The Smoking Gun
Restaurant/bar, sports, private events and late-night service. Guest flow and staffing depend on what is happening on the floor and around us.
Built on the floor.
Still learning by doing.
I’m Randy. I run a restaurant/bar, a coffee shop and a bakery in San Diego. I build tools around the problems I know firsthand.
The Smoking Gun and our Spill the Beans coffee shop share an address. The bakery produces for our shop and supplies other Spill the Beans locations too. That adds production and supply responsibilities to the service, staffing and P&L work. I don’t own or operate every shop the bakery supplies.
I served in Navy air traffic control at NAS North Island, then attained Certified Professional Controller status with the FAA at Southern California TRACON, Coast area. I moved into hospitality as a busser at Uptown Tavern in 2012, became a bartender and then general manager. Since July 2017 I’ve managed operations at The Smoking Gun and Spill the Beans; I’m now a co-owner as well.
I’ve seen what an operating decision asks of the person doing the job. That is why I test AI against real source records, work directly with product teams on what I find, and use ChatGPT and Codex to build practical workflows. I’m responsible for the requirements and decisions; AI assistance is part of how I implement them.
I’m interested in AI operations, product operations and enablement work that connects a useful idea to a usable system. I bring operator judgment, structured evaluation and the habit of staying with a handoff until it works.
Explore the work ↗ My aviation background ↗One operating picture.
Different jobs to get right.
Spill the Beans
Our coffee shop has its own service rhythm and staffing needs. Shared location does not make it interchangeable with the bar.
The bakery
Production and supply for our shop and other Spill the Beans locations. The responsibility reaches beyond the guests at our counter.
HILLCREST / 2012–2017Hillcrest was
Hillcrest was
part of the job.
I grew from busser to bartender to general manager at Uptown Tavern. I was heavily involved in LGBTQ+ community activities there, including events and fundraisers.
Uptown was part of the neighborhood. Pride, community events and fundraisers mattered there, and being involved mattered to me. That stayed with me as I moved into running other businesses.
Explore the Uptown years ↗OUTSIDE OF WORKHusband. Dad.
Husband. Dad.
Still Randy.
I’m a husband and a dad. I care about being there for my family and building a life around the people I love. That is part of why I want the systems I build to make the work clearer for the people doing it.
