Meet Austin Swint | General Manager of The Whiskey House

We had the good fortune of connecting with Austin Swint and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Austin, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I am from a small town in the panhandle of Texas called Muleshoe. Well, technically I’m from many small towns in the panhandle of Texas as my mom moved my brother and I all over the area during our childhood. She had a difficult time deciding what she wanted to do for a profession so as she tried different professions they usually meant relocation. I call Muleshoe home because that is where my maternal grandparents lived and I spent more time there than anywhere else. I also graduated high school from there. The constant moving from school to school during adolescence made me develop the ability to quickly study people and get a pretty good read on who they are and what they’re about. That’s been useful in interviewing candidates and interacting with guests. One of my mom’s many jobs was a Dir. of F&B at a Holiday Inn and she gave me my first real job as a server in the coffee shop and bussing lunch banquets (I think I was 13 or 14 at the time). That was my introduction to the F&B industry and I’ve never looked back.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My father taught me a good work ethic. Sports (football) taught me physical and mental toughness as well as teamwork. When you have those things as a foundation for your professional life you have a good foundation for success. Sometimes it was easier than other times, but the food service industry is filled with good days and not-so-good days. I’m sure its like this in any profession where you have days that are so bad that they rock you to your core and make you ask if you can continue in the industry (or question why on Earth you got in it in the first place), but then you have amazing days where you see to fruits of all of your efforts come together and you just step back and look at it say “wow, I did that!” The valleys can be low and highs can be high, but as long as they are all averaging out on the high side then you are succeeding. One of the biggest rewards in this industry is developing people. Nothing can put a bigger smile on your face than seeing the positive effects that you have had on an individual in their professional or personal life. I think that great managers aren’t just great at overseeing an operation, they must be great at managing all of the different personalities, and developing anyone interested in self improvement (and recognizing who is not interested and letting them be themselves as long as their performance is good).

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
There are literally thousands of amazing restaurants, bars, and attractions in San Diego. Some of my must see spots in San Diego are Cabrillo, Top of the Hyatt, Hotel Del Coronado and the beaches (Pacific Beach, Mission Beach and Ocean Beach). The zoo is world famous and should be seen if time permits, and catching a day game at Petco Park should also be done if the schedule works out because I believe that its one of the best parks in the league. Some food and bar spots I would try to hit are Lahaina in PB, Quatras Milpas in Barrio Logan, OB Noodle House in OB, and of course The Whiskey House.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would say that my shoutout would be to all of the food service managers that I have ever had during my bussing, cooking, serving, bartending and managing career. Regardless of being FOH or BOH and line employee or management, I paid attention to all of them and tried to figure out what made them succeed or fail. The good ones created an example that I could examine, learn from and emulate. The bad ones showed me what not to do, why not to do it, and why those bad tendencies made them ineffective at leadership. I’ve had a lot of great managers in my career, but if I had to choose one organization to thank for developing me it would be the Hyatt. I spent 6 years at the Manchester Grand Hyatt here in San Diego and all of the outstanding managers that I worked with there are a huge reason why I found success in management.

Website: https://www.thewhiskeyhousesd.com

Image Credits
All photos provided were taken by yours truly.