A new full-service restaurant concept is coming to DoubleTree by Hilton hotels later this year.
The new Piebird will debut at properties in Nanuet, New York at the end of 2025, and in Asheville, N.C. next year. It’s the latest brand to be developed by the Stir Creative Collection, Hilton’s in-house food-and-beverage development team, which is building a stable of scalable dining options for hotel operators.
Piebird is designed to be an exclusive dining offering at DoubleTree locations, first domestically and eventually around the world, said Adam Crocini, Hilton’s senior vice president and global head, wellness, design and food & beverage.
The concept is designed to play off the signature fresh-baked cookies available in the lobbies of DoubleTree locations. The brand is known for offering warm hospitality and caring service, which Crocini called a “double dose of comfort.”
The menu, developed with culinary partner New School Hospitality, based in Los Angeles, will feature dishes that remind guests of home, like Sunday pot roast, chicken and waffles, chicken pot pie and macaroni and cheese. And for dessert: pie, of course, which will change seasonally. But a year-round signature will be a pie with chocolate custard topped with chocolate malt balls.
Piebird is named for the ceramic birds once used to vent pies. | Photo courtesy of Hilton.
The Stir collective has several more restaurant concepts coming this year and next for Hilton’s various hotel brands. Among them is an Italian concept called Che Vita (an option for DoubleTree or Hilton Hotels & Resorts), an American gastropub called Haley and Bear (DoubleTree or Hilton), and a California-inspired eatery called Poppy’s (Hilton only).
All are designed to be three-daypart, full-service dining options with a bar program, Crocini said, and all meet the specific standards Hilton expects for F&B at its hotels for both affiliated partners and independent operators.
“Over the past few years, we’ve really been leaning into developing these fully fleshed out restaurant concepts that are ready for our owners to deploy in their hotels, off the shelf, that are fully kitted out with uniforms, direction, curated music and playlists, lighting direction and design, interior design specifications, and furniture and fixtures and equipment specifications—certain aspects of the brand that we want to make sure are part of every single restaurant when we open it up,” Crocini said. “We’re really delivering a restaurant concept which is an easy button for our owners to deploy in their hotels because we’ve done all the heavy lifting.
“It has the recipes. It has the training guides. It has the operational guides. It has signatures and rituals,” he added. “Anything an owner would need to do if they were to develop a restaurant concept themselves, from soup to nuts.”
Piebird's menu will focus on American comfort foods. | Photo courtesy of Hilton.
Last year, for example, Stir launched two scalable concepts for DoubleTree in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa called Do Deli and We Are Edn.
The Stir collective also develops bespoke concepts, Crocini said. Among them is Leonessa, an aperitivo bar at the Conrad New York Downtown, for example, and Ayda, a Mediterranean brasserie at Waldorf Astoria Cairo Heliopolis.
Hilton also works with chef/restaurateur partners in some properties. José Andrés, for example, has San Laurel at the Conrad Los Angeles, and a location of Nancy Silverton’s Osteria Mozza is at the Hilton Singapore Orchard.
Hotel operators might prefer to develop their own food-and-beverage concepts or contract with outside hospitality companies. But the restaurants still would have to meet Hilton standards and Crocini said the process can be exhausting and expensive. And contractors might develop a concept and then move on to the next project, without being particularly invested.
“But at the end of the day, we have a vested interest in the long-term success of the food and beverage at our hotel, because, ultimately, our customers are looking at their experience holistically on property, not just the rooms or the front desk check-in, or the gym or fitness or spa. Food and beverage is a huge part of it,” he said. “So if we could help to be part of that overall solution, then we can hopefully help to win the hearts and minds of our customers.”
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