Today's surprise guest is my good friend Dima Shovkoplyas from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Dima is the Bar Manager and the Co-Owner of Parovoz SpeakEasy Bar. He is the founder of the Parovoz Mixology Course and Committee Member in Spirited awards. 

Among many things that he is doing during this period, Dima gave an amazing interview where he shared some of his hospitality secrets.

If you want to find out more, follow:

Parovoz Spreakeasy: https://www.instagram.com/parovozspeakeasy/

Parovoz Mixology Course: https://www.facebook.com/parovozmixologycourse

Parovoz Chips - parovozchips.com

Steve Schneider has earned a reputation as one of the most respected and successful bartenders in the industry. Of his seventeen years professionally crafting cocktails, he has spent the last twelve building his career at one of the most highly esteemed NYC cocktail bars, Employees Only, which in 2011 won the coveted “World’s Best Cocktail Bar” award at Tales of the Cocktail.  In June of 2016, he became a partner in Employees Only Singapore, the company’s first expansion outside of NYC. During his time in Singapore, Employees Only has been listed as one of Asia’s 50 Best Bars each year of its existence, and Steve was in the top ten amongst nominees for “International Bartender of the Year” at Tales of the Cocktail.

Find more of Steve’s work:

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/mightyschneidey/

Employees only https://www.instagram.com/employeesonlysg/

Elysian Café: https://www.instagram.com/elysiancafehoboken/

In today’s episode I don’t have one surprise guest but two surprise guests and cocktail Hospitality Industry legends Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller

THEY TRACED THE FIRST USE OF THE WORD "COCKTAIL" TO 1798 ON LONDON'S DOWNING STREET. THEY KNOW WHERE THE SAVOY'S HARRY CRADDOCK IS BURIED. THEY DISCOVERED HARRY JOHNSON'S TRUE BIRTHPLACE AND GRAVESITE PLUS KNOW HOW THE BLOODY MARY AND THE RED SNAPPER GOT THEIR NAMES.

The inseparable cocktail couple, Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller, are the directors of Mixellany Limited®, a consultancy and publishing company that specialises in anything and everything to do with spirits and mixed drinks. During the course of their 25+ year collaboration, Miller and Brown have written more than 30 books including  Shaken Not Stirred®: A Celebration of the Martini,Champagne Cocktails, Cuban Cocktails, Spirit of the Cane, The Mixellany Guide to Vermouth & Other Aperitifs, and The Deans of Drink. (source mixellany.com)

📕 Find out what they are up to here: 

http://www.mixellany.com 

http://www.euvslibrary.com 

https://darkhorsebar.co.uk 

https://cryingwolf.co.uk 

https://sipsmith.com

Pour yourself a cocktail and enjoy this episode full of #HospitalitySecrets

Cheers!

P.S.

In this episode I talk about the Progresion of Economic Value during history: from Extracting Commodities to Making Goods to Delivering Services to Staging Experiences

In this episode I’ll share a theory (and a few stories) about how to make a party that is fun and memorable for the guests.

In today’s episode I’ll share a few toughts about how to increase your speed by improving your efficiency in the Peak Hours of your business

In today’s episode I’ll share the framework I learned on how to become a better and more complex F.O.H. employee.

Last dimension of Hospitality Intelligence. In this episode we’ll talk about the importance of gratitude.

Sixth out of seven dimensions of Hospitality Intelligence. In this episode I’ll share the story on how I experimented kindness and unkindness when I started working in the Hospitality Industry

The fifth out of seven dimensions of Hospitality Intelligence. In this episode I’ll share the story on how I learned the importance of Empathy in Hospitality Industry.

The forth out of seven dimension of Hospitality Intelligence. In this episode you’ll find out how to get the Respect you deserve.

The third out of seven dimensions of Hospitality Intelligence. In this episode I’ll share some ideas on how to create more Regulars, FASTER!

The second out of seven dimensions of Hospitality Intelligence. In this episode I’ll share a roadmap on how to improve the first impression that your guests are getting from your business.

Today's #SurpriseGuest is Alexey Kostenyuk from Kiev, Ukraine who shares his #HospitalitySecrets with us.

