A Santa Cruz Experience You Definitely Have Not Had

The best experiences are ones you don’t easily forget for all the right reasons. Those are the gatherings that can’t be delegated to an assistant to coordinate or even have your standard-issue event planner organize a cut-and-paste itinerary of outings. Memorable events  don’t just “happen”.  They are artfully and thoughtfully created.  And if you’ve felt the common “now what?” awkwardness walking into an event, you’ll know, the great ones aren’t just created, they are intuitively hosted. 

With the current business landscape that is upon us, more than any other time in history, companies are needing to make sure the humans that are still in the building are engaged, inspired, know how to relate, communicate and deliver. Long gone are the days where organizations could afford the obligatory company picnic with diminishing returns. To stay competitive, the gathering game for the in-person meetings we host for our teams needs to be better than ever. 

If the mandate feels daunting, rest easy. Help is here. After 37 years in hospitality, and 20 of those running one of Los Angeles’ top high-profile event companies, master host Steve Fortunato has returned home to his native Santa Cruz where he grew up, bringing an expertise honed over a lifetime with him. With a focus on leadership, retreats, and company gatherings, he brings what he calls “The Host Mindset” to everything he does. 

Fortunato has spent decades building experiences around world-class food and beverage, service, and human connection. Through roomforty, the Fig House, and his broader hospitality work, he has served multiple United States Presidents, artists, dignitaries, celebrities, athletes, executives, and thousands of guests on the most important days of their lives. His book, The Urgent Recovery of Hospitality: How Rediscovering Generosity Restores a Civil World, argues that hospitality is not just an industry. It is a way of relating to people.

His hospitality philosophy is simple: we’re all hosts. Whether we’re hosting a meeting, a conference call, a pitch, or a dinner, hosting is just presenting something you’ve prepared to others. He teaches and models that thinking about others (generously) is thinking like a host. And when we do, people respond in kind, with appreciation (generously) and a virtuous cycle happens. 

Steve didn’t just return to Santa Cruz with his expertise. He also brought his chef with him. To my knowledge, it’s unlikely that there are any chefs currently in Santa Cruz who have run Michelin starred restaurants (at least I don’t know of any). What I can say for almost certain, is that there aren’t any chefs with that kind of experience, who model this host mindset, have an ego well in check and know that true hospitality makes it about others. 

After overseeing the kitchen team at Le Comptoir in Los Angeles, chef Alejandro Guzman took over the culinary helm at Fortunato’s company roomforty, before both decided it was time to close the L.A. chapter and head north. 

Preferring smaller, more curated, intimate gatherings to the scale of their past, this dynamic duo has been hosting corporate gatherings for, in their words, “teams that get it”. Knowing companies are doubling their investments in their people, are the ones that won’t just last, they’ll lead, Fortunato is helping leaders get the highest return on their investment. 

In corporate settings, before teams can do their best work, they need to feel human again. So a meeting Fortunato helps you host, might begin before anyone opens a laptop.

Maybe it starts with campfire coffee in tin cups, and a slow 20-minute walk through the redwoods. Or it might kick off the night before with a multi-course tasting menu and wine pairings. Either way, what Steve intuitively understands and has mastered is the art of hosting. Whatever the occasion is, as a master host, he knows gatherings that nourish all of our senses, have wildly better outcomes-every time. 

One of the sales divisions of Broadcom recently engaged Steve for their quarterly business review, and called it their best quarterly meeting of all time.

“The way Steve hosted my team and facilitated conversation created a better connection than we have ever had. That environment led us to some new discoveries and important decisions. We are grateful.” - Brian M., Broadcom SVP Sales

The blend of this approach with this town, feels especially right here.

My dad, Doug Erickson, has been pitching companies about Santa Cruz for years. Not just as a place to work, but as a place to see differently. His pitch has always been part business case, part invitation: come surf before the meeting. Go foil. Ride mountain bikes. Walk through the redwoods above UCSC. Let the air do some of the work.

While I was recently talking with Steve at his home in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I told him that this “Santa Cruz First” pitch is more than a slogan. It is one of the reasons companies like Versa Vasclar and Heron Power keep finding their way here.

Santa Cruz has a strange ability to reset the nervous system. The ocean, the mountains, the fog, the trees - they create space between the noise and the answer.

I have felt that personally. After two intense years in the wedding and event industry, I came back to Santa Cruz needing to reconnect with myself. Mountain biking, surfing, walking West Cliff, wandering through the woods - those things did not magically solve everything. But they helped me hear myself again. They reminded me that clarity rarely arrives when you are forcing it.

That is what makes Steve’s approach so compelling. It is not about escaping work. It is about creating the conditions for better work.

A team might gather over chef-prepared meals. They might start with a beach welcome, move through focused sessions, and end the day with a conversation that feels more honest than the one they would have had in a conference room. The point is not luxury for luxury’s sake. The point is intention. Thoughtfulness. Attention to quantitative and qualitative details. The belief that people do better work when they feel hosted, not processed.

In an age of AI, hybrid teams, constant acceleration, and never-ending Slack threads, maybe the most productive thing a company can do is step outside.

Maybe the next breakthrough does not come from pushing harder.

Maybe it starts with a warm coffee cup, a walk in the redwoods, and someone who knows how to host the room.

For companies interested in exploring a Santa Cruz retreat experience or having an off-site meeting unlike any they’ve ever had, shaped by Steve Fortunato’s hospitality philosophy, start here.