DAVID FOSS
Dave Foss has worked in hospitality for over 30 years in virtually every facet of the food and beverage industry and is currently a partner at Maverick Theory a food and beverage consulting firm that works with hotels and restaurants across the United States as well as an Operating Partner at LaLou, a beloved wine bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
His passion for beverage led him to manage a series of programs on the West Coast, both at the Mondrian Hotel and later at Fairfax Partners Restaurant Group, overseeing four properties in the Los Angeles area. Upon returning to the East Coast, Dave went on to oversee the beverage programs at the Soho and Tribeca Grand Hotels in Lower Manhattan. In 2011 Dave connected with Epicurean Group co-owner Joe Campanale, who had recently opened Anfora, a wine bar in NYC's West Village; the fellow Italian wine obsessives clicked, and soon Dave began a stint at Anfora which grew into nearly a decade of wine buying for the highly regarded establishment. Most recently, Dave and Campanale realized a dream that began when they first met: to open a neighborhood wine bar together. LaLou - which Eater called "an exciting natural wine bar from some of NYC’s most underrated pros" - debuted in June 2019, and spotlights small production wines from Dave and Joe's favorite producers and regions around the world.
David has consulted on numerous television shows, and frequently sought after as an expert in the field, for and often quoted in many publications. David has also been involved with Spike TV’s “Bar Rescue” and also made appearances as Gordon Ramsay's wine expert on "Gordon Ramsay's Hotel Hell” on FoxTV.
David and Co-founder Michael Tipps began working together in 2007 and with so many consulting projects shared between them they worked tirelessly to try to figure out what’s been the “missing” resource and support for operators and staff in the industry. David believes Maverick Theory can become the go to resource the industry needs.