Brent Rosen
CEO / Southern Food and Beverage Museum
When new Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB) CEO Brent Rosen is pressed to name what his last meal would be, his answer reflects the time he has spent across three states (Missouri, Alabama and Louisiana), embracing southern food ways and traditions.
“I’m going with the classic meat and three — it’s got to be fried chicken; I do love a biscuit, some collard greens, some field peas.”
Rosen and his wife, Carolyn, have become the new dynamic duo among New Orleans food and drink enthusiasts since their return to the city in 2015 (both received their undergraduate degrees from Tulane University in the early 2000s). Carolyn Rosen became the new CEO of Tales of the Cocktail in February 2018, and Brent Rosen joined the rebuilding team at BRG Hospitality as director of hospitality before taking over as CEO of SoFAB this past April.
Founded in 2004, SoFAB moved to its current space on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in 2014. A museum dedicated to the celebration of food and drink in the South, SoFAB includes the Museum of the American Cocktail, a culinary research library boasting more than 11,000 items and an on-site restaurant — Toups South. In addition to exhibits, the museum regularly hosts lectures, tastings and cooking classes and also runs the Paul C.P. McIlhenny Culinary Entrepreneurship Program.
Rosen’s goals as SoFAB’s new leader include increasing fundraising efforts and communication with the community and moving beyond a traditional museum model.
“We have so many community resources,” he says. “For me, it’s about the big picture and execution matters. Finding partners and thinking creatively, that’s the fun part.”
