DW Enterprises Appoints Top Executive Chef

DW Enterprises, a leading Las Vegas developer of nightlife, entertainment and restaurants, today announced that respected chef Rick Giffen has been named Executive Chef for the company. In this role Giffen will serve as Executive Chef for the soon-to-open Trader Vic's restaurant at the Miracle Mile Shops as well as assisting in the development, management and operations of other restaurant properties that will be announced shortly.

Widely recognized as one of the industry’s top executive chefs, Giffen has spent the past 20 years at the forefront of numerous culinary ventures including Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris Hotel & Casino, where he was executive chef for the last two years. In that time, he was instrumental in generating revenues of over $22 million annually.

Prior to that, Giffen served as a consultant for Café Wasabi where he was successful in securing a contract to be the primary sushi vendor at seasonal conventions. Other career highlights include his work as regional corporate chef for China Grill Management at Mandalay Bay and western regional corporate chef for Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas. Giffen has been active in the community by supporting such charities as Taste of the Nation, AFAN, and Opportunity Village.

Now Giffen has joined the management team of DW Enterprises, the developer of numerous Las Vegas restaurant and nightclub venues including the legendary Trader Vic's Las Vegas which will open inside the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood in early October. DW Enterprises will also develop restaurant and nightclub concepts at the Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino, the Showcase Mall, and other soon-to-be announced venues on the Las Vegas Strip.

"As DW Enterprises continues to build our team of A-List talent, the hiring of Rick Giffen is a significant benchmark," said Doc Wiener, founder of DW Enterprises. "He has enormous experience in the kitchen and the boardroom and we believe his industry insight will provide a solid operational platform for Trader Vic's and our other upcoming business ventures."

Giffen's first task will be overseeing the day-to-day operations of Trader Vic's Las Vegas, a legendary restaurant brand which has experienced a recent resurgence across the United States and abroad. In his role as executive chef, he will manage a staff of 50 culinary employees while ensuring that monthly financial goals are met and food quality, service, and sanitation standards are maintained.

Trader Vic's is one of the pioneers of American culinary folklore. As the inventor of the Mai Tai and the first to import Polynesian dishes and décor to the United States, Trader Vic's defined an era with libations and cuisine that "transported its customers to the tropics" an experience that placated generation after generation of customers.

Spread over 15,000 sq. ft., Trader Vic's Las Vegas will be unlike any of the other Trader Vic's found in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Instead, the Las Vegas location will include three separate dining and entertainment venues featuring a ground-level restaurant and Strip-side patio that opens onto Las Vegas Boulevard and a second-level Tiki Club-ultra lounge, both providing customers with panoramic views of the Bellagio Fountains, the Eiffel Tower, and City Center.

Although inspired by Trader Vic’s famed tropical island motif, Trader Vic's Las Vegas will build upon the signature Polynesian décor of towering wooden tikis and amplify the tropical theme with two separate DJ booths, a 20-foot outdoor bar and lanai surrounded by palms, thatch, a sweeping shingled roof, and an upstairs Tiki Club-ultra lounge.

Construction of Trader Vic’s Las Vegas is currently underway at the north side of Planet Hollywood and is scheduled to open in early October 2007.

About Trader Vic's Las Vegas
Owned and operated by DW Enterprises, a Las Vegas-based development group led by entrepreneur Doc Wiener, Trader Vic's Las Vegas is positioned to be the franchise's premier restaurant. Steeped in a rich history as one of the world’s most recognized culinary experiences, Trader Vic’s Las Vegas builds upon a tradition that dates back to 1934 when Vic "The Trader" Bergeron, a San Francisco Bay Area cuisine pioneer, founded his first restaurant. Mr. Bergeron based his original Trader Vic’s on the simple premise: "an escape from ordinary life." He went on to create an illusion that one had fled to a tropical island. From then on it became a tropical restaurant and bar, which specializes in serving world-famous island cuisine and tropical cocktails inside a refined exotic atmosphere. Trader Vic's Restaurant Group now includes an expanding collection of upscale, company-owned and franchised restaurants steeped in island-style service and atmosphere, stretching from the United States to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Incorporating different cultures from around the world, Trader Vic's brand of hospitality has garnered international acclaim for introducing unique foods, careful preparations and welcoming service, as well as for inventing exotic, crowd-pleasing drinks such as the world-famous Mai Tai. Today, Trader Vic’s has become a world-renowned corporation in the restaurant business with over 30 restaurants in 22 cities around the globe. For more information, visit www.tradervicslv.com.