CLIENTS

Overview | Client List | Case Studies

Overview

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OVERVIEW

Clark Wolf Company has consulted to major hotel companies and owners for Hilton, Loews, Four Seasons, and Marriott.

Our clients have included venerable institutions like Princeton University, Grand Central Terminal, Lincoln Center, and The Guggenheim Museum.

We have worked with legendary restaurants such as Danny Meyer's Manhatta, The Russian Tea Room, and The Library at The Regency Hotel. We have assisted independent restaurants and groups like Stout NYC Hospitality Group and Infinate Hospitality in Aspen.

We have been a key part of projects with Las Vegas casinos, like Mandalay Bay, Paris Las Vegas, and Caesar’s Palace.

We have acted in an advisory capacity to food companies and marketing boards like The Walnut Marketing Board, Food and Wines from France, and The California Milk Advisory Board.

OUR CLIENTS INCLUDE

Restaurants & Cafes

Hotels, Resorts & Casinos

Property Holders & Managers

Entertainment Venues

Public & Private Institutions

Accounting Firms

Specialty Food Retailers

Real Estate Developers

Food & Beverage Producers

Marketing Boards

Public Relations Firms

Marketplace & Food Halls

Client List

CLIENT LIST

Woodstock Inn, VT

Four Seasons Napa
Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, Ojai, CA
Arizona Biltmore, Tucson
Hotel del Coronado, San Diego
Affinia Hotels, Chicago, New York & DC
Tabcorp Holdings, Multiple Casino Properties in Australia
Empire Casino, Yonkers, NY
Mandalay Bay Casino & Resort, Las Vegas
Caesar’s Palace, Bally’s, The Flamingo, Paris Las Vegas for
Park Place Entertainment, Las Vegas & Atlantic City
Spotlight 29 Casino, Coachella, CA
Eighteen resort properties for Loews Hotels, including Miami,
Los Angeles, Tucson, New York, San Diego, Philadelphia,
Chicago, Washington, Montreal and more
The San Jose Marriott, CA; The Ritz Carlton, D.C.; The Four Seasons, Scottsdale, AZ for SCS Development

The SoHo Grand Hotel & The TriBeCa Grand Hotel, NYC

The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas
The Grand Wailea, Maui
Miramonte Resort & Spa, Palm Spring

Sheraton Universal, LA

Armstrong Manor, PA
The Benjamin Hotel, NYC

The Carlton Hotel, NYC
Hilton Tokyo Bay, Tokyo, Japan

Ames Hotel, Boston
Hotel Bel-Air, CA

Sofitel, LA & San Francisco
The Sheraton New York

The Whitehall, Chicago
The Stanhope Hotel, NYC

Armstrong Manor, PA
Westminster Hotel, NJ

550 Madison, NYC

The Town of Seaside, Florida
28 Liberty/Fosun Property Holdings, NYC
Times Square Landing for Circle Line New York
Centrally Grown, Cambria, CA
Signal Bay in Kelowna on Lake Okanagan, British Columbia
9/11 Memorial, NYC
General Growth Properties
Volkswagen’s Project Autostadt, Germany
NetJets
Fairmont Battery Wharf, Boston

Brooklyn Bridge Park, NYC
The Tahoe Mountain Club, Lake Tahoe, NV
Riverfront Park, Denver, CO
The Park Hyatt, Beaver Creek, CO
Reckson Associates, Long Island, NY
Corte Madera Town Center, CA
Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, CA
Solus Properties, Los Angeles, CA
Greenpoint Landing, Brooklyn, NY
The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, NYC

Prospect House at Princeton University

Princeton University Museum of Art

Rice University, Houston

World Financial Center, NYC
Bloomberg, NYC
National Musuem of the American Indian, D.C.
Stone Barns for David Rockefeller, Tarrytown, NY
Tavern on the Green, NYC
National Arts Club, NYC
Rockefeller University, NYC
Lincoln Center, NYC
The Kennedy Center, D.C.

