Jianna management team starts consultant business

Listen to this article

Greenville’s neo-Italian restaurant Jianna is not a secret anymore, making an appearance in The New York Times, Food & Wine, Eater and The Observer. Now the team behind the restaurant wants to share its success story and consultant services with other venues in the area too.

Owner and Chef Michael Kramer with general manager and partner Andrea Ciavardini said they received so many calls from both existing and potential restaurateurs who asked how they made Jianna happen, the duo decided to add consulting to their list of business ventures under the TBG Hospitality Group. The name stands for tomato, basil and garlic, the main ingredients in Jianna’s signature pasta dish, according to a news release.

Services will include consulting, concepting, restaurant and kitchen design, menu development, staff training and beverage program management among other programs.

“When you open a new restaurant, there’s not even a 50/50 chance you’ll make it, especially right now, after everything the hospitality industry has been through and continues to go through during this pandemic,” Kramer said in the news release. “We’ve built something great here that we’re really proud of, and we want to share our comprehensive knowledge.”

Jianna is still operating at reduced capacity, yet numbers were up year-over-year for January and February. Management credits a highly-trained team and loyal regulars, who still come in week after week.

“In all my years in this industry, I’ve never had a team like I have now,” Ciavardini said in the release. “We have servers and managers that we’ve trained from the ground up, who all know how to provide an exceptional dining experience. We have a great mix of hourly and salaried employees that we can tap for consulting, in whatever areas a particular business might need it.”

Consulting packages will be customized based on each restaurant’s needs and budget, while travel will also be an option for restaurants outside the Greenville market.

Kramer’s career included time at La Folie’s Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Los Angeles, Masion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, as well as Charleston’s McCrady’s and Dallas’ Hotel Icon, where he served as executive chef. He joined the Table 301 Restaurant Group in 2013, where he launched Jianna in 2017, and became sole proprietor of the venue in 2020.

Ciavardini has opened 11 restaurants across the Southeast and has spent more than 15 years working with Dantanna’s Here to Serve and Fifth Group Restaurants. As a certified Level 2 sommelier and certified specialist of wine, she has been everything from a line cook to a beverage director to manager, according to the release.

“Between the two of us, we’ve held just about every position in the hospitality industry,” Kramer said in the release. “We want to use those experiences to help others.”