After finding success on Wall Street, Antoinette realized something was missing: an intimacy with food she enjoyed while living in Europe and working her way through school in restaurants. Her Wall Street job afforded her the luxury of eating at the finest restaurants, but that wasn’t enough. She left behind her lucrative career and enrolled in the Chefs’ Program at Ritz Escoffier in Paris. Bruno earned her culinary stripes working in the south of France and then returned to the US, ready for her new culinary career.
In 1999, Bruno became CEO of StarChefs.com, combining her culinary training with her business know-how. The mission statement of StarChefs became about giving chefs the tools they need to be the best they can be in a fractious and competitive industry. In 2001, Bruno also took on the role of Editor-in-Chief, leading StarChefs to become an industry authority on chefs and food trends. The Rising Star Awards were launched in 2002 as a platform for young chefs to be recognized broadly. And in 2006, Bruno launched the International Chefs Congress, a professionally culinary symposium like no other in the world, attended by the who's who of chefs and over 2,000 of their peers.
Just as the pandemic hit in 2020, Antoinette came home to Ocean City, MD to help her family's 128 year old amusement park return to profitability. As with many family businesses, she fought to eliminate personal gain, whereby all shareholders could profit from the company’s performance. Bruno took back revenue producing assets limiting commission rides, games and foodservice making sure the corporation paid expenses only to operate its own assets. Over 18 months, she cleaned up the park, removed cash as much as possible, created systems for accountability, found staff in the most challenging labor market of our time and creatively marketed the truly great asset her team returned to its former glory.
Bruno launched the company's food and beverage business, eliminating HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) focusing on family friendly healthy food options. She conceptualized and built the first-ever outdoor food hall in the midst of the pandemic with the goal of revitalizing tourism in downtown Ocean City. In 2021, Antoinette' s team outperformed the highest year on record in amusement parks 128 year history doubling the park's Gross Revenue and increasing Net Income to 30% with 6 new rides, 9 new games, 4 new F&B outlets and a new arcade.
Bruno earned a postgraduate degree from the London School of Economics and her MBA from Harvard Business School. She’s been a judge on “Iron Chef,” a guest on morning programs across the country, and was nominated for James Beard Awards for “Best Multi-Media Feature” and “Best Food Website” and awarded Top Women in New York Foodservice & Hospitality 5 years in a year. Bruno is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, The James Beard Foundation, and Women Presidents’ Organization; Antoinette was elected to the board of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs in 2012 and has served on four boards over the course of her career.