Skip to main content

Our crew...

Hospitality All Hands On Deck

Great Hands Hospitality is an agency that specializes in providing comprehensive business development, operations management, and administrative solutions tailored for bars and restaurants. We are dedicated to establishing dynamic environments that ensure your team is well-positioned for success, serving clients in the food and beverage industry nationwide.

Our team is comprised of seasoned hospitality professionals with diverse backgrounds and extensive experience at renowned global hospitality companies, including Union Square Hospitality Group, STARR Restaurant Group, AvroKO, Crafted Hospitality, Gin & Luck/Death & Co, City Grit Hospitality Group, and Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group.

Meet our team...

The Great Hands Hospitality team brings extensive experience as owner-operators, leaders of award-winning teams, industry innovators, and learners from valuable experiences. Allow us to share our insights and expertise with you.

Partner

Michael Shain

In all his endeavors at GHH, Michael brings a fervent commitment to hospitality, a profound grasp of restaurant operations, and a unique ability to lead teams and mentor leaders. Michael spent ten years with Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), growing from a Manager to Service Director and Beverage Director and ultimately founding General Manager of the group’s first stand-alone bar, Porchlight.

Porchlight was one of the most financially successful openings in the company’s history; to this day, it is still one of its top-performing businesses. After a successful tenure with USHG, he brought his talents to David Kaplan and Alex Day of Death & Co in NYC. He quickly rose to the national Director of Operations for the group of bars. Eventually, he was named Executive Director of Operations of Gin & Luck, the parent company to Death & Co.

During his time there, he navigated the company through the COVID Pandemic, opened three new venues, provided strategic guidance to future company growth, oversaw a team of directors, and was responsible for 98% of the companies revenue from their bars and restaurants in New York City, Denver, Los Angeles, Charleston and Portland, ME.

A University of Hartford and Institute of Culinary Education graduate, Michael’s self-prescribed tagline is that he is eternally thirsty and hungry. In moderation, of course! When he’s not working, he is constantly exploring new cities in search of the best experiences they have to offer.

To learn more about Michael, listen to his recent feature on Yelp’s Full Comp Podcast.

Core Competencies: Fractional Leadership, Business Development, People & Culture, Operations, Advisory, Financial Analysis, Training

Partner

Dana Lapan

Dana has been restaurant obsessed since she was eleven and started keeping a restaurant diary, and her passion for the industry grew from there. (The restaurant diary still exists). She has worked in all facets of the New York restaurant industry, but her true expertise lies in the components that you do not see.

Dana has extensive experience in supporting clients opening restaurants. She offers comprehensive assistance, including obtaining liquor licenses and event permits, formulating Department of Health plans, and overseeing every stage of the restaurant opening process, from marketing and branding to construction to build-out. She is well-versed in compliance and permitting, New York State liquor licensing, fine-tuning workflows and systems, staff hiring and training, operational efficiency, and back-office systems. Through working with Brad Farmerie at AvroKO Hospitality Group and having owned and operated restaurants of her own with Sarah Simmons of City Grit Hospitality Group and Kevin Fink and Tavel Bristol-Joseph of Emmer and Rye Hospitality Group, Dana has honed her skills in back-office management and operations.

Dana has managed restaurant openings and back offices in various cities, including New York City, Hudson Valley, Napa Valley, Tucson, and Austin. She has also overseen partnerships for food festivals in New York, Charleston, and Chicago, and executed pop-ups, conferences, and events across the country.

A University of Arizona and Institute of Culinary Education graduate, a world traveler, and an avid diner, Dana can be found at any number of restaurants throughout the city and traveling beyond, because when she's not working in the industry, she's living it.

Core Competencies: Administrative Functions, Concept Development, Operations, Advisory, Liquor Licensing and Special Event Permitting, Market Research and Comparative Analysis

Beverage and Bar Operations

Alex Jump

Alex originally hails from Chattanooga, TN, where she grew up breathing Southern hospitality. A BAR-5 Day graduate, Alex honed her skills by working behind and running bar programs at multiple James Beard-nominated restaurants. She has competed in multiple national competitions including Speed Rack, Lustau Solera Standout, Heaven Hill Bartender of the Year, and Bombay Sapphire Most Imaginative Bartender.

In 2018 Alex joined the opening team of Death & Co Denver as the Head Bartender. Through her four-and-a-half-year tenure on the team, the bar received many recognitions such as Esquires Best Bars list, many Spirited Awards nominations, and most recently listed at #36 on North America’s 50 Best Bars list. Over the years she has garnered many accolades including Punch’s Bartender in Residence (2019), nominations for Bartender of the Year (2020) and Bar Mentor of the Year (2022) at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, Forbes 30 under 30 in the F&B sector (2021), StarChefs Rising Star Bartender in Denver (2022), and is currently a member of the Williams Sonoma Chefs’ Collective.

Currently, Alex spends her time consulting on a variety of food & beverage programs and initiatives through her company, Dim Lights Hospitality, and with Great Hands Hospitality. She is also the Senior Manager of Operations of Focus on Health, a company she co-founded with Lauren Paylor O’Brien. Alongside a small team of hospitality veterans, they are working towards creating better lives for those who work in the food & beverage industry through community outreach, training, and conversations surrounding mental health, wellness, inclusion, diversity, and much more.

Outside of work, Alex enjoys practicing a variety of fitness activities, doting on her dogs, Julep and Lorenzo, and riding motorcycles with her friends.

Sample Cocktail Menu created for Great Hands Hospitality: https://bit.ly/ghhcocktails

Core Competencies: Bar Operations, Bar Design + Placement + Build, Beverage Menu Development, Concept Development, Training

Culinary and Kitchen Operations

Gary King

Gary has spent most of his working life in some of New York City’s finest restaurants, beginning with the legendary San Domenico in midtown Manhattan, followed by the French Culinary Institute, and on to Italy at the Michelin-starred Ristorante Reale in Rivisondoli.

In 2005, Gary returned to New York City to join Tom Colicchio's Craft team. Then, moving on to Australia, he worked at the classic Sydney establishment Otto. Finally, Gary returned stateside and worked as Sous Chef at Cookshop, developing close relationships with tri-state farmers and serving a daily-changing menu of farm-to-table fare. He then joined Nick Hatsatouris and Lincoln Pilcher to open Moby's Montauk & East Hampton. Later he moved on to il Buco and helped open Upland in 2014 as Chef de Cuisine alongside friend and fellow Chef Justin Smilie.

In 2015 Gary met Paul and Preston Cheng, owners of Oceanside Restaurant in Maui, who were searching for a new chef. Gary was excited at the prospect of working in Maui and having direct access to the area's fresh produce and seafood. He joined Paul and Preston Cheng to open the restaurant in December 2015. There he prepared a rustic American menu eee Mediterranean influences as the Executive Chef, showcasing the finest seasonal produce and seafood that Maui had to offer while supporting local farmers and fishermen.

In 2017, Gary returned to New York City. He worked as the Executive Chef at NoMo SoHo before joining the team at PRINT in May 2018. Now a Private Chef and consultant, Gary is a part of the Great Hands Hospitality team and is happy to lend a hand and support your operation.

Core Competencies: Culinary Operations, Kitchen User Experience + Output Advisory, Food Menu Development, Concept Development, Back of House Training

©2025 Great Hands Hospitality.