“Patrick Gartner is who any multi-faceted hospitality group dreams of finding. He has both talent and humility, he is at ease in positions of leadership while also being a consummate team player, and most impressively can take complex problems and not only solve them, but build systems around them that can be trained to other team members. Patrick came to work with me at Donna Cocktail Club as the Bar Manager in 2019 at a moment where we were bursting with ambition and ideas, but were still dealing with day-to-day issues that were taking up precious bandwidth. He worked in tandem with me to better structure our tasks and train our team so the day-to-day was working most efficiently. This created enough bandwidth for expansion and growth. Patrick expanded his involvement to a bar I designed with Jeremy Oertel & Natasha David in Greenpoint called The Hidden Pearl. Eventually, Patrick became my go-to collaborator for all hospitality projects and beyond. We worked together to design a cocktail program and staff protocol for a multi-level establishment in Manhattan with a subterranean nightclub and concert venue, a street level eatery and a second story private event space. We took over the management of a beloved bar & restaurant in Williamsburg that had been struggling with absentee ownership and turned it around. Later, we took over the management of a retail wine & spirits store that was overwhelmed and lost their general manager when the surge in demand occurred at the beginning of the pandemic. Patrick is the real thing. He is firstly a great drink maker and team member, but I’ve watched him evolve into a leader with a vision for healthy hospitality environments, and the acumen to build those environments wherever he goes.”

— Leif Huckman, Owner of Donna Cocktail Club and Big Things Holding LLC in Brooklyn / Manhattan