Dan Soloway graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an Honors degree in Biomedical and Nutritional Anthropology.  Upon graduation, he began his professional life as a Proprietary Options Trader on the American Stock Exchange.  He quickly made a name for himself by becoming the youngest Exchange Official in AMEX history, at age twenty-five, while managing a multi-million dollar options portfolio.

After five years of trading, Dan turned in his pen for a chef’s knife and entered the French Culinary Institute (FCI), his entrée into the restaurant world.  While at FCI, he so impressed Chef Jacques Pépin with a healthful dessert he created, the renowned chef  referred him to Heartbeat restaurant.  Within days Dan was offered a job.  At Heartbeat -- a joint venture of W Hotel’s flagship midtown property and Drew Nieporent's Myriad Restaurant Group – Dan’s passion for food and his talent for business quickly became apparent and he was transferred to Myriad’s largest restaurant, Tribeca Grill.

At Tribeca, Dan experienced every aspect of running a fine dining restaurant and completed Myriad’s intensive management training program in a mere four months, which led to his promotion to Bar and Dining Room Manager.  While managing the dining room, Dan increased bar revenue by updating the restaurant’s beer and cocktail program.  Eventually his skill with numbers and his sixth sense for business landed him the title of Director of Purchasing.  During his year he spent in this role, Dan was responsible for $3 million of purchasing power for both food and beverage.  He achieved a significant reduction in the restaurant’s food and operating costs and an increase in the quality of goods acquired.  His success at the Grill was no secret in the food fraternity, and other fine restaurants, such as Daniel attempted to recruit him.

However, when Dan learned of legendary Chef Thomas Keller’s plans to open per se, he knew where he belonged.  He joined the opening team in 2004, in the dual role of Purchasing Manager and Chief Steward.  In this multi-faceted position, it was his responsibility to search near and far for the absolute best products at the best price, while implementing all day-to-day back-of-the-house operations, maintenance procedures, and inventory controls.  He demonstrated his by then finely honed organizational skills for Chef Keller both in the operation of per se and in the simultaneous opening of Bouchon Bakery.  In addition, Dan was instrumental in the creation of per se’s HACCP plan, which became the platform for the NYC Department of Health’s HACCP guide.  Many of the policies introduced under Dan’s leadership became standards for Chef Keller’s restaurants in Las Vegas and California, as well.

Eventually, Dan ventured out into the consulting arena and started Kitchen Options.  He reunited with his first chef and mentor, Chef John Mooney, who recruited him to re-open The Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, Ireland.  Dan spent 8 months in Dublin, consulting as the Interim Purchasing Manager for the Shelbourne.  Within the first three months, he reduced food costs by 480,000 euros ($650,000) on an annualized basis and overhauled the entire purchasing program using his “OASIS” system (Observe, Analyze, Systematize, Implement and Standardize).  After revamping purchasing and receiving procedures, he turned to sourcing local, regional, and organic products from Ireland and continental Europe by traveling to Europe’s major food markets in search of top-quality ingredients.  The Shelbourne also utilized Dan’s general management skills: he represented the Food and Beverage (F&B) Department at executive meetings and the daily line-up.  He was responsible for coordinating with all the chefs for each F&B outlet and conducting year-end reviews, departmental analyses, and future-objective assessments.

When he returned from Ireland, Dan joined Jim Lahey at Sullivan St Bakery as General Manager.  He was responsible for overseeing the wholesale and retail bakery activities of this top NYC craft bakery and laying the groundwork for Lahey’s acclaimed newly opened Co. pizzeria.  While at the helm of Sullivan St Bakery, Dan trimmed payroll by 15% and reduced food costs by negotiating and hedging futures contracts totaling 2 million pounds of flour.  He was instrumental in reconfiguring delivery routes and streamlining distribution, training retail staff, co-authoring an employee manual, updating human resources policies, implementing systems and standard operating procedures for facility management and improving account receivables.