Hospitality exec aims to bring people together with St. Pete food hall

Natalia Levey is fond of saying that in the restaurant and hospitality business, you are constantly “fighting for every second” of efficiency. That could be an internal software program that makes it easier for customers to pay checks. Or a kitchen-order system that helps the chef and his or staff communicate better. Or maybe something as simple as a better process for washing wine glasses that saves the bartender time he could devote to chatting with customers. 

That watch every second mentality has driven Levey, a native of Russia who moved to the States in 1999, to some lofty heights in the restaurant business. The Tampa-based company, Hi Hospitality Group, owns and operates four brands in the Sarasota-Manatee area. The list includes a pair of Speaks Clam Bar locations, one on St. Armands Circle in Sarasota, one in east Manatee County; Kojo, a modern Asian restaurant on Palm Avenue in downtown Sarasota that includes the company’s Bar Hana concept; and Palm Avenue Deli, a New York-style deli next door to Kojo. (“Think matzo ball soup that feels like a warm hug,” says the Palm Avenue Deli website, in explaining the concept.)

In addition to those locations, Hi Hospitality is working on its biggest project yet: Central Park St. Pete, a food hall on Central Avenue in the Sunshine City that spreads 28,000 square feet over five levels. Central Park will have 10 dining concepts, a rooftop bar, private dining, event spaces and a members-only club. Customers, again with efficiency as the north star, will be able to order online, from a kiosk or with the help of a hospitality ambassador. That ranges from quick to-go service to a business lunch and leisure dining to watching a sporting event on the ginormous video wall TV that measures 22 feet wide by 12.4 feet tall. The TV also has a diagonal span over 25 feet, equivalent to a 303-inch display. Central Park is expected to open some time this year, Levey says. 

With all the locations, Levey, 47, says one overarching mission at the company is to bring people together. “What we do is so much more than food and hospitality,” she says. “We’re trying to create a better community.”

Levey, who runs the hospitality business in conjunction with her husband, Mark Levey, is also a forward-thinking change agent in the hospitality and food world. 

In addition to being a changemaker and running the company, with some 260 employees, Levey has been a chef, author and keynote speaker, among other roles. She graduated from the Art Institute of New York, where she "learned how to properly char things in fancy ways,” she quips on her her LinkedIn page; was a James Bead Foundation Women’s Leadership fellow in 2021; wrote a book, “Cravings Boss: The REAL Reason you Crave Food and a 5-Step Plan to Take Back Control,” in 2016; has traveled to more than 40 countries, many times on foodie-related trips; and is an advisory member of the The School of Hospitality and Sport Management at USF. 

“Curiosity has always driven me forward,” Levey said during a TedX Talk she presented at TedX Ocala in 2021. Her talk was entitled The Surprising Connection between Gut and Happiness. “I like formulas, recipes, blueprints, methods, procedures, algorithms. Clear paths to clear results.”

Photo by Mark Wemple

Her talk focused on using your gut not only to make decisions about life or work or family, but to feed it a diverse array of healthy and natural foods, akin to food as medicine. “Culinary medicine is the future. We can transform our kitchen into a happy playground,” she said in her talk. “As a chef I can tell you it doesn't take more time to cook healthy meals vs unhealthy.”

Levey has her eyes on other changes in the food and hospitality industry. 

On Hi Hospitality, for starters, she has long sought to create a top place to work. She has tried to do that, she says, through prioritizing hiring people with high portions of teamwork and problem-solving. “We spend so much time at work, you want to be proud of the people you work with, and the place you work,” she says. 

The intersection of hospitality and technology is also a key driver for Levey. A big part of that is working with St. Pete-based Haddy, an AI-powered 3D printing manufacturer. Haddy has made planters, bussing stations and decorative pieces for the restaurant company, and Levey expects to do more of that kind of work in the coming months and years. And at the School of Hospitality at USF, Levey has been working with professors and researchers on cutting edge 3D food manufacturing technology.

As important as technology is to the now, and future, of hospitality, Levey says part of the mission at Hi Hospitality is to not lose sight of providing a warm and inviting place for people to gather for food and drinks. “Restaurants will remain a central hub for human connection,” she says, “for at least the next 100 years.”