foundation + ethos

Josh Drew | Founder & Principal

Over the last 20 years in foodservice & hospitality, it has been my mission to experience as many facets of the industry as possible, with the firm belief that there is always a bigger picture at play. Starting as an amateur (at best) prep cook & dishwasher in the local restaurants of North Jersey where I grew up, I spent the next 15 years working in & running kitchens for Thomas Keller, Jeff Cerciello, Michael Tusk, & Marc Vetri. The privilege of working with this caliber of chefs was inevitably about more than just food & cooking. They taught me about the foodservice business, & helped me to understand the nature of hospitality, & I considered every successive step as an opportunity to reinforce my continued education. 

Towards the end of my time as a working chef, I began to transition towards opportunities that utilized my organizational & development skillsets with larger goals in mind, rather than the day-to-day of running kitchens. This initially resulted in time spent as a consulting chef with Sprout LA, focused on updating existing programs & setting up new operational platforms, before fully progressing into a development role with the Tartine Group.

Throughout my tenure as VP of Restaurant Development for Tartine, I was responsible for all facets of development, from site evaluation & due diligence, through consultant management, budget management, project accounting, design oversight, & construction administration, among many others. The direct application of my experience with engineers, architects, & designers was a unique opportunity to take a more comprehensive approach in the development process, as well as continue to advance my own development-centric skillsets. 

Therein lies the impetus for the founding of Greenwood Advisory: a desire to apply the culmination of my training & experience to provide tailor-made intention & expertise to hospitality projects of all shapes & sizes.