Epicurean Hotel names new general manager and executive chef

Mainsail Lodging & Development LLC has named a pair of company veterans to run key operations at its Epicurean Hotel in the Hyde Park section of South Tampa.

Shawn Routten has been named general manager of the 137-room boutique hotel, a property he helped open in 2013 as part of a five-year tenure there.

Adam Hyatt has been named executive chef at the culinary-themed hotel, where he will direct daily operations at the hotel’s Elevage SoHo Kitchen & Bar, Edge Rooftop Cocktail Lounge and its 5,200 square feet of function and event space.

Routten joins the Epicurean from the Fenway Hotel in Dunedin, another Mainsail Lodging property, where he worked and then was promoted to general manager.

Hyatt joins the Epicurean from Steelbach, where he was executive chef, a restaurant the popular Armature Works food emporium in Tampa. In 2018, he opened the Fenway Hotel as executive chef.

“Not many people know the Epicurean as well as Shawn, who assisted us in opening the property and working in various positions at this unique, culinary-themed boutique hotel,” says Joe Collier, the president and founder of Mainsail Lodging, in a statement.

“And we’re fortunate to have Adam return to the Mainsail family; his knowledge of the properties, expertise in the kitchen, and history with Shawn are definitely a recipe for success at the Epicurean.”

Routten, who will oversee hiring of new staff and day-to-day operations at Epicurean, has more than 17 years of experience in the hospitality industry, with 12 of those years being with Mainsail Lodging.

He began his career with Mainsail Lodging as a front desk host at Mainsail Suites Hotel & Conference Center, before working his way up to front office manager. Four years into his tenure at Epicurean, he was promoted to director of operations.

At Epicurean, Routten played an integral role in operator Marriott International Inc.’s decision to name the property “Best New Hotel of the Year” in 2013, and Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards “Top 10 List of Best Hotels in Florida” for the past several years. 

 Hyatt has more than 18 years of culinary experience, as executive chef of HEW Parlor & Chophouse, Fenway Hotel’s signature restaurant and at Platt Street Borough, where he was an inductee in the 2013 Best Chefs America listing.

 Tampa-based Mainsail Lodging, which also operates lodging properties in Anna Maria Island and Fort Myers, developed the Epicurean Hotel in conjunction with the famed Bern’s Steak House. It was the first-ever newly constructed hotel in the U.S. to be named a Marriott Autograph Collection property.