Hidden Gems: Meet Ben Rosen of Bourbon’s Craft Kitchen & Bar

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Rosen.

Hi Ben, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I went to school at Brandeis University and majored in Business & Psychology. Graduated and went into financial advising for a year, but quickly left that industry when I realized I needed to pick my career, not just a job I was doing for money. My passion was in environmentalism, but I wanted to do something professional and career driven, which is limited in that industry, and I decided to go into renewable energy. For the next 6 years, I worked in renewable energy finance, doing tax equity structured finance at renewable energy companies to help utility scale solar, wind, and battery storage sites get funding. After saving up for years, and numerous previous “side hustles”, I found the opportunity to acquire Bourbon’s Craft Kitchen & Bar, and it seemed like a perfect fit for me. I decided to take the leap, and bought the restaurant. After 5 months in operations, and 80 hour work weeks to do both my finance job and run the restaurant, I decided to quit my finance job and manage the restaurant full time.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
A lot of things have worked out in my favor, but there were certainly some speed bumps. I jumped around a few jobs in the 6 years after college, trying to find the right fit, but I dont think I could because I was in big corporate roles, when I think my passion was more in entrepreneurship. Then I had to save up the cash to invest in a business, and that took a left turn when one of my previous ventures, an e-commerce business where I had invested in a third party company who ran hundreds of Amazon/Walmart store-fronts, ended up getting shut down, derailing my plans and resulting in me having to pivot to recover my funds. And then even taking this leap of faith and going full time into the restaurant business with no guaranteed income, and not having a set salary/pay for the first time in my life was a big risk with plenty of stress, as I dont have family money or anything to fall back on. It’s all or nothing.

We’ve been impressed with Bourbon’s Craft Kitchen & Bar, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The business is an upscale-casual classic American styled restaurant. We have a large selection of over 250 bourbons that rotate, many of which cannot be acquired by individuals. But bourbon aside, our food is phenomenal, and we are worth a visit just for the dining experience. The previous owner opened the downtown location in 2024, and I acquired it in May 2026. What sets us apart besides the bourbon selection are 3 things. The food is phenomenal, the ambiance is incredibly unique, and most importantly (as you can see from our reviews), we pride ourselves on our staff. We ensure we hire the best staff in Cincinnati, all extremely friendly, which has resulted in us having a super tight knit staff that truly sees each other as a family, and we arent just saying that. And our guests have left reviews relaying that they can tell how great our staff is, and that the tight knit bond we share is reflected in their dining experience. I am most proud of continuing to maintain this company culture and continue to support such great staff.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
What has helped me get this far would be a few things. I think the 2 biggest personal characteristics would be that I care about being a good person and doing what’s right, and that I refuse to fail. I think a lot of people now, especially in business, dont prioritize doing the right thing, but I very much care about doing what is right, and I think karma has paid off in that regard. And then things obviously go wrong in business all the time, but I have always approached issues with the mindset of “I will figure it out and succeed, the question is how”. So when things go materially wrong, and I face bad business situations, I keep a calm head and know that i’m going to figure out how to pivot and turn a bad situation into a good one.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bourbonskitchencincinnati.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bourbonscincinnati
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BourbonsCincinnati
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-rosen57/
• Other: https://www.opentable.com/r/bourbons-craft-kitchen-and-bar-downtown-cincinnati