Beverage & Brand Advisory · San Diego · San Francisco Bay Area
by
Build it right. Run it well.
20+ years across spirits, hospitality, and fitness — as an operator, instructor, brand ambassador, and consultant. Building programs that are designed to outlast the build.
See the work
What I do
I work with restaurant groups, fitness brands, and boutique hotels across California and beyond — San Diego, Orange County, Palm Springs, Sacramento, the Bay Area, Hawaii, and nationally — on both sides of the equation: the beverage programs their guests remember, and the business strategy that makes growth sustainable.
The work behind what works.
I've held the roles I now advise on — inside major spirits companies, across distributor networks and markets nationwide. I bring that operator background to spirits brands, CPG companies, boutique hotels, and hospitality concepts that need strategy that actually sticks. Not a deck. A result.
From concept to cocktails.
Menus, costing, prep systems, training guides — everything your team needs to run the program without me in the room. Every menu includes NA cocktails built to the same standard as the rest of the list. Full non-alcoholic programs available.
Built for your community.
Client, instructor, operator — I've been inside boutique fitness from every angle. For wellness-focused concepts, programs lead with functional and non-alcoholic options. For clients, that means multi-studio expansion, revenue development, and systems that scale without losing what made the original work.
Where good concepts become great businesses.
Scaling from one location to many is where most concepts break — because the infrastructure wasn’t built to travel. I build the playbooks, training systems, and brand documentation that let a concept grow without losing what made it great. This is where I do my sharpest work.
How it works
Your concept, your guests, your numbers. I learn what success actually looks like for your business before anything else happens.
A clear strategic direction — the story, the philosophy, the approach. The foundation everything else is built on.
Menus, costing, training systems, brand playbooks — every deliverable documented and built for your team to execute without me in the room.
Training, support, and handoff. The goal is always a team that can own it — designed to outlast the build.
Selected projects
From opening programs to multi-unit rollouts, menu revamps to brand advisory — built for restaurants, boutique hotels, and fitness concepts across California and beyond — San Francisco, the Bay Area, San Diego, Orange County, Palm Springs, and Hawaii. Every project is built around the specific story a brand is trying to tell.
Traditional Mexican Flavors · San Francisco
Mexican ingredients and flavors paired with a wide variety of spirits — fun, fresh cocktails that go beyond the expected. A program built around discovery, not just margaritas.
Handmade Italian Casual · San Francisco
Classic cocktails with an Italian twist — aperitivi, amari, and vermouths woven throughout a menu designed for any time of day and all occasions. Bright and convivial by design.
Spanish Tapas & Cocktails · San Francisco
Adventurous but familiar — the vibrant flavors of Spain, sherry and herbs from Spanish cuisine incorporated throughout. A program that made the bar as essential as the tapas.
Craft Brewery & Bar · San Francisco
Opening bar program for one of San Francisco's most distinctive brewery concepts — a 10-barrel craft brewery with a full restaurant and outdoor beer garden in San Francisco. The cocktail program was built to complement an ambitious house beer lineup while standing fully on its own.
Classic French Brasserie · Bay Area (Multi-unit)
A multi-location French brasserie with an American Bar focus — extensive classic cocktail menus spanning prohibition-era originals and the modern canon. Built to scale across locations.
Retail Spirits Curation · San Diego
A boutique bottle shop dedicated to small-batch gin and natural wine. Curated the spirits selection, sourcing terroir-driven and rare bottles from around the world. Developed a quarterly gin-and-tonic club with in-person distiller tastings.
Cultural Cross-Section · San Francisco
Bright, bold flavors highlighting Southeast Asia's best ingredients — approachable yet transportive cocktails that took guests somewhere they hadn't expected to go.
Caribbean Rum Bar & Restaurant · San Francisco
A multilevel rooftop cocktail bar, Caribbean restaurant, and event space on Market Street — drawing on Jamaican heritage with a rum program that goes deep on the island's best distilleries. Amaro-influenced, rooftop-ready, and built for a room with serious personality.
California Kitchen & Bar · San Francisco, Outer Sunset
Market-focused and neighborhood-rooted, lush with plants and California light. A cocktail program that matches the space — bright, fresh, and lively, leaning into local ingredients and golden-hour energy. Includes a full non-alcoholic menu built to the same standard as the rest of the list.
