The Codex

Human Resources, Payroll, Hospitality & F&B Operations Consultant

WvH Hospitality LLC · San Diego

Independent hospitality consultant working with private clients to bring their businesses to the next level. Project management, openings, F&B, HR compliance, payroll, labor, tip pools, budgets, cash management.

Clientele & Strategic Partnerships — Agents of Change Holistic Inc. · Alaya Moon LLC · AltarBorn LLC · Aspen Food & Wine · Bat & Root Foundation Inc. · Bat & Root Management LLC · Blue Label Yachts · Camila Romero · Coastal Luxury Management · Compeat · Death by Tequila · Delegated Services · Duck Foot · Fit & Flair LLC · Gusto · IMAGO Community Inc. · Jade Michael Coaching LLC · JoyJitsu LLC · LA Food & Wine · Magnetic Living LLC · Monday.com · Pachet LLC · PandaDoc · Pebble Beach Food & Wine · QuickBooks · Ritual Adornments Collective LLC · Roxanne Ruby · Ruby Chase LLC · Salon Adair LLC · Small Barn · SommCon · Surrender Sanctuary LLC · The Well and Wild · The Workshop · Toast · Trainual · Trichome Institute · VALU Foundation Inc. · Viewpoint Brewery · Young Gods LLC · and many more.

General Manager & Wine Director

Bracero Cocina de Raiz · San Diego

Oversaw all operations of a 170-seat, two-story restaurant — 125+ employees, $6M annual revenue. Built the preopening team, reservation system, FOH tip pool, cash-handling SOPs, and a wine list consisting of 80% Valle de Guadalupe selections. Reported to owners Javier Plascencia and Luis Pena.

Accolades — James Beard Best New Restaurant Semifinalist · Wine Spectator Award · Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Wine List · Restaurant of the Year, SDUT & Eater · Eater Chef of the Year · Eater Top 38

General Manager & Wine Director

Bankers Hill Bar + Restaurant · San Diego

Oversaw all operations of a 120-seat dinner-only restaurant — 45+ employees, $3.5M annual revenue. Revised reservation system, tip pool, discount tracking, and cash handling. Reduced all prime costs year over year. Launched new brunch service spring 2015. Reported to owners Terryl Gavre and Carl Schroeder.

Accolades — San Diego Magazine Top 10 Restaurant · Eater Top 38

Dining Room Manager

Thomas Keller Restaurant Group · Bouchon Bistro, Yountville

Managed daily operations of Thomas Keller's 90-seat, Michelin-starred bistro — 50+ FOH employees, $9M annual revenue, 500+ guests daily at peak. Led daily line-ups and staff education. Worked directly with Chefs Sandoval and Melling. Instituted a new request-off system and rebalanced the tip-share structure.

Recognition — One Michelin Star

Assistant General Manager & Wine Director

Goose & Gander · St. Helena

FOH scheduling, wine buying & list management, restructured SOPs and tipping, weekly staff education seminars in wine, spirits, and service. Implemented a mentorship and professional-development system within the restaurant.

Recognition — Michelin Recommended

Culinary Externship

Blue Hill at Stone Barns · Pocantico Hills, NY

Stagier and culinary extern at Dan Barber's farm-to-table landmark.

Recognition — Two Michelin Stars

Sommelier, Banquet Captain, Banquet Beverage Captain

The Grand Del Mar Resort & Spa · San Diego

Opening team of a $300M property under Director of Banquets Matt Gabos and Executive Chef Jason McLeod. Beverage procurement, inventory, and service execution. Managed all bartenders. Worked directly with Wine Director Jesse Rodriguez on a 3,500-selection list.

Recognition — Forbes Perfect 15-Star Resort · AAA Five Diamond · Trip Advisor #1 Luxury Resort in the USA · Addison Restaurant: Wine Spectator Grand Award · Three Michelin Stars · Relais & Chateaux

Contract Telecom · Central-Office Fiber-Optic Switching

AG Communication Systems · later Lucent, now Nokia · and other contract work

Three years of central-office installation work before enlistment, beginning with AG Communication Systems. Installed the first fiber-optic switching gear at the Transamerica Building in Los Angeles — terminating the transpacific cables that still carry a meaningful share of the traffic between the United States and Asia. Blue-collar telecom. The kind of labor that quietly undergirds the rest of everyone's internet.

Corporate lineage — AG Communication Systems → Lucent Technologies → Alcatel-Lucent → Nokia

Early Adopter · Independent

First rig — NEC Pentium 60 · US Robotics modem

First personal computer arrived in 1994 — a Pentium 60 from NEC, a US Robotics modem, and the slow whine of the dial-up handshake. Has seen it all since: BBSes, AOL, Prodigy, the open consumer internet, the mobile turn, social, cloud, mobile again, crypto, and now the Claude agents that quietly run the firm's own books. The hospitality work sits on top of three decades of tech instinct, not the other way around.

The Current Workshop

16″ MacBook Pro · Apple M5 Pro · 48 GB Unified Memory · Nano-Texture Display · Apple Studio Display

The rig that runs the practice. A 16-inch MacBook Pro with Apple M5 Pro silicon — 16.2″ Liquid Retina XDR with the nano-texture display option — driving the Claude agents, the QuickBooks MCP server, and the firm's entire operational stack. Paired with a 27-inch 5K Apple Studio Display for the long-reading work.

GPU features — Dynamic Caching · Mesh Shading · Neural Accelerators · ProRes & ProRAW hardware acceleration · Metal 4 API · Wide Color P3 · Hardware-accelerated H.264, H.265, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1

Paired with — Apple Studio Display · 27″ 5K (5120×2880) · 600 nits · P3 Wide Color · True Tone · 12MP Ultra Wide camera with Center Stage · 6-speaker system with Spatial Audio

Operations Specialist Second Class · Petty Officer

United States Navy · San Diego

Specialized in Ballistic Missile Defense and Anti-Submarine Warfare. Collateral duties: Division Supply Petty Officer and Special Projects Manager.

Ships served — USS Stethem (DDG-63) · USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) · USS Shiloh (CG-67)

Recognition — Blue Jacket Sailor of the Quarter · Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal · Global War on Terrorism Medal · Good Conduct Medal · National Defense Medal

Cornell University School of Hotel Administration

Master Certificate Candidate · Hospitality Management, Revenue & Finance Management.

Scholarships — American Institute of Food & Wine (2014) · Chaîne des Rôtisseurs (2014, 2015)

The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone

St. Helena, Napa Valley

AWBP Accelerated Wine & Beverage Graduate Certificate (May 2012). CWP Certified Wine Professional. Flavor Napa Valley & Worlds of Flavor Conference Volunteer.

The Culinary Institute of America

Hyde Park, New York

AOS Associate of Occupational Studies, Culinary Arts (August 2011). Chief Justice of Judiciary Board. Twice-elected Class Leader.

Honors — Chief Justice Award · Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Brillat-Savarin Young Professional's Medal of Merit · American Institute of Wine & Food Scholarship · High-Impact Leadership Scholarship (2009 & 2010)