Jake Linzinmeir
Principal & Chef
Hailing from the great Midwest, Jake Linzinmeir grew up in the kitchens of his family farm. The son of an aviator and an internationally traveling family, he was exposed to the world of hospitality in the hotels and restaurants of America, Asia and Europe from a young age. The Chef and Restaurateur attended Cornell University’s acclaimed School of Hotel Administration, holds continuing education degrees from the Culinary Institute of America, as well as a Master’s Degree in Italian food and Wine. Chef Linzinmeir was Chef de Partie at Italy’s Michelin starred Le Calandre when the restaurant earned its third star under Chef Massimiliano Alajmo. A chef before anything else, Linzinmeir is a regular guest on NBC’s “The Today Show,” and a frequent face on both local & national television. He was also selected as one of the industry’s Rising Stars by Restaurant Hospitality Magazine with features in Bon Appétit, Food Arts, and Newsweek. As an Executive for Telluride Ski & Golf he pushed the team to the No.1 ranking for ski resort dining in North America. As the Senior Vice President at Blau + Associates he lent his hand to massive projects with Timbers Resorts, Shangri la Hotels, Starwood, Hilton Hotels, Azul Hospitality Group, Celebrity Cruise Lines, and Vail Resorts. Linzinmeir was also the lead for the “The Cake Boss”, Buddy Valastro’s phenomenally successful restaurant inside the Venetian in Las Vegas. Chef Linzinmeir has participated in the creation of nationally recognized restaurants such as The Nickel in Denver Colorado, The Rainbow Room in New York City, and soon to be opened SaltWood in Monterey, CA. His outstanding and diverse restaurateur background will soon be on display at his new flagship restaurant and test kitchen in a historic building in downtown Denver, Colorado.
Jennifer Linzinmeir
Principal, Chief Financial Officer
Raised working in her family’s hotels she worked in all facets of hotel and restaurant operations. As a graduate from Cornell University, School of Hotel & Restaurant Administration with a concentration in Finance, Jennifer lived and worked in Chicago as a Staff Accountant for The Habitat Company. Jennifer worked for The RREEF Funds based in Chicago, IL. During the period working for RREEF, she traveled to over fifty properties teaching and training property managers in the practices, policies and procedures of all accounting, computer, and administrative tasks for RREEF apartment communities. Jennifer is a partner and general manager of the world famous Red Lion located in the heart of Vail Village, CO. The 50 year old Red Lion, a high volume restaurant and bar, is an icon in the industry.
Christopher J. Pappaioanou
Vice President, Legal and Business Development
Chris Pappaioanou is a proven executive with substantial operational, legal and senior leadership experience in a wide variety of roles. Most notably, Mr. Pappaioanou was President of go!, Hawaii’s second largest regional airline at the time of his tenure. Mr. Pappaioanou holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and a JD, and is licensed to practice law in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana and South Carolina. Mr. Pappaioanou has also served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of public and private companies, and has overseen a dispersed workforce of over 2,000 individuals. Mr. Pappaioanou and Mr. Linzinmeir have worked together on a variety of highly successful projects and collaborations.
Ben Halley
Vice President
Born in Northern California and living between the vibrant culinary scene of the Bay Area and the outdoors of Lake Tahoe has given Chef Halley a deep background in what makes the best restaurants the best they can be. Ben attended school in San Francisco at The California Culinary Academy. After a stint at the world renowned Greenbrier, he spent years developing skills while traveling, working in ski resorts, and commercial fishing in Alaska. With a penchant for adventure and travel, Ben has visited over 60 countries, holding leadership positions in Germany, France, Cyprus, Canada, Lebanon, New York, and San Francisco. He has served as a guest chef at Sun Wine & Food Fest, The Shanghai Rolex Masters, Vegas Uncork’d, and several James Beard House dinners. Ben comes to Bespoke Concepts as Vice President after having spent the past decade with the Las Vegas, NV based consulting firm Elizabeth Blau & Associates. In his role as a Corporate Executive Chef Ben worked with the team, including Bespoke Concept’s Principle Jake Linzinmeir as Senior VP, to incubate a new restaurant group and oversee a variety of consulting projects in multiple countries and formats including private clubs, cruise ships, and luxury hotels and casinos. Ben leads from the front for Bespoke Concepts and is responsible for executing difficult, cutting edge concepts on time and under budget.
Marco Gonzalez
Director of Culinary
Raised in Mexico City and trained in top kitchens around the world Marco holds degrees or certification from the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, Universite Du Vin in Suze-la-Rousse, and Molecular Gastronomy & Mixology from MCS in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. With extensive international experience in his native Mexico as well as France, Italy, and Spain Chef Marco brings deep knowledge of operations and execution in Michelin starred restaurants. Marco was part of the team to win 3 Michelin Stars in Massimiliano Alajmo’s Ristorante Le Calandre in Rubano, Italy where he cooked alongside Bespoke Concept’s principle, Jake Linzinmeir. Not only a culinary force in the kitchen, as a top level sommelier Mr. Gonzalez can lead the front of house beverage program and cellar development. Marco lectures and writes for several leading publications including Sabor e Arte Magazine and the Universidad del Caribe in Cancun, Mexico. As the principle in the development of several of his own concepts Chef Marco can lead project management, concept development, budgeting, training, and all aspects of start-ups, and restaurant ‘rescue’. A long track record of fixing operations and bringing more points to the bottom line secures his position on the Bespoke Concept’s Team of experts.
Kat Carter
Technology and Operations
Kat spent her early years in the historic lake and ski resort towns of upstate New York State. Her parents swear she was cooking as soon as she could stand on a stool and reach the counter, and their habit of hunting, growing and preserving the family’s food set her on a raw food path from an early age. Given this upbringing, early jobs in restaurants seemed the only choice. Being raised amid the service oriented atmosphere of resort towns next led her to Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. While attending Cornell, her passion for food expanded to encompass the delight earned by delivering impeccable, intuitive service and she shifted her focus to customer service and front of house operation. After graduating, Kat’s career path led to a variety of hotel, restaurant and catering operations from New York to Alaska with stops in the resort mecca’s of Aspen CO and Bend OR before landing in Denver. Kat further honed her customer service and operations skills with stints in various small business operations ranging from professional services to technology platforms. This marriage of hospitality with systems and technology is a perfect mix for streamlining the modern service model and still enabling a high level of customer focus that differentiates Bespoke Concepts restaurants and bars.