Steve Cole is new COO of Missouri Restaurant Association
Steve Cole never thought that sitting in on a Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association board meeting would lead to a new job, but the former restaurateur – he operated his legendary midtown restaurant, Cafe Allegro, from 1984 to 2002 – is a past president of the local organization as well as a past president of the Missouri Restaurant Association and likes to keep current with the work of the hospitality industry’s trade organization.
Among the old friends he saw at that GKCRA meeting in September was Robert Bonney, the CEO of the Missouri Restaurant Association, who informed him that Brina Bruno, the western regional director for the GKCRA for a decade, was leaving the organization to take a new position with the Roasterie and that the Missouri Restaurant Association planned to create a different position within the organization. Bonney encouraged Cole to apply for the job.
Last month, Cole officially joined the Missouri Restaurant Association full time as chief operating officer and executive director; his duties include membership development, legislative issues, education, creating marketing resources, and providing operational support for the more than 600 restaurant and allied members of the Missouri Restaurant Association.
