Kevin Jennings, co-owner of Urban Food Group, has announced the return of Brasserie du Soleil’s original general manager, Owen Dunne, as well as the return of executive chef Stephen Ollard.

Dunne will serve as district representative for all of Urban Food Group’s Wilmington restaurants, Brasserie du Soleil, Osteria Cicchetti and Soundside Seafood, formerly known as Boca Bay.

Jennings said Dunne brings a vast knowledge of the restaurant industry and is well connected to many key players in the Wilmington restaurant scene. 

“The addition of Owen to our group has really helped in terms of brining on some new staff members at a time when staffing, particularly for the back of the house, has been an issue,” Jennings said.

Another way that Urban Food Group is dealing with back-of-house staffing issues has been to add more management positions such as sous chefs. That way, managerial duties are spread among a number of staff, allowing them to be more hands-on. While they may be dealing with fewer prep or line cooks, managers can now offset more of those tasks.

When former executive chef Marc Piscitello gave his notice earlier this summer, Jennings was at first quite concerned about who would take the reins. He reached out to Ollard, who worked at Brasserie for a number of years just prior to Urban’s purchase of the restaurant in early 2019.

At that point, Ollard was offered the executive chef position with Urban’s Charlotte restaurant, Civetta Italian Kitchen + Bar. Now Ollard has returned to the Brasserie and was assisted temporarily by another former Brasserie chef, Tripp Engel, who was brought in to serve as a consulting chef for the company. 

“Both Stephen and Tripp have an intimate knowledge of this restaurant and that has made for an unbelievable smooth transition overall,” Jennings said. 

Jennings went on to say that his company is fortunate that the community has such a great love for the Brasserie and that while improvements are always necessary, customers need not worry that their beloved restaurant is going to change. 

“We’ve added a brunch service, which we’ll continue to expand upon, and Stephen is doing a brilliant job delivering what Brasserie is known for,” Jennings said. 

Jennings said Engel will now move on to Soundside, where he will consult on menu changes there before spending time at Osteria Cicchetti.

Soundside had to temporarily suspend valet service due to a lack of staff, but Jennings believes that will be back up and running in a couple of weeks and anticipates the return of brunch service at that location within about a month. 

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