Mexican Robata · San Jose
Grounded in Mexico, shaped by Japan — every cocktail reflects both cultures simultaneously. A menu where mezcal meets shiso, rye gets washed in rice, and vermouth comes with wakame and cotija.
Menu Revamp · San Jose
A menu revamp for a beloved San Jose institution — whiskey-forward classics elevated with bright, seasonal flavors, anchored by a new draft cocktail program. The program respects the room without getting stuck in it.
About
"I've sat on every side of this business — and that's exactly the point."
I'm Erin Rea — 20+ years across spirits, hospitality, and fitness, in roles most consultants only advise on. I've run operations, built marketing strategies, developed products, and been behind the bar more times than I can count.
I think like an operator, not a consultant. I'm in the details — your margins, your staff, your guests, your story — until the thing is actually running the way it should.
Before consulting, I spent years inside the spirits industry — as a West Division Sales lead, Marketing Director, Innovation Project Manager, and National Brand Ambassador across multiple major companies, in markets across the country. I know what it looks like from inside the supplier, not just across the table from one.
I've been a boutique fitness client for 15 years and an instructor for five. I've also held a VP of Operations role inside a growing multi-state fitness brand — which means I've seen it from every angle: the client, the instructor, and the executive. Now based in San Diego, working across Southern California and beyond.
If you need someone who's genuinely done the work — let's talk.
Experience
20+ years in industry
Based in
San Diego · Available nationally
Philosophy
Designed to outlast the build.
Approach
Operator first, always.
Boutique fitness
15-year devotee · Barre & Pilates · Teaching since 2021
Fitness roles held
VP of Operations · Multi-state boutique fitness brand
Spirits industry roles held
National Brand Ambassador · Innovation Project Manager · Marketing Director · West Division Sales
Before we talk
I work as a strategic partner.
My value is in the thinking and the systems I leave behind. Every partnership is designed so you and your team can run without me as quickly as possible — that's the goal, not a limitation.
Good work has a timeline.
I plan carefully and build programs that are ready when they need to be. The earlier we start working together, the better the result — for the work, and for both of us.
The best work is a collaboration.
I bring 20+ years of operator experience to the table. The clients I do my best work with bring openness, honest context, and a genuine investment in getting it right — not just getting it done.
If that sounds like the way you work too — I'd love to hear what you're building.
Let's talk →What clients say
Across restaurants, bars, and the fitness industry — the common thread is always the same: programs that actually run, and work that moves the needle.
Erin is creative, consistent, strategic, and thorough. She brings a depth of experience that shows in every detail, from concept to final pour. Across every project, the pattern is the same: clear vision, steady execution, zero drama. She has a rare ability to take a beverage program from idea to reality in a way that feels easy.
Gregory Nasser
CEO, Borne LLC — Restaurant Intelligence AI/ML
Working with Erin means things get done — accurately, promptly, and without having to ask twice. She reshaped and scaled the operational foundation of our fitness brand in a way that created real, lasting change. She brings a rare combination of big-picture thinking and meticulous attention to detail that any growing company would be lucky to have.
Whitney Wolff
President & Creative Director, WhitWolff Media
From comprehensive trade advocacy programming, flawless event planning and execution, and strategic brand positioning — Erin always delivers. She’s creative, analytical, engaging, knowledgeable, and personable. The epitome of a professional at everything she does.
Sonia Urintsev
Marketing Director, CPG & Beverage Brands
Erin runs a tight program — operationally sound, thoughtfully costed, and built so the team can actually execute it. What sets her apart is the ability to find real value for the guest without cutting corners on quality. She makes the whole process easy, and the work speaks for itself.
Brian Reccow
Owner, Fifty Vara · Hospitality Consultant
Get in touch
Every great partnership starts with a conversation. Whether you're in San Diego, Orange County, Palm Springs, Sacramento, the Bay Area, or Hawaii — let's talk about what you're building.
Based in San Diego and available across California — Orange County, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Sacramento, the Bay Area — as well as Hawaii and nationally. Whether you're opening a new concept, refreshing a stale program, building a retail strategy, or growing a fitness brand — the first conversation is always free.
Or email directly → hello@byerinrea.com
Based in
San Diego · Orange County · Palm Springs · Sacramento · Bay Area · Hawaii · Nationally