Sam Bakhshandehpour is the president and CEO of the José Andrés Group, formerly ThinkFoodGroup, based in Washington, D.C.

He joined the company in early 2020 from The Silverstone Companies, a hospitality group that opened Andrés’ first restaurant outside of D.C., Bazaar by José Andrés.

Prior to that he was president and CEO of another hotel company, SBE Entertainment, and before that he worked in investment banking, heading up J.P. Mogran Securities’ casino investment practice, among other things.

His move to his current job comes at a time when more restaurant companies are partnering with hotels, often to benefit from those hotels’ management infrastructure, among other assets. However, Bakhshandehpour said Andrés’ group already has those abilities, but there are other reasons for hotels and restaurants to work together, which is why that is a key strategy of his company, including the upcoming opening of the latest Bazaar, at The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad, in early August.

Bakhshandehpour recently discussed those benefits as well as Andrés’ media company, which he also oversees.