Here's a list of buyers who decide what gets poured at scale
In today’s hospitality landscape, beverage directors at multi-unit restaurant and hotel groups hold more influence in the on-trade sector, owing to the sheer scale of these establishments and the need to maintain a certain uniformity across branches. These are not menu stylists or single-venue bar managers. They are centralized buyers, responsible for spirits, wine, and cocktail decisions that roll out across five, ten, or even dozens of bars and restaurants at once. Their choices shape distributor portfolios, define category trends and determine which brands achieve real, sustainable on-trade presence.
As hospitality groups continue to consolidate purchasing and streamline operations in 2026, brands must understand one truth: winning with one of these buyers often means winning across an entire group. This is where credibility, performance, and bartender-relevant quality matter most.
1. David Samuels
Regional Vice President of Operations, Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Bringing a wealth of experience to the role, David Samuels oversees food and beverage strategy at a global scale for Hyatt Hotels Corporation, making him one of the most influential decision-makers in international hospitality. His remit spans luxury, lifestyle, and full-service Hyatt brands, covering spirits standards, cocktail frameworks, wine strategy, and supplier alignment across hundreds of hotel bars and restaurants. Hyatt’s diverse portfolio requires wine and spirits that perform operationally while still allowing local bar teams creative flexibility, placing Samuels at the center of high-stakes, large-volume buying decisions. For wine and spirits brands, a listing aligned with Hyatt’s beverage standards represents immediate credibility and unparalleled on-trade exposure.
2. Gary Gruver
Director of Global Beverage Operations, Marriott International
Image Source: in the Mix
Carrying over 20 years of experience under his belt, Gary Gruver currently operates at the highest strategic level of beverage leadership, shaping beverage strategy, concept development, and design frameworks for national and global hospitality brands under Marriott International. His role goes beyond menu creation, focusing on how beverage programs are built, standardized, and scaled across large, multi-unit portfolios. What makes Gruver especially influential in 2026 is his work at the intersection of strategy, design, and execution. This places him in direct influence over wine and spirits selection, preferred-supplier conversations, and long-term beverage architecture.
3. Cindy Busi
VP of Beverage & Innovation, Darden Enterprise
Darden Enterprise encompasses a multitude of well-known names in the restaurant space, including the likes of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House and more. With more than 2100 dining establishments under her expertise, Cindy Busi operates at a senior executive level within this large, multi-unit foodservice and hospitality organization, with responsibility that spans beverage strategy, supplier partnerships, and commercial program execution across complex on-premise environments.
What makes Busi particularly relevant in 2026 is her understanding of how beverage programs must perform not only creatively, but economically, meeting the needs of large organizations where consistency, logistics, and margin discipline are critical.
4. Patrick Smith
Senior Beverage Manager, USHG / Cocktails / Wine / Menu Design / Staff Training / Fine Dining / NYC based / Multi-state Beverage Operations.
Patrick Smith is a beverage professional at Union Square Hospitality Group, one of the United States' leading hospitality companies, where he contributes to the development and execution of world-class beverage programs. With extensive experience spanning restaurants, bars, spirits, and hospitality operations, Patrick has built a reputation for combining technical beverage expertise with a strong understanding of guest experience and commercial beverage strategy. He is also a respected educator and industry contributor, having shared his insights through publications including PUNCH and VinePair.
5. Indre Jasaityte
Director of Beverage — BJ's Restaurants, Inc
Indre Jasaityte, recipient of the Innovator Award at the 2025 Vibe Conference, oversees beverage strategy, wine and spirits selection, and program execution across Bj Restaurant’s multi-unit portfolio. What makes Jasaityte particularly influential is her focus on innovation balanced with operational reality. She evaluates spirits not only for flavor and trend relevance, but for how well they perform across different markets, staffing levels, and service formats.
For wine and spirits brands, buyers like Indre Jasaityte are critical. A successful engagement at this level can result in system-wide placements, national promotional support, and long-term portfolio inclusion.
6. Steven Minor
Corporate Beverage Director, Starwood Hotels
With 25 years of experience, Starwood's Corporate Beverage Director Steven Minor reveals what it takes to build a beverage program that performs at scale — and what brands get wrong when they come knocking
Steven Minor has spent most of his career navigating the everchanging trend dynamics in cities like NYC, LA, Miami, Chicago and more, responsible for overseeing themed concept spaces in luxurious and fine-dining establishments. He reflects a deep experience in bar strategy, wine and spirits selection, cocktail program development, and operational execution across geographically distributed venues, positioning him as a prominent influencer in beverage buying decisions. He understands how beverage programs must function across different markets, staffing levels, and service models while maintaining a cohesive brand identity. As hospitality groups centralize beverage leadership, buyers like Minor will determine which brands achieve long-term, multi-location growth.
7. Miranda Breedlove
National Bar Director and Consultant, Hyatt Lifestyle Operations
Miranda Breedlove, Hyatt’s National Director of Bars and Wine Programs for Lifestyle Operations, also judge at Sommeliers Choice Awards
Miranda is BAR Ready having successfully passed the BAR 5 Day Exam in January of 2023, is cicerone certified, and has earned the WSET 2 Wine Certification. She has competed in multiple national competitions - her favorite of which has been Speed Rack - and has been a member of the prep teams for San Antonio Cocktail Conference, and Kansas City PoP Fest, and Tales of the Cocktail where she has also been a panelist on seminars. For wien and spirits brands that earn traction at this level, it often becomes embedded into bar programs at scale, impacting dozens of outlets at once.
8. Myles Holdsworth
Global Director of Food and Beverage, Marriott Luxury Group
Myles Holdsworth operates a multitude of multi-unit brands including the likes of EDITION, The Luxury Collection, St. Regis, The Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Resorts, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, W Hotels, Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, and JW Marriott. His career reflects experience across beverage strategy, supplier engagement, and program execution, positioning him as a group-level decision-maker with influence over spirits, wine, and cocktail standards across multiple locations. He evaluates beverage programs not just on creativity, but on how they scale—training requirements, speed of service, margin performance, and supplier reliability—puting him directly at the center of preferred-supplier discussions and portfolio standardization for national concepts.
9. Sarah Jane Curran
Director of Food & Beverage (USA/Canada), Marriott International
Sarah Jane Curran currently streamlines her focus on beverage management and customer experience across Marriott establishments in USA and Canada. What makes Curran especially relevant in 2026 is her ability to bridge brand strategy and beverage execution. She understands how beverage programs must align with marketing, operations, and guest experience while still remaining commercially viable across multiple locations. This gives her direct influence over wine and spirits selection, preferred-supplier conversations, and menu rollouts at scale.
10. Allison Kafalas
Director of Beverage, Americas, Hilton
As Director of Beverage for the Americas, Allison Kafalas shapes beverage strategy across Hilton’s full-service and luxury portfolio, including Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Canopy, Hilton, Embassy Suites, and DoubleTree. Her remit spans program innovation, brand standards, and guest-facing beverage experiences across hundreds of properties. Operating at the intersection of scale and creativity, Kafalas plays a critical role in determining which wine and spirits brands can deliver consistency, operational performance, and relevance across diverse hotel formats—making her a key decision-maker for suppliers targeting large, multi-brand hotel groups.
Why These Buyers Matter
The professionals featured here don't simply choose wines and spirits for a single venue—they influence beverage programs across some of the largest restaurant groups, hotel brands, and hospitality companies in North America. Their decisions determine which brands gain long-term visibility in the on-premise channel and which suppliers become trusted partners.
For wineries looking to grow restaurant listings, understanding how these buyers think is one of the most valuable investments they can make. Success in today's on-premise market is no longer driven by product quality alone. Commercial positioning, pricing, supplier support, education, consistency, and operational execution all play an increasingly important role in earning and retaining listings.
Sommeliers Choice Awards Judging
Whether you're targeting an independent restaurant or a multi-unit hospitality group, the principles remain the same: understand the buyer's business, present solutions rather than products, and demonstrate how your wines will contribute to the success of their beverage program.
Want To Understand What These Buyers Look For?
The Sommeliers Choice Awards was created to help wineries gain insight from the professionals who make restaurant buying decisions every day.
Every wine entered is evaluated by experienced sommeliers, beverage directors, restaurant wine buyers, and hospitality professionals who assess not only quality, but also commercial suitability for today's on-premise market.
Every entrant receives:
- How To Improve This Wine
- How To Market & Sell This Wine
- Channel-Fit Recommendations
- Service Recommendations (By the Glass, Bottle, or Both)
- The Sommeliers Choice Awards Buyer Market Intelligence Report
These tools are designed to help wineries better position their wines for restaurants, hotels, wine bars, and multi-unit hospitality groups.
Special Offer For Wineries
To help wineries accelerate their U.S. restaurant outreach, we're offering an additional benefit.
Wineries that enter 10 or more wines before August 31, 2026, will receive a complimentary list of 50 matched U.S. buyers.
The list includes a mix of:
- Restaurant Wine Buyers
- Beverage Directors
- Sommeliers
- Hotel Beverage Managers
- Multi-Unit Hospitality Buyers
- Importers
- Distributors
This buyer list complements the commercial feedback and market intelligence you'll receive through the competition, giving your sales team valuable contacts to support U.S. business development.
Entries for the Sommeliers Choice Awards are now open.
If growing your presence in restaurants, hotels, wine bars, and the broader on-premise market is part of your strategy, there's no better time to benchmark your wines with the professionals who make buying decisions every day.