Madison Square Garden, NYC
Radio City Music Hall, NYC
Rockefeller Center, NYC
The Bronx Zoo, NYC
The New York Aquarium, NYC
The Guggenheim Museum, NYC
Grand Central Terminal, NYC
The Smithsonian Institute, D.C.
ERE Yarmouth/Paine Weber Building, NYC
The French Culinary Institute, NYC
Lend Lease/Equitable Center, NYC
Scholastic, Inc.

Schrafft's, NYC

40 North Management, Aspen

Stout, NYC

Dreamscape Immersive, Los Angeles

HUBB NYC, Pig Bleeker, NYC

Montauk Yacht Club

Fireman Hospitality/Cafe Concepts, NYC & National Harbor
Riccardo’s Bar & Grill, Sonoma County
The Goodwin Wine Bar & Cafe, NYC
RM Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas
Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas
Bradley Ogden at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas
Zengo at Riverfront Park in Denver, CO
The Blues Room & Lucille’s at B.B. King’s in Times Square

Canal House & Grand Bar at The Soho Grand Hotel, NYC

Church Lounge at The TriBeCa Grand Hotel, NYC

The Cliffhouse, San Francisco

Madison Square Garden, NYC
Radio City Music Hall, NYC
Rockefeller Center, NYC
The Bronx Zoo, NYC
The New York Aquarium, NYC
The Guggenheim Museum, NYC
Grand Central Terminal, NYC
The Smithsonian Institute, D.C.
ERE Yarmouth/Paine Weber Building, NYC
The French Culinary Institute, NYC
Lend Lease/Equitable Center, NYC
Scholastic, Inc.

Hilton Hotels Corporate

Hilton Hotels: Atlanta, Anaheim, Chicago, Santa Barbara, Zachariah Dunes, Columbus Downtown, San Jose, San Diego Bayfront, New York Midtown

Signia by Hilton San Jose

Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek

State Street Market, Los Altos, CA

Silverado General Store, Four Seasons Napa

The Grand Wailea Maui
Central Market, Texas
AB Biagi, NYC

Bien Cuit, NYC
Urbanspace Vanderbilt, NYC

Earth’s Bounty Kitchen & Wine Bar, Sonoma County

Fulton Stall Market, NYC

Likitsakos Market, NYC
Buitoni & Garetti, NYC

Seacoast Marketplace, NH
Ultra Lucca /A.G. Ferrari Foods, CA
A Little Something at the Reach, Key West
Irvine Ranch Market, West Hollywood, CA
Mayfare Supermarkets, Inc, NJ

Pebble Beach Market, CA
Patisserie les Friandises, NYC

Harry Wils & Co., NYC
Grand Central Market, Berlin

Case Studies

CASE STUDIES

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For nearly a dozen years Clark Wolf acted as the Consulting Vice President of Food and Beverage for this Tisch family owned chain, which grew from twelve to eighteen properties. We developed the F&B standards for their classics allowing regular clientele to know they were at a Loews Hotel, even though each location was highly focused on and attentive to its locale.

Clark Wolf Company worked on over $1 billion worth of hotel development in association with Universal Orlando.

Clark Wolf Company continually analyzed, advised and redesigned elements of Loews’ overall food and beverage program, as well as focused on local re-dos and updates at locations throughout the country. We garnered and managed outside press attention for the hotel’s food and beverage far beyond what might usually be achieved by such a small group.

Clark Wolf created and executed plans for rooftop and property gardens at every hotel location in the early 90s before it was common practice.

Clark Wolf Company assisted Loews in establishing early partnerships with outside ‘big-name’ chefs, as well as conceptualized and produced an in-house celebrity cookbook, which included and featured recipes of chefs at each local property.

Clark Wolf Company conceptualized, expanded and revitalized the collection of truly stellar restaurants and food and beverage offerings.

