Springfield local went from serving tables to shaping every bite and beat at MGM Springfield

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As Andres Gomez walks towards the kitchen behind The Chandler, a chef at MGM Springfield torches the Nutella crème brûlée — a special.
She sets it down along a line of other sauces and dares Gomez and MGM Springfield Executive Chef Mark Hall to taste the sauce she believes is better than A1.
It is.
But there's no time to linger. Gomez and Hall are deep into their daily rounds — tasting, testing, and fine-tuning dishes across MGM Springfield's restaurants to ensure every flavor meets the mark. It's all part of Gomez's role as executive director of hospitality.
Yet even as he moves from sauce samples to wine pairings, planning the next Free Music Friday or curating guest experiences, Gomez never forgets the wide-eyed 11-year-old who arrived from a small town in Puerto Rico — awestruck by Springfield's skyline long before the casino ever stood.
As the executive director of hospitality at MGM Springfield, Gomez, 40, is the casino's only executive who grew up in the city.
Gomez lived in multiple different areas of Springfield during his childhood, including Liberty Street, which isn't far from the casino.
'If there's one thing that I definitely brought was a full understanding of our community,' Gomez told MassLive recently.
He spent his childhood helping his dad with a local catering business. He also helped tutor other students and worked at an after-school program — sometimes putting extra Gushers in his pockets to share. Gomez graduated from SABIS International Charter School in Springfield and attended Emmanuel College in Boston, Holyoke Community College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
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In 2006, he began working for Agawam's iconic, but now closed, Federal Restaurant & Bar, where he served as general manager for many years.
And in 2011, he, like many others in Springfield, watched from his third-floor window as a tornado came over the Memorial Bridge, bringing devastation to the community he called home.
But through that devastation, it opened the door to his future. He just didn't know it yet.
Around the same time MGM officials, local lawmakers and dignitaries gathered in downtown Springfield to mark the start of the Western Massachusetts casino project, Gomez became director of operations for Meatball Kitchen Restaurants. With locations in Natick and Wilbraham, it was the first restaurant in Massachusetts that was completely devoted to meatballs.
Gomez had big plans for the restaurants.
But in 2017, they closed.
With bills to pay, Gomez put back on a vest and tie, and returned to a serving job he thought he'd left behind.
On his way there, he passed a billboard that sparked an idea.
It said: opportunity doesn't knock, it roars.
With the giant MGM lion staring him in the face, Gomez wondered, was this his opportunity? The casino was set to open in 2018.
" It hit me and I'm like, 'Oh man, could I take everything that I had learned up to that point and all the things that I was doing? MGM has to have something,'' he recalled. 'And I said, 'OK, well, I'm going. I'm gonna figure it out.'"
At 1 a.m., after getting off from his serving job, he looked up the MGM Springfield jobs online. He saw a few he thought he could apply for. But he wanted to be well-rested when he applied, so he closed his laptop and went to sleep.
'I open my laptop that next morning, the positions are closed,' he recalled.
But he didn't want that to be the end of his story.
Gomez found old business cards from people he had networked with during his time at The Federal. He quickly began writing emails.
'And I got very blessed that they emailed me back, called me for an interview, and yeah, the rest is kind of history,' he said.
Gomez was hired as MGM Springfield's director of restaurants. About 40% of MGM Springfield's employees are from the city.
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He hopes to inspire other children from Springfield.
He said MGM Springfield opening close to home was pure luck. But luck isn't what got him the opportunity. That, he said, came from hard work, being prepared and surrounding himself with supportive people.
Still, he never takes it for granted. He keeps a picture on his phone of himself dressed as a server from the night he saw the billboard.
'... to remind myself that it can all go away very quickly,' he said, showing MassLive the photo.
The MGM company saw another opportunity for Gomez, this time taking him out of his hometown.
In October 2020, he became the director of food and beverage at MGM Grand Detroit.
And it didn't stop there. He then spent two years as the director of food and beverage at MGM National Harbor in Maryland. In 2024, it was time to return home. But this time, as an executive.
" I understand the area and I also understand the guest," he said, adding that he was also welcomed back by multiple employees he had originally hired when MGM Springfield opened.
'We are thrilled to have Andres back in Springfield. He not only brings a wealth of local knowledge but also a deep commitment to our community, which makes this homecoming particularly special,' said Louis Theros, MGM Springfield president and COO. 'Andres is instrumental in elevating our dining and hospitality experience to an unprecedented level of excellence. We know his exceptional skills and innovative vision will ensure that we continue to exceed our guests' expectations.'
For both the guests and the employees, just because something is incredibly popular across the country — like in Chicago, LA, Miami, New York, or even Boston — doesn't mean it'll be popular in Western Massachusetts.
" If you were to bring someone from Vegas that wanted to do something that was out there, that is as crazy as how they do it in Vegas, it doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna work here," Gomez said.
However, that doesn't mean Gomez is limited.
He's always looking at the restaurants' menus, seeing if they need to be rearranged, changed or improved. He tastes wine and works with winemakers to bring unique options to customers. And he uses a wine preservation system to offer a high-end $300 bottle of wine as a glass option — giving guests a fancier option without breaking the bank.
In May, Gomez pulled up a summer calendar filled with weekend events. Multiple teams sat across a room, planning out each detail needed to pull it all off — everything from patio furniture layout to opening restaurants usually closed on Sundays due to a nearby concert.
Graduations, medium Theresa Caputo and Free Music Friday all fell on May 30. It meant a lot of people were going to be in and around the casino. Gomez made plans for all of it.
It was still weeks away, but details were already being hashed out for the Fourth of July fireworks show. Viewing on top of the MGM Springfield garage is first-come, first-served. The casino and Gomez took advice from people who attended previously and are making adjustments.
Free Music Friday will be before the fireworks. What will that look like? Will there be any pain points? The group is already looking for issues they can solve ahead of time.
Gomez is at the front of the room but he knows it takes everyone doing their best to pull off all of their events. Leading the team is a skill he credits to learning at his Springfield high school.
" At some point, they called me Senator Gomez," he said of his high school classmates. 'Leadership became a big thing for me when I was in high school.'
He had no way of knowing he'd be an executive at the city's casino but he knew leadership skills could take him far in life.
'These skills are universal, so no matter where you go, whether you are actually leading one person or no people, you're gonna have to figure out how to communicate effectively,' Gomez said.
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And he hopes it'll continue to take him far.
He loves what he does. But he also never stops dreaming.
Could vice president of hospitality at Bellagio in Vegas be next for Gomez? That could be his next 'challenge,' he says with a smile — but only if the people of Springfield keep cheering him on.
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Read the original article on MassLive.