Wayne Kostroski

The Climb

Guest experience is where the craft first takes shape, and Wayne Kostroski’s early work at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and St. James Hotel in Minnesota was anchored there as beverage and entertainment manager. In those rooms, timing, atmosphere, and service had to move together; the job was less about individual gestures than about managing the conditions that make hospitality feel deliberate. Creative control entered the picture with Figlio’s in Uptown Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Wayne Kostroski worked as co-creator from 1984. That kind of role asks for more than service polish: it requires helping form the identity of a place so it reads as something built, not simply operated, and so it stays present in memory as part of the room’s own language. The scope widened again through InterACT Group, where Wayne Kostroski served as co-founder from 1986, and later through Routh Street Investments-North (RSI-North), where he was partner from 1990. Those roles moved further from the daily tempo of service and into the structures that support it, adding ownership and development to a career that kept expanding without losing its grounding in hospitality. Cuisine Concepts brings that arc into focus. Since 1994, Wayne Kostroski has been co-owner of the company in Edina, a position that reflects continuity as much as responsibility. It marks the move from operating within a hospitality setting to helping shape the company itself over time.

Today

He co-founded Cuisine Concepts in 1994 and has served as its co-owner in Edina since then. The role reflects a long commitment to the work of welcoming guests, shaping experiences, and sustaining a business over time.

Signature

Wayne's signature dishes include Taste of the NFL and Taste Fore the Tour. The names track with the way his work has joined culinary experience to gathering, using food as a vehicle for celebration, philanthropy, and community.

In Their Words “We live in a truly remarkable community, with so many people who have heart, soul, and a passion to do something for others.” The statement reads as a plain account of the outlook behind Wayne Kostroski’s work. It frames hospitality as collective effort and places value on what a community can do when people contribute beyond their own tables.

Recognition

Wayne's honors include James Beard Humanitarian Award (2010). The award recognizes a career that has paired hospitality with public-minded work, measuring success not only by what is built, but by what is given back.