Cultivate and grow revenues for Gordon Food Service truck deliveries for Illinois and Wisconsin. This role is remarkably similar to what I did at the Illinois Restaurant Association except I play a more direct role in working with restaurant clients to help them grow their sales while decreasing costs. If you own or operate a restaurant, etc. in Illinois or Wisconsin please call or email me at 3122964646 or eric.fine@gfs.com.

Qualify and recruit Lifestyle, Food and Beverage brands to participate in Chicago Gourmet, presented by Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits of Illinois.-- Executed all aspects of the sales process recruiting and retaining strategic partners for one of the premier food and wine festivals in America-- New sponsor acquisition: broadline foodservice distributor, major beer, auto, soda and plant based protein brands-- Operations manager of wine seminars and support with logistics, chef/restaurant outreach, press conferences and ancillary events

Responsibility was to manage, develop and grow our base of Illinois Restaurant, Bar and Foodservice operators and their Suppliers.As Director of Membership:-- Grew membership dues revenue double digits annually for 6 straight years-- Grew non-dues revenue more than 20% annually-- New member acquisition and retention of: large corporate restaurant chains, independents, local groups and other foodservice operators in addition to the product/service providers that help them tick-- Led the membership team and committee -- Promoted our key sales person into corporate relations and later assistant director-- Hosted events for: city, county and state lawmakers, a Governor, Convention & Visitor’s Bureau Director and a myriad of other educational seminars -- Created unique membership programming and events like Meet the Experts, Winning with Social Media, Tech Tour and more-- Expanded association efforts statewide with local programming in Chicago Suburbs and major markets downstateAs Director of Corporate Relations and Strategic Partnerships:-- New major sponsor acquisition: ride share company, equipment service/parts company, broadline foodservice distributor, insurance and gaming operators-- Awarded grants from National Restaurant Association and Chicago TREND-- Board liaison to Heart of Illinois Hospitality Association (HOIHA) -- Attended dozens of political fundraisers, municipal hearings, Lobby Day, Illinois Governor’s Conference, We LOVE Chinatown rally, Council of State Restaurant Associations (CSRA) conferencesParticipated in the migration to a new association management system (AMS) still in use as of today

Exclusive source of History Trees by artists Bruce Burton and Drew Wasserman. History Trees are the visual story of your favorite sports team or musical genre and soon to be cities. Started by registering the domain name franchisetrees.com in March of 2007, followed by tracking down my high school swim coach who has been creating family trees of music and sports since 1979. Published Family Tree of Nineties Music in 2008, Chicago Blackhawks in 2011, St. Louis Cardinals in 2012, Chicago Bulls in 2013 and used kickstarter to make trees for all pro basketball teams. "Family Tree of Nineties," by Bruce Burton was the first piece published by History Trees in 2008. We have since staffed up a team prepared to release roughly a dozen new products before end of year 2017 and are working on a newly designed, interactive online gallery at www.historytrees.com.

Natura Water is a completely eco-friendly water purification system that eliminates the need for restaurants/hotels to order, store, refrigerate or dispose of bottled water. It comes with a luxury bottle package for serving purposes and the bottles are reusable, dishwasher safe and made from recyclable glass. Currently the only system endorsed by the Green Restaurant Association, this system pays for itself either through revenues charged (restaurants) or purchased bottle savings (business & non commercial).Natura Water: Tap Water Filtration, Chilling and Carbonation SystemsIf you or anyone you know of may be a good fit for a Natura Water System please let me know.

We started working on what is now Green Planet™ in 2005 right near the United Center in Chicago. Our experience as specialty beverage distributors put us in the unique opportunity to maybe change the world of plastics—and we are starting with the well scrutinized bottle of water. Our first bottles rolled off the production line in Chicago in September 2008. We are introducing two new sizes this summer and will before long be packaging flavored and enhanced beverages under the Green Planet™ brand. In 2009 we spent most of our time on the road opening up new markets of distribution.

Developed a Customer Relationship Management tool that became the backbone of the companies' communication with their Hotel, Restaurant and Sub-Distributor Clients all over the country.Grew the Customer Service Innovation (CSI) team from a one-man-show to a team of three by recruiting and developing talented individuals. Trained and led this team to become the heart and soul of Chicagoland Beverage Company (CBC). CSI was always there to satisfy the urgent and ever growing needs of our Clients, Drivers, Service Technicians, Sales Reps and Vendors.

I managed all aspects of a gourmet food shop and full service catering operation in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. I was charged with scheduling/managing a team of 40, selling and executing off-site catering and assisting our flagship restaurant with special events.

Managed all customer communication for a growing Specialty Coffee and Tea Distributor located right near the United Center in Chicago. In addition to these core duties I checked in the morning Intelligentsia Coffee delivery, assisted drivers with loading their trucks, managed and took care of customer requests/problems, received and stocked LTL deliveries of inventory, picked product for the next day's routes and was promoted to Purchasing Manager within four months.I created a systems/training manual for the person who was hired to replace me in customer service while learning the role of Purchasing Manager. As Purchasing Manager, I handled the day to day operations of a $250,000 warehouse of coffee, tea and smallwares with a couple dozen vendors from all over the country.

Charlie Trotter's is a Five Star Five Diamond restaurant located in the Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Chef/proprietor Charlie Trotter gave me a chance to join his team less than a week after the terrorist attacks of September 11th. I was a service professional performing all "front of house" functions as well as participating in several of Chef Trotter's outside presentations, book signings and other public appearances. I helped facilitate the restaurant's 15th anniversary and had the privilege of working beside hundreds of peak performers from around the world. I continue to assist the Trotter team in various fundraisers and special events throughout Chicagoland when available.

Participated in the then-new LEYE Internship Program under the direction of Cheryl Symank. Attended breakfast and other meetings with senior partners and performed weekly restaurant ratings while working full time for Ben Pao and Wildfire Restaurants.