Andrew Harris graduated from Auburn in 2001 with a degree in hotel and restaurant management. He is now a wine expert and the general manager for the local restaurant Maestro 2300.
What was your first job in the restaurant business?
Shucking oysters in a restaurant in Panama City, where I'm from, called Montego Bay. I was an oyster shucker and busboy the summer I was 14, and I've kind of done it ever since.
How did you make the most of your time while you were at Auburn?
I worked a couple of jobs. I worked at Amsterdam as a bartender for a little bit. I worked at Niffer's, Applebee's and the Auburn Hotel Conference Center.
I worked a couple different places, and of course was in school full-time, so I stayed busy while I was in Auburn.
Was it your experience outside the classroom that later made you successful?
The hotel and restaurant management program was very strong when I was at Auburn, and it's even better now. I benefitted a lot from it. I benefitted a lot from the contacts I made.
I got an internship with the Baltimore Country Club in Baltimore that I got through Auburn University. I also did some work with Club Management Association of America that I got through a contact with Auburn University.
All of that was a huge help. But this is the kind of business where schooling only gets you so far. You really got to put your nose to the grindstone, get a lot of experience and work your butt off to make it in this business.
Where did you find work after graduation?
I worked at The Reynolds Plantation (The Ritz-Carlton Lodge). It's a big, all-inclusive resort in Greensboro, Ga. It's a 9,000-acre property--a lot of people call it the Martha's Vineyard of the South. It's a five-star, fine dining property.
Worked there for two years and my first day there was actually Sept. 11, 2001. I worked there until the middle of 2002 until the Ritz Carlton opened, and I worked for Ritz Carlton for about two years. Then, after that, I left and went back to the beach, where I'm from, and was at a restaurant called Cafe Thirty-A in Seagrove Beach.
I opened a new restaurant called Firefly which is in Panama City Beach. I just came back to Auburn about two years ago.
What was the inspiration behind Maestro 2300?
My uncle, the owner Allen Harris, owns a local construction company here called Bailey Harris Construction, and it was his idea to open Maestro 2300.
He lived all over Europe for over a decade doing international construction in Italy, France and Germany. He wanted something with a European feel to it right here in Auburn, so he came and got me from Cafe Thirty-A, brought me up here and we made a dream a reality.
*Content has been changed from original publication.
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