PRESS

ALACIA GONZALEZ, DINING ROOM MANAGER / SOMMELIERS

Alacia Gonzalez has two goals. One is to create an environment where her staff wants to remain. This is no easy task in Telluride where the work force is notoriously transient, but she notes proudly that most of her employees have remained at the Cosmopolitan for many years. And Gonzalez is smart enough to know that maintaining this committed team is critical to achieving her second goal: to provide a consistently good experience for Cosmopolitan guests.

Gonzalez relies on hard work and hands-on experience to attain her aspirations. She began her career bussing tables in California at the age of 17 and moved her way up to waitress and bar tender in Texas. Eventually, she became part of a staff known for their quality work. With this hard-earned reputation, she and her colleagues started a small business that trained various dining staffs at great in El Paso.

At the suggestion of a friend, she moved to Telluride in 1996 to get away from city life and explore a new interest in snowboarding. The Cosmopolitan had just opened that winter. Gonzalez discovered the new restaurant as she walked by one afternoon and procured a position on the wait staff. A change of lifestyle followed, and snowboarding, hiking and running soon filled her recreational hours in Telluride.

Now as dining room manager with certification as a sommeliers, Gonzalez concedes there was a time when she didn't drink wine - unless it was white zinfandel. She didn't know burgundy is a region in France or that pinot noir is a grape. This admission is difficult to believe when you recognize that Gonzalez is responsible for the Cosmopolitan's well-balanced wine list from over 250 vineyards. And though her palette has become more refined over the years, Gonzalez hasn't forgotten her unassuming roots, which are the foundation of her hospitality and an important part of what makes Cosmo guests feel comfortable.