Elizabeth Blau started working in restaurants part time at 16 years old. Now a James Beard Award nominee and the founder and CEO of Blau + Associates, a restaurant development firm dedicated to creating world-class hospitality experiences, Blau credits the extraordinary culinary landscape of Las Vegas for elevating her career to new heights.
Blau serves as a judge on CNBC’s Restaurant Startup and operates several restaurants in Las Vegas and Vancouver with her husband, Chef Kim Canteenwalla, including Honey Salt and Buddy V’s Ristorante, a collaboration with “Cake Boss’” Buddy Valastro. Additionally, Blau is the co-founder of the Women’s Hospitality Initiative, a nonprofit committed to accelerating the development and advancement of women leaders in the hospitality industry.
At the start of the pandemic, Blau quickly leveraged her experience and contacts to help launch the Delivering With Dignity program to serve the most food-vulnerable in our community—safely delivering over 320,000 meals to date.