Thomas Smith

Thomas Smith has always been fascinated by the restaurant business. His first exposure was in his hometown where his best friend’s family owned a café on Main Street . He loved being able to go behind the counter, get free food and have all the waitresses know him by name.

As a result, in 1988 he left the newspaper business as a news assistant and took a risk and a big cut in pay and became a busboy at Café Brenda – an über trendy vegetarian restaurant in the warehouse district in downtown Minneapolis . Overnight he went from being surrounded by manic sports writers and local hotshot journalists to artsy waiter types waiting for their big acting or other artistic endeavor break.

He soon caught the acting bug and moved to L.A. While an illustrious career in film or television evaded him, Thomas did work on various movies, TV shows and began stand up comedy.

Thomas’ first management job was at Chopstix on Melrose for four years. He then went to Marix Tex Mex as a corporate trainer for 4 years and ended his L.A. “stint” as General Manager of Hugo’s Restaurant in West Hollywood for 8 years.

After 9/11, Thomas moved to NYC to help his brother open his first restaurant in Jersey City called Basic Food and Beverage. After to moving to Phoenix in 2004, Thomas worked at Ibiza Café as a manager for a year and a half before arriving at his “dream GM job” at FEZ .

Thomas simply loves working and living in downtown Phoenix - a city that is on the verge of change with a community that is friendly, artistic and diverse. In his spare time, Thomas continues to pursue his other passions - stand up comedy and emceeing!