Donato Ricci was Born and raised in Catania, Italy where food and hospitality became embedded in him at a young age. Ricci’s father owned a restaurant and bar and he spent many days/nights helping out the family business after school. Donato would spend his summer vacations traveling to their family restaurants and bakeries from Florence to Germany, learning the trade. By age 17, Ricci had taken over the family catering and staffing company that maintained a high renowned hospitality business track record for venues in the city, while supplying jobs in the area. His passion for the field kept growing and he decided to turn it into a career and enrolled to the Hospitality management school and received his Bachelor in Food and Beverage Management. Donato held internships in Switzerland and Milan and has worked with some of the great restaurateurs in the industry, including: The Excelsior Hotel, Valtur vacation resort and various assignments for the city yacht club where he received a 10 year honor of service. Now, 17 years later, Donato Ricci has built a career in the United States from the ground up. As a General Manager he has successfully opened two establishments and consulted on several other projects. Ricci has worked in celebrity spots like Aventine in Hollywood and La Piazza at The Grove and spent sometime in Miami working with a large restaurant group and coordinating event like the Red bull guesthouse at the Sagamore Hotel in south beach. In 2017, Donato took on an even bigger endeavor joining a team of reknowned chef Michael Mina and his Chef Partner, Adam Sobel to bring valiantly to the LA food scene, Cal Mare, a Coastal Italian affair positioned in the heart of Beverly Hills.
“I believe that the combination of traditional and modern is the winning recipe to create the best experience to my guest…I build strong teams and I connect with my guests for recurring and lasting relationships.”
“Hospitality is a lifestyle and building a great experience for the guest is what I truly believe.”
In his spare time, Donato is a home brewer and stays up to speed with trends and products of the market.
Donato is closing out this auspicious year of 2020 as a first time restaurant shareholder in San Luis Obispo called Tre Fiamme. He remains super excited for a few new projects coming soon.