We developed and analyzed the goals and plans of what was previously Circus Circus, Inc. for all of their restaurants and other F&B offerings for their first ever world class resort and casino, Mandalay Bay. The property included Las Vegas’ first five-star hotel, The Four Seasons.

First Round work included Aureole with its 40 foot wine tower, Rumjungle, Red Square and others. We expanded the collection of destination restaurants at Mandalay Bay resort, designed to be American, upscale, good quality and clearly fun.

Second Round offerings were collected to achieve four-star world class additional offerings including famed Fleur de Lys from San Francisco and RM Seafood from New York, as well as other more casual offerings designed to deepen and broaden the experience. All were highly successful.

In all cases Clark Wolf Company assisted ownership with a broad range of activities, from general strategy to complete and specific design development. This was coupled with active involvement in all agreements, collaborations and partnerships. The entire company was later sold to MGM Bellagio, who maintained nearly all of the 10+ outlets which have continued to be highly successful.

CNL Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest and most respected private real estate investment and development companies.

The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa is an American and international, hospitality classic. Working with CNL, we guided the re-development of the core high-end restaurant – Wrights at the Biltmore – into a more timeless version of itself, maintaining and improving the restaurant and its components, while significantly enlarging the interior and exterior bar, lounge and patio service.

CWC worked with CNL to remove the long diminished Prince of Wales at the legendary Hotel del Coronado in San Diego. Transferring into the wildly successful, more modern and appealing, 1500 Ocean which helped re-position the entire property for new generations and- as it turns out – new owners.

Working with Tabcorp, Australia’s largest gaming company, CWC worked on developing general and specific food and beverage strategies for their Townsend, Bainbridge, Gold Coast and Sydney properties.

For their flagship, Star City in Sydney, CWC has assisted in the development of an overall F&B redevelopment strategy and has been a design/development partner on the half-billion dollar re-do of the world class resort. Star City will be transformed into a world-class entertainment destination with improved gaming and entertainment facilities, new hotel and expanded restaurant and bar offerings under Tabcorp Holdings Ltd planned $475 million investment in the property.

Expansion proposals include: Re-orienting the casino to embrace Sydney Harbour and the city skyline; Building a new 309 room hotel next to the casino; Offering up to 30 restaurants and bars in the expanded complex; Creating a new retail galleria ; Expanding the existing ballroom and conference facilities; Redeveloping the current gaming floor; Transforming the Star Theatre into a multi-purpose venue for smaller events.

Several years later, CWC produced two additional reports, the first “Food and Beverages in the Luxury Hotel Sector,” and the second, “The Future Roll of Michelin Star Restaurants in Luxury Dining”.

Prior to Caesar's Entertainment being acquired by Harrah's, CWC assisted with Food & Beverage development at a number of properties, including the James Beard award winning Bradley Ogden at Caesar's Palace, as well a number of project at Paris Las Vegas, Bally's, and The Flamingo Hotel.

We helped to bring Bobby Flay, Guy Savoir, and others as well as establishing the company as the only Las Vegas organization to have significant outdoor dining spaces.

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Prospect House

Formerly a private residence and the University President’s home, this historic building had become a faculty center and meeting/event location. As services were added, the entire facility became strained and disorganized.

In preparation for upgraded quality and the addition of support for the PUAM being rebuilt next door, we reprogrammed all of the elements and organization of the historic Prospect House in order to serve the meeting, gathering and dining needs and to act as a commissary for other on-campus locations. This included significantly increased capacity for receiving and holding, organizing and distributing, preparing and serving.

On the lowest level, the front of the house counter line was redesigned completely. In the ground floor kitchen, some features were preserved while others were improved or relocated.

Princeton University Museum of Art (PUAM)

With a complete deep dive into the market locally, nationally and internationally, not only for art museums and academic environments we lead the foundational planning for a hood-less café in the new David Adjaye designed Princeton University Art Museum, scheduled to open in 2024.

