Today we’d like to introduce you to Rohan Sreenivasan.
Hi Rohan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I have been in the restaurant/hospitality industry for close to 20 years. What started out as a part-time job midway through college, I found not only passion, but a career. I found a sense of belonging and direction at a time in my life when I wasn’t sure what I would do with my life. I haven’t looked back since. With no prior experience, and the aid of some of my college buddies, I was given an opportunity to work at Wildfire Restaurant located in Georgetown’s Historic Downtown Square. The restaurant has now been open for close to 30 years and is still a prime dining establishment. From there I was driven to learn as much as I could about the restaurant industry. To pay rent and to continue learning I at one point worked at 3 different restaurants at the same time. I was a line cook at Romeo’s Italian Kitchen, a bartender at a Sports bar, and waited tables on Fridays and Saturdays at a fine dining establishment. Shortly thereafter I entered the management side of operations at the now defunct Silver and Stone Fine Dining restaurant, the ability to impact guests experience on a larger scale and now positioning to be more of a teacher & guide who could pass on knowledge & support was something that really spoke to me. Realizing that I needed to learn more of the structure of restaurants and business, I went on to work in the corporate/franchise side of restaurants at Applebee’s back in 2010. It was a shock to my system having worked for independently owned and operated restauarants turning on a dime to the chain/corporate environment. While I was only there for a year, the knowledge, and relationships gained were amazing. Some of the best mentors and friends I have to this day came from that work experience. The added bonus was learning how to run a well-oiled operation in the middle of a recession has continuously proved to be an invaluable resource. Still the itch was there to continue to learn more, really an opportunity to be a part of something that was growing and being built up. I have been the benefactor throughout my career and life of an ever growing and expanding network of industry colleagues. Thanks to that cultivation of relationships, I was given an opportunity to join a brand new restaurant concept called Homefield Grill, in Round Rock, Texas. While that concept no longer exists, what concept was birthed from but that place served was something special. In the same shopping complex I got the opportunity to support (from Homefield Grill) and eventually work full time at their flagship ‘world’s first cinema brewery,’ Flix Brewhouse. While Alamo Drafthouse had already established themselves as the premier movie eatery in Austin, they had no intention of growing north. As good business owners at Alamo, they saw upside in having friendly competition in the north and actually played an instrumental role in showing my supervisors how to operate a movie eatery. Once I transferred to Flix full time, there I had the privilege to learn how to work in a movie theatre & eatery. It was incredible experience learning how the (film) industry operates, how to brew beer, and eventually from bar manager I made my way back into the kitchen to round my tenure as their kitchen manager and help design their initial training program for all positions as they looked to expand. This opportunity was afforded to me by my leaders at the time Walt Powerl, R.I.P and my direct report and now close friend, Mike Parish. We had a lot of fun at that job and free movies was a nice perk considering that I am a huge movie nerd. I still tell people working at Flix was a one of a kind experience. I have worked in some high volume restaurants, served and worked banquets that had 300+ people on the regular to a non stop drive through QSR concept to the most popular and Austin stape burger joint that touted about the lines of guests who patiently waited for the best burger around. But Flix, it was something else when 800 people sit down in six movie theatres, and order drinks and food within an hour. It’s one of those experiences I look back and I tell people, “I miss it, but I don’t miss it.”
