DANA CIFONE
HOSPITALITY
Dana Cifone is a hospitality strategist, brand developer, and events expert with more than 20 years of experience across restaurants, boutique hotels, and independently owned concepts she has personally conceptualized, designed, launched, and operated.
With a career spanning nearly every side of the industry, Dana brings a unique combination of creative vision and real-world operational experience to her work. Her expertise includes concept development, restaurant openings, brand strategy, operations, events and private dining, marketing, partnerships, and guest experience.
Known for seeing both the big picture and the details required to bring it to life, Dana works with restaurants, hotels, hospitality groups, and lifestyle brands to strengthen concepts, identify opportunities, and create experiences that resonate with guests while driving meaningful growth. Whether launching something new, evolving an existing business, or developing a new revenue stream, she brings a thoughtful, hands-on approach grounded in what actually works.
“Great hospitality doesn't happen by accident, it's designed, refined, and executed with intention."
- - DC
Brand Developement
Defining the concept from the ground up, voice, identity, guest relations, and market positioning that differentiates and lasts.
Event Strategy
Creating scalable revenue streams through programming, private events, and intentional calendar-based activations.
Guest Experience
Designing how a guest feels from first impression to final touchpoint. Service, flow, tone, and memorable moments that drive repeat business.
Marketing & Content Strategy
Building a clear, consistent presence across digital and print platforms that translates into real traffic, bookings, and brand equity.
Focused advisory and hands-on project work for hospitality businesses, brands, and founders.
Events & Experiences
Dana creates thoughtfully curated hospitality experiences that bring people, brands, and communities together. From intimate dinners and private celebrations to corporate gatherings, brand activations, wellness experiences, and larger-scale events, each is approached with creativity, precision, and a strong understanding of the guest experience.
Blending food, atmosphere, storytelling, and seamless execution, Dana creates bespoke events that feel personal, polished, and effortless—no matter the occasion.
Dana brings her hospitality expertise beyond operations and events through hosting, editorial, and industry conversations. As a host and moderator, she leads engaging discussions with chefs, founders, tastemakers, and hospitality leaders at culinary events, panels, conferences, and live experiences.
Her writing explores restaurants, hospitality, travel, and culture through experience-driven storytelling and industry perspective. As a speaker and panelist, Dana contributes to conversations around guest experience, brand building, industry trends, and the evolving future of hospitality.
Beyond the Table
Welcome to Beyond the Table — the podcast where hospitality takes center stage and the stories go well beyond the press release.
Hosted by Dana Cifone, the show pulls back the curtain on the real, raw, and often hilarious world of hospitality. From restaurateurs, chefs, and hotel operators to bartenders, consultants, vendors, and the unexpected characters who keep the industry moving, these are candid conversations about what really happens behind the scenes.
Expect the chaos of Saturday night service, unforgettable guests, big wins, bad decisions, burnout, breakthroughs, and the stories that usually start flowing once the doors close.
Whether you're a hospitality lifer, new to the industry, or simply obsessed with what happens behind your favorite restaurants, hotels, and experiences, pull up a chair.
No fluff. No filters. Just hospitality, in the weeds.
Press & Editorial
Dana writes thoughtful editorials on the food and hospitality industry for lifestyle publications, offering an insider perspective on chefs, restaurants, trends, and the culture that shapes how we dine and gather.
Dana has been featured in regional and lifestyle publications for her work in hospitality, concept development, and her influence on the local food and dining scene