Simon Baer Email & Phone Number

Waukesha, Wi, Us

Project Manager focusing on National and Regional chains and multi-unit operators. Scope of my role includes Foodservice Design and Consulting, Equipment procurement and installation and Client/vendor touchpoint for all services including Furniture, Smallwares and Supply.

San Diego, California, Us

Commercial kitchen Design/Build firm specializing in BNI, Hospitality and Restaurants. Orness Design Group offers full services from concept and programming to equipment installations and start up. In my roll, I managed multiple projects concurrently from Contract Execution through Project Turnover. Typical contract values range from $300,000 to $2mm.Design strengths include: Fully Custom Stainless Steel Fixtures, Innovations in Servery Line Design, Multi-element Cook and Serve Stations, Demonstration Kitchens and Custom Bar Design, Glass Elements Mechanical Areas of focus include: Demand Control Ventilation, Pollution Control Units, Parallel and Rack Refrigeration Design

I founded Papa Luna's Empanadas, a unique fast-casual concept based on Argentinian-style empanadas starting with a 1,300 sq. ft. location in Pacific Beach, San Diego. Through sales acumen, a clever marketing strategy and relationship-building, Papa Luna's eventually grew to three locations, along with a robust catering channel, wholesale and up to 5 weekly farmers markets. I successfully managed 20+ front line employees across three locations and an overnight production facility. As founder/owner I was intimately involved in all aspects of operating a multi-unit fast casual concept including management, legal and accounting decisions. Through careful menu design, ingredient management and JIT purchasing, I was able to maintain a 21% food cost and labor costs below 28% by fostering an environment of shared successes and responsibilities and mitigating a high-turnover industry with employee education, incentives and internal promotions. Through the business formation experience, I gained a clear understanding of the dynamics and economics of Restaurant Real Estate, Construction and Property Negotiations, successfully negotiated three lease executions and one business acquisition. Our first location in Pacific Beach involved an extensive remodel of a dilapidated building bringing it into code compliance and rehabbing it to functional restaurant space requiring an extensive commitment in obtaining and managing City of San Diego building permits. The building and remodeling process as well as day-to-day management has given me deep knowledge of Food Safety Standards and County of San Diego DEH construction requirements and standards.

As a minority partner in the Roma Markets business I have been intimately involved in the design/build process from conceptual layouts based on proformas to high performing profit centers by optimizing kitchen and sales floor design to eliminate pinch points, reduce wait times and improve customer service. Additionally, I drove the equipment and fixture purchase process realizing savings of over $100,000 through alternative sourcing and vendor negotiations. On the food service side, I created a diverse deli menu of 100+ items that highlights regional Italian cuisines while balancing proper gross profit margins and reaching a broad customer base with varied dietary goals. Finally, I developed a monthly marketing program focused on engaging core customers with relevant tools and information to convert them to brand ambassadors.

While at SaveOnResorts.com I was primarily responsible for all aspects of marketing for the Mexican markets including: Developing and maintaining relationships with resort contacts to negotiate room rates and availability, building resort profiles and putting together marketable vacation packages.Other responsibilities and initiatives include: Managing PPC campaigns with a daily budget of $1000, developing and executing company's social media strategy and creating engaging content.

Artistic Hub creates interactive online campaigns to engage customers and fans. Their technology drives engagement, validates new product potential, creates measurable return on investment, and turns the expense of design into a revenue stream. Clients include Sports Illustrated Kids, Active.com, Toys for Tots, and Vector Marketing (Cutco).

The primary scope of my internship was to seek out student exchange programs with American universities. Additionally, I was responsible for initiating relationships with current and prospective international students through e-mail, phone and face-to-face out reach. Other projects include translation of Argentine regulations regarding foreign students in Argentina.

Ba, Spanish Literature

Logistica

Business Administration