As life takes unexpected turns, mine did as well in the fall of 2014 when my then girlfriend and now wife told me that she was pregnant. I loved my position at Flix, and really didn’t have any intention of leaving but knowing that my only opportunity to grow my career and position myself financially to support a growing family was to relocate out of state, I had to be open to the possibility that after four plus years that I might need to continue my journey elsewhere to keep central Texas as home. Luck as it may be, at the same time, I got a call from a restaurant recruiter asking me if I had ever heard of this popular burger restaurant in Austin called Hopdoddy. I can’t remember word for word, but my response was something along the lines of, “heck yea, I love that place. Only place in Austin where I will wait 30+ minutes for a burger plus they served me a margarita while I was in line where else can you get that experience?” That phone call gave me the opportunity to really grow my career in a fast-growing company. The founders of Hopdoddy had a hand in creating several of Austin’s best and most popular concepts even to this day. (Roaring Fork, Salty Sow, Red Ash, ATX Cocina, Tumble 22). 2015 brought forth many firsts for me and my family, my wife had her first (our) son, already a wonderful mother to three amazing girls and my big breakthrough to the role of General Manager. I rate that as my favorite place to work, in a close race with Flix. That position was probably the hardest role I have had, as it brought growing pains for me personally and professionally. Learning to be at the ‘top’ isn’t about just telling people what to do and being a parent isn’t just about posting cute baby photos and changing a dirty diaper. (Although in the early years there was plenty of all of that, lol) My eagerness to learn in the industry was more about hands on experience and meeting people. It was in that role that I learned the hard way (sin of hubris and operating with entitlement). It was there where my now long time mentor and friend Seth Meyers, showed me the ongoing need to continue my education in leadership beyond four walls of the restaurant. He showed me a path that if I wanted to retain what I had and grow from there, I needed to be willing to change and adapt if I was truly going to be successful. From there he along with the team I worked with help me build foundational leadership concepts I use to this day professionally and personally. It started with reading a leadership fable cable by Patrick Lencioni “The 5 dysfunctions of a team”. That book changed me forever.
A bit of backstory, my lead into working in restaurants was a wayward path in which I did not enjoy being in school, really being in a classroom. For much of my life, I never found it particularly enthralling especially sitting down and reading a book. As a giant giant comic book fan, those seem to be the only type of books that captured my interest and attention. I used to tell people for years, jokingly, “I can’t read books without pictures.” Come to find in recent years a lot of that had to do with poorly managed/untreated ADHD and a lack of self-motivation. So, reading books throughout my life even now is a difficult task but, thank you to audio books I found a way.
After reading the book of 5 dysfunctions of a team, a leadership fable in how businesses and companies regardless of industries can fall into the trap of these dysfunctions. (Lack of Trust–>Fear of Healthy Conflict–> Lack of Commitment –> avoidance of Accountability –> Inattention to results). That book hits me hard and sticks with me and I try and recommend it whenever possible. I spent much of the back end of 2017 and early 2018 in a self-reflection period of re-tooling how I thought of management and leadership. That book turned into reading Leif Babin and Jocko Willinck’s Extreme Ownership. A book written by 2 former navy seal commanders who led several missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and upon their retirement from the military became business consultants. Their story of real-life military experiences in leadership paralleled in how they consulted and assisted CEO’s and upper management in how to understand the true reverberations/repercussions/results regardless of the level within the business where it happened, how it happened and why it happened was a direct correlation to their (leadership) decisions/choices in the result(s) for better or worse. I learned how to own the results, take the hits on the losses and give the praise and wins to your team. Even now I tell myself and the people in my life that I’m a work in progress, but I constantly remind myself that to maintain that level of ownership with whatever I’m doing. It is a hard concept to maintain for me, but it is one of the most rewarding when done correctly. That could be from working on the PTA board at my son’s school, coaching his little league baseball team, as a parent, husband and my (current) role here at Lakeway Resort & Spa. I will openly admit that I came to the realization that I will always continue to be a ‘work in progress’ as long as I am working at continually working to be a better version of myself. Those 2 books have led me over the last 7, 8 years to read countless more by not just those authors but several other books about leadership, team building, restaurants and the hospitality industry. Back in 2017, I never imagined I’d read more than one book about leadership (Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, nmy favorite book)—let alone over twenty—prior to that including all of grade school and college the only books I read in volume were comic books.
