Bar operator. Team builder. Managing Partner,
White Whale — Downtown Las Vegas.
I've been behind the bar for thirteen years — at The Dorsey, Electra, Rosina, all part of The Venetian Cocktail Collective, and now White Whale, the craft cocktail bar I co-own in Downtown Las Vegas. What I've learned is that the drink is never really the point.
The point is the person across the bar. And the person behind it. Speed creates connection — every second of execution I save is a second I spend with a guest. Every skill I develop in my team is a career door I open for them.
That's the philosophy. And it's why I'm in this.
Efficiency isn't about moving faster for the sake of higher ticket counts. It's about buying yourself time — time you put back into the guest in front of you. The best bars feel unhurried because the team has mastered the work behind the scenes.
A great menu lasts a season. A great leader lasts a career — and builds more leaders. The most valuable thing I can leave behind in any bar I work in is a team that doesn't need me to run it. That's the goal.
Deals get made here. Relationships get built here. The bartender who understands that is worth ten who don't. I've spent thirteen years teaching this — not as a philosophy, but as a practice, shift by shift.
Most management contracts are structured backwards. An operator comes in, sets up systems, and leaves — and within six months, the bar is back where it started. That model works for the consultant. It doesn't work for the business.
My contracts are tied to outcomes, not time. Revenue share. Profit participation. Real skin in the game. We agree on what success looks like before I walk in the door — and I don't get paid like a partner until the business performs like one.
I grew up in Hawaii. Started in hospitality at 19. By 22, I was a doorman at a five-star property in Waikiki — watching the bartender and the concierge outscore me on guest satisfaction surveys every single month. I decided I needed to do one of those jobs.
I chose bartending because it sits at the intersection of hospitality and craft — I could learn a guest's palate, make recommendations for their night or their stay, and then hand them something made specifically for them. The drink was the thing that made the connection personal. That's where I wanted to stand.
I couldn't break into the Honolulu market. So I moved to California — landed a job as a busboy in Palo Alto, told them what I was there to do, and was behind the bar in four months. No barback. I was my own.
I moved to Las Vegas in 2015. Within a year I was hired as a bartender to open The Dorsey at The Venetian. Then opened as Lead Bartender at Rosina, Electra, then returned as Lead of The Dorsey until the end of Sam Ross's consulting contract when the Venetian Resort was sold. In 2018, Las Vegas Magazine called me one of the city's best — the only non-executive in the story, included on the strength of my thinking alone. In October 2025, Daniel Yang and I opened White Whale. We're still building it.
Hospitality is one of the few industries where a 21-year-old with no degree can, through craft and work ethic, build a real career. I've spent thirteen years proving that — and building a model to scale it.
Watch: Career Insights 501 →If you're a bar or restaurant owner exploring what it looks like to bring in a beverage management partner — or an event organizer looking for someone who can speak honestly about this industry — reach out.
