John began his hospitality experience at age 13 at a Long Island beach concession owned by his parents.  He fell in love with the industry and pursued this passion by enrolling and graduating from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.  After matriculation he joined the firm of Winegardner & Hammons, located in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He spent the next 11 years with WHI working at various Holiday Inns throughout the United States.  His last position with WHI was as a District Director, responsible for 9 hotels with 1700 rooms.  In 1984, John became General Manager of the Clarion Hotel in San Francisco and guided it through a $30 million expansion and renovation.  This hotel had over 400 rooms, 3 restaurants, two bars, and extensive meeting and banquet facilities.  John moved to Southern California in 1985, and after a short stint as Vice President of Hotel Operations for MKB Industries in Santa Monica, he and his wife Linda, decided to pursue their own business.

In the summer of 1986, John and Linda purchased the lease of the Wedgewood Restaurant and Buenaventura Golf Course Pub & Grille in Ventura. They immediately converted the restaurant to exclusive banquet use.  They have since rebuilt the pub and grille three times and nearly tripled the golf course food and beverage sales and have developed a highly successful banquet operation that serves nearly 28,000 guests per year.  In 1997, John oversaw a major renovation and expansion of the Wedgewood, which increased the capacity from 225 to 350 persons. In 2008 another renovation was completed to maintain their predominant market position in Ventura County.

John and his wife, Linda, have been married for 34years, and have two children, Bill, a graduate of the Cornell Hotel School, is Senior Vice President of Operations for the family business. Stacy, a graduate from Johnson & Wales University in hospitality management is the Assistant General Manager for the Wedgewood at Buenaventura.  Linda is Past President of the Ventura Chapter of the National Association of Catering Executives. John is the Past-President of the Rotary Club of Ventura South and is very active in the local Chamber of Commerce and is a past Vice President of Administration.  He coached high school basketball for ten years and taught in the hospitality program at Oxnard College for seven years.  He is a Director Emeritus of the California Restaurant Association Board of Directors having served on the Board for ten years.

In 1999, John created Z-Golf Food & Beverage Services, an operations and consulting practice exclusively for the food and beverage departments of golf courses and resorts.  Z-Golf is the only such practice in the U.S.  John has written several articles for publications such as “Golf Business”, Club Magazine, Golf Business Canada, and the National Golf Foundation. He is an international speaker on golf related food and beverage subjects.  He was an invited speaker at the National Restaurant Association Convention in Chicago in 2005.  He has reviewed clubs and resorts throughout North America with a concentration on improving hospitality financial performance and design. He is an accredited member of the Food Service Consultants International.
  
In 2002, John and Bill Zaruka initiated an expansion of their operations. Z-Golf now operates eight successful California operations in Ventura, Burlingame, Oakland, San Ramon, Corona, Gilroy, Pittsburg, and Rohnert Park under the 19 Pub & Grille and Wedgewood Wedding & Banquet Center brands. 

Bill has been involved in the food service industry since age 14.  He is a graduate of Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks.  His first job was with the family business at the highly successful Buenaventura Golf Course Food & Beverage Concession.  Bill worked all the positions at the Bar & Grill, and the Wedgewood Banquet Center.  He performed all the service and accounting functions.  His interest in the business led him to pursue a degree in Hotel Administration at Cornell University.  At Cornell, Bill exhibited his leadership skills as President of his fraternity and as Captain of the Lightweight football team.  He graduated in 1998.

After graduation, Bill joined the food services division of Universal Studios, Hollywood, CA. As a multi-unit manager he was responsible for several of the restaurants in the park where he created budgets, wrote operating standards, training programs and led the installation of several point-of-sale systems.

In 2002, Bill joined Z-Golf as the Director of Operations.  He is responsible for opening and supervising all Z-Golf restaurant operations.  He currently leads the management team at eight Wedgewood Wedding & Banquet Centers and 19 Pub & Grilles.  Under his leadership, sales now exceed $13,000,000 with average profit percentages and customer service ratings far exceeding industry averages.

Jeff is responsible for operations and development in the Southern California region. He is also responsible for executive recruiting. His extensive experience and education assures strong growth and excellent service to Z-Golf’s Southern California properties.

Jeff has worked in the restaurant industry for almost twenty years. Beginning as a dishwasher at a small local restaurant, Jeff found the kitchen hustle and bustle very appealing. Over the course of three years, He worked his way through every kitchen line position while training with a seasoned chef who attended the Culinary Institute of America. Eventually earning the position of Assistant Chef, Jeff hungered to learn everything about the restaurant. Aside from his main duties of running the kitchen, he aided the Executive Chef of the fine dining establishment in menu development and recipe testing. Jeff also spent an extensive amount of time experiencing the front of house operations as a host, server, and a bartender.

Before joining the Z-Golf Team, Jeff McNeal’s most recent position was as the Division Manager for ARAMARK at Angel Stadium. Jeff’s responsibilities included managing the food service operations for the $35 million venue with a capacity of 40,000 people. Jeff has also founded, owned and operated his own small chain of fast casual restaurants for six years until selling them in October 2005. Prior to creating his own venture, Jeff was a manager with Brinker International’s Romano’s Macaroni Grill. Jeff has also had varying levels of management and training experience for numerous other small restaurant and hotel chains as well as franchise restaurant operators.

Jeff’s scope of experience in the restaurant business reaches all corners and aspects of the industry. He has managed all phases of a restaurant’s life cycle, including pre-opening training and staff development, daily operations and human resource management. Jeff has also helped in the turnarounds of financially troubled establishments through new recipe development, menu and food costing, improved forecasting and adherence to strict systems, standards and financial controls.

Mr. McNeal received his Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration with a concentration in Food and Beverage Management. He graduated with honors from Paul Smith’s College with a dual Associate of Applied Science degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management and Culinary Arts. He is currently working on his Master’s degree in business at Pepperdine University.

Warren is Z-Golf’s on site manager at our award winning San Ramon, California location. He is also a partner in the Delta View property. Warren contributes to the Z-Golf management team with his vast hospitality experience.

Warren is a 35 year veteran of the hospitality industry. Soon after graduation from Oklahoma State University School of Hotel Administration in 1972, Warren went to work for Holiday Inns, Inc. for thirteen years ending as General Manager of the award winning Holiday Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. His next professional position was with Associated Inns of America as the opening General Manager of the 300 room full-service, four star Concord Hilton. He ascended to a Regional Supervisor position with AIRCOA. In 1985, Warren accepted the position of opening General Manager of the Pleasanton Hilton. From 1988 until 2004, Warren held Executive Hospitality positions with Bayshore Hotel Management, Four Points Sheraton, and John Q, Hammons Hotels. His most recent hotel position was as General Manager of the Holiday Inn San Francisco Bay Bridge.

In 2004, Warren joined the Z-Golf team as the Managing Partner of the San Ramon Wedgewood Wedding & Banquet Center at the San Ramon Golf Course. In less than four years, revenues have increased four-fold, to over $2 million. Profit percentages have averaged over 20%. The property is recognized by The Knot, the most prestigious wedding magazine and web site, as the 2008 – Best of Wedding sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. This award was chosen by visitors to the Knot web site and magazine.

Louis, in addition to his duties at our beautiful, new Eagle Ridge Wedgewood Wedding & Banquet Center, is Z-Golf’s Executive Chef. He is responsible for assisting in menu development and food service for extraordinary events at all Z-Golf venues. He is part of our opening kitchen team for newly acquired facilities.

Louis’s thirty year career includes stints with Marriott Hotels as part of the opening team. He spent many years as the Executive Chef at the Pierpont Inn in Ventura, California, and recently was Executive Chef and F&B Manager at the new Moorpark Country Club. He joined Z-Golf in 2007 and assumed the position of General Manager of the Eagle Ridge Wedgewood.