Michael McKinnon, Vice President of Culinary Operations

Chef Mike has worked on high-volume casino concepts for Peninsula Gaming, on the development of four new concepts on a new ship for Norwegian Cruise Line, on several projects in multiple concepts for Choice Hotels, on full-service restaurant concepts around the country and several specialty food and beverage concepts still in development. A foodie at heart with business-savvy intuition and management skills, Chef Mike has worked in the kitchens of large-scale hospitality companies and restaurants such as Restaurants Unlimited, The Cheesecake Factory, Champps Americana, the Rainforest Cafe, Jillian's Entertainment, Al Copeland Investments and Lone Star Steakhouse.

A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, he also holds teaching certificates for food handling and sanitation. He has directed culinary operations for a variety of restaurants in roles as vice president, corporate executive chef and kitchen manager. Chef Mike’s project work generally focuses on refining menus and developing/implementing kitchen systems and the kitchen staff for in full-service, fast-casual and upscale-casual concepts, ultimately helping them to reach their full potential in quality of food and cost of preparations efficiency. When not in the kitchen, Chef Mike can be found dining in his favorite Dallas restaurants.

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