Nicole Roland

Biography

Director of operations and owner, Crave Culinaire and Venue Naples

If you’ve attended a charitable event catered by Crave Culinaire, you’ve likely seen Nicole Roland working the crowd. She makes it a point to be present during each of these dinners, donating her time for the benefit of various nonprofit organizations around town.

You’ll also catch Roland organizing gatherings at Venue Naples. She opened the multi-use venue earlier this year with her husband, Crave Culinaire Chef Brian Roland, for special events ranging from pop-up dinners to private galas, and designed it to reflect an elegant and modern urban loft.

Providing hospitality comes naturally to Roland, who graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in event management. Before embarking on her journeys with Crave Culinaire and Venue Naples, she served as private dining director for Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar, director of events and marketing for Naples Humane Society, and then director of events and marketing for Gulfshore Life.

But it’s her “dedication to making each event something special and unique” that makes her so successful within her current roles, her husband says. Roland also serves on the Culinary and Hospitality Education Foundation (CHEF) board of directors, with the mission to serve the culinary and hospitality arts professions by providing scholarships, awards, financial incentives and skills development opportunities to deserving individuals in Southwest Florida. And she’s on the gala committee for Girls on the Run.

In her spare time, Roland enjoys working out, cooking, exploring new restaurants and traveling the world.