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Katie Button, CEO/Co-Founder, Katie Button Restaurants, Asheville, NC

Five-time James Beard Foundation Award nominee Katie Button is the CEO/co-founder of Asheville, North Carolina's beloved Cúrate, a collection of restaurants, online marketplace, wine club and culinary journeys designed to create exceptional and experiential access to Spanish culture. A Southern chef with a scientific mind, Button honed her craft in the kitchens of some of the world's best chefs, most notably Ferran Adrià and José Andrés, before venturing out to open Cúrate Bar de Tapas with husband Felix Meana and her family. Since, they have grown the Cúrate brand to include Cúrate Trips, Cúrate Spanish Wine Club, Cúrate at Home and most recently, La Bodega by Cúrate.

Félix Meana, Chief Experience Officer/Co-Founder, Katie Button Restaurants, Asheville, NC

Félix Meana comes from the small town of Roses on the Costa Brava in Catalunya, Spain. Roses is the location of what was—until it closed in 2011— Ferran Adrià’s world-famous restaurant, elBulli, where Felix worked as a front of the house service manager for five years. An experience that opened doors at other world-class restaurants, including La Terraza del Casino in Madrid with chef Paco Roncero and Washington, DC with José Andrés and ThinkFoodGroup, where he met and fell in love with Katie Button. At ThinkFoodGroup, Félix aided in the opening and development of new restaurants, including The Bazaar by José Andrés in the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, South Beach, and Puerto Rico as the Director of Service.