Paul Fields is a principal of Restaurant Financial Services, LLC and Restaurant Development Services, Inc. He has more than 25 years of experience in finance, real estate and restaurant transactions.

Paul received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York. After spending one year in the aviation industry, he was accepted to the graduate program in Real Estate and Urban Development at The American University from where he received a Master of Science degree.
In 1984, Paul joined the mortgage banking firm of Walker & Dunlop where he was responsible for making real estate loans on behalf of institutional lenders such as insurance companies and pension funds. Mortgage banking gave Mr. Fields the skills necessary to effectively represent the interests of institutional investors in the finance process.

In 1988, Paul formed Windgate Properties, Inc. which specialized in commercial mortgage brokerage and sales. The general real estate and mortgage practice quickly turned into a restaurant leasing boutique. Windgate placed several highly visible restaurant deals in Washington, DC, among which were I Matti, Pines of Florence and Star of Siam. In the process of preparing restaurant tenants for presentation to landlords, business plan preparation and financing developed into distinct services provided by Windgate.

In 1989, Paul became a founding partner with master chef and restaurateur Roberto Donna in I Matti Restaurant. He was involved in all phases of the development process including finance, design and liquor license application. Paul was also an equity owner in Roberto’s extremely successful Il Radicchio, a chain of low price-point pasta restaurants. He placed the financing of most of the units and was the contract Chief Financial Officer for several years.

To fill the obvious need for consulting and financing services, Paul formed Restaurant Development Services, Inc. in April 1994. Restaurant Development Services works with restaurateurs on strategic planning and preparing business plans in the start-up, expansion or emerging growth phases of the restaurant development process. Financial services include debt as well as private placements.

In January 1998, Paul joined Sam & Harry’s as Chief Financial Officer. The fine-dining steak house grew from two units to five within four years. As CFO, he directed an institutional debt placement of $4,500,000. Paul was responsible for all day-to-day financial functions including accounting, budgeting, administration and cash management, as well as all administrative and human resources tasks.

Returning to Restaurant Development Services in February 2002, Paul added his experience as Chief Financial Officer to the services previously provided. Current contract CFO assignments include Austin Grills, Inc., Zaytinya, Jaleo, Oyamel and Café Atlantico.

Restaurant Financial Services, LLC was formed by a joint venture between Paul and Jason Righter that was started in 2006 to provide specialized bookkeeping services to restaurant companies. Teaming with Jason Righter, an experienced restaurant accountant, they developed procedures to allow restaurant owners to concentrate on running their restaurants. The full-charge bookkeeping services include data entry, accounts payable processing, payroll oversight, general ledger entry, fixed-asset maintenance and periodic reporting to municipal agencies.

Paul’s other activities include education and charitable work. He was an adjunct professor of business administration at L’Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, Maryland for 11 semesters and continues to speak on such topics as restaurant financing and financial statements. Mr. Fields is involved in the task of combating hunger and he is on the board of directors of both DC Central Kitchen and Campus Kitchen Project. Paul lives with his wife, Karen, and twins, Noah and Remy, in Bethesda, Maryland.