas Produce, Sonoma Duck, and other qualities of an ever-evolving food business in the late '70s and '80s. He was instrumental in producing wine dinner pairings and purchasing wines for long term cellaring.
One of his creative outlets during these years was simultaneously being realized by working as a part-time DJ at one of Monterey's radio stations. Leaving the restaurant trade briefly, he began producing a radio program interviewing chefs, wine-makers, and notables of food and wine. Some he knew, (Fred Dame, -the youngest American Sommeliers of his time) others of national acclaim, including Martha Stewart, Paul Bocuusse, Jackie Robert. It was a daily 'feature' long before there were the 'podcasts' of today.
He got back into full-time restaurant work when he moved to San Francisco's participated in opening Café Majestic, as Bar Manager, with Chef/Journalist Stanley Eichelbaum and Tom Marshall. He then was hired as Maître d' of The Nob Hill Restaurant at the Mark Hopkins.
When opportunity knocked, he took on a significant role as one of the Managing Partners at the Half-Shell Restaurant in an emerging South-of-Market District. David also began consulting projects with North Beach restaurateur Jerry Dal Bozzo at Calzones assisting in POS systems and revamping inventory controls, as well as updating menus at other Dal Bozzo's operations.
Upon returning to the Peninsula in the 90's he open and advised in transforming several food operations. He trained staff and helped open Carmel's first Organic, avant-garde Zig-Zag Restaurant with Chef Wendy Little*1. At Piatti, he assisted with the new rooftop expansion offering specialty events menus. When the Coniglio family 's historical Mediterranean Market on Ocean Avenue went through its extensive remodeling in 1995, he was invited to Manage the store and update the retail gourmet foods market's merchandising, take-home meals, as well as develop an Off-site Catering Program.
As an independent consultant, working primarily in Northern California, I don't have the overhead of a large company. I provide personalized service with reasonable rates. I'm a seasoned professional beginning my consulting work in San Francisco in the late 80's after a decade in F&B management/partnerships. In the past decade, my focus has ranged from the marketing of retail gourmet foods to C-store fast-foods. I'm now doing event management and working in Food & Beverage/Hospitality management. I offer my expert services out of a passion and genuine desire to see others succeed.- d.b.t.