MEET THE LELUIA HALL TEAM.
The Leluia Hall team is made up of a wide variety of members, from bartenders, servers and hosts to dishwashers, cooks and food runners. Without each of them, we wouldn’t be able to provide such a beautiful, complete dining experience.
Here’s a closer look at some of our leadership team.
Owners, Jeff Tonidandel & Jamie Brown
Owners, Jeff Tonidandel and Jamie Brown, are a husband-wife team with a handful of restaurants in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jeff is a graduate of Davidson College where he played collegiate tennis. He earned his MBA from Case Western University. After a stint with a NASCAR, Jeff jumped into hospitality opening the couple’s first restaurant in April 2009. He loves playing tennis, woodworking, conducting food and drink experiments and reading cookbooks. Jamie also graduated from Davidson College, having played on the women’s college basketball team. She got her MBA from the University of Arizona and an MA from the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California. Besides managing the Marketing/PR and concept development for the company, she loves running, cooking, reading and art history. The couple has three children.
The Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group prides itself on creating unique food & drink spaces to add to the food fabric of Charlotte, North Carolina. Their restaurants include Supperland, Haberdish, Ever Andalo, Growlers Pourhouse, Reigning Doughnuts, and Leluia Hall. The group has another vision that courses right alongside though: they aim to build a company that creates job opportunities and greater prospects for staff, offers a safe enjoyable place to work, and provides staff a means to grow as individuals.
Learn more about the Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group right here.
Executive Chef, Chris Rogienski
The Leluia Hall kitchen is run by Executive Chef Chris Rogienski. Chris was Valedictorian from Barry Technical School for Culinary Arts and he completed his BA from the Culinary Institute of America. He has been cooking professionally for the last 20 years and most recently served for four years as opening Executive Chef at our sister concept, Supperland. Chris is an avid reader of all things food and drink, and recently has been enjoying combining his classic French background with classic southern dishes and ingredients.
Head Mixologist, Colleen Hughes
Colleen has been with the Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group for 13 years, and she oversees the bar programs at Haberdish, Ever Andalo, Growlers Pourhouse, Supperland, and Leluia Hall. She and her cocktails have been featured in a variety of publications from The Local Palate to Garden & Gun, Popular Science and the USA Today. In 2023, she passed her Bar Ready exam, and in 2025, she was nominated for a James Beard Award in a new category: Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.
Wine Director, Michael Klinger
Michael Klinger has spent 20+ years in the restaurant and wine industry, in fine dining and also in wine retail and distribution, in both the Triangle and Charlotte markets. He’s earned certifications from the Court of Master Sommeliers, passing the Advanced Sommelier (Level 3) exam in 2017. In 2018, he earned the title of United States Ambassador for Chianti Classico, and in 2022, he was named Sicilian Wine Maestro by Sicilia DOC. Michael oversees the wine program here at Leluia Hall as well as Supperland in Plaza Midwood and Ever Andalo in NoDa.
Executive Pastry Chef, Savannah Foltz
Savannah Foltz grew up learning to cook in her Mamaw’s kitchen, which mostly consisted of desperation era Appalachian cooking. She started working in restaurants in her early teen years and spent some time in a gelato shop, a hotel, and at Edible Arrangements before ultimately coming back to restaurants. Foltz moved to Charlotte in 2017 to attend college at Johnson and Wales University for baking & pastry and food service management. She began working at Supperland in October 2021 and today, she oversees the pastry programs for both Supperland and Leluia Hall.
Learn more about the Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group right here.
