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Former SBE and Montclair Hospitality executive Joey Simons named CEO of Estiatorio Milos

The fine-dining Greek restaurant concept plans to open four restaurants in the coming year

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

July 15, 2024

2 Min Read
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Joey Simons has joined fine-dining Greek seafood restaurant concept Estiatorio Milos as its first CEO, the New York City-based company said Monday.

Most recently he was CEO of Montclair Hospitality Group, which operates Japanese and Italian restaurants in New York and New Jersey, including trendy Wafu Italian concept PastaRamen. Prior to that role, Simons was chief operating officer and chief of staff for Los Angeles-based multi-concept restaurant and club operator SBE.

Milos, founded in Montréal in 1979 by Costas Spiliadis, currently has nine locations, with four more slated to open in the coming year.

The company also operates Milos Wine Bar in New York City’s Hudson Yards development, the Xenodocheio Milos hotel in Athens, and a small fleet of yachts called Milos at Sea that sails in the Greek islands.

“As our brand prepares for further expansion, we’re thrilled to welcome Joey to our team,” Spiliadis said in a release announcing Simons’ appointment. “His extensive experience in the luxury hospitality space, combined with his passion and understanding of our family-run business, makes for a wonderful partnership. Greek culture and tradition remain at the core of our ethos, and we look forward to working hand-in-hand with Joey to bring Milos to new markets globally.”

Related:PastaRamen operators Montclair Hospitality Group partners with Masaharu Morimoto

Simons said he was looking forward joining Milos.

"I couldn’t think of a better hospitality group to land on,” he said. “It’s such a thrilling time for the Spiliadis family and the entire team at Milos, and I’m honored to be able to help grow the Milos brand and further increase our global presence in the coming years. I’m ready to jump in feet first, and beyond excited for what’s to come.” 

Estiatorio Milos currently has two restaurants in New York City, as well as the wine bar, and one restaurant each in Las Vegas, Miami, and Montréal, as well as in Athens, Dubai, London, and Los Cabos, Mexico. Plans are underway to open new locations in Los Angeles, Singapore, Toronto, and West Palm Beach, Fla.

In the release announcing Simons’ new role, Milos said that Spiliadis would remain “at the helm of the Milos brand, working with his children and running the restaurants with a meticulous eye for detail and perfection, putting his deep commitment to preserving Greek culture at the forefront of the business.” 

 

Contact Bret Thorn at 

[email protected]

 

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
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Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
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