Mid-Atlantic Restaurant Entrepreneur

Robert (Bob) Giaimo, is co-founder and president/CEO of Silver Brands, a Mid-Atlantic restaurant group with $150 million dollar sales and 23 locations including Silver Diner, Silver New American Brasserie and Silver Social. He previously founded the award-winning American Café in 1977. Giaimo is recognized as a pioneer in the “American Cuisine” movement on the East Coast.  

Reinventing the American Diner

Giaimo started his restaurant career when he was a freshman at Georgetown University, becoming the youngest restaurateur in Washington D.C., opening a 100-seat restaurant in Georgetown that catered to fellow students and the Georgetown crowd. After college, he founded the popular American Café Restaurants and gourmet markets, one of the first multi-unit restaurants to promote”contemporary American cuisine” and innovative American design while pioneering the croissant sandwich.

After visiting over 500 diners across the country with his co-founder Ype Von Hengst, they opened the first Silver Diner in Rockville, Maryland. Its instant popularity was attributable to Giaimo and Von Hengst’s ability to leverage elements of iconic American diner architecture with an updated menu and contagiously friendly hospitality. Over the next 20 years, Silver Diner expanded throughout the Washington DC metro region with 12 more locations and sales figures well above the average multi-unit restaurant, including a BWI Airport location that became one of the busiest airport restaurants in the country.

Fresh & Local

In June 2010, Silver Diner rolled out its Fresh & Local menu featuring locally sourced ingredients from 15 farms. This was an innovative approach for a restaurant group which involved working with local farms and distributors to provide locally-sourced ingredients with consistent quality and in large quantities. The new menu was an immediate success thanks to its unique approach of its menu offerings that combined updated American Classic comfort food with more contemporary healthier options.

Over the next 10 years, Silver Diner was recognized by multiple organizations for its innovative, healthier options, including a Menu Masters Award for its healthier kids menu, a Tufts University and ChildObesity 180 study analyzing the impact menu changes have to eating healthy, and a 2019 Legacy Award and 2021 Trailblazer Award from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. Silver Diner’s People First Culture has been recognized, winning the Global Best Practices Employer of Choice Award 2 years in a row, based on having the lowest turnover and highest tenured associates in the industry.  

Brand Multiplication – SILVER Brands

In 2022, Giaimo and Von Hengst launched a more upscale diner concept -Silver New American Brasserie. Inspired by brasseries, it is an upscale take on the diner with a Prohibition-style cocktail menu and outdoor café. Simultaneous to opening their first Silver Diner in DC, the co-founders opened a third concept, Silver Social located upstairs at the DC location. Silver Social is an upscale, 21-and-older establishment, which features sharing plates and craft cocktails on an outdoor heated terrace overlooking National’s Park. Today, Silver Brands has three concepts and 23 locations with an average unit volume ranging from $5M-$10M.

Giaimo’s Missions

Giaimo’s primary passion is to take on intractable socialmissions that can make an outsized impact on the community at large. He has a relentless commitment to causes that are greater than oneself and believes nothing is impossible regardless of the difficulty of the circumstances.

Pandemic Response

On March 16, 2020, the governors of Maryland and Virginia issued emergency executive orders closing bars and restaurants with no specific date for reopening. Giaimo engagedand led restaurant CEOs throughout the country to lobby Congress to modify the CARES Act to ensure that multi-unit and regional restaurants can qualify in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). He spearheaded the effort to extend the coverage period that allows employers to use the funds to pay their workers after reopening.

Democracy Initiatives

As a member of YPO, a global business leaders organization, Giaimo co-founded the YPO Democracy Group in 2018 whose mission is to promote a healthy, functional democracy, embodying the spirit of cooperation as enshrined in the United States Constitution.

The group believes reforms are needed to incentivize our elected leaders to work together and bridge the partisan divide to achieve pragmatic, centrist solutions to our pressing national issues. To that end, YPO DG holds an annual Democracy Summit, a gathering of prominent political centrists and democracy reformers, collaborating with over 100 CEO from around the country, for the purpose of strengthening our democracy.

Healthier Neighborhoods -Stronger Local Communities

Giaimo believes that the coalition approach — that is, all the stakeholders are represented for a common community mission — is a model that can be used in multiple mixed use urban communities throughout the Washington Metro area and the nation. In areas where Silver Brands are located Giaimo works to foster a more integrated, vibrant and healthier neighborhood bringing together the residents, merchants, visitors, and landlords. In the Navy Yard Ballpark district, Giaimo brought this diverse coalition together along with the Capital Riverfront BID in 2021 to create a public private partnership with the multi-year objectives of beautification, activation and public safety. After launching a weekly Farmers Market in 2022 to help activate the neighborhood, the coalition launched a community security partnership which to date has reduced crime and increased public safety.

Philanthropic Associations

Giaimo holds the philosophy that everyone can make a difference if he or she gets involved. He has demonstrated this philosophy by being an active member in the community supporting causes that promote health and well-being for children and young adults along with democracy initiatives. He helped establish the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Gala, served on Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s board, and created Silver Diner’s Eat Well Do Well program, an initiative that provides funds to improve nutrition and fitness programs in schools. As of 2022, Silver Diner has raised over $1.5 million to support nutrition and fitness programs in local schools.

Awards:   

• 2018 Restaurateur of the Year by the Maryland Restaurant Association 

• 2012 Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Hitchcock Humanitarian Award Honoree  

• 1993 Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, Inc. Magazine

Organizations:  

• Federal City Council 2023  

• Cofounder of the YPO Democracy Group 2018 to present  

• Young Presidents Organization 1983 to present  

• Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Board Member 2006 - 2008  

• One Voice Israeli Palestinian peace 2006 - 2008  

• Muscular Dystrophy Association Board Member & Chairman 2003 - 2007

Chef Ype Von Hengst is co-founder and Executive Chef of Silver Diner and Silver New American Brasserie. Von Hengst has received many accolades for his creative menu that features fresh and local products, vegan and plant-based entrees, and an expanded award-winning healthier kids’ menu.

Born in the Netherlands, Von Hengst discovered his passion for food while cooking for his family at the age of seven. His time spent in the garden and in the kitchen has led to a lifelong career of cooking and helping others live a healthier life. He received his training in some of Europe’s finest restaurants before coming to the U.S.  Since that time, he has overseen more than a dozen premier restaurants in New York and Washington, D.C.

Von Hengst has been featured on numerous local and national television programs including Beat Bobby Flay, and Food Network’s Chopped, where he won and donated his winnings to Doctors without Borders.