My Personal F&B Industry Background

It is vital that I let my followers know I have worked in the industry on and off since 1998.  I've worked in many different types of restaurants.  My first job was at a small family owned restaurant in my hometown of Orange, California, which I hold dear to my heart.  Next, I worked for a national corporate restaurant chain - blah!  The difference between the two were night and day.  I had to learn that lesson the hard way.  A few years passed as I finished my education and graduated from a prestigious Pac-10 (now Pac-12) university.  With a degree in hand, and a couple partners lined up, we decided to open our own restaurant... in South America.  But that's a whole other story...  A few years passed (however, ten years or more of my life were probably sucked out me during those wild and stressful years), and I decided to move back to the good ol' US of A.  Upon moving back I took a job at a popular wine restaurant and retail shop in San Diego, owned by two partners, with several locations throughout SD (I became fascinated with the wine industry while living in South America).  I learned so much about the wine industry there it was like I was getting paid to be educated about wine.  In my opinion, if you're a wine-o, it doesn't get any better than that.  My next job is my current job at an internationally renowned corporate hotel group.  I currently work in a fine dining restaurant on the San Diego Bay, owned by a hotel corporation.  Out of all of my restaurant experiences, this one is by far the most corporate, most challenging and the most frustrating of all.  It is no coincidence that I have decided to start blogging NOW about the food and beverage industry.  This highly corporate driven environment has made me a highly stressed, exhausted and at times bitter individual.  And that's not who I am, I promise.  Coming from owning and operating my own restaurant to working for "The Man" has been a very humbling experience.  My perspective heading into this environment is very different than most.