Our Story
Few in New York can claim that the hospitality world hasn’t profoundly impacted their relationship to the city. For those of us at Back-House, that is felt even more deeply. We were all raised peripheral to the restaurant world, building careers in tech and finance while occasionally having run-ins with this complicated background character. We learned early on what a great restaurant means to a neighborhood, and later what it looks like when one disappears.
The spots we loved didn't close because they lost their edge but because no owner can do everything at once.
Back-House was built to sit on the other side of that problem. The industry has plenty of point solutions, and today's pace of change makes it harder than ever to know what's worth your attention and what's just noise. We sit alongside operators as the bridge between current state and long-term ambition — supplying over a decades experience of company growth so the restaurants that deserve to thrive actually do.
Our Team
Alec Sottosanti
Alec Sottosanti is the founder and CEO of Back-House. His career was built at Fortune 500 firms (Deutsche Bank and Salesforce) and rapidly scaling startups (Bilt Rewards and Spring Health), where he focused on growth strategy, forecasting, and operational efficiency. Over the last decade, he led multimillion-dollar expansions and drove forecasting for high-velocity sales and trading teams.
In 2024, he turned his attention to the restaurant industry, extending his experience to restaurants who wanted structure behind their ambition. Alec lives in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, where he eats his way through Atlantic Ave and maintains his Diamond-level status with the MTA.
Shannon Armstrong, CPA
Shannon leads finance partnerships at Back-House, advising restaurant operators on tax strategy, financial controls, and tech integrations. With over a decade of experience in accounting, financial analysis, and tax compliance, she holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and currently serves as Associate Director in Columbia University's Office of the Controller. Her ability to translate complex financials into clear, actionable guidance makes her an invaluable partner to the founders and operators she works with.
She also recently traveled to Las Vegas to see the Backstreet Boys at the Sphere, which she maintains was a completely reasonable decision.