Wayne Cameron Eldred
– President & CEO
– Born the son of an engineer who worked on foreign projects, Wayne Cameron Eldred’s background is comprised of a myriad of different cultures. In his early years were grew up in different countries that included Saudi Arabia, India, Egypt, and England. It was in Surrey, England, that Wayne obtained the foundation of his education where he attended the boarding school Barrow Hills which is administered by the Franciscan Friar Order. During his time in Barrow Hills, Wayne had the opportunity to travel all over the world. Through his travels and time abroad as a young man, Wayne became inspired and learned a great deal of cultures and cuisines. His appreciation for culture had set the stage for the development of a palate for unique recipes, fusions, and unique ingredients. He brought his knowledge with him to the United States in 1992, when his family moved to Florida.
Wayne graduated from Florida International University with his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management. During his college years, he decided to set roots in Miami, which is his permanent home to this day. Wayne incorporated his unique cuisine style and natural entrepreneurial skills to master restaurant and hospitality operations for the past 25 years, with 14 of those years spent at the helm of the famous Tarpon Bend Raw Bar & Grill.
Wayne is known for his entrepreneurship, business leadership, team development skills, philanthropy, outstanding culinary talent, and providing impeccable service to his guests and clients; which have all enabled him to bring life to the celebrated motto, “Great times you can taste”. Wayne has been consistently active in the Coral Gables community. He served as Chairman of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce, and the Executive Board for the Business Improvement District of Coral Gables. Wayne is currently the Chairman for the Doctors Hospital Foundation Council; a Baptist Health South Florida Hospital Affiliate. He also serves on the Executive Board of Directors for the overarching Baptist Hospital Foundation, where he also holds seat on the Operational Board of Doctors Hospital, and is the Chairman for the Foundations Event Committee. Furthermore, Wayne serves on the Executive Board of Directors for Camillus House and the Coral Gables Community Foundation.
Wayne has spent several years supporting the City of Coral Gables via consulting on hospitality issues, and partnerships. Wayne co-founded events such as the annual Bugerliscious community event and Coral Gables Restaurant Week. In 2013, Wayne was honored as the winner of the Diamond Awards for outstanding restaurant. In February of 2016, The Miami Herald, selected him to be one of South Florida’s Food 50, being only one of three in the Hospitality Expert Section. That same year, Wayne was honored for his restaurant’s culinary contributions to the City of Coral Gables, and a few months later, was also recognized by Miami Today in their annual Book of Leaders.
With a reputation that goes beyond being a restaurateur, his entrepreneurial spirit has pushed him to launch other companies. In 2011 he launched Eldred Consulting Group which he rebranded in 2019 to Eldred Hospitality Management & Consulting Group, making the new company a hospitality development and operations one stop shop. In 2014, he launched Eldred Investment group, followed by his ever-growing Brown Label in 2015, which is his Events Production and A/V Company. Additionally, Wayne launched the long-awaited “Outliers” Institute in 2020, with the purpose of inspiring, coaching, and mentoring: entrepreneurs, sales personnel, hospitality professionals, and business leaders. Furthermore, In 2018 Wayne and his older brother started formulating a Gin. In August of 2021 they successfully launched Tempt Hand-Crafted Gin in the South Florida region. Wayne has a natural ability and passion to train and develop teams to be the best, by teaching through his storytelling methodology. This in turn affords his teams and students the GPS coordinates to achieve their desired goals.