At Hopdoddy, I got to work with some of the most extraordinary individuals that took an immense amount of pride in what we served and how we served it. The North Austin location on West Anderson Lane was what I called home for most of my tenure. We were a very tight nit group in which my family celebrated the birth of my son and his first birthday there. Our location played an integral role in training and development of team members and managers that saw Hopdoddy grow from 5 locations to 30+ in under 5 years. The commute from North Round Rock (where we reside) to north Austin was a cumbersome commute to me at the time and I was beginning to feel like I had reached my ceiling there. This industry like so many is about the network and connections we cultivate. Through those relationships and connections, I was recruited by a friend to join the QSR world (a part of the industry that I had never worked in, even in my teenage years) at Raising Cane’s. Cane’s presented a unique opportunity to lead an NRO (new restaurant opening) and work less than ten minutes from my house. Cane’s also presented an opportunity to build an entire team including management from the ground up and shape, mold and impact on the next generation of working individuals in the hospitality/restaurant industry. There was the allure of financial gain of moving into that role that also played a contributing factor in joining. The role required a lot more time committed to working within the community to establish relationships/partnerships with non-profits, schools and programs that ultimately would be the primary target audience for our business. The give back and support to the Community was an aspect of the role was one that I really enjoyed and took a great deal of pride in. The other primary aspect of the role I enjoyed was the training and development. The opportunity to develop the next generation of leaders for Cane’s was a great experience. Cane’s also ended up serving as a financial lifeline to many of the employees and families to stay afloat during the pandemic. The QSR model at Cane’s proved to be immune to real life struggles/pandemic. Unlike most businesses and industries, this was already set up to succeed. (Much of the QSR industry was). The unfortunate reality was that the hospitality and restaurant industry is still working to recoup and recover in many aspects from that stretch.
But ultimately after nearly five years of service, that craving for something more and itch for a new challenge came over me. Difference now was, I was at a crossroads of not wanting to work in regular restaurants but wanting to stay connected to the Food & Beverage industry. The million-dollar question was, how would I achieve that without working in a restaurant? It was the first time since I started (2006-2007) that I had no idea what I was going to do next. That prospect of unknown was scary and daunting. After interviewing at several restaurants in the Austin Area and turning down over 10 job offers, 3 months after scouring every job site and hitting every connection in LinkedIn, I was frustrated with my options. Everyone had the same story, “financial security, great work life balance, great culture, etc.” It seemed everyone had the same recruiting pitch. Interviews are a two way street, it’s not only the employer attempting to see if I am a good fit for their business, but I as the interviewee, am trying to acertain if they will be a good fit for me as well. I just didn’t feel great about my choices at that time.
I was lost and unsure of myself of what to do. With the guidance and support of my wife, who told me repeatedly do not take the first high paying job offer you receive. She had said to me on multiple occasions to be patient and the right role will come along. As per usual I didn’t listen and accepted the high paying offer at a restaurant company based in Austin, only to realize after a week, that I had made the wrong decision. Luckily, I had not started working there but I knew deep down that I had decided based solely on financial need when really, I needed to be challenged and get that fire back that drove me for much of the previous 16+ years.
At that time post Cane’s I returned to some of my root’s thanks to a close friend and former colleague at Raising Cane’s, Catherine Borja, she offered me the position of part time bartender and banquet server at Lakeway Resort & Spa. Hotels are the only type of hospitality/restaurant that I have never worked in. Located in the heart of original Lakeway right on Lake Travis. This historic property turned out to be what I consider the opportunity of a lifetime. Stepping away from management and getting back to my roots of making drinks, making guests happy and sweating it all out in our pool bar, reminded me why I got into this industry in the first place. Little did I know what I believed to be a lifeline and a bridge to my next chapter elsewhere, turned into a role I coveted and felt that my skillset can be best utilized.
After the summer season wound down in 2023, I applied for the internal opening of Executive Chef here at the resort. The General Manager (Blake Doran) at the time, whom I owe a great deal to for entrusting me, took a chance in bringing in an unconventional candidate (me) for the role. My background starting in kitchens and my time as a kitchen manager at Flix and food focused concept like Hopdoddy gave me the perspective on how to tighten the operation. Little did I know that my friend was looking to make a move out of the operational side of the industry and move to an HR role elsewhere. 3 months into my tenure as executive chef, I went and asked my General Manager to give me the keys to the entire department. I served in the dual role as Chef and Beverage director till April of 2024. The dual role was the most challenging time period in my entire career, The restaurant side of the Resort was basically an afterthought during my early time here and suffered from a lot of neglect. The bread and butter of the operations was in the banquets and catering side. Boasting a beautiful glass wedding venue and several meeting rooms and large spaces to host a variety of groups and businesses, the focus had primarily remained on banquets. As a primary driver for revenue, it made sense, but the restaurant to me (more of my wheelhouse) just presented as untapped potential. Knowing where my skillset lies and honest self-evaluation if we truly wanted to elevate the food experience in the restaurant and work on improving the guest service, I was going to have to relinquish the role of Chef and bring in a true culinary expert with a passion to drive quality, be innovative, not afraid to hold the team accountable but be a true partner in our long term vision of building up the restaurant and elevating the banquet food. After we interviewed 40+ chef candidates and feelings of frustration, the last candidate we interviewed turned out to be by far and best individual for the position. With a strong background in working at big brand hotels as an executive chef but built their career as a training executive chef for Fleming’s Steakhouse several years we found our Executive Chef and my partner in the operation Chef Jennifer Norrell.
