Essay About the Renowned Hospitality Professional

The renowned Hospitality professional, Edward P. Ned Grace III began his long and successful career as a 12-year-old dishwasher and a caddy at a Connecticut country club. As he grew up, Grace advanced in his career and became a busboy grill operator who performed other jobs such as working for a restaurant owner who, then resided in Aspen, Colo. As a passionate skier, Grace was overly motivated by the prospect of a Colorado home and eventually founded the Capital Grill, an American restaurant chain, and Bugaboo Creek Steak House chain that were based in Providence, R.I. In 1996, Grace sold these restaurant chains to the present Rare Hospitality International, which was referred to as LongHorn Steakhouse (Vogel, 2006).

Significant Experiences

Immediately after selling the restaurant chains, Grace, now a renowned venture capitalist moved to Florida, and in 1996, he started a venture capital fund, which raised $20 million. Today, this particular fund has holdings in various other firms such as cultured diamond and radiometer companies, wireless, and Florida software, among others. In 1996, Grace was named the Restaurateur of the Year by the International Council of Restaurant Real Estate Brokers. Besides, Grace has also started a separate fund, Grace Restaurant Partners, which currently owns a stake in a common Massachusetts restaurant chain, Not Your Average Joes, which is currently considering an expansion in Florida. His experiences as a hospitality professional rose quickly from where he began as a young dishwasher. In 1973, Grace graduated from the University of Vermont, after which he opened his own restaurant in Brattleboro, which was a Jolly Butchers Tavern. After opening the renowned Capital Grill, Grace envisioned his restaurant business as a popular one with both political and business elite. This proved accurate when seven years after opening the original location, the original business pulled in over $4 million in their annual sales.

Mentor

Today, Grace, the man who once lived in Bristol and the one behind the Capital Grill alongside other Island restaurants, lives in Florida as a renowned advisor for restaurant owners. He enjoys mentoring the less experienced restaurant owners on how they could expand their individual enterprises. At 67, Grace continually applies his significant talents in the restaurant business as both an advisor and an investor all around the country. He is currently the managing director of Grace Venture Partners, a well-developed company that he established in Orlando, Florida, and also serves as a senior adviser for Angelo, Gordon & Co., which is a privately held investment and advising firm that is primarily focused on alternative investing (Reynolds, 2017). In the realm of his mentorship classes, Grace recommends that one of the primary parts of a restaurant value is its culture. Despite the fact that opening a franchise far away can challenge the ability of the management to handle finances, purchasing, as well as other administrative tasks, Grace advises that one should stay close enough to make use of infrastructure that is already in place from the first restaurant.

With regard to his entrepreneurial reputation, Grace serves as a director of various companies such as Benihana Inc., based in Florida, and Firebirds Wood Fired Grill that is located in North Carolina. He also serves as a director at Shawmut Design and Construction, in Boston, among various other companies. Both a restaurateur and a mentor, Grace, is now president and CEO at Phelps Grace International, Inc.

References

Reynolds, M. (2017, 9). Where are they now?: Ned Grace, of Hemenway's and Capital Grille fame, still in the biz. Retrieved from http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20171209/where-are-they-now-ned-grace-of-hemenways-and-capital-grille-fame-still-in-biz

Vogel, M. (2006, March 1). Florida Trendsetters - Financial Sector - Florida Trend. Retrieved from http://www.floridatrend.com/print/article/11157