Chris’s passion for food, cooking and all things hospitality developed at a very young age. His earliest memories of food was learning how to make traditional Filipino dishes with his parents, as well as eating copious amounts of it at family functions.

Despite being a Bay Area native, Chris’s professional hospitality career began in Denver, CO. There he attended Johnson & Wales University, where he attained his culinary and food service degrees while cultivating his skills.

For over a decade now, Chris has displayed his creative talents in multiple kitchens, most of which was spent at duo Restaurant in Denver and most recently at Bird Dog in Palo Alto. These two establishments helped refine his culinary style with a focus on working with local faire and produce with care and simplicity.

Meena taps into her third cultured identity to cultivate her love of hospitality. Representing the intersection of the Iranian and Southern hospitality she was raised with, she loves to work in spaces where food is used as a love language.

Having spent time working in education and renewable energy, the hospitality industry remained as an undercurrent that kept her coming back. Here in San Francisco, she’s worked with the teams at Flour + Water and Mister Jiu’s, while having contributed to the growth of the Off the Grid Food Responders program—always gravitating towards initiatives rooted in collective justice through food.

Alvaro Rojas is a California-born and raised industry vet. Originally from Los Angeles, he landed in San Francisco’s Mission District while still a teenager, beginning a strong relationship with the neighborhood, which lasts to this day. Around this same time, his life in hospitality also began.

Years of commitment and dedication to some of San Francisco’s finest bars and restaurants, including Tunnel Top, ABV, Lolinda and True Laurel, eventually led him to open his own bar, Elda, in 2019. After a successful first year, and quickly pivoting to adjust to the pandemic, Elda is now in the process of relocating to a new venue and looking forward to a (proverbial and literal) new lease on the innovative and well-loved bar’s life.

Originally from Seattle, Nora Furst grew up in the restaurant industry. Her parents opened Campagne when she was still a toddler, and some of her first memories are of sitting at the bar before service, eating creme brulee. She continued to grow up in the Seattle restaurant and bar scene, starting as a dishwasher and eventually moving into bartending and management roles.

During her time in San Francisco, Nora managed and consulted for Lolinda, Belga, Delarosa (both locations), and Dosa (three locations). She has also spent time behind the bar at many SF locales, of note California Gold, Horsefeather, Holy Water and True Laurel. In 2016, as operating partner and beverage director, she opened Uma Casa Restaurant in San Francisco’s Noe Valley alongside chef Telmo Faria. That same year, she was heralded Bartender of the Year by 7x7 Magazine.

Nora now resides in Portland, Oregon but continues to make her way up and down the west coast with consulting firm West Beverage.

A San Francisco local, Nicolas Torres has been bartending in San Francisco for over 12 years. With extensive experience bridging neighborhood bars and dive bars to craft cocktail venues and fine dining establishments. His early days of Dives and Karaoke Haunts seem light years away from the double Michelin star bar program he would eventually create and manage at Lazy Bear.

His current program at True Laurel highlights both wild and farmed local produce alongside rare, unique, and small-batch spirits and wines. Torres’ close collaboration with the kitchen has led him to develop a hyper seasonal bar program, as well as championing preservation and sustainable techniques.

Claire Sprouse started a career in hospitality in her hometown of Houston, Texas, where she helped usher in city’s cocktail renaissance in the burgeoning food scene. She relocated to the Mission District of San Francisco in 2011, where she worked at cocktail institutions Rickhouse, the Hideout, and ABV amongst many others; while also consulting for restaurants across the Bay Area.

Claire has spent the last decade researching, practicing, and teaching best sustainability practices in the hospitality industry, sharing with communities all around the world. She continues to put this mission of sustainability into action at her bar & restaurant, Hunky Dory, which was on many “Best Of 2019” lists in its first year of opening and most recently named an Esquire Magazine’s Best Bars in America 2021. For all of these efforts and more, Claire has been listed amongst “The Industry’s Most Influential Figures” by Drinks International since the inception of their international Top 100 list three years ago.