With her in the fold and working to improve our food operations it gave me time back to focus on building up re-building the leadership team. Over the course of the last 16 months we have promoted/hired 3 supervisors and F&B Manager to own the FOH operations for the department with a primary focus on the restaurant and other outlets on our property. Andrew Silliman, a former colleague of 8 years and a tenured restaurant General Manager, has become the partner that Chef and I have needed to drive the performance and service levels in the restaurant. With department heads within my F&B program here, I am now free to focus on the bigger picture aspect of building the operation through strategic marketing with our management company (Remington Hotels) and building up our presence in the community (Lake Travis Chamber, Community Impact, City of Lakeway, etc.). This also able to focus on the bigger picture operationally of providing support, through a wide range of ways. This includes mentoring, working side by side, improving/replacing or adding tools, equipment and materials needed to succeed for both the kitchen and front of house.
While that will always be a continuous item the bigger picture of the operation required a refresh/rebrand of the previous branding of the restaurant formerly known as Travis Restaurant, Restaurant & Bar or TR for short. We needed to find something that was not cuisine specific and something that spoke to foundation of what this place was and is. The other challenge was not using the words, Lake, Lakeway, Lake Travis, Lake view in the name whatsoever. The original Lakeway Inn was founded in 1963 and the building in which the restaurant resides is the original Lakeway Inn. The hotel portion was not built till the 1980’s and our large glass ballroom came along in the 2000’s. After researching local history with great help from the good folks running the City of Lakeway Heritage Center we zeroed in on the new name and identity. Sixty Three Restaurant & Bar.
My story is not solely my own. Everything I have been able to accomplish, experience and learn was supported by so many great people along the way. The people I met, worked alongside, collaborated, built a network, and friendships with me have been one of the best things that I have gained in this industry. The support of my family, especially my wife, son and stepdaughters along with my parents and siblings are the reason I have even made it this far. The restaurant/hospitality industry has given me a family along with a sense of purpose and belonging. I haven’t accomplished all I want to, and I still have plenty more to learn about this industry and in life.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My perspective is that there are no smooth roads if you are doing it correctly. Bumps, pot holes and the unexpected are all a part of the journey. It’s how we learn, adapt and move forward that shapes us. That at the end of the day how we chose to move forward is on us.
I have had my fair share of ups and downs throughtout my professional and personal life. Through navigating early parenthood, finding balance in marriage and developing a true partnership with my wife. Professionally is losing sight of why I am doing this has led me down the wrong path both mentally and physically.
I set out to be an executive chef and own my own restaurant and bar. At one point in my career I had an ownership stake in a rooftop bar concept called Uptown Social. But I kept only one foot in and the other foot out (in my role at Flix Brewhouse). Trying to work 2 full time restaurant management jobs was pretty much impossible and pushed me to make a hard choice back in 2011 and for better or worse I relinquished my ownership stake in the bar and pushed forward with Flix and while I wonder at times what would have been if I had stayed, I have no regrets of where I have ended up and I’m in a great place now.
Balancing family and work in this industry presents one of the biggest challenges. Companies preach all the time about having work life balance and great culture, I believe that’s hard to quantify outside independent annonymous surveys. You get a true feel for culture when you are directly immersed in it, regularly connecting with your fellow leaders and team. For work life balance, the truth is we are largely responbsible for that balance in how we manage ourselves and our time.
I have navigated most of my life with untreated ADHD and a lack of understanding on how that truly affects me as an individual and the people around me. From managing the highs and lows of my thoughts emotions and feelings it has been a long journey over the course of last 2 years to find that emotional balance and apply more thoughtful and clear minded approach to life, family and my career.
