John McDonald is a

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He is the founder and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Mercer Street Hospitality, and co-founder of Tasting Table Media.

Career

McDonald began his career in nightlife with MercBar and went on to open restaurants including Canteen, Lever House, Lure Fishbar, Bowery Meat Company, El Toro Blanco, Burger & Barrel and Chinatown Brasserie. In 2002 McDonald co-founded the Mexican restaurant Dos Caminos with Steve Hanson of BR Guest Restaurants. He was bought out in 2007 when

Starwood Capital Starwood Capital Group is an investment firm headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida. It is managed by Barry Sternlicht. It was co-founded by Sternlicht and Robert Faith in 1991. In 1993, Faith left Starwood to found Greystar Real Estate Partners. ...

purchased all of BR Guest. Prior to founding

Tasting Table ''Tasting Table'' (incorporated as ''TDT Media Inc.'') is a digital media company focused on food and drink. The brand's website and email newsletter report on food and drink trends in the categories of dining, wine, cocktails, cooking and food ...

, a culinary lifestyle publication, he started a niche magazine title, ''CITY'', acting as both Editorial Director and Publisher from 1999 to 2008. The magazine was nominated for

National Magazine Awards The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

in 2002 for General Excellence, for Photography in 2004 and Photo Portfolio in 2007 (winner). He closed the magazine in 2008 and started

with Bob Pittman. He is also the co-founder of the beverage brand EBOOST along with Josh Taekman, in 2007. McDonald was the first American restaurateur to bring the design work of

Marc Newson Marc Andrew Newson CBE RDI (born 20 October 1963) is an industrial designer who works in aircraft cabin design, product design, furniture design, jewellery, and clothing. His style uses smooth geometric lines, translucency, strength, transpar ...

to New York with the 1999 project Canteen and then again together developed the Lever House Restaurant inside the modernist landmark

Lever House Lever House is a office building at 390 Park Avenue (Manhattan), Park Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building was designed in the International style (architecture), International Style by Gordon Bunshaft a ...

. He received a

Michelin Star The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

in 2005 for this restaurant. He was mentioned by ''New York'' magazine as one of The New Yorkers of 1999.

References

American chief executives American restaurateurs Businesspeople from New York City Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{NewYork-bio-stub