Once improvements to the Prospect House kitchens nearby were approved and engaged (and post pandemic), we revisited all the features and elements and assisted the design team, front and back of house, in the refinement of equipment and operational details.

We developed menus for planning purposes and some of the local and regional resources necessary to achieve the museum’s goals.

Clark Wolf Company developed an RFP and Pre-planning Guide for Grand Central Terminal, and helped run a competition between two dozen applicants, resulting in four finalists.

All of these local Manhattan operators were featured in a two page spread in the New York Times.

The initial goal was to build out the restored former main waiting room as a multi-dimensional restaurant, cafe and market. The resulting attention caused the project to be expanded to the $290 million renovation of the entire building.

We developed the Feasibility Study, including financials, for the restaurant and other food service components of Stone Barns Center for Agriculture.

We identified where the restaurant should be located and how it might interact with a casual café/take-out and catering functions that would be centered primarily in the redeveloped main barn, as well as some distinct outdoor spaces.

We outlined how these elements might connect and interact with other programs and functions of the property as well as with individuals, organizations and institutions outside the center, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

In conjunction with Rockwell Group, we completely reinvisioned and planned the food offering center for the world famous Bronx Zoo.

What had long been a cafeteria style servery was completely reconceived and renovated to have convenient, fun and quick service stations along with grab and go components and re-planned seating, both indoors and outdoors.

Food offerings within the limitations of budget, kitchens and staff were updated and upgraded.

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Founded by John D. Rockefeller, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research was incorporated on June 14, 1901. It was the first institution in the United States devoted solely to biomedical research--to understanding the underlying causes of disease.

Today, renamed Rockefeller University, it is one of the foremost research centers in the world, contributing to 23 Nobel Prizes as well as numerous other awards.

Clark Wolf Company assisted with the evaluation of the University’s food service needs and plans for future development. We conducted an analysis of the existing facilities and the best way to maximize the food and beverage opportunities provided by the spaces available. We also assisted with the specific design/F&B needs of the new Collaborative Research Center.

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In a number of cases, we have worked to develop restaurants that have had long, productive business lives.

An unexpected collection of extra spaces at the Loews Portofino Bay Resort in Orlando – part of an initial billion dollar investment – resulted in our being called upon to create something signature, memorable and broadly accessible.

The result was a family style Italian restaurant, made to feel like a series of repurposed rooms in someone’s family home, called Mama Della’s Ristorante. With an open kitchen and a collection of platter presentation and a la cart dishes, this popular spot also included a host actor who played the part of Mama Della – so successfully, she went off and started a line of specialty foods.

Until the pandemic, this rambling, home style spot was doing upwards of 600 covers a night since it opened in the late 90’s. It is still in operation and now extends out onto the property’s waterfront plaza.

Nearly twenty-five years ago, in our work with the Mandalay Resort Group, we greenlighted the tossing of a $400,000 design to allow Charlie Palmer's architect Adam Tahani the freedom to go big.

The forty foot wine tower unveiled in 1999 garnered coverage internationally. We worked to ensure that strategies were developed so that any operational challenges could be successfully addressed.

We also advised about the variance from norms that might result from this spectacular marketing piece.

Through a change in property ownership, the restaurant closed in early 2023 leaving a legacy of success and wine display for Palmer, Tahani, and all those involved.

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In a number of cases, we have worked to develop restaurants that have had long, productive business lives.

Hired by the same developer we had worked with on the Tahoe Mountain Club at Northstar Resort, we were brought to Denver to help with the development of a restaurant at what was then an emerging Riverfront Park district.

The chef Richard Sandoval had another more casual restaurant nearby. The idea was, as Nobu is a Japanese chef doing his take on Latin ingredients and elements, Richard would do a Mexico City born chef’s take on Asian food. We worked to develop the name and identity
of Zengo (which means Back and Forth in Japanese), along with the graphics, table top and other identity elements.

