Josh Stockton has been appointed to the position of director of culinary operations at the Daxton Hotel in Birmingham.
With more than 15 years of culinary experience, Stockton brings expertise in management, design, and programming. Stockton will oversee all culinary operations for Daxton Hotel and lead the food and beverage team of the hotel’s restaurant Madam, which was recently named restaurant of the year by HOUR Detroit. In this role, he will also work closely with the sales team to further enhance culinary experiences for all group business, corporate meetings, and social events.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Josh into the Daxton Hotel family. His passion and talent for creating unique, delicious dishes are evident with every bite. Additionally, he shares our values in supporting local farmers and opting for sustainable food practices,” says Autumn Griffin, general manager. “Stockton will create new and elevated experiences that Daxton has become known for by the local community and global guests.”
Stockton most recently served as executive chef of the Wish You Were Here Group in Las Vegas, overseeing a team of 75 employees. He was responsible for menu design, recipe development, financial planning, as well as staffing and training. Prior to that, he was executive chef at the vegetable-based restaurant, True Food Kitchen Summerlin in Las Vegas. As executive chef of Piazza at Eataly in Park MGM in Las Vegas, he oversaw all culinary operations of six retail outlets and six restaurants.
Stockton has a wealth of experience executing the farm to table concept. He was Executive Chef of the Geist House Restaurant Group in Nashville, Tenn., working with a farm to table restaurant, as well as a boutique hotel. In Detroit, he served as both executive chef and owner of the farm to table restaurant, Gold Cash Gold, where he focused on fermentation, pickling, curing, and preserving of local produce. Stockton spent his early career as saucier and head butcher at Daniel Boulud Brasserie at The Wynn in Las Vegas, and as butcher and charcuterist at the Blackberry Farm in Maryville, Tenn.
Originally from Michigan, Stockton graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. He currently resides in the metro Detroit area.
Located on the city’s South Old Woodward Avenue, Daxton Hotel features a minimalist-luxe design with more than 400 original pieces of art curated from around the world by Saatchi Art. The hotel is known for its collection of mixed media that boasts works by artists Mercedes Lagunas and Bollee Patino as well as Adrian Landon’s Golden Mechanical Horse. In total, the hotel features work from 160 artists representing nearly 40 countries with artwork crossing multiple media including painting, photography, collage, drawing, and sculpture of international, national, and regional artists.
