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For 15 years, we’ve been designing restaurants, hotels, and places that endure the test of trends.

01. About

Cohere is a creative agency turned co-creator with hospitality . Since 2009, we’ve served our concepts with a multi-hyphenate team of thought partners. Chefs turned advisors, designers fluent in hotel operations, project managers with entrepreneurial instincts, and founders who now invest alongside clients. That range helps us surface strategies others miss, while shaping concepts that define our culture.

Founders and operators come to us at pivotal moments, some with long track records, others with nothing more than a strong idea. What they share is vision. What we bring is a way forward.

Our range of expertise has led to collaborations with Keith McNally (Pastis Miami, Minetta Tavern DC), Stephen Starr (40+ concepts), Michael Schulson Collective, Wythe Hotel, Lifehouse Hotels, Davidson Hotels, and a rising generation of founders building the next wave of hospitality.

Cohere’s hybrid-remote imprint spans New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Miami, with more than 400M sf of real estate transformed—revitalizing places while creating brands that honor history, culture, and community. At our core, we specialize in spaces that transform: tactile, story-rich environments that leave a lasting mark.

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02. Our Team

Antoinette, founder of Cohere, empowers independent brands in food, hospitality, and real estate. With a background in urban planning and GIS, she taught herself branding and launched Cohere during the recession to help developers reposition properties through creative activations. Her work has gained recognition from top professionals and chefs, highlighting food's role in shaping neighborhoods. Today, she leads a world-class team, providing dedicated care to every client, from independent owners to industry leaders.

Antoinette Marie Johnson

Founder

An advisor to food entrepreneurs from concept through growth to exit. Founder of Tender Greens, Chef and restaurateur who scaled to 30+ locations, exiting with the sale to Danny Meyer. Erik's advice is paramount to strategic plans in this pivotal moment for food brands. He guides with the values he has maintained throughout his career; organic, locally grown always and regenerative wherever possible. His contribution ranges from raising capital, crafting menus and helping coach leadership teams into this new era of food.

Erik Oberholtzer

Advisor

Chris is a natural leader who connects both small businesses and established brands with the right tools, strategy, and process to realize their goals in a low-stress, collaborative relationship.

Chris Richards

Partner, Dir. of Business Development

Katie sees the throughline - translating vision into smart strategy, sharp messaging, and meaningful momentum for both internal team and partner clients.

Katie Marshall

Strategic Communications Director

Darryl brings decades of experience in brand, creative, and operations—shaped by work with Faena, The Standard, Fendi, and André Balazs Properties. He helps hospitality teams build concepts with cultural edge and precision across every part of the guest experience.

Darryl Gibson

Hospitality Advisor — Brand, Creative & Operations

Isabella approaches strategy like an editor—curious, exacting, and always in search of the deeper cut. She brings cultural nuance, layered thinking, and a distinct point of view to every brand she touches.

Isabella Gomez

Brand Strategist & Editorial Lead

Hospitality consultant, creator, designer, operator, and fixer with 16+ years of experience across operations, marketing, and branding to create and reinvent some of the industry’s most impactful and unique hotels, bars, and restaurants.

Mac Warren

Designer

Kylee builds distinctive brand identities rooted in clarity and craft. She combines design precision with a deep sensitivity to story, helping brands articulate who they are through visuals that resonate and endure.

Kylee Hickmott

Designer

Dan brings 7+ years of experience to brand systems, user experience, and product design — shaped by impact-driven solutions at Wrkhrs, Barrel's Vaulted Oak, Thorough, and Polygraph.

Dan Flounders

Designer

03. Our ideal clients are small teams that are excited about their work and trust us to help them get to where they want to be, with clear communication and open-minded collaboration.

  • All
  • Products
  • Real Estate
  • Retail
  • Hotels
  • Food
  • Aaji's Food
  • Archive Development
  • Bonde Mercado
  • Brick Capital
  • Buccini/Pollin Group
  • Canopy by Hilton
  • Crescent Hotels
  • Davidson Hospitality
  • Di Bruno Bros
  • Food Forever
  • Good Neighbor
  • Google
  • Graduate Hotels
  • Grotto Social Baths
  • Hersha Hospitality
  • HipCityVeg
  • Home Appétit
  • Honest Greens
  • Hotel Anna & Bel
  • Keith McNally
  • Le Zette
  • Life House Hotels
  • Longfellow Real Estate
  • Lucy Mercer Bar
  • Mamahuhu
  • Marquis & Co.
  • Marriott
  • MCB Real Estate
  • Minetta Tavern (DC)
  • Oceano Kitchen
  • One Table
  • Otaku Ramen
  • Pastis (Miami)
  • Riverwards Market
  • Saxum Real Estate
  • Schulson Collective
  • Seawall
  • STARR Restaurants
  • Tender Greens
  • The Butcher’s Daughter
  • The Crop Trust
  • Wexford
  • WRT Design
  • Valley Forge Coffee
Team members in the office
A Network Shaped by Expertise

Partners in Practice

Cohere operates as an extension of our partners. We build teams around each brief, drawing from our roster of designers, operators, chefs, and advisors, so every project benefits from specialized expertise.

Our projects gained international recognition from these organizations and publications...

04. Recognition

Change Culture

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