Opening Business Session featuring Bobby Stuckey
Wednesday, February 18, 8:00-10:15 a.m.
Kick off World Conference by connecting with CMAA’s leadership and celebrating the accomplishments of our community. During the Candidates’ Forum, you’ll hear directly from the candidate’s seeking election to the 2026 CMAA Board of Directors. We’ll honor the professional growth of members achieving the designations of Certified Club Manager, Certified Chief Executive, and Master Club Manager in 2025, and unveil the 2025 class of CMAA Fellows. CMAA President & CEO Jeff Morgan, FASAE, CAE, will share key updates and milestones shaping CMAA’s future.
Gain new hospitality insights from Master Sommelier/Founder of Frasca Hospitality Group and Scarpetta Wines; co-author, Friuli Food and Wine; founding member, Independent Restaurant Coalition, Bobby Stuckey. As the founder of James Beard Foundation Award-winning and Michelin Starred Frasca Hospitality Group, he is one of the most decorated and respected operators and Master Sommeliers in the industry. A life-long hospitalian, Stuckey began his distinguished restaurant career in his home state of Arizona. Over the course of almost four decades, he has worked his way from busboy to award-winning Master Sommelier, restaurateur, winemaker, and cookbook author. In June 2024, Stuckey earned Food & Wine Magazine’s second annual Mentorship Award, presented at the Classic in Aspen, for his tireless work in the industry (and after the first-ever award was given to legendary chef Jacques Pepin).
Before opening Frasca Food and Wine, the flagship restaurant of Frasca Hospitality Group, Stuckey worked in some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country. During his five-year tenure as a sommelier at The Little Nell in Aspen, the property received numerous awards for wine and hospitality, including Mobile Travel Guide's Five Star Hotel and Restaurant Rating, Wine Spectator's Grand Award, and a nomination from the James Beard Foundation for Outstanding Wine Service.
In 2000, he moved west to work with world-renowned chef Thomas Keller at The French Laundry in Yountville, CA. Within his first year, he led the acclaimed restaurant’s team to earn the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Wine Service award and San Francisco Magazine recognized him as "Wine Director of the Year.” Under his direction, The French Laundry also received the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Restaurant Service (later renamed Outstanding Hospitality, thanks to his suggestion when he accepted the award on behalf of Frasca Food and Wine in 2019). Stuckey also met Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, his future business partner, while working at The French Laundry.
With the goal of creating “the best neighborhood restaurant in the world” and reminiscent of the Italian frascas they had visited in Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, Stuckey and Mackinnon-Patterson opened Frasca Food and Wine in August 2004, in Boulder, CO. In 2007, the partners launched Scarpetta Wines to help share their love of this region with others. Initially focused on Friulian white wines, Scarpetta’s portfolio has grown to include red, rose, and sparkling varietals. They released their first cookbook, Friuli Food and Wine, in 2020, another love letter to this unique region of Italy that bridges the Alps and the Adriatic Sea, featuring 80 recipes and wine pairings.
Since its founding more than 20 years ago, Frasca Hospitality Group has intentionally and thoughtfully expanded with Italian- and European- inspired restaurants in Boulder and Denver, including: Pizzeria Alberico, a full-service, contemporary pizzeria inspired by the traditional pizzerias of Naples and named after the family of Bobby’s wife, Danette; Sunday Vinyl, a restaurant and wine bar that pays homage to the great wine regions of the world with a vibrant menu and all-vinyl, highest quality analog listening experience; and Tavernetta, a recipient of the Michelin Bib Gourmand in Denver’s Union Station neighborhood, which celebrates Italy’s vast culinary influences and authentic regional dishes. In summer 2024, the group opened Osteria Alberico, a neighborhood restaurant in Englewood (just south of Denver), highlighting a love for Italy’s culinary traditions, including Napoletana-style pizza, rustic pastas, and rotating proteins and Tavernetta Vail, in partnership with Four Seasons Vail, opened in December 2024. Frasca Food and Wine has been nominated as Outstanding Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation Awards in 2025.
When he’s not on the floor bussing tables or opening a bottle of wine, you can find him at home with his wife Danette, listening to vinyl and drinking a bottle of something great, running a marathon or advocating for a sustainable future for independent restaurateurs, their employees, and communities they support as a founding member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition.