About The Founder

E. Scott Payne is the founder and president of the industry insider Private Dining Maître D. An accomplished steward of both boutique and high-volume restaurants--from dive to upscale to Michelin-Star--Scott is broadly regarded as an encyclopedia of all things food, beverage, and service excellence. He credits over 20 years of restaurant operations and management experience, particularly in best practices, training, certifications and coaching.

Furthermore, Scott was an instrumental player in numerous successful new-restaurant-openings in this last decade, including two multi-million-dollar pre-open renovations, where BOTH establishments quickly became national OpenTable Hot 100 Restaurants: El Camino, Delray Beach, FL and Kaluz, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, FL, where Scott organized training programs, including writing service manuals and testing.

Implementing clear-cut service standards and inspiring others with his knowledge and passion is Scott's signature, after having worked across seven major US cities, under parent companies such as Bloomin' Brands, Bonanno Concepts, Darden, Hillstone, Landry's, and more. He has excellent experience as a Wine Director as well as thorough expertise in private event management and seamless BEO implementation, having coordinated and executed events as small as wedding proposals and as large as celebrity charity golf tournaments.

With his first real interest in food and beverage operations being piqued during college, Scott's on-campus occupation for three of his four years at Stanford University was managing and directing a number of private membership-based dining clubs, each with its own private chef! While he directly oversaw these Governor's Corner Dining Societies, Scott also recorded two award-winning albums with Everyday People a cappella and received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.