Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooks Kirchheimer.
Hi Brooks, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was seven years old, growing up in Los Angeles, CA I asked for a cash register for Christmas so I could play pretend restaurant with my two sisters. Ever since then I either wanted to be a restaurant owner or a sports broadcaster. I started working in restaurants when I turned 15 in my hometown of La Cañada, CA at Penelope’s Cafe, where I ended up working on and off for five years. From there I went to major in Hotel, Restaurant, Tourism Management at the University of Denver. After school I was recruited to open the Montage hotel in Beverly Hills. I learned a lot opening a brand new five-star property in the midst of the 2008 recession. As one of the younger and less paid managers on property, I was utilized in a variety of positions as they had to cost cut some of the managers. It was the perfect way to dive head first after graduating. I grew up spending a week a year in Utah skiing, and so when they announced Montage Deer Valley would be opening in December of 2010, I jumped at the opportunity to open the property. I worked at the Daly’s Pub within the hotel and then was asked to assist with room service, did some time at the Vista Lounge and then was back at the Daly’s Pub. In February of 2013, a former Montage colleague was the Food & Beverage Director at Sundance Resort and asked me to become the General Manager at their one off property restaurant, Zoom, located on prominent Main Street in Park City. We were able to take it from a $2.3 million a year restaurant to $4 million in just two years. In November of 2015, my then girlfriend, now wife, got a job as the Director of Sales & Marketing at the Montage in Maui, Hawaii, so off we went to the tropics! I received a job as a restaurant manager at the famed Merriman’s Maui, located right on the water adjacent to the Montage. I spent two years there, the last 18 months as the Assistant General Manager. My Dad, David Kirchheimer retired from his job in 2016 and on December 16 of 2017 my wife and I moved back to Park City, UT. After some time finding the right location, we settled on Kimball Junction to open our first restaurant, Hearth and Hill on December 16, 2018. We wanted to find somewhere that was easy for locals to get to, with free parking and an opportunity to provide accessible pricing and personable service. Our motto: “A gathering spot for the community”. We started doing catering out of Hearth and Hill and realized we needed more space, and so we leased more space two doors down from Hearth and Hill, and opened Hill’s KItchen Cafe & Catering in March of 2022. We now cater groups from 10 to 500 of all types of events, from weddings to corporate. We then opened our upscale Urban Hill restaurant in December of 2022. Our Chef Nick Zocco is a three time James Beard semi finalist, and two time finalist. He also was on Beat Bobby Flay last year. Finally, we opened our last two restaurants, another Hearth and Hill and another Hill’s Kitchen in the Sugar House neighborhood in March and April of 2025.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I feel like this is a rhetorical question for a restaurateur! We are big believers in constantly learning and staying current. When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, and we had just our one restaurant, Hearth and Hill Park City, my Dad and I had a simple motto, “go all in on marketing, do everything we could for the community and just throw things against the wall and see what sticks”. We did everything from weekly Farmers bags, so we could support the local farmers and purveyors who were also struggling, to on Cinco de Mayo doing a Fiesta meal delivered to 12 families homes alongside a full Mariachi Band! We also donated meals to the local families in need and also gave food to our own staff.
The biggest learning opportunity over the past seven plus years has been staffing, no surprise. There are a lot of personalities in this industry and now more than ever, people are constantly looking for what is next and what is in it for me, rather than being content with what they have.
Our mission is “To inspire our associates, thrill our guests and enrich our community”. We always say, our associates come first, because without them we can not achieve success. We have offered health insurance to our full time associates since day one, a 401k program with a 5% match after a year of employment, free family meal daily, PTO for our salaried managers, we pay for everyone’s first mental health appointment, for the past few years we have done english classes for our spanish speaking associates, and recently we provided free legal services for those going through the immigration process. We love our associates!
What makes you happy?
I love the hospitality industry because of all of the associates you get to work alongside and get to know. In our industry you have all walks of life and backgrounds. Which is what makes it so great. I have learned tons and tons from those I have the pleasure of working with every day. I love their stories, experiences and most of all, the different cuisine they share with us. Being able to impact our associates in a positive way makes me happy. We give a cash bonus to each of our associates every year in January, The longer you are with us, the more you get!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hill-top-hospitality.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hill-top-hospitality
