Joe Essa has spent more than three decades running restaurant companies, including as President and CEO of Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, President and CEO of the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, and Chief Operating Officer of Gordon Ramsay North America. That work has covered fine dining, casual and premium casual, franchising, airport concessions, licensed brand development, and consumer products, in companies large and small. He is also a Certified Public Accountant. Owners and investors usually need two people for this: an operator who knows the business and a finance professional who can read the numbers. Joe is both, and he has also served in board and court-appointed fiduciary roles where independence matters. That is the basis of MKM.
The operating record
01
Eighteen years at Wolfgang Puck, ending as President and CEO of a global platform spanning restaurants, licensing, catering, and consumer products, with operations and licensed locations across North America, Mexico, Canada, Asia, and the Middle East.
02
Led a restructuring of the group's operations and systems and secured the full slate of federal relief funding across the portfolio through the pandemic.
03
Private equity sponsors twice placed Joe in the operating chair of a portfolio company through a transition, at Gordon Ramsay North America and as President and Chief Operating Officer of a Miami-based restaurant group.
The international record
The international work runs from global licensing and franchise development at Wolfgang Puck through markets in Asia, Mexico, and Canada, to Riyadh, where Joe planned and programmed a 200+ outlet food and beverage portfolio for the Diriyah development, one of the largest development projects in the Middle East.
Governance
Past Chairman of the National Restaurant Association, the industry's national board, and a director there since 2008. Board member of Bite Acquisition Corp., a restaurant-sector public company, through the completion of its business combination in 2024. Current director across industry and operating boards, and a court-appointed receiver in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Nevada.
Fellow of the Culinary Institute of America. BS, Accounting and Finance, Boston College.
MKM takes on a small number of engagements each year. Joe personally reviews every inquiry.
The operating chair is where strategy, capital, and execution meet.
Credential
Certified Public Accountant
Education
B.S., Accounting & Finance, Boston College
Industry governance
Past Chairman, National Restaurant Association
Boards
NRA · IFMA · Somos Hospitality · Fransmart
Public company
Bite Acquisition Corp. · NYSE American: BITE
Fiduciary
Court-appointed receiver
Based
Las Vegas
Joe personally reviews every inquiry.