On this week's Culinary Confidential, Christina Cates sits down with Sam Bakhshandehpour, President of Merchants at Bilt, and one of the rare executives who has shaped hospitality from every angle: luxury, lifestyle, loyalty, and the evolving business of belonging.

Sam's path cuts across the modern hospitality map, helping steer the Jose Andrés Group's global rise as CEO, and leading SBE Entertainment as President & CEO in a defining era of lifestyle, dining, and nightlife. But well before that, Sam got his start in the engine room of JPMorgan's real estate and lodging investment banking division, working at the intersection of strategy, scale, culture, and community.

This conversation looks forward. How loyalty shifts from transactions to identity, how technology rewrites the guest journey, how brands build communities that feel lived-in as opposed to manufactured, and why the next era of hospitality will reward connection, trust, and emotional intelligence as much as design and service. Sam brings clarity, candor, and a sharp read on where the industry goes from here!