Mary Swiger

Mary’s career in the hospitality industry took her from her home state of Michigan all the way to Hawaii — where she spent three years on Oahu and almost 27 on Maui. After nearly three decades in the Aloha State, she moved to San Antonio in 2018 to be closer to her niece. That same year, she briefly returned to Maui to help with a staffing issue at her longtime job at the renowned Lahaina Grill. As luck would have it, Bliss proprietors Mark and Lisa Bliss were visiting Maui at the same time and ended up sitting in Mary’s section.

“I’d always ask, ‘Are you visiting Maui? Where are you from?’ And Mark and Lisa replied ‘San Antonio.’ I said, ‘I know this probably sounds silly, but I live in San Antonio now too.’ And Mark said, ‘Well, when you get back to San Antonio, look me up.’”

As she was accustomed to working in an independently owned, guest-centered restaurant with a close-knit staff, Mary’s transition to working at Bliss was a smooth one. “It felt a lot like home,” she says.

A dog lover who enjoys gardening and working on home improvement projects, Mary echoes Brittany’s sentiments about the Bliss team and work environment: “Mark and Lisa are amazing to work for. They genuinely care about their staff. And the staff definitely takes an ownership in the restaurant. That usually happens when you have a restaurant with a great reputation, a great product and great guests. You want to take ownership of it, because you want to be a part of something like that.”