Since 2006, Caswell Restaurant Group has developed and operated durable restaurant concepts that have earned impressive accolades for evocative menus that tell stories through food, inventive international wine lists featuring undiscovered gems from small batch wineries, and exceptional guest service experiences. The company’s reputation as respected culinary leader is the work of powerhouse proprietor and wine aficionado Nancy Batista-Caswell, whose success record is testament to her savvy in designing modern restaurant offerings that match contemporary diner values and preferences.

Nancy is a StarChefs’ Rising Star Restaurateur of Coastal New England alumna, a prescient predictor of the coveted invitations, expert speaker requests, and many “best” awards she and her team have received. She has led teams to cook for the James Beard Foundation and Nantucket Wine Festival, and her restaurants were chosen among three statewide to represent Massachusetts’ star dining destinations for a national travel and tourism media event. Accolades have come from Wine Spectator, Forbes, USA Today, FSR, Boston Magazine, Northshore Magazine, Boston Globe, Hemispheres, ABC-TV’s Chronicle, Phantom Gourmet, and the Boston Business Journal. Her company proudly retains original employees, purveyors, and patrons.

As restaurateurs navigated 2020 whipsawed by the moving target of the pandemic’s impact to their livelihoods, Nancy plunged into advocacy for the industry she loves from its front lines, her perspectives as an independent restaurateur adding credibility to her impassioned plea for urgent interventional government rescue of this second largest segment of the US service economy and its displaced workforce. In 2021 and in recognition of her ambassadorship, Nancy accepted appointment as the executive director of the Massachusetts Restaurant Union (MRU), a statewide restaurant advocacy coalition whose mission of securing emergency funding through federal resources proved the country’s most effective campaign.