Alexey is the Diageo Premium Core Ambassador for Ukraine and an international consultant with ongoing projects in Turkey, Odessa and Kiev. Beside consulting and ambassador stuff, he is working on the opening of his own bar (Angels Bar 🤭) and soon he'll launch his new brand of Lemonades and Sodas. 

So, enjoy this episode and find out more of Alexey's secrets about Hospitality.

Cheers!

P.S.

Follow and connect with Alexey: 

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexey_kostenyuk/

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexey.kostenyuk

The first out of seven dimensions of Hospitality Inteligence. In today’s episode, we’ll talk about how can you (or your staff) become more enthusiastic.

In this episode we’ll talk about the Hospitality Inteligence Concept wich will help you to develop hospitable habits in your team in order to offer positive and delightful hospitality experiences to your guests

In this episode I’ll go a few a few layers deeper in the concept of Hospitality

In today’s episode I’ll share a strategy from Danny Meyer on how to considerably increase the chances that your business will achieve Excellence, Success, Good Will and Soul.

In today’s episode I'll share the story on how I learned that hiring costs, but bad hiring costs more.

In today’s story I’ll share a strategy on how to improve the silent salesperson of your business

In this episode I’ll share a story about the importance of the VALUES

In this episode we’ll discuss about how to create an effective service strategy that will let you offer remarkable services to your guests.

In this episode I’ll share the leason I learned from the failure with my first consulting firm

In today’s story I’ll share an important lesson that I learned on time management

Today’s #SurpriseGuest is Vlad Gora from Iasi, Romania who shares his #secrets with us.

As a small child, at the family gatherings he was the entertainer. Vlad was the one making everybody laugh, helping his mother cooking and being the host without even knowing it.

After he grew up, he went in a work and travel program where he felt in love with bartending. It only took one SMILE from a couple when he was doing his first cocktail to fall in love with this industry. He felt in love with the idea of being able to make people happy.

Then he worked a lot in dive bars. After a few years he started going to cocktail competition. Then he started working in different venues in the Hospitality Industry, but mostly in clubs. Soon he was working in some of the biggest clubs in the country. At some point he dedicated 100% to this profession and started working in a nice cocktail bar (Oddity), cocktail bar and there he started preparing for World Class Competition. He won the National Finals that year and represented Romania at the Global Finals in Berlin.

After the World Class experience he was offered the opportunity to work as a brand ambassador where he learned the other side of the Hospitality Industry: brands, sales, trainings, production, etc.

Everything Vlad did was intense and full of passion. He did the same with this episode. So, relax and enjoy Vlad’s #HospitalitySecrets.

Cheers!

P.S.

In this episode I’ll share the lesson I learned about time

In this episode I’ll share one of my epic fails that transformed in a big lesson and a memorable experience.

In this episode I’m sharing the Multysensory Cookbook Framework that together with Biro we developed to help the staff to easily learn the menu

Today I’ll share the story from which I learned how to identify and sell the most profitable products from your menu.

In this episode I’ll share the story on how I learned to Track and Increase PROFIT. 💰

In this episode we'll talk about the Framework that me and my associate (Biro) developed to deliver  Memorable Hospitality Experiences to your Guests.

In this episode I'll share the story from which I found out which are the first 2 aspects we need to understand and improve if we want a Sustainable Business in Hospitality Industry

In this episode I'll share the EGO problems that I faced in the Hospitality Industry

In this episode I share a story from which I realized the importance of starting with the end in mind when you want to create a new menu.

In this episode I'm sharing a story where I learned the most important principle when it comes to training somebody.

Today’s #Guest is Mihai Ostafi from London and we’ll discover some #HospitalitySecrets from his fast journey

As a passionate bartender, Mihai is the Head Bartender of the Oriole Bar but he’s doing some many independent projects.

Mihai was born in Romania

His bartender carrier began back home almost 10 years ago in Arad.

After a few years of working as a bartender in his hometown he left and started working for Royal Caribbean Cruise line for 2 years as a mixologist, traveling around the world and working most of the time. Then he moved in London and his first job was a new opening, "Skygarden" situated on the top floors of the Walkie Talkie building . He started as a bartender and quickly moved to senior bartender and then head bartender. After almost one year in Skygarden, he got the opportunity to do a another major opening:

Oriole bar. Oriole, the brother of renowned Nightjar, from its first year already entered the 