Hospitality is the foundation of the restaurant industry.

Nothing is as important as making a guest feel that the service staff is on their side, and will do everything possible

to ensure they have the best experience. Service is the technical aspect of the job while hospitality is how people feel!

Hospitality with a mission.

Many of New York City’s unemployed and underemployed have the desire to work in restaurants but lack the skills to get hired. The Hospitality Project was launched in 2015 to meet this need by offering a free four-week training course.

Generously supported by the Harlem Community Development Corporation, Columbia University, and NYC Hospitality Alliance, the first Hospitality Project class of twelve began in October 2015. After completing eighty hours of training, we saw a 100% graduation rate of our inaugural class.

During the training, established members of the restaurant community came to share their expertise, and invite the class to dine and experience in practice what they were learning in class. From these expert special guests, the students were able to gain a greater understanding of the different types of positions and environments that they could be working in.

Within four weeks of graduation, six students were successfully working in positions ranging from host, runner and busser at top locations in the city (Terrace 2 at MOMA, Carmine’s Times Square, French Roast UWS, The Cecil Harlem).

Some Quotes About The Hospitality Project
“For me the program was a very eye opening and wonderful experience.  It not only opened up possibilities for me as an individual, it also opened my eyes that hospitality and being hospitable isn’t just for the work day, it’s a way of life.” – Franklin Lopez, Student

“Beatrice has really put her heart into teaching these young adults.  They are hungry to learn and Beatrice definitely has the ability to keep them focused and eager.  Harlem Hospitality Project is a wonderful and well organized program.” – Kimberly Ruth Cavoores, Sommelière: Café D’Alsace, Guest Instructor

Beatrice Stein
Restaurant Consultant and Strategist

Beatrice Stein is a New York City-based restaurant consultant and strategist with more than 35 years of experience working with restaurants—helping them to open, and thrive—in some of the most competitive markets.

Born and raised in Chicago to entrepreneurial parents who ran a hot dog stand called Little Bea’s, then a coffee shop, Beatrice worked every position in the front of the house and learned the meaning of customer service along the way—from warm greeting to grateful farewell, and all the steps in between. From her parents, she gained a passion for hospitality that has been a hallmark of her impressive career in which she has directed multi-million dollar, high-profile openings (The Cecil, Minton’s) in addition to managing every detail of a project while working as a liaison with legal, accounting, marketing, public relations, design and construction.

With over 18 years of training and development experience, Beatrice’s mission has been to deliver high-quality training programs to empower clients to reach the highest level of hospitality and productivity for their operations. Her expertise includes creating and executing training programs with a full suite of supporting materials for all Front of House positions and implementing company branded invaluable on-boarding programs for new staff members. Beatrice’s vision to teach essential skills and to share her unique brand of holistic hospitality—engaging employees to embrace a deeper level of attention to detail in service and customer care that is at the heart of every successful operation.

Beatrice is also often called in to offer her unique brand of “restaurant therapy,” assisting existing operators with problem solving and motivational management seminars. Her clients include Alicart Restaurant Group (Carmine’s, Virgil’s).

See full list of clients.

In addition to her consulting work, Beatrice has created The Hospitality Project, a pioneering program in collaboration with the NYC Hospitality Alliance. The goal of Hospitality Project is to train New York City’s unemployed and underemployed, in multi-week training sessions to become highly-skilled front of house workers and to place them in positions ranging from runner, busser, host, and server.

Beatrice lives in Manhattan where she volunteers for Edible Schoolyard, the NYC Food Bank and The NYC Wine and Food Festival.