Restaurant & Bar Openings · San Diego · Bay Area
by
Build it right. Run it well.
I open restaurants and bars — building the beverage programs, systems, and teams that launch a new concept and keep it running long after the doors open.
See the work
What I do
I open restaurants and bars — and build the operational backbone that keeps them running once the doors are open. From a single new concept to a multi-unit rollout: the beverage program guests remember, plus the menus, costing, prep and inventory systems, training, and playbooks that let your team run it without me in the room.
Concept to doors — and beyond.
My most distinctive work. I take a new concept from idea to open: the beverage program, menus and costing, prep and inventory systems, hiring and training, SOPs, and launch readiness — everything that has to be right before the doors open, built so your team can run it without me in the room.
From concept to cocktails.
For rooms already open, or refreshing: menus, costing, prep systems, and 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.
Built to travel.
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.
The work
From new openings to multi-unit rollouts, menu builds to revamps — for restaurants, bars, and boutique hotels across San Diego, San Francisco and the Bay Area, Sacramento, Palm Springs, and beyond. Every project is built around the specific story a brand is trying to tell.
Opening · 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.
Opening · 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.
Opening · 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.
Opening · 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.
Multi-Unit Rollout · Classic French Brasserie · Bay Area
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. The selection focused on small producers and terroir-driven bottles — gins and natural wines with a story behind them. Developed a quarterly gin-and-tonic club with in-person distiller tastings.
Opening · Cultural Cross-Section · San Francisco
Bright, bold flavors highlighting Southeast Asia's best ingredients — approachable yet transportive cocktails to take guests somewhere they hadn't expected to go. The program leaned heavily into Burmese spices, herbs, and house infusions, bringing a level of craft and specificity.
Opening · Caribbean Rum Bar & Restaurant · San Francisco
A multilevel rooftop cocktail bar, Caribbean restaurant, and event space in the center of the city — 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.
Opening · California Kitchen & Bar · SF, 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.
Opening · 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.
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.
Beverage program, menus and costing, prep and inventory systems, training, SOPs, and opening playbooks — every deliverable documented and built for your team to execute without me in the room.
Training guides, staff support, and a clean handoff — everything your team needs to own the program confidently. Designed to outlast the build.
About
"I've sat on every side of this business — and that's exactly the point."
I'm Erin Rea. For 20+ years I've opened restaurants and bars and built the programs that keep them running — behind the bar, running multi-unit operations, and on the supplier side inside major spirits companies.
I think like an operator, not a consultant. I'm in the details — your margins, your prep lists, your training, your guests — until the place is actually running the way it should. Not a deck. A result.
I've also sat on the other side of the bar: as a sales lead, marketing director, innovation project manager, and national brand ambassador for major spirits companies, in markets across the country. I know what an opening needs from every angle.
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.
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 hospitality 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 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 — the Bay Area, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County — and beyond. Whether you're opening a new concept, scaling to new locations, or refreshing a stale program — 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