Location: Italian Community Center 

Event Description: 

Join us for a conversation with Wisconsin Restaurant Association's President & CEO Kristine Hillmer along Director of Sales & Catering for the Bartolotta Restaurant Group, Maria Bartolotta and Owner and Chef of cheel Barkha Daily for an inside look into the fascinating hospitality and restaurant industries. Hear their personal journeys on what brought them into the restaurant industry, the tragedies of the cheel fire and Joe Bartolotta's passing, the devastating and lasting impact of Covid and yet how they are remaining resilient and pushing forward. While the challenges continue to be great, there is much on the horizon and to be celebrated in this industry and these local restaurants. Attendees will leave with ways in which to continue to support Wisconsin's restaurant scene this summer and with a behind the scenes look into this fascinating world.

About our Speakers: 
Maria Bartolotta’s love of food and conviviality of the table began in her parent’s kitchen. Moving to New York City at 18, she immediately began working at the world-renowned Rainbow Room and Rainbow Grill in Rockefeller Center, on top of the RCA building, in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. Maria’s tenacious work ethic and outstanding knowledge of wine and food helped her move quickly to Rainbow Grill to Asst. General Manager/Guest Relations Liaison. Prompted by a long renovation of the Rainbow Room, Maria joined the Pino Luongo Restaurant Group at Coco Pazzo and Le Madri, two prestigious Italian Restaurants in NYC at the time. She then moved to work with Drew Niepoirent at Tribeca Grill where she became Service Manager for 2 years before returning to Milwaukee to start a family. She joined The Bartolotta Restaurants to assist her brothers with the growth of The Bartolotta Restaurant Group. She began working at Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro as Dining Room Floor Manager. She was then promoted to General Manager of Ristorante Bartolotta for more than 3 years before being asked to spearhead the HR effort and on-boarding of the entire Culinary Food and Beverage Team at Potawatomi Bingo-Casino. She was then subsequently charged to launch The Bartolotta Off-Premise Catering & Special Events Company while simultaneously hiring and managing the Catering Team at the newly acquired Boerner Botanical Gardens. Then in 2004, Maria was tapped yet again to open Bacchus, A Bartolotta Restaurant. In 2008, the Grain Exchange in the Historic Mackie Building, became her home with a dual title as both General Manager and Director of Catering for Bartolotta Catering and Special Events. Maria remains fiercely loyal to the legacy of her late brother Joe and Paul who is now at the helm of The Bartolotta Restaurants. She has been a passionate ambassador of the food service standards with a hospitality heart that has been instrumental in helping establish The Bartolotta Restaurants as the premiere Restaurant Group in the Milwaukee. She loves Milwaukee deeply and is actively involved in the Bartolotta Restaurants community and charitable activities.

After working about a half dozen years in a variety of strategic marketing roles, Barkha Daily and her husband, Jesse, took the plunge and opened the cheel in Thiensville, introducing Wisconsin to cuisine Barkha grew up eating and cooking in her native Nepal. The popular restaurant has won a long list of awards. Recent accolades include being named to the 2017 50 Best Restaurants by M Magazine, Business of the Year by the Mequon-Thiensville Chamber of Commerce, one of four Instagram-Worthy Boutique Restaurants in Wisconsin 2017 by Travel Wisconsin and a spot on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's 2017 and 2018 The Milwaukee 50. A frequent guest on Milwaukee TV, she made a national debut in 2018 when she was one of five Milwaukee-area chefs appearing on the Food Network's new show "Bite Club." She graduated in 2007 with a double major in marketing and international business and served as president or vice president for numerous student organizations, from the Global Student Association to Students in Free Enterprise to Habitat for Humanity. She received a Master of Business Administration from Alverno College in 2011.

Kristine Hillmer is the President & CEO of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association and the Wisconsin Restaurant Association Education Foundation Board of Directors. Hillmer is also on the VISIT Milwaukee Board of Directors, Executive and Development Committees; Wisconsin Civil Justice Council Board of Directors; and leads the Milwaukee Kitchen Cabinet efforts.Hillmer has an MBA, has held the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credentials for 24 years, and has more than 30 years of experience working with associations, including both trade and professional societies. 

Online Registration is now closed. Please email [email protected] to check availability. 

TEMPO Members | No Charge

EWL Members, WAA Members & Guests | $35