PETE SITTNICK

Managing Partner, EPIC Steak

Pete Sittnick is a longstanding operator on the San Francisco restaurant scene who has served as director of project development at Pat Kuleto Restaurants since joining the company in 2001. Sittnick has opened, operated, and supervised more than twenty restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the country, including Martini House, and Kuleto's Italian Restaurant.  He has been the managing partner with Pat Kuleto at Waterbar and EPIC Steak on the Embarcadero since their 2008 opening, and in 2011, Sittnick became the executive director of restaurant operations for Pat Kuleto Restaurants, which includes Boulevard, Farallon and Jardiniere.

Sittnick has 30 years of experience in the Bay Area restaurant industry.  He first teamed with Pat Kuleto in 1988 when he was the General Manager of Kuleto's Italian Restaurant on Powell Street in Union Square. Under his direction and in partnership with Pat's design of the innovative Italian eatery, Kuleto's achieved annual sales revenue of over (9 million and won both local and international acclaim.

During his 12-year career with the Kimpton Group, first as a General Manager and working his way up as Regional Director of Operations, Sittnick was responsible for opening and operating many highly successful Kimpton restaurants such as Splendido, Grand Cafe, Harry Denton's and Puccini & Pinetti.  Based on the success of the first model, he opened a second Kuleto's in Burlingame and other distinctive restaurants in Portland, Seattle, Denver, and Salt Lake City. His role as an integral part of Kimpton's management team helped grow their restaurant portfolio from 4 to 25 in less than a decade. He credits the late Bill Kimpton as his foremost mentor and motivator in the hospitality business.

Sittnick grew up in Michigan and received his business degree from the University of Michigan. He currently serves as the President of Board of Directors of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and is involved in many charitable fundraisers in the Bay Area. Additionally, Sittnick teaches voluntarily at the hospitality programs at City College and the University of San Francisco.