Michael Rosen Joins OTO as Vice President of Food & Beverage

June 3, 2022 | Careers

Michael Rosen has joined OTO Development as Vice President of Food & Beverage, bringing a smorgasbord of restaurant and hospitality experience to this newly created position. 

South Carolina-based OTO, which is part of The Johnson Group, develops, owns and operates approximately 65 hotels across the country. Some of these properties offer brand-standard F&B while others feature OTO’s proprietary restaurant concepts.

Rosen comes aboard to foster the creation and operation of F&B brands designed to delight and draw in locals as well as hotel guests.

“The goal, especially with OTO’s original brands, is to redefine what it means to be a ‘hotel restaurant,’” says Rosen. “One signature drink, one chef-inspired dish at a time, we want to create dining experiences in spaces that just happen to be inside a hotel.”

A professional chef with a variety of accolades to his name, Rosen is a two-time winner of Esquire magazine’s Best New Restaurant award and his work was listed in Dwell magazine’s Best Restaurant Designs in the United States. His resume includes stints as executive chef at brands ranging from Walt Disney World to Marriott to Stanford University; corporate leadership roles at JHM Hotels and Sonesta Hotels; and tenure at his own “soup to nuts” restaurant advisory firm.

“Michael’s all-inclusive expertise is exactly what we need to elevate the food and beverage experience across our hotel portfolio,” says Lisa Giaimo, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at OTO Development.

Rosen earned a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from Johnson & Wales University as well as an associate degree in culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of America. He is a Certified Executive Chef by the American Culinary Federation and a & Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers; he also holds Cornell’s Master Certificate in Food & Beverage.

His industry service includes terms on the Marriott Food and Beverage Advisory Board, the South Carolina Hotel Association Board of Directors and the Greenville (SC) Technical College Culinary School Advisory Board as well as the American Hotel Lodging Association Advisory Board. Volunteer outreach focuses on the Feeding America BackPack Program.

As Vice President of Food & Beverage, Rosen is based out of OTO Development’s corporate headquarters in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina.

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