Shortly after Sam Bakhshandehpour joined José Andrés Group (JAG) as president and board member in 2020, he was faced with one of the greatest challenges of his career. Plagued by plunging revenues during the pandemic, he and his team “broke the company down to the studs,” he says.
In the process, they revamped their business plan to offer a delivery service for the first time. As a part of the transformation, the company also launched José Andrés Media (JAM), which produces scripted and unscripted food-related content for a variety of media, as well as an e-commerce consumer products platform, José Andrés Foods. “All of a sudden, you have restaurants, media content, and e-commerce, and the trifecta creates this flywheel,” he points out. “That’s how we reset the company.”
Bakhshandehpour’s years of experience in the hospitality industry informed such innovative approaches. After graduating from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business in Washington, DC, he joined JP Morgan Securities’ investment banking department, running the firm’s Global Casino and West Coast Real Estate & Lodging Investment Banking practice. “The marriage of hospitality and real estate is how it all started,” he says. “My boss would say, ‘Focus on working with the best people and learn their business.’” It’s a lesson that has driven him since.
Rockwell Group used woven pendants to conjure the Mediterranean at Zaytinya in the Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad
Through a client, he was introduced to restaurant and nightlife company sbe, where he went on to serve as president then CEO and a board member. The company had grown from nightclubs to restaurants, and was looking to expand into hotels. Bakhshandehpour was tasked with making that a reality. He took inspiration from his time working in Las Vegas gaming, where hotel operators were generating an increased share of revenue—and higher margins—through experiences other than gaming. “You may not gamble a dollar, but you had the most incredible experience, and it’s all driven by content,” he says.
“I shifted the model,” he continues. “It’s all about controlling the guest experience. The nightlife team would take their big spenders and celebrities to dinner in one [of our] locations, to a nightclub in another, and then [they would] stay at a different hotel. I thought, ‘Why not capture all that experience within one box?’”
In addition to adding more lifestyle-driven restaurants, bars, and clubs, the company debuted SLS-branded properties in Beverly Hills (where Andrés’ Bazaar restaurant was the lobby focal point), Miami, Las Vegas, Kuwait, and Dubai. He also structured a joint venture to expand 20 SLS Hotels in mainland China. “It was my first exposure to see how the [hotel] business is run,” he says.
The experience informed his tenure at the Silverstone Companies, which he cofounded with hospitality veteran John C. Wang in 2015 and still runs. The company invests in operating innovative businesses that provide one-of-a-kind experiences to consumers that generate profits while creating the soul of a building, he says. Their portfolio includes the Electric Jane, a live music lounge and restaurant in Nashville, and, the most personal for him, JAG’s Bazaar restaurant brand.
Nubeluz, on the 50th floor of the Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad, was conceived by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio as a lightbox
Also under the Silverstone Companies’ umbrella is Cultivate Hospitality, a full-service F&B brokerage that uses data-driven analytics to bridge the gap between restaurateurs, real estate owners, and developers. For example, it acts as the outsourced business development arm for chefs that include John Frazier, Bobby Flay, and Andrés, identifying, underwriting, and shepherding deals through the development process. (Cultivate is now overseen by his cofounder, Related alum Peter Peterson.)
According to Bakhshandehpour, developers often struggle to identify the best restaurant for a given location, paying little attention to data. As a result, many ventures fail. “The brokers make out with another transaction fee, but the owner is stuck,” he says. “That’s what we set out to solve.” With a front-row seat to the best real estate and the most talented chefs and restaurateurs, “Silverstone and Cultivate came together to find that gem, which ended up being José.”
Intrigued by Andrés’ mission to feed people of all stripes, Bakhshandehpour jumped at the chance to lead the company in 2020. “That passion is in line with the way I live my life,” he says. “There was a real opportunity to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars of value but with this north star of doing good. [It allows us] to leave our mark on the world.” It calls to mind something his grandmother once told him: “‘Sammy, if you open your fridge and you have enough for one meal, you give that meal away to someone else, and you don’t eat.’”
Indeed, the Iran-born, U.S.-bred Bakhshandehpour’s earliest memories involve long family dinners. “The joy that a family meal brought to me, I can still feel it in my bones,” he says. “My [friends] would come over, and my mom would cook for them. I introduced them to my Persian family values, and they would walk away with such a positive feeling. That was never lost on me.”
Capella Garcia Arquitectura, in collaboration with Bluehaus Group, crafted the vibrant Jaleo at the Atlantis the Royal in Dubai
Determined to expand JAG’s offerings, the company has since debuted three new experiences at the Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad: Zaytinya, a Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese-inspired restaurant offering mezze-style cuisine; chic rooftop bar Nubeluz; and the latest outpost of the Spanish-inspired Bazaar by José Andrés.
With 20 restaurant brands in 36 locations across nine markets, “expectations of the guests are much higher,” he says, noting that service, design, curated playlists, and other programming, such as flamenco shows and wine tastings, have become equally important. “You can’t be one-dimensional anymore,” he says.
He credits his team, which includes Andrés, R&D partners, and a network of world-renowned chefs, for the brand’s success during a challenging time for the post-pandemic hospitality industry. “Everyone stays calm, they band together, and they make some hard decisions to protect [employees],” he says, noting that their success is “a reflection of the people we had at the table. With the support of our partners, we survived and came out the other end.”
Andrés recently led the company’s R&D team, along with Zaytinya’s co-executive chefs, to Beirut, Athens, and Istanbul for inspiration. During the trip, they visited local chefs, dined in hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and solicited recommendations from locals. (They have also sent teams throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Mexico.) “Our secret sauce is this incredible talent of [in-house] innovators,” he says. “This machine is constant innovation and keeping dishes fresh.”
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This article originally appeared in HD’s July 2023 issue.
