Cooper's Hawk Secret to 20 Years of Restaurant Evolution

''The next evolution is trying to change and improve people's lives through the businesses that we run, and we think that we've cracked the code,'' declared Tim McEnery, Founder and CEO of Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurants. At RestaurantSpaces, McEnery revealed how the 67-location restaurant chain has evolved beyond hospitality to create something far more powerful: a genuine community that demonstrably enriches customers' lives.

From Service to Hospitality to Life Enrichment

According to McEnery, the restaurant industry has gone through distinct evolutionary phases. "In the '80s and '90s, it was all about service excellence—how to be really great at providing service," he explained. "Then came Danny Meyer, who brought hospitality and treated people like guests in your home, elevating service to an entirely new level."

The next frontier? Life enrichment.

While many brands claim to prioritize connection, Cooper's Hawk has operationalized it through what McEnery calls "enriching people's lives on steroids" — something so powerful it's forged lifelong friendships, made relocating to new cities less daunting, and even saved marriages.

The Wine Club Epiphany

For Cooper's Hawk, the breakthrough came during their first wine club trip to Napa Valley. McEnery admits it began somewhat selfishly—as a newly married father with a restaurant to run, organizing wine club trips was his way to justify traveling to wine regions for research.

"We took our first 34 people to Napa Valley, with me hosting as a wine expert," he recalled with a laugh. "I'd only been to Napa Valley for like eight hours one time, and I think we were at Sutter Home drinking White Zinfandel out of a Gatorade bottle. This was a textbook example of 'fake it till you make it.'"

What happened during the trip transformed his understanding of what Cooper's Hawk could become. "You'd have the younger couple enjoying time with the older couple because the older couple had all these great stories and wisdom, and the older couple loved spending time with the younger couple because they had energy and were fun to be around."

Nineteen years later, many of those original trip participants still get together annually. This revelation catalyzed Cooper's Hawk's core purpose: "to bring like-minded people together, create friendships and lifelong bonds—not just between wine club members, but between our team members, managers, and guests."

Creating Clarity Through Every Layer

This core purpose extends to a fascinating approach to customer feedback. Rather than endless surveys, McEnery described a monthly practice where they bring in 15 frontline employees from different work groups—hosts, bussers, food runners one month; servers the next—to discuss improvements.

"They have all the answers," he said. "By talking to team members instead of guests, they've waited on thousands of guests, so they automatically filter it down for you: 'Tim, here's the three things that you need to know that the guests are screaming about.'"

This clarity generates remarkable results. When Cooper's Hawk announced a partnership with Virgin Voyages and chartered an entire ship for wine club members, the cruise sold out in five weeks—the fastest sell-out Virgin had ever seen.

"The value we're adding is that we're bringing an entire ship full of wine club members who are all like-minded," McEnery explained. "The relationships and experiences that are going to be had on this boat will be life-changing for people."

The Power of Authentic Connection

The most compelling evidence of Cooper's Hawk's impact comes through member stories. McEnery shared one about a woman who was moving to Arizona and worried about losing her Cooper's Hawk community in Chicago. When she learned a location was opening in Scottsdale, she wrote a "tear-jerking email" about feeling better about her move because she'd have friends there.

Another wine club member approached McEnery at an event to thank him because "the wine club saved our marriage." During COVID, the monthly wine pickup gave her and her husband a reason to get out of the house together. "It forced us to spend time together. We reconnected and realized that our relationship was worth saving."

McEnery's model offers a powerful lesson: community-building isn't just a marketing tactic—it can be the core business strategy, enabled by every design, operational, and technology decision.

"The reason what we do at Cooper's Hawk works is because everything we do is authentic, and everything we do is with the intent of connection," he concluded. "These connections create a community that, I believe, ultimately enriches people's lives."

From one restaurant built on "sheer hard work and willpower and total lack of having any idea how hard this thing was going to be," Cooper's Hawk has evolved into a 67-location phenomenon with over 780,000 wine club members—proving that when hospitality transcends service to become true life enrichment, remarkable growth follows.