David Tate

dtate@turnkeysf.com

From taking apart my first 10-speedin high school to building my first macro in excel, I always want to know how things work and then make them better.  The same has been applied across my hospitality career which can be traced back to the In-N-Out in Daly City (Granted this was high school, and as a fry maker I wasn’t much sought out for my opinions).  In reality, my hospitality career started in Pacific Grove, California at the beautiful CA Sate Park & conference grounds, Asilomar. As I went to interview, I was immediately taken by the fact that I could work at such a beautiful place. It was at Asilomar that the hospitality bug hit me (you know the one where you love what you do, but don’t make any money). I grew with that concession company working in State and National Parks as the Regional Finance manager of Hotels, Restaurants, Retail, and Attractions. Each location presented its own challenges, whether it be figuring out how to get sales without internet in the Yosemite High Camps, or how to time the Alaska railroad to carry cash to and from Anchorage. Each time, however, I would take what I knew, and build something better. 

Expecting the birth of our child, it was at this point that my wife and I decided to come back to our hometown of San Francisco, and continue our lives here.  I worked as a Controller for a growing 58 location Airport concession company and then finally found my way to Restaurant specific accounting working as a Corporate Controller with Back of the House restaurant Group (Super Duper Burger, Lolinda, Wildseed, etc) and as the Director of Finance for the Quince restaurant Group (Quince, Cotogna, Verjus).  In each of those locations, I worked to modernize their accounting stack. My experience and experimentation with these groups is what led me to start the Turnkey Group and build the same Technology Stack to bring to smaller independent Restaurants.

I live in Oakland, California with my wife, daughter, two dogs, two cats and five ducks.  While I was great getting to live in some of the most beautiful places (Monterey, Alaska, Yosemite), it’s also great to be back in our home area near our families and have our daughter experience the same things my wife and I got to growing up.