A 360° Strategy for Better Guest Experiences and Business Performance

An established destination winery wanted to better understand how its guest experience translated into loyalty, revenue, and long-term growth. Morrissey Hospitality took a comprehensive look at the business, connecting confidential guest insights with operational, financial, sales, and marketing expertise to identify opportunities for improvement, enhancement, and growth across the entire customer journey.

Finding Opportunities Across the Guest Journey

Known for its welcoming hospitality and distinctive sense of place, the winery was already an appealing destination for tastings, dining, special events, and wine club experiences.

Despite these strengths, leadership wanted to understand how effectively they were driving incremental spending, repeat visits, and sustainable financial performance. Opportunities existed throughout the business, from guest orientation and product education to wine club conversion, private event sales, digital marketing, staffing, food costs, and post-visit engagement.

Unlocking the next stage of growth required a holistic view of the guest experience and the business behind it. The winery needed a comprehensive strategy that could strengthen profitability and operating discipline without altering the hospitality experience guests already valued.

Turning Guest Insights Into Actionable Improvements

Morrissey Hospitality combined a confidential guest experience audit with operational, financial, sales, and marketing assessments to understand both what guests experienced and the business systems supporting it.

Our hospitality professionals evaluated the complete guest journey, beginning with website usability, social media presence, and pre-visit planning. Their evaluation continued through arrival, orientation, tastings, food and beverage, retail, wine club interactions, and post-visit communication.

Behind the scenes, the Morrissey team evaluated staffing and service models, labor productivity, food cost, revenue mix, operating expenses, marketing investments, and overall profitability. The team also assessed opportunities to strengthen higher-margin revenue streams through wine club membership, private events, premium experiences, and increased per-guest spending.

The resulting recommendations connected these disparate operational functions rather than treating them as separate initiatives. Structured service touchpoints created more opportunities for storytelling and suggestive selling. Digital data capture and standardized follow-up strategies strengthened the path from first-time visitor to repeat customer. Labor recommendations aligned staffing with anticipated demand, while stronger recipe controls, inventory practices, and menu analysis addressed food costs and operational efficiency.

Ongoing collaboration with property leadership helped prioritize recommendations according to potential impact, required investment, and available resources.

A Practical Plan for Stronger Performance

The comprehensive audit confirmed the organization’s strong foundation and identified clear opportunities to turn an already compelling destination into a more proactive and profitable hospitality business.

Morrissey Hospitality developed a prioritized roadmap centered on four key areas:

  • Improve prime cost through stronger labor productivity and food cost management.
  • Grow higher-margin revenue through wine club membership, private events, premium experiences, and increased guest spending.
  • Strengthen the guest lifecycle with more intentional onsite sales, customer data capture, follow-up communication, and re-engagement.
  • Protect and elevate the experience through service-model improvements, stronger storytelling, and thoughtful food and beverage enhancements.

Leadership gained a practical framework to determine what to tackle first, who should own each initiative, and where investments could deliver the biggest impact.

By connecting the guest experience with organizational, operational, and financial realities, Morrissey Hospitality helped transform individual observations into a comprehensive strategy for stronger guest service, smarter revenue generation, and sustainable business performance.

Services Provided
  • Guest experience audit
  • Hospitality operations assessment
  • Financial performance review
  • Labor and prime cost optimization
  • Food & beverage analysis
  • Private event marketing and sales strategy
  • Sales and marketing assessment
  • Digital guest engagement strategy
  • Revenue optimization
  • Strategic planning and implementation prioritization
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Richard Dobransky

President & CEO

Richard joined Morrissey Hospitality as President in 2018 and accepted the role of CEO in 2023. Under Richard’s leadership, the organization implemented best-in-class solutions to support its hotel, restaurant, and events venue portfolio. He spearheaded efforts to upgrade all internal systems, embrace automated workflows and data analysis, and streamline every aspect of the organization for real-time, accurate reporting and accountability.

Focusing next on the employee experience, Richard oversaw a restructuring of employee compensation to ensure that every Morrissey employee earns more than a living wage. With his team, he improved employee benefits packages and ushered in numerous new initiatives to reflect the needs of employees and promote better work-life balance.

Under Richard’s leadership, the Morrissey portfolio has grown from 5 to 18 owned and managed properties. He oversees a team of over 100 managers and 1,000+ employees, leads efforts to provide authentic hospitality experiences at every location, and is an active coach and mentor to many.

Well respected and highly regarded throughout his career, Richard enjoys annual recognition in the Minnesota Top 100 and Top 500 Business Leaders list, and was named among Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s 2026 Most Admired CEOs. He serves on the Board of Directors for Visit Saint Paul and The Downtown Saint Paul Alliance.

Richard intrinsically understands the communities he serves, helping to create hospitality concepts that serve as long-lasting, meaningful gathering spaces. He aims each day to make, do, and be better for Morrissey customers, employees, clients, partners, vendors, and community members alike.

Elizabeth Morrissey

Senior Vice President

As Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Officer at Morrissey Hospitality, Elizabeth leads the company’s growth strategy with a focus on business development, strategic partnerships, and brand expansion. With nearly a decade of internal leadership experience and deep roots in hospitality, she drives new revenue opportunities, cultivates client relationships, and strengthens the company’s presence in new and existing markets.

