GMA Consulting has appointed David Robins and Alisa Mirabal as Senior Advisors, adding more than five decades of combined hospitality, culinary, and casino-marketing expertise to the Las Vegas-based firm's advisory bench.
Robins' F&B Credentials
Robins is the headline hire for operators and foodservice professionals. From 1992 to 2025, he served as Executive Vice President of Operations, Corporate Chef, and Managing Partner at Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, overseeing culinary and operational functions across a global, multi-concept portfolio — including Spago, CUT, and Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill — in markets spanning Las Vegas, Beverly Hills, New York, London, and Singapore. During that tenure he led more than 30 domestic and international restaurant openings, managed more than 1,500 employees, and carried $400 million in annual revenue responsibility, working alongside luxury hospitality partners including Four Seasons, MGM Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton, and Caesars Entertainment.
Robins' honors include a James Beard Award nomination and recognition as Las Vegas Chef of the Year, with coverage in Zagat, Forbes, Bon Appétit, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2021 he co-opened 1228 Main, an artisan bakery and restaurant in downtown Las Vegas's Arts District, in partnership with Wolfgang Puck. He launched Robins Hospitality, his independent consultancy, in 2025, advising hotels, restaurant groups, and developers on concept development, operational turnarounds, culinary innovation, and leadership coaching.
Mirabal's Marketing Reach
Mirabal brings a complementary skill set rooted in casino marketing modernization and connected customer growth strategy. Her 20-plus years of operational experience includes a stint as Vice President and Assistant General Manager at Red Rock Casino Resort, where she oversaw a full-spectrum resort property with 2,600 employees and $450 million in annualized revenue, and as Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Entertainment at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe, where she delivered a $10 million EBITDA improvement within 18 months. Most recently she directed a $25 million development budget and 40 legacy product lines as Vice President of Advanced Products and Global CXS Products at Aristocrat Technologies.
For integrated resort operators — a segment where F&B revenue increasingly differentiates the guest experience — Mirabal's expertise in loyalty, CRM, and omni-channel systems has direct bearing on how dining and entertainment programs are marketed and monetized. Her background in sports-tech, supporting 17 major clients across the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLS at Lava.ai, also signals the broadening overlap between foodservice, live entertainment, and data-driven fan engagement that foodservice operators are navigating.
Strategic Fit for Operators
"Alisa's track record modernizing marketing, loyalty, and customer experience for some of the largest names in gaming, paired with David's three decades leading world-class hospitality and culinary operations for the Wolfgang Puck organization, gives our clients partners who have done the work from the inside — not just advised on it," said Josh Swissman, Founding Partner and Managing Director of GMA Consulting.
The appointments are consistent with a broader trend of gaming-and-hospitality consultancies deepening their F&B bench as integrated resort developers compete on dining experience as much as gaming floor design. Clients of GMA — which counts the majority of public gaming companies, 85 Native American tribes, and commercial and investment banks among its roster — will have immediate access to both advisors. The addition of operators with direct P&L accountability at properties of this scale offers a practical counterweight to the theoretical frameworks that have historically dominated hospitality consulting, a distinction that matters as hotel and resort F&B margins come under pressure from rising food costs and labor inflation.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
