Thursday, April 17, 2014

Where in the world is Dave Hansen? Across the pond!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dave Hansen, Operations Director of Tapper Restaurant Group, is stepping aside temporarily in order to perform a ‘restaurant rescue’ operation on Bones Restaurant in London’s ultra-trendy Shoreditch neighborhood



     Bones Restaurant opened last January in Hoxton/Shoreditch [an uber-hip district of London] to a mixture of acclaim and derision.  Owners Joss and Simeon Goodman, of The Grocery UK, along with partner Simon Hill decided it was far more efficient to recruit a known international operator like Dave Hansen than to waste time combing for local talent.

   With a combination of deadly pragmatism and 100 hour workweeks, Dave has made a lot of restaurants work across a lot of time zones, said the recruiter who brokered the deal.  The British partners asked if Hansen could revitalize the new, yet already flagging restaurant in as little as 120 days, and Hansen readily welcomed the challenge.

     Just as comfortable with a chef’s knife or calculator in his hand as he is with writing an award-winning wine list or hobnobbing with guests at the front door, Hansen seems a perfect choice to reform everything from front-of-house service to reining in spiraling costs and refreshing the plating of Bone’s eclectic cuisine.

    “I always assumed the next time I disembarked at Heathrow it would be to reverently ask Heston Blumenthal if I could do a stage for him.  I suppose I’m just as happy to try giving him a run for his money during my time in country,” Hansen said.
    

     Hansen’s current employer, restaurateur Dino Tapper, is happy to give him the time away.  “With the new concepts we’re looking at opening in the next year, I’m sure he’ll bring back some new discoveries and knowledge.  Floriana’s running tightly under new exec Daniel Hlusak, and Federal is blessed with the return of charismatic Brazilian chef Guillerme Baretto to the helm in the kitchen,” Tapper said.

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