Elizabeth began her career at The Saint Paul Hotel before taking on leadership roles at the Waldorf Astoria New York, Johnson Brothers Liquor Company, and Moet Hennessy. She returned to Morrissey Hospitality to help shape the company’s next chapter, progressing quickly from operations into business development. Her background spans hospitality operations, marketing, human resources, and sales strategy — making her uniquely positioned to scale the organization’s impact while preserving our guest-first, people-focused culture.

Elizabeth’s leadership is grounded in purposeful growth: building high-performing teams, elevating client brands, and delivering exceptional service across every property in the Morrissey Hospitality brand portfolio.

Paula Soderberg

Vice President of Human Resources

Paula is a results-driven professional with comprehensive and extensive human resources experience. She is well-versed in labor relations, employee relations, retention, training and development, HRIS, compensation and benefit management, domestic and international recruiting, job description development, HR audits, unemployment hearings, worker’s compensation claim management, and risk and safety management. She is also well versed in Def Leppard — so don’t mention the band unless you want her to talk your ear off.

Paula’s experience helps her foster an optimal working environment through development and deployment of new strategies in recruiting, onboarding, training, job description and standards, benefit administration, and employee development. She is a versatile and motivated leader, with proven communication and organizational skills. She is practical, articulate, and creative with a demonstrated ability to solve difficult issues.

Paula started in hospitality while a teenager at her family’s restaurant in Stillwater, MN. She continued to work FOH positions while in college pursuing her HR degree (don’t ever let her work BOH. She can’t cook…at all.) She understands operations, allowing her to support management and coach employees effectively. She also has held many HR management roles within healthcare, insurance, telecommunications, and government, but hospitality is her home.

Keith Reardon

Vice President

Keith is a hospitality management professional with 30+ years of experience leading food & beverage operations for hotels, restaurants, golf courses, and sports & entertainment facilities. His peers describe him as a high-capacity, intuitive, creative, thoughtful, and disciplined leader. With years of industry knowledge and experience in multifaceted hospitality environments, he routinely demonstrates strength in strategically building high-performance teams, resulting in stable revenues and profits.

Before joining Morrissey Hospitality, Keith held positions with Ritz Carlton Hotels in Palm Springs, before moving on to Centerplate, where he operated the Colorado Convention Center and opened Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. Keith’s passion is restaurant and kitchen design and construction. He recently completed the design and construction of all the hospitality components at Morrissey’s newest location, Tattersall Distillery in River Falls, Wisconsin. Keith is active in the Twin Cities community, serving as Treasurer on the Executive Committee for the Hospitality Minnesota’s Educational Foundations Board, and as an advisor to Visit Saint Paul.

Johnessa Hardyman

Vice President of Finance

Johnessa has always had a passion for finance and accounting. She started her career in community banking and completed her bachelor’s degree in accounting before finding a passion for hospitality in 2012 at The Saint Paul Hotel. Johnessa spent two years working onsite at The Saint Paul Hotel before transitioning to the Morrissey Hospitality Shared Services Office.

Johnessa Hardyman brings over a decade of expertise in hospitality finance to her role as Vice President of Finance at Morrissey Hospitality. Since joining the company in 2012, she has held key leadership positions, including Senior Accountant, Controller, and Director of Financial Planning and Analysis. Johnessa’s extensive experience spans budgeting and forecasting, cash management, internal and external audits, system transitions, and acquisitions.

With a Master of Science in Accountancy from Saint Mary’s University, Johnessa excels at leveraging financial data to drive informed decision-making. She leads the accounting team with a focus on accuracy, efficiency, and strategic planning, ensuring that financial insights translate into actionable business strategies. Passionate about financial forecasting, she thrives on analyzing how businesses actualize their projections and the impact on cash flow. Her deep understanding of both finance and hospitality makes her an invaluable asset to the organization and its clients.

Amy Houston

Vice President of Marketing & Communications

A Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) with a deep passion for hospitality, Amy blends creativity with strategic vision to build meaningful connections between brands and guests. Her expertise in brand development, campaign execution, and revenue-focused marketing continues to shape Morrissey Hospitality’s growth and industry leadership. Known for her empathetic leadership style, she fosters collaboration and inspires those around her to think bigger and work together to bring bold ideas to life.

Amy Houston brings over 20 years of experience in marketing, hospitality, and sales. Since joining Morrissey in 2020, she has led strategy for 18 independent brands, driving measurable success through data-driven campaigns and innovative storytelling. Under her leadership, the company has transformed its marketing operations, bringing services in-house and streamlining digital platforms to create a more cohesive, results-driven approach.

Callie Kiepke

Vice President of Operations

Callie Kiepke is Vice President of Operations for Morrissey Hospitality, bringing more than a decade of leadership experience across event venues, restaurants, and golf course operations. Known for building strong teams and implementing effective, scalable processes, she plays a key role in driving consistent performance across the organization.

Callie began her hospitality career at 18 and earned a degree in Hospitality Management from the University of Wisconsin–Stout. After nearly ten years with TPC Twin Cities, she joined Morrissey Hospitality at Bunker Hills Event Center, where she advanced from Catering Sales Manager to Director of Catering and later General Manager. Under her leadership, Bunker Hills became one of the company’s top-performing properties.

In addition to her work at Bunker Hills and Kendall’s Tavern & Chophouse, Callie has supported operations at Stockyards Tavern & Chophouse, played a key role in the opening of Dawn Manor, and is instrumental in strengthening private dining operations. As Vice President of Operations, she leads menu development, systems strategy, and process standardization, with a focus on continuous improvement and exceptional guest experiences.

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