Homan Taghdiri
Founder & Managing Partner
Homan is the founder and managing partner of Invictus Hospitality, and has been working in the hospitality industry since he was 14 years old. As a licensed attorney in California, Homan also has specialized experience with clients who have been involved with real estate development, start-up businesses, and the hospitality industry. While Homan is no longer actively practicing law, he uses his prior experience to consult full time with Invictus Hospitality, and overseeing his other businesses.
Homan has worked in almost every hospitality position imaginable, at a variety of venues. From a mom and pop pizza parlour, to bakery, to corporate run establishments, to family owned restaurants –Homan has worked as a dishwasher, busser, cook, server, expeditor, host, assistant manager, and manager during the 13-years he worked in the industry prior to becoming an attorney. Homan found great success in a formula which combined a focus on hospitality and service, while working towards educating guests, and building culture to motivate staff, to provide memorable guest experiences.
Having worked at high-volume, seasonal, and tourist-based venues, Homan was able to fine-tune his experience not only with respect to the front of house hospitality aspects of the business, but also, every facet of back-of-house and back-end operations. Homan was able to work on his leadership skills in building strong teams who were empowered to create enjoyable and memorable guest experiences, while raising profitability to the venue as a result of creating high yield food and beverage combinations, and raising check averages.
In his capacity as an attorney, he gained extensive experience in commercial real estate matters and development projects across the country (both in large markets such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and New York, as well as smaller markets such as Phoenix, Houston, and Oklahoma City). For over 12 years, Homan served as General Counsel for a real estate development and investment company, where he was actively involved in business development, project development, construction management, and handling the negotiations of multi-million dollar projects and ventures throughout the country. As a result, Homan has had the opportunity to be involved with every phase of land acquisition, business development, and project development (from project planning, to architectural design, to construction, to branding, to marketing). In the process, Homan maintained his private practice with clients focused on business and hospitality matters.
Homan has also counseled many entrepreneurs and start-ups in general business matters, corporate structure, financing, and mergers and acquisitions – as well as working with many established businesses, in helping to reposition them from a position of near closure (and/or potential bankruptcy), into becoming operationally successful businesses with streamlined profit centers. His scope of work has included involvement with retail outlets, bars, restaurants, hotels, manufacturing businesses, and fabrication businesses – with a wide array of involvement from the legal side to the business side, including the negotiating and drafting of domestic and international agreements, to the development, production, and manufacturing of goods. In line with Homan’s transition to consulting in the hospitality industry, he became extensively involved with operations management, corporate restructuring, financial analysis, training, and implementation of management hierarchy and leadership culture.
In 2010, Homan’s passion for the hospitality industry allowed him to put into motion the pieces which were necessary to create, develop, and open a hip bar and lounge named Salvage (located in Downtown Los Angeles, California). Homan involved himself in all aspects of the venue – including initial fundraising, designing of the venue, construction and permitting, licensing, brand implementation, opening, operations, and management.
In 2012, Homan expanded his restaurant portfolio by becoming involved in the ownership and development of The Morrison Gastropub, a unique Scottish influenced upscale restaurant redefining the idea of the local pub – offering a vast selection of artisinal draught and bottled beers from around the world, as well as an emerging list of cocktails (located in Los Feliz, California).
Later in 2012, Homan founded Invictus Hospitality with a passion for rekindling the seemingly lost art of “hospitality”, to provide business and hospitality consulting services on various projects throughout the United States.
In early 2017, Homan bought out all of his partners in Salvage, and brought in Michael Tipps and Mark Diaz to fully redevelop, rebrand, and remodel Salvage into what is now a chic boutique lounge known as Shoo Shoo Baby.
In 2019, Homan became involved with the opening of a wine bar and eatery called LaLou (located in Brooklyn, New York), which is being operated and run by David Foss and Joe Campanele.
In 2021, after consulting on upscale supper club called Mama Foo Foo (located in Daytona Beach, Florida), Homan was asked to become involved with the ownership and management of the same venue.
Homan is frequently invited to speak at various trade shows throughout the country, on all aspects of hospitality, management, operations, leasing, and development, and is working on the development of his latest concepts.