Meet Shea Neill of Morning Squeeze in Scottsdale and Tempe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shea Neill.

Shea, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been in the service industry for about seven years. I started as a host at a local pizzeria in my hometown of Montrose, Colorado. From there, I became a server and throughout college, I worked at multiple restaurants in Colorado including Applebee’s and Chili. Then in July of 2017, I moved to Arizona to finish my Bachelor’s in Communication Studies at Arizona State University. I found Morning Squeeze in May of 2018 and fell in love with serving breakfast, not just eating it. Shortly after starting, I became a bartender and then quickly was promoted to Assistant Manager. With my position in management and my desire to use my degree for marketing purposes, I became the Marketing Manager for Morning Squeeze and took over our social media and marketing needs. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Communication Studies in December 2018. Finally, in September of 2019, I was promoted to General Manager of the Old Town, Scottsdale location and am looking forward to being apart of opening new stores come 2020. I love what I do and the people I do it with. Hospitality is extremely important and comes as second nature to me. I spend every day giving people the food and service they love and deserve.

Has it been a smooth road?
There have been tons of challenges I have had to face along the way. One of them being that I am a young woman in a position of power in a restaurant with males and females both younger and older than me. That simply by itself was a challenge. Then, add to it the fact that I was a peer to my co-workers and then quickly became their boss and someone they had to answer to. These adversities were extremely difficult for me and my employees to overcome, but we always do.

Tell us more about the business.
Morning Squeeze is one of the coolest places to eat breakfast in Scottsdale and Tempe. But to me, Morning Squeeze isn’t just a place to eat. It isn’t just a breakfast restaurant. It’s a feeling. It’s a vibe. It’s how you feel when you walk through the door. You feel welcomed, happy, ready to eat delicious food and drink amazing cocktails and enjoy time with your company and our staff. IT’S AN EXPERIENCE. We are dedicated to making your visit an incredible experience and we are dedicated to being the best part of your day. We change up our menu to keep guests on their toes. We have weekly and monthly specials. We love trying new things like the popular Impossible Burger. We have unique cocktails and traditional ones. We do bottomless mimosas because WHO DOESN”T LOVE BOTTOMLESS? We have mimosa flights when you feel like being a little extra. We have 4 different bloody mary’s. Honestly, we just have it all. We’re the boy dad’s want their daughters to marry. I almost forgot.. We CATER! Believe it or not, this is a huge deal nowadays. It’s so fast and easy, all you have to do is order. We take care of the rest.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We have so much potential as a company that the possibilities are truly endless. As of 2019, we have two stores in Tempe and Scottsdale. In the next five to ten years I can see us opening five to six more stores in the valley, and that is our goal. It is so important to me that we don’t lose who we are in the process, so I’m looking forward to being there and watching it unfold, all while keeping our fun, funky, groovy style and incredible hospitality. One trend that we love and will continue to stick with is having an open-air bar. That’s a bar that’s half inside and half outside. This gives such a relaxing and comfortable vibe to the restaurant and allows a ton of patio seating, which we LOVE.

Pricing:

• Bottomless Mimosas $15
• Mimosa Flights with flavors (3 mimosas total) $9
• T-shirts $19-$23

Contact Info:

• Address: Scottsdale Location:
  4233 N Scottsdale Rd
  Scottsdale, AZ 85251
  phone: (480)945-4669Tempe Location:
  690 S Mill suite 110
  Tempe, AZ 85281
  phone: (480)264-4688
• Website: morningsqueeze.com
• Email: catering@morningsqueeze.com
• Instagram: @morningsqueeze
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MorningSqueezeScottsdale
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/morning-squeeze-scottsdale

Image Credit:
Jaryn Oakley
Carlos Reason
Joseph Ortega-Mendoza
Margherita Chandler
Todd Belfer
Cory McCloskey
Danielle Williams
Brad Perry
Maria Hechanova

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