Mark Lessing

Executive Vice President, Lessing’s Hospitality Group

Mark Lessing is executive vice president of Lessing’s Hospitality Group, a sixth-generation family-owned restaurant, catering and food service business, and a member of its executive committee. Lessing oversees the company’s restaurant operations, managing the 125+ year-old company’s portfolio of food-and-beverage properties that took shape in the 1980s through a string of acquisitions of Main Street restaurants and cafes along the South Shore. In more recent years, Lessing has gently nudged the company’s brand towards fine dining through the acquisition of historic properties like the 1751 Three Village Inn in Stony Brook and Guy Reuge’s classic French restaurant Mirabelle. Lessing’s most recent projects include the construction of the three-star restaurant Sandbar in Cold Spring Harbor, the rollout of the first Manhattan location of Blaze Fast Fire’d Pizza, and the development of Hatch, a new brunch concept in downtown Huntington. Lessing started out as a teenager in the family business washing dishes at the Firehouse Restaurant in downtown Bay Shore. From there he moved on to work at various beach concessions, bartended at multiple Lessing’s restaurants and eventually worked his way through the ranks to become general manager of the historic Post Office Café in Babylon. He also served as general manager of the Library Café in Farmingdale. He also handles franchising operations for the company. Outside the office, Lessing is an active member of the MPS Society, enjoys boating, CrossFit and cooking.