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“Last year was about nurturing the power of our people to make a difference for our guests, and a focused strategy on defining our processes within our organization,” says City Group Hospitality President & CEO Patrick Valluzzo.
AT A GLANCE
Top executives: Patrick Valluzzo, President & Chief Executive Officer; Stephen Hightower, Executive Vice President & Chief Operations Officer; David Dispenza, Chief Efficiency Officer; Kelly McDevitt, Chief Marketing Officer; Jeff Conaway, Chief People Officer; Loni Trabeaux, Accounting Officer
Phone: 225.266.6410
Address: 6421 Perkins Road, Bldg. B, Suite B, Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Website: citygrouphospitality.com
The company took a gamble growing four restaurants during a global pandemic, but “our focus was to create an environment where we could identify the strengths of our core people and develop a company that truly invests in training and retaining more people for longer times,” he said.
Growing from a staff of less than 100 to 400 employees has meant the addition of a corporate office, marketing and human resources departments and a focus on training. The key has been creating a culture of hospitality that trickles down from management to staff and, ultimately, to the guest.
“We have a true standard of hospitality at each location, but the culture is defined uniquely by each concept’s management team,” says COO Stephen Hightower. “I want them to believe the relationship with our guest is key to each of them being proud to work toward being the best restaurant in Baton Rouge in their own culinary segment.”
City Group Hospitality is made up of 11 total food service operations, with seven unique restaurant/bar concepts, plus a catering and events arm and Turning Point Food Service for area schools.
“We are making relationships through our overall hospitality and creating a culture that we hope everyone wants to be a part of,” says Hightower.
City Group wants its hospitality to be a pleasant surprise due to a belief in the nobility of service. Whatever your taste, the company has a restaurant concept for your palate.
“From that first friendly welcome to that last taste of our chef’s creativity on one of our plates, our ultimate goal for all of our restaurants is for the community of Baton Rouge to trust us to give them great food, a great atmosphere and great service every time they visit,” says Hightower.
