Great food and service depend on what happens behind the kitchen doors: how the line is laid out, how product moves from the dock to the plate, how every cooler is labeled and how every shift starts. Chef Bryan Dillon helps owners and operators build kitchens that run the same way on a slow Tuesday and a sold-out Saturday.
The problem
Operations break down quietly. A walk-in that is not rotated, a station that is set up differently by each cook, a banquet kitchen that shares a dish machine with the café. Each one costs a little time, a little product and a little guest goodwill. In a property with many outlets, those small losses add up across every kitchen, every day.
Openings and renovations raise the stakes. Decisions about layout, equipment and staffing get made early and are expensive to change after the doors open.
What Bryan does
- Operational assessment. A walk of every food and beverage space, front and back of house, with a written list of what to fix first.
- Workflow and layout. Station design, product flow and equipment placement that cut steps and speed up ticket times.
- Standards and procedures. Written standard operating procedures for receiving, storage, labeling, dating, prep and line checks.
- Daily routines. Opening and closing checklists and manager walk-throughs that catch problems before guests do.
- Openings and renovations. Pre-opening planning, equipment and smallwares lists, hiring plans and opening-day schedules.
- Multi-outlet coordination. Shared prep, purchasing and staffing across several restaurants under one roof.
Experience behind the work
At Red Rock Resort, Bryan oversaw 17 food operations and 22 kitchens with a back-of-house staff of about 1,860. He started every day by walking every food and beverage space, opening every cooler, oven and hot box to check that product was clean, organized, labeled, dated and in stock. That routine is the core of what he teaches today.
His career includes many openings, acquisitions and conversions. With Interstate Hotels, then the largest Marriott franchisee, he opened and took over hotels from Pittsburgh to San Diego, Corpus Christi and San Francisco. At 27 he took charge of the kitchens at the 400-room Marriott Mission Valley 65 days after it opened. At Station Casinos he opened Texas Station’s three new restaurants, bowling venue and convention center, opened Red Rock Resort, and helped build and open three tribal casinos, including Thunder Valley.
He was also on the pre-opening and opening team for Adero Scottsdale, Autograph Collection, which opened during the 2020 lockdown and went on to earn AAA Four Diamond status.
How it fits the Dillon Luxury Process
- Discovery and market analysis. A full walk-through, staff interviews and a review of your current procedures.
- Brand identity and positioning. Define the service standard your concept promises guests.
- Strategic planning. A prioritized plan with owners and deadlines for each fix.
- Implementation. New layouts, procedures and routines put in place with your managers.
- Staff excellence and certification. Teams trained on the new standards and checked against them.
- Optimization and growth. Follow-up visits to measure results and tighten what is slipping.
Who this is for
- Casino resorts and hotels with several food and beverage outlets
- Properties preparing for an opening, renovation or change of ownership
- Restaurants where ticket times, consistency or sanitation scores are slipping
Next step
Bryan can start with a single walk-through of your operation and a written list of priorities. Schedule a consultation, or see all consulting services.