Only discovering how ADHD affects people two years ago opened my mind to how and why ‘things happened and continually happened’ in my life for better or worse. Found myself immersing in books on how ADHD works and how it affects relationships, how it impacts our career. Counseling, medication and self education have been a real life game changer for me. But understanding the work is not yet complete and likely never will be is what I have to stay focused on. I’m only 40, but I am working to undo habits of 38 years and re-tool self perception and the perception people have of me.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am currently the Food & Beverage Director at Lakeway Resort & Spa. I oversee 3 food outlets and the banquets/catering operations here as well. We have Sunset Pool Bar, Back Porch Lobby Bar and newly re-branded/refreshed Sixty Three Restaurant and Bar. My role is to support and lead the operations of all aspects of food & beverage. Partnering with my Executive Chef (Jennifer Norrell) who manages the food program here at the resort and my Food & Beverage Manager (andrew SIlliman) that manages the front of house operations.
I took this position 2+ years ago because I saw the untapped potential of what Food & Beverage could be here. Beautiful lakeside property nestled in the original part of Lakeway, the rich history of the town and the resort were very intertwined. ‘Were’ being the correct tense to describe that connection. Lakeway, much like most of the suburb/connected towns to Austin, is growing and expanding.
The area is ripe for our restaurant to establish ourselves as the ‘go to’ featured spot ‘destination’ dining spot. But we had to improve the operation from Food quality, consistency and execution of great guest service. It has been quite the journey to get this far but we feel we are on the right track.
Building a strong leadership team was crucial and having strong support from the hotel General Manager (Tate Harris) has been vital to implementing the changes and much needed refresh. His support has been a great driving force for us to bring the concept forward and elevate the ambiance, look, and feel of the restaurant. While we are not where we want to be, we are on the right track.
We need to create awareness around what we are doing and how we want the community to re-energize the possibilities. Expanding of our existing partnership with the Lake Travis Chamber has been fruitful as we have been participating in their Annual Taste Lake Travis and other events. Working with the marketing team at Remington we are tapping into resources previously used sparingly, ranging from social media, LinkedIn, OpenTable and partnering up with Community Impact.
I have a strong understanding in navigating/planning and executing a budget. I have managed a successful career thus far in food & beverage by hitting my targets in cost management with a strong understanding of how that data impacts and correlates to successful guest experiences while balancing and efficiently run operation.
My skills are also strong building teams (top down) and supporting them to achieve their goals. Titles to me don’t matter, what matters is the job getting done. Asking myself questions like: 1. Are we delivering great food and great guest experiences? 2. Does my team have tools and equipment to succeed? 3. What am I doing to drive revenue growth?
Lastly, the ability to innovate and think outside the box is what I enjoy most about the job and having the opportunity to leave a true mark on this place and establish an Identity for the restaurant.
I am super proud of the work we have done to revamp and rebrand the primary restaurant outlet here. I will not take credit for myself; we have done this as a team here and will only accomplish the short- and long-term goals with great teamwork. My biggest strength is the ability to connect with people on a personal level to help maximize their potential, their fellow associate’s potential and therefore helping me achieve my potential. I believe in collaboration and that I don’t have all the best ideas or the right ideas, but I bet if we put our heads together and work at it, we will find a solution.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I believe there is a balance that must be acheived in risk taking. We have to have clear line goals when taking risks to know exactly what the end game goal is and what the fallout will be if the risk does not pan out.
I have never shied away from taking risks and it has come with some great results and I have had my fair share of misses. But trying to learn from the risks that ended as mistakes is the only way this works.
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst case scenario. The risks needs to come with the buy in of your team and support of your leadership team as well. Be prepared to own the results of whatever that ‘risk’ may be. When you are at the ‘proverbial’ top of the food chain, we share the successes and pass the victories to the team but the losses we have to have complete ownership of it.
Don’t be afriad to lean on your team, but don’t lean so far that the pressure falls solely on them to execute the risk. The burden of taking risks that impact others beyond yourself and the team have to be evaluated and vetted before taking them.
Pricing:
- Thanksgiving Day Buffet $85 per person / $35 per kids 10 and under
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sixtythreerestaurant.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582489791025
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sixtythreerestaurantbar/?viewAsMember=true
- Other: www.lakewayresortandspa.com
