Director Of Marketing & Design | Multi-Unit Restaurants
Irvine, California, Us
Spectrum Restaurant Group, a large & prestigious Bay Area-based restaurant group was born in the 1970s as Spectrum Foods, co-founded by Larry Mindel and Jerry Magnin. Larry Mindel launched the company with the historic Chianti restaurant on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue as its foundation. Under Spectrum, the first Harry’s Bar, in Los Angeles’ Century City, was a replica of the restaurant of the same name in Florence, Italy, which itself was spawned by the Cipriani original in Venice.Then from its Bay Area base Spectrum made the MacArthur Parks in San Francisco and Palo Alto leading examples of American cuisine restaurants. The company’s original Prego in San Francisco was among the first mainstream Italian concepts to showcase hearth-baked contemporary pizzas and authentic regional dishes. Spectrum Foods held a reputation for developing trendy and popular upscale and casual concepts in Northern and Southern California including CIAO, PREGO, HARRY'S BAR & AMERICAN GRILL, CHIANTI, MAC ARTHUR PARK, GUAYMAS, TUTTO BENE, TUTTO MARE. I led the marketing & design efforts and managed everything under the marketing umbrella – promotional events, new restaurant openings, media planning, public relations, graphic design, and agency oversight for (14+) different restaurants encompassing nine different concepts. Projects included menu design, signage, custom fixtures, fabrications, tabletop design, interior artwork, and marketing collateral. Best job I ever had!