Sestri 655 Capitola Road Santa Cruz, CA 95062 For Reservations, please call 831.479.0200 Hours of Operations 5pm to 10pm Monday thru Saturday. Closed Sundays Click here				About Us John L. Mootz Growing up in a restaurant family, it was only natural that John Mootz would follow suit. From working at Aldo’s Harbor Restaurant as a teenager, through his most recent position as managing partner/general manager of five-unit Left Bank Restaurants startup, John formulated his recipe for success — the achievement of the restaurant depends squarely on its employees. Born in San Francisco, and raised in Marin County, John attended California State University at Hayward, majoring in business administration. His university career included successfully competing on the intercollegiate swimming team, and terms as president of the Student Marketing Association, and president of his fraternity. Upon graduating, John joined Gallo Wine Company as a sales representative — but restaurants, not just wine — were in his blood. Initially joining A & I Olivieri Enterprises as general operations manager, John branched out to become general manager and then director of operations of The Chart House, leading the elite chain through an acquisition by Landry’s Restaurants. In 2003, John took the lead position in charge of operations at Left Bank Restaurants. He opened a new restaurant with annualized sales of $7 million, where he was general manager, oversaw sales and event coordination, and supervised the management staff of the executive chef and culinary team. It is at Left Bank where John met Jamie Smith, a partner at Sestri — and the rest is destined to become history. John has considerable experience leading multi-state restaurant operations, from financial results, and development of management and company incentives, to region-wide training. At Sestri, John intends to translate this finely honed expertise to build Sestri into a world-class organization. John lives in Soquel with his wife Michele, and his two children, Emily and Connor.   About Us | Reviews | FAQs | Awards | Links | Sister Businesses (pdf ~5MB)