Lorie Montenigro’s restaurant management experience began in 1988 as manager of JP Anthony’s (now Cornerstone) in Hillsdale, New Jersey. She quickly ascended to General Manager, and demonstrated her unique ability to generate sizeable increases in sales: 130% in three months.
Following her successes at JP Anthony’s, Ms. Montenigro accepted a management position with Steak & Ale; a company recognized for its superior management training program. Lorie excelled again, completing training at the top of her class, soon becoming the only female Kitchen Manager of the 54 managers in her region. She was also directly responsible for a dramatic increase in profits, placing her unit at the top of the 157 units in the US.
Innovative Restaurant Concepts (IRC), the parent company of Rio Bravo Cantina, and a company known for its philosophy of exceeding guest expectations, offered Montenigro the opportunity to join their growing organization in 1991. As General Manager with IRC, she moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Tampa, Florida and then to Staten Island, New York. During that period, she was responsible for successful openings of several new restaurants and record-breaking numbers on profit and loss statements.In 1998, Montenigro became Senior Manager of a 20 person management team for the grand opening of Mars 2112 in the heart of New York City, in Times Square. On opening night, her 450 well-trained staff members were ready to serve the 2000 people at the front door.
In 2000, as Director of Marketing for Briad Restaurant Group, (the franchise company which owns T.G.I. Friday’s in New Jersey and Connecticut), Lorie developed marketing strategies that had an immediate impact on sales.Allied Beverage Group, the largest liquor distributor in the state of New Jersey, approached her to join them as their National Accounts Manager in 2001. Learning the liquor business from the supplier’s end, and creating beverage-marketing strategies for huge corporate restaurant companies, provided her with the experience to further expand her extensive knowledge of the service industry.
By 2002, Montenigro had managed 24 restaurants (several were grand-openings) and held Director and Regional positions with 18 restaurants in her territories. She was now determined to make her dream of opening her own concept come true, and so she created the concept “Blend.” The challenges of seeing Blend to fruition revealed Montenigro’s talents for every aspect of the business plan including creative financing and real estate procurement.
While the Blend concept was maturing, Montenigro launched Bottom Line Restaurant Consulting. Her first private clients were referred from the same banks and lenders that would eventually finance Blend. The first corporate clients were ACE Restaurant Group (the franchise company which owns Houlihan’s in New Jersey) and Houlihan’s Corporate.
Montenigro acquired her NJ real estate license and partnered Bottom Line with New Jersey’s long-standing restaurant real estate company, JC Kapas. As in-house consultant, she provided a multitude of services to her clients. For start-up operations, she secured financing, created concepts, developed business plans, composed service and operations manuals, trained staff and executed grand openings. For existing restaurants she overhauled operations and implemented cost control measures.
July of 2004 saw the opening of Blend: New Jersey’s largest multi-concept live music venue and #1 hotspot for over four years.
Today, the extensive variety of positions Lorie has held in the service industry, and the formidable challenges she has faced as an entrepreneur, provide her with a uniquely comprehensive knowledge of what makes the business work. The clients of Bottom Line Restaurant Consulting, and now the clients of Mingle Event as well, can put that experience to work for the benefit of their own businesses.