That restaurant ran successfully for 15 years until the property changed hands. Other locations were built around the world, along with Sandoval’s other concepts. Prior to the pandemic the location on the East Side of Manhattan was still very much in successful operation.

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A very edited freshening of the historic Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Arizona focused mainly on public spaces. Included was our work on Wright’s at the Biltmore, which was then a 92 seat restaurant of undetermined identity with a 25 seat bar/lounge.

We worked to flesh out and deepen the identity to be what we then described as a classic American Lodge restaurant, kept the dining footprint and expanded the bar out onto the center of the property to more than 160 seats.

This has evolved to add some elements of native tribal ingredient traditions as well as those of early settlers and continues to be a signature element of this popular property.

More recently we were brought back to the property, now branded as a Waldorf Astoria Resort, to refresh and redo their marketplace located just off the huge outdoor high-design bar that has been added.

Aspen, CO | Sun Valley, ID | Stamford, CT

For private clients in several evolving restaurant markets around the country, we continue to provide confidential advisement on opportunities and the development of restaurants and cafes.

This includes valuation for possible acquisition, general layout options, and financial modeling. We also advise regarding talent, partnerships, design, public relations, and other topics as needed.

The nature of our work with these high resource clients requires complete discretion and confidentiality.

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For a number of years we developed and led educational outings for Certified Tourism Ambassadors throughout the county.

These included visits to farms, markets, cheese makers, bakeries, dairies, and other food and farming related enterprises

For the California Walnut Marketing Board we developed and led a series of press outings designed to highlight the local, regional, national, and international nature of foods and food systems.

Just as the Go Local movement was emerging, we took groups to Seattle, Atlanta, and Sonoma County to explore the most local of farming and cooking and how they connected with more regional and other ingredients from further afield.

We also assisted with a number of festivals, cooking videos, and events and acted as a spokesperson in select situations.

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For the last decade, we have worked with properties managed by Hilton, from their Curio, Signia, and Doubletree brands to convention and resort properties and all the way up to 5 star locations including their Conrad and Waldorf Astoria locations.

More recently, we have developed and launched Longacre Market at the HIlton TImes Square, updated the HIlton Atlanta marketplace, launched the marketplace at the Signia Atlanta, and are working on Harrison's at the Hilton Anaheim.

In all cases the major focus has been on the development and/or redevelopment of their grab and go/marketplace offerings, most often with new or more fully developed integration into other food and beverage formats and outlets.

Landmark properties such as the Hotel Del Coronado, where the marketplace includes a limited table service component, the Grand Wailea Maui, where after merchandising the existing, un-airconditioned space they exceeded budget by $49K in the middle of a hot July, and La Quinta, where we remerchandised an existing space (doubling sales) then helped develop a new location in a converted meeting space (where sales have been 10X previous levels) presented particular challenges due to existing adjacencies and other physical and historical challenges. Each has resulted in significant new success, even in these difficult times.

In all cases, merchandising plans, development, training and implementation was involved, as well as product development, packaging, sourcing and selection. Full cycle, seasonal specials, adjusted daypart features and guest mix adaptations were also designed in most instances.

Providing general consulting, we proposed the later adopted name and general layout of this popular market hall in a restored historic building in the center of Los Altos, CA.

This was the first market hall in the Silicon Valley region and was developed by the holding company owned by 23 and Me Co-founder Anne Wojcicki.

We developed strategies for offering mix, events, and other programs.

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Urbanspace Vanderbilt, near Grand Central Station, was the first bricks and mortar location for the legendary market company Urban Space Management, originally established in London some forty years ago with markets at Camden Lock and Spitalfields.

Known in Manhattan for their award-winning Union Square Holiday Market, they expanded to include other seasonal outdoor marketplaces before moving to indoor spaces.

We advised on strategies and mix, as well as outreach to high end chefs.

We hosted the launch panel discussion on opening, focusing on marketplaces worldwide and co-hosted by the NYU Food Studies Department.

Seaside, built on 80 acres on Florida’s Gulf Coast, has been acclaimed world-wide as one of the iconic examples of New Urbanism. The community attracts a high-end demographic that includes town residents and visitors as well as the surrounding community, drawn by the niche dining and shopping experiences its group of individual businesses provides.

Under one developer and with a number of operators, we worked to facilitate the negotiations and development of a successful mix of restaurants utilizing traditional, enhanced or reimagined American iconic food and drink experiences.

Clark Wolf Company conducted an analysis of the existing facilities examining the best way to maximize the food and beverage opportunities provided by the spaces available. We analyzed and evaluated Seaside’s food service needs and plans for future development.

Since engaging with us in 2008, the Seaside community went from $14.6 to $58 million in food and beverage revenues (2022), during a period that included a recession and the Gulf oil spill.

For over fifteen years, Clark Wolf Company continues to be in the midst of working on a number of projects for the community

On 1 June 2000, the Autostadt ("car city") theme park opened in Wolfsburg, the city in Lower Saxony which is the headquarters of Volkswagen AG. It is managed by Autostadt GmbH and located close to the Volkswagen factory.

Autostadt reflected a new marketing strategy by Volkswagen. Instead of going through an authorized dealer, the customer can buy a car directly from the factory, and combine this purchase with tourism.

Clark Wolf Company performed a comprehensive evaluation and proposed refinements for all existing and planned restaurants, bars and lounges, from a two star Michelin restaurant at a Ritz Carlton on location, to numerous restaurants, cafes and other food and beverage features operated under contract by Mövenpick.

In 2011 we were reengaged to research and present a report on high end Luxury Dining (Michelin) worldwide that outlined and analyzed the place of top tier restaurants in the context of evolving customer demand and culture.

Working with representation from Fosun Holdings, we assisted with the development of strategies for the use and organization of this spectacular landmark location.

We helped develop a list of top potential operators, vetted the finalists, and analyzed the eventual selected operator.

Once Union Square Hospitality was signed, we acted along side ownership to ensure that what was developed was optimal for not only the selected operator but also for any that might follow in the years to come.

We supported the launch and establishment of Danny Meyer's Manhatta through a full cycle of the business, suggesting adjustments as needed to the bar, restaurant, lounge, and event spaces.

We played a key role in the creation of the Master Plan for the development of an historic property on Lake Okanagan, just across from Kelowna, BC. The plan featured an 800-slip floating marina with zero ecological impact, a full vineyard, production winery that could welcome grapes from other vineyards, tasting room, conference center, boutique hotel, collection of restaurants, retail, cooking school, organic teaching gardens, open air amphitheater and other elements.

Our role was to create, support and provide narrative for all of the food, beverage and hospitality elements, begin initial contacts with appropriate resources and partners, address feasibility, build proforma and otherwise lay the foundation for the entire land-based enterprise.

We identified the vineyard and winery consultants, began outreach into the BC food, farming and related agricultural community and identified restaurant and hotel architects to be tapped. The entire project was funded and approved, against difficult odds but, sadly, didn’t come to fruition as the majority owner and developer passed away fairly quickly from an aggressive

cancer.

The work has stood as a useful development model for any number of other projects. The scale and balance of each element have provided templates for other efforts, including the analysis of existing collections, as with our highly successful work in Seaside, Florida.

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The landmark Philip Johnson designed 550 Madison Avenue in New York City, which has been headquarters to both Sony and AT&T, has been entirely redeveloped by The Olayan Group as their North American headquarters.

CWC has assisted with the David Rockwell designed fifteen million dollar amenities floor that include the Arch Cafe, meeting rooms, the Grand Hall, the library, the living room, and a chef's table kitchen serving tenant clients such as Hermes and the CHUBB Group.

Behind the building there is a block through partially covered Snohetta designed public garden with three food and beverage kiosks.

Currently in development is a David Kim, Rockwell designed three level Cote Madison, expected to open in 2026.