--- title: "Alex Hult: Inside the Culinary Strategy to Scale Aviation-Themed Dining Concepts and Transform Restaurant Tech" url: "https://authoritymag.co/articles/alex-hult-inside-the-culinary-strategy-to-scale-aviation-themed-dining-concepts-and-transform-re" publisher: "Authority Magazine" author: "Martita Mestey" authorUrl: "https://authoritymag.co/authors/martita-mestey" interviewee: "Alex Hult" company: "Flights Restaurant Group" category: "Business" datePublished: "2023-02-05T16:15:09.251Z" dateModified: "2026-11-12T17:07:17.708Z" tags: "Business" --- # Alex Hult: Inside the Culinary Strategy to Scale Aviation-Themed Dining Concepts and Transform Restaurant Tech *The professional hockey player turned serial entrepreneur shares hard-earned lessons on hospitality, managing food costs, and scaling successful restaurant concepts.* > What I learned from this experience was how crucial it is to plan ahead in the restaurant business because when things start to go in the wrong direction, it’s too late and there is no fixing it. --- As*part of our series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a Restaurateur”, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Alex Hult Founder CEO of Flights Restaurant Group.* *Alex Hult, professional hockey player drafted by the San Jose Sharks turned serial entrepreneur, has a passion for hospitality and a vision for building big, successful businesses. His first big brand, Flights Restaurant & Bar, is an aviation-themed restaurant with its HQ inside Planet Hollywood Miracle Mile Shops in Las Vegas. The concept is to have triple the fun as every food and drink dish is served in flights of THREE.* --- **Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know’ you a bit. Can you share with our readers a story about what inspired you to become a restaurateur?** I always loved the hospitality and making others happy, so it came naturally to me after my hockey career to open a restaurant. I learned a lot when I opened the first one in 2013 in Los Gatos, so in 2017 when I opened Flights in Campbell, California, I learned from those mistakes and it took off from there. **Do you have a specific type of food that you focus on? What was it that first drew you to cooking that type of food? Can you share a story about that with us?** There is nothing better than when you share a piece of your heritage with someone and they love it. My favorite memory was at my very first restaurant when we offered a traditional “Julbord” which is a Swedish smorgasbord with authentic Swedish cuisine. **Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you since you became a restaurateur? What was the lesson or takeaway you took out of that story?** It would probably be from the very first night when we opened Hult’s Restaurant back in 2013. I had forty family and friends coming to a soft opening night to allow the kitchen a chance to cook each dish for the first time and ease into it. I looked outside and saw a group of people around 5 pm, but I wasn’t expecting anyone until 7 pm. I peeked my head out the front door and asked, “How can I help you guys?” And they politely said we have reservations on OpenTable. Panic flushed over me as I walked into the office looking for the iPad a lady had dropped off a few months prior after selling me on Opentable as a great reservation platform (I did not know what it was at the time). Sure enough, we had 240 reservations that night plus my forty friends. It was the worst night of my life. I still have nightmares about that night. To put it in perspective, at the peak of our performance in 2016, 150 covers was our max capacity. What I learned from this experience was how crucial it is to plan ahead in the restaurant business because when things start to go in the wrong direction, it’s too late and there is no fixing it. **In your experience, what is the key to creating a dish that customers are crazy about?** Passion. If you make something that you find is to die for, it’s likely it’s going to be a very popular dish. **Personally, what is the ‘perfect meal for you’?** A quiet date night with my wife Sarah. We have young children so those nights are scarce and when you finally get to enjoy each other, it’s so special. **Where does your inspiration for creating come from? Is there something that you turn to for a daily creativity boost?** I think I got my drive from hockey and I turned that into a passion. **Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? What impact do you think this will have?** I have one huge project that I am in the middle of fundraising for. It’s called AIO and it’s a restaurant tech startup that will transform the industry. I also have a smaller project that’s very exciting and it’s to build a beach market in Capitola in a building I bought last year. **What advice would you give to other restaurateurs to thrive and avoid burnout?** The restaurant business is a very challenging industry so it’s important to prioritize family and friends so that you have a balanced life. I failed pretty hard at this in the beginning of my career. **Thank you for all that. Now we are ready for the main question of the interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started as a Restaurateur” and why? Please share a story or an example for each.** 1. Don’t do it. It’s just such a challenging industry. 2. You need 3 times as much to start as you have budgeted for. There is always something that goes wrong and it’s so expensive to make mistakes. 3. Understand your food cost and master it. You simply can’t be successful if you can’t manage your purchases. 4. The employees you hire will make or break your business so go above and beyond for them and make sure they do the same for you. 5. Location, location, location. It’s the single most important factor to be successful in the restaurant business. Picking a winning location for your concept is everything. **What’s the one dish people have to try if they visit your establishment?** The Mac & Cheese Flight (truffle mac — bacon infused mac sticks — classic 4-cheese mac). If you can afford the calories, it’s the single most satisfying thing on the planet. **You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.** I am inspiring a movement with my tech start up. We are bringing the technology suite and automation that McDonald’s and the big brands have and providing it to the Mom & Pop places around the world. Creating work balance, profitability, and sustainability to an industry that has been really hurt by the pandemic, a challenged labor force, and the supply chain chaos. **Thank you so much for these insights. This was very inspirational!** --- Source: https://authoritymag.co/articles/alex-hult-inside-the-culinary-strategy-to-scale-aviation-themed-dining-concepts-and-transform-re (Authority Magazine, Business). Interviewee answers are first-person statements of the guest. 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