A career built in the kitchen
Bryan Dillon decided on culinary school at a family Christmas dinner, almost before he knew he had decided. He graduated from Johnson & Wales with a degree in Culinary Arts, and his instructors helped him land his first job at the Ritz-Carlton Boston in 1979. The menu followed classical French cuisine and changed every day on a nine-week cycle. Cooks carried a classical culinary dictionary to work so they knew every garnish and method by name. That discipline is still the foundation of how he runs a kitchen.
From Boston he went to Brennan’s of Houston, where Paul Prudhomme was the corporate chef and Emeril Lagasse was his assistant. The Brennan family taught him hospitality, and he learned Creole and Cajun cooking at the moment it was sweeping the country.
Luxury hotels
Back in Boston, Bryan prepped mornings at Gilbert and Sullivan’s and worked nights at the Bay Tower Room, an all-electric kitchen high above downtown at 60 State Street. He joined the opening team of the city’s first Four Seasons hotel, then became banquet chef at The Charles Hotel in Harvard Square. Julia Child was a neighbor and a regular guest there, and the team hosted her 84th birthday at The Charles.
With Interstate Hotels, then the largest Marriott franchisee, Bryan opened and took over properties across the country:
- Pittsburgh Airport Marriott, opening team
- Marriott Mission Valley in San Diego, where at 27 he took charge of the 400-room hotel’s kitchens 65 days after opening
- Marriott Symphony Towers, Marriott Minnetonka and Marriott Troy, openings
- Radisson Manhattan Beach, San Francisco Marriott Fisherman’s Wharf and the Corpus Christi Hilton and Hyatt, acquisitions and conversions
- The Charles Hotel, return as executive chef
- The Don CeSar in St. Pete Beach, three new restaurants and a new wing
Multi-unit restaurants and hotel portfolios
As Corporate Executive Chef for the Bertolini’s division of Morton’s Restaurant Group, Bryan standardized menus and recipes, built training programs and kitchen operating procedures, and set sourcing and quality audit standards across locations. He oversaw the opening of six new restaurants in three years, including its largest location, at the Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas.
At Starwood Hotels he served as area chef for properties in the Northwest, then moved back to Boston to oversee the acquisition of the Flatley Hotel Group portfolio in New England. He led the food and beverage side of the renovation of the 1,000-room Sheraton Boston, the host hotel for the 1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Casino resorts
Bryan joined Station Casinos in Las Vegas in 1999 and stayed until 2014, rising to Corporate Director of Luxury Culinary Operations and Corporate Executive Chef. His first project was Texas Station’s $74 million expansion with three new restaurants, a bowling venue and a convention center. He went on to open Red Rock Resort, where he oversaw 17 food operations and 22 kitchens with a back-of-house staff of about 1,860. He also helped build and open three tribal casinos, including Thunder Valley.
From 2015 to 2018 he was Director of Food and Beverage and Executive Chef at Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California. There he supported a team generating $30 million in annual food and beverage revenue and saved $1.2 million a year through cost containment.
He was on the pre-opening and opening team for Adero Scottsdale, Autograph Collection, during the 2020 lockdown. The resort was named a AAA Four Diamond property and made the Travel + Leisure “It List” and the Condé Nast Traveler “Hot List” for 2021. In 2021 and 2022 he served as Vice President of Food and Beverage and Hospitality for Warner Gaming at a tribal casino in Spokane, Washington.
How Bryan works
- Keep the team you have. When he walks into an existing operation, he works with the people already there. They know why things are done the way they are, and they need the right tools before anyone judges their work.
- Know every corner. At Red Rock he started each day by walking every food and beverage space, opening every cooler, oven and hot box to check that product was clean, labeled, dated and in stock.
- Design the whole guest path. The experience starts when a guest closes the car door. Every step from the parking lot to the table is a chance to make them want to come back.
- Run it like an owner. Leading restaurants across Station Casinos through 2001 and 2008 taught him to manage from an owner-operator point of view.
Credentials
- Degree in Culinary Arts, Johnson & Wales
- Master Certified Food Executive (MCFE), International Food Service Executives Association
- Certified HACCP Manager (CHM)
- Rapport Leadership International, Master Graduate
Today
Through Dillon Luxury Brands, Bryan brings this experience to restaurant owners, hotel groups and casino operators who want luxury standards that also make money. Schedule a consultation to talk about your operation.