As Hive Hospitality\u2019s portfolio has grown, so has its team. \u201cWhen I started this company, I was on a salary of roughly $65,000 a year,\u201d says Ratino. \u201cNow we have 30 positions earning six figures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ratino also had to adjust to running a larger organization. \u201cI was used to not letting go,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I\u2019ve learned to trust our key players on the team. The teammates who are the strongest only became the strongest when I finally let them do their job, and I wasn\u2019t over them touching everything. And when I stopped that, it gave me the mental clarity to run the whole company.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ratino\u2019s cooking has evolved over the years, especially at J\u00f4nt and its sister concepts. He and his team have honed their wood-fire techniques, bringing precision to the raw power of flame and embers. The dishes have grown lighter, too. \u201cMy comfort zone used to be cream, butter, and a little bit of gluten here and there,\u201d he says. \u201cNow it\u2019s less salty, less sweet, a lot cleaner. We are very focused on the ingredients. We want to find the nicest fish, the most beautiful melon, the best pear available.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same attention to detail shapes Ratino\u2019s approach to hospitality. At each J\u00f4nt restaurant, a dedicated staff member researches diners before their visits, then helps tailor the evening. If a guest owns a dog, the kitchen might send them home with handmade treats in a bag bearing the dog\u2019s name. If someone has a long trip home, they might receive extra bites for the ride. These gestures are meant to make each guest feel seen.<\/p>\n
The most recent addition to the Hive Hospitality portfolio is Ox & Olive, a gothic-chic steakhouse with a martini program in Georgetown. The menu draws from farms around the world and highlights different breeds of cattle, including hybrid wagyu raised by Ratino\u2019s parents\u2019 neighbor in Ohio. \u201cI grew up next to the farm, so it\u2019s cool to be able to have a full-circle moment by cooking their beef,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
For Ratino, every restaurant serves the same larger purpose. \u201cI want to be a part of our guests\u2019 lives,\u201d he says. \u201cEvery anniversary, I want you to feel like you must go to a Hive Hospitality restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Hive Hospitality\u2019s portfolio has grown, so has its team. \u201cWhen I started this company, I was on a salary of roughly $65,000 a year,\u201d says Ratino. \u201cNow we have 30 positions earning six figures.\u201d Ratino also had to adjust to running a larger organization. \u201cI was used to not letting go,\u201d he says, \u201cbut<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6897,5,6893,6896,6899,6895,6901,6898,6900,6892,6894],"class_list":["post-6405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chefs","tag-bresca","tag-chef","tag-hive-hospitality","tag-jont","tag-maass","tag-michelin-starred-restaurant-group","tag-ode-by-jont","tag-omo-by-jont","tag-ox-olive","tag-ryan-ratino","tag-ryan-ratino-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117243331399896221","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}