Xavier Teixido

Xavier Teixido was born in Asuncion, Paraguay and moved to the United States as a child with his family. While attending the University of Delaware where he studied agriculture, Xavier began his restaurant career as a cook with the Harry M. Stevens Company at the Brandywine Racetrack in Wilmington, Delaware. From there, he went on to positions of Chef and General Manager at the Frog and Commissary restaurants in Philadelphia and served as Managing Director in New Orleans at Ella and Dick Brennan's Commander's Palace (it was here that he worked with Chef Emeril Lagasse). Xavier returned home to Wilmington in 1984 where he co-founded the 1492 Hospitality Group which included Harry's Savoy Grill, which he purchased outright in 1993. In 1998, Harry's expanded to include Harry's Savoy Ballroom and in 2003, Xavier opened Harry's Seafood Grill in partnership with Chef David Leo Banks on Wilmington's Riverfront.

Teixido has served as the Chairman of the National Restaurant Association (2002-2003), is former president of the Delaware Restaurant Association and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. In 1999, he was named the Delaware Restaurateur of the Year and was recipient of Delaware's first Cornerstone Award in 2003. Xavier also serves at the pleasure of the Governor of Delaware on the state's Tourism Advisory Board and is a member of the University of Delaware's HRIM Advisory Board. Past service includes acting as the NRA/NRAEF's representative to the Multi-Cultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance Board of Directors and serving the Riverfront Development Corporation.

Xavier chairs annually the Harry's Hospitality Scholarship Golf Outing benefiting the Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Management Department at the University of Delaware and with David Leo Banks is co-chair of Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation in Delaware.Mr. Teixido is the treasurer of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.