Latest news with #MichelinBib-Gourmand
Hospitality Net
08-05-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
Humberto Fermo has been appointed General Manager at Moxy Boulder
Vision Hospitality Group proudly announces the addition of Humberto Fermo as the new General Manager of the Moxy Boulder, which opened last year near the CU Boulder campus. The hotel welcomed its first guests last June, marking a significant milestone as the first hotel to open in Boulder since 2018 and has quickly become the go-to hotel and bar on University Hill. Fermo is a dynamic and solutions-driven hospitality leader with over 20 years of comprehensive experience in hotel operations, financial management, and cross-functional leadership. With a proven track record across premier lifestyle and multi-property brands, he excels in guiding teams to achieve excellence in service standards, team development, and market positioning. Fermo was most recently the general manager of Kimpton's Hotel Monaco in Denver and prior to that was the GM at two different Indigo Hotels in Austin, Texas, and Rochester, Minnesota. Fermo will oversee the entire team and will direct operations, manage responsibility for financial performance, and oversee guest services for the property. Moxy Hotels, a part of Marriott Bonvoy's Distinctive Select portfolio, offer a playful hotel experience that steps outside of a conventional hotel stay and promotes a social center to both locals and adventure seeking travelers. The property features an incredible walk-through courtyard open to the public, featuring 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and anchored by Michelin Bib-Gourmand award winner Mister Oso and Aviano Coffee scheduled to open Spring 2025. The outdoor lounge spaces have fire pits, and comfortable seating, creating a perfect setting for guests to relax and unwind. The hotel is managed by Vision Hospitality Group of Chattanooga, Tenn.
USA Today
13-02-2025
- Business
- USA Today
$250,000 of wine: Former award-winning restaurant owner reacts to fraud, embezzlement suit
$250,000 of wine: Former award-winning restaurant owner reacts to fraud, embezzlement suit Show Caption Hide Caption Looking for a good California wine? Here are some tips Discover the best techniques for selecting the finest California wines, from understanding regions and varieties to finding award-winning bottles and perfect pairings. Impress your guests and elevate any occasion with these expert tips. This is the case of an allegedly stolen $23,000 bottle of wine – and whether it ever existed. One of the former co-owners of a central California, Michelin-honored restaurant filed a new lawsuit seeking more than $1.5 million in damages from another one of his fellow owners. The now-shuttered Molti Amici and its majority investor, Jason Cutrer, are accusing former co-owner Jonny Barr of fraud, embezzlement and the consumption of more than $250,000 of the restaurant's wine. That includes a five-figure bottle from the acclaimed French vineyard Domaine de la Romanee Conti. Barr denied the accusations in an emailed statement to USA TODAY. He said the restaurant never purchased a bottle that expensive while he was employed there. He also alleged Cutrer forced him out of the restaurant in May 2024. 'These allegations are wholly untrue. Molti Amici and my community was my heart and soul,' wrote Barr, who as of Wednesday evening had not obtained a lawyer. 'Cutrer has a lot of money and is using it to intimidate me into signing over my remaining shares,' he also claimed. USA TODAY has reached out to Cutrer's attorney for comment. The lawsuit comes after a Molti Amici owner filed a police report in June accusing their business partner of failing to make deposits totaling $60,000 into the restaurant's bank account over a six-month period. Police told the San Francisco Chronicle in November they were ending the investigation. The Italian lunch and dinner spot in Sonoma County unexpectedly closed its doors in early November, less than four months after it was awarded the Michelin Bib-Gourmand, which recognizes high-quality restaurants that serve moderately priced foods. A San Francisco Chronicle review of the restaurants demise published in November found it had lost over $600,000 during its first year in business, owed vendors tens of thousands of dollars and was in 'financial distress." The lawsuit filed by a limited liability company held by Cutrer blames Barr for much of that mismanagement. 'Despite the notoriety, public acclaim, awards, and even a Michelin guide recommendation, financial management of the Restaurant quickly put the behind-the-scenes operations in serious turmoil,' the suit claims. It suggests that, less than two months after Molti Amici opened, Barr failed to make cash deposits into the company's accounts. Barr later allegedly asked Cutrer to invest in the restaurant with 'false and inaccurate' financial statements designed to hide the fraud. Cutrur said he ultimately invested more than $900,000. As Cutrer monitored the restaurant's finances over the ensuing months, he discovered the company had stopped paying some vendors and employees, the lawsuit says. It adds that Curter approached Barr, who said he was paying vendors with cash, rather than through the restaurant's bank account. Cutrer launched an investigation months later and found that more than $20,000 in reported transactions were 'not paid with Molti Amici's cash,' but instead 'stolen' by Barr, the lawsuit alleges. Then there was the case of the purportedly missing liquid gold: wine. The lawsuit suggests Barr used 'Molti Amici's wine inventory as his own personal wine-cellar,' and at one point 'admitted to Cutrer, via text message, that he had consumed a bottle of Domaine de la Romanee Conti, a high value bottle of wine, which averages $23,052.00." That would have been more expensive than the priciest bottle on the restaurant's menu: a $6,000 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Pinot Noir with floral and fruity notes, and hints of spice. Barr called the claim 'absurd' in his statement to USA TODAY. 'Until I was fired when [Cutrer] took over the restaurant, Molti Amici had never purchased a bottle of wine over $1900,' he said. All together, the alleged missing cash, wine and 'misappropriated property,' taken by Barr are worth 'no less than $1,447,989.28,' the lawsuit says.
