Håkan Swahn
Co-founder / President
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Håkan Swahn has over 20 years of experience in the restaurant and marketing fields. A MSc in Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics led him to a position as a brand executive for Procter & Gamble-Scandinavia. He moved to New York in 1980 as Assistant to the Swedish Trade Commissioner in New York.

In 1982, Swahn established Smörgåsbord, Inc. to aggressively promote Swedish foods throughout the U.S. Five years later Swahn opened restaurant Aquavit, which has since developed into one of New York City’s premier and most resilient restaurants.

Swahn established TRG together with Marcus Samuelsson in 2003. Parallel to his work with TRG, Swahn has for the last 3 years developed ‘Aquavit New York’, an Aquavit-branded flavored vodka for the international market. Swahn is a board member of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce and a member of its Executive Committee.

Marcus Samuelsson
Co-founder / Chief Creative Director
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Marcus Samuelsson has received more accolades than most chefs receive in a lifetime. After graduating the Culinary Institute in Gothenburg, Samuelsson apprenticed in Switzerland, Austria, France and the U.S.

In 1995, he was hired as Aquavit’s Executive Chef. Just three months later, Aquavit and 25-year old Samuelsson received a three-star rating from The New York Times. Samuelsson was honored with a James Beard Foundation Award in 1999 and 2003.

He has been individually recognized in Crain’s New York Business’ annual “40 under 40”, and was celebrated as one of “The Great Chefs of America” by The Culinary Institute of America. Samuelsson has been featured in numerous national publications and television programs. He was the third chef ever to write for The New York Times’ “Chef’s Column,” and is a contributing editor to Savoy magazine. Samuelsson is the author of three cookbooks and recently launched his first cooking show, Inner Chef with Marcus Samuelsson, on the Discovery Home Channel.

On the philanthropic front, Samuelsson serves on the Board of Directors of Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), and is an ambassador for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Samuelsson was in 2005 appointed Visiting Professor of International Culinary Science at the Umeå University School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts, and will in 2006 receive an honorary degree from Johnson & Wales University as Doctor of Culinary Arts.

Fredrik Hedberg
Vice President
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Fredrik was born in Gothenburg, Sweden and pursued a career within the hotel and restaurant business at an early stage. He eventually moved to Stockholm, where he received a MSc in Business Administration from the renowned Stockholm School of Economics, specializing in marketing, accounting and financial control.

Before and in parallel to his studies, Fredrik worked his way up in various positions within hotels and restaurants in Sweden. He has also co-produced and managed some of Sweden’s largest and most famous night club concepts. In 2004, he spent the summer working at a PR-agency and later that fall, he an completed an internship at Aquavit, where he primarily worked with the development and launch of Aquavit New York - their first bottled Aquavit.

In October 2007, Fredrik was recruited from his position as Business Development Manager for Nordic Hotels - a privately owned portfolio of luxury hotels - to the position as Vice President of Aquavit and Townhouse Restaurant Group. Fredrik is also a committee member of the Young Professionals at the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce.

Frannie Rabin
Director of Operations
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A New York native and graduate of University of Colorado, Frannie Rabin led a successful restructuring of Concept Restaurant Association in Boulder, CO in 1995, before moving to Austin, Texas in 1997 as General Manager, Banquet Manager and Wine Buyer at Elba Restaurant Corporation. Her three years in Austin also included a consulting project for Earl Campbell Food’s.

Back in New York, Rabin was in 2001 hired by renowned Union Square Hospitality Group as the General Manager of Eleven Madison Park. She was three years later recruited as the Opening and General Manager at acclaimed chef Gray Kunz’s Cafe Gray.

Rabin’s last engagement before joining TRG in 2006 was as a member of the BLT Management Company where she assisted in the opening and operations of the three BLT units. As Director of Operations, Rabin oversees the management of all TRG restaurants and focuses on the operational aspects for any new projects.

Yuka Abe
Operations Manager
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Born in Tokyo, raised in California and having graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Yuka Abe possesses a unique sensibility for food that is both innate and learned. Having had the privilege of experiencing a variety of cuisines at a young age, she knew at an early age that her career would somehow involve food.

At Cornell, she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Administration with a concentration in Food and Beverage. Between a rigorous academic schedule and summer internships at hotels, restaurants and a hospitality consulting firm, Yuka learned the skills necessary to succeed in the restaurant industry. Yuka met Marucs Samuelsson at Cornell, when he was a guest lecturer in one of her cooking classes. Noticing her attention to detail and affinity for food, Aquavit offered her a job as Asst. Manager in New York upon graduation in 2001.

After three years at Aquavit, Yuka joined the opening team at Riingo, Townhouse’s first project in 2004, and became the General Manager in 2006. In the summer of 2008, she was promoted to Operations Manager at Townhouse. In her current role, Yuka oversees the management of all restaurants in TRG’s portfolio and is responsible for the development and execution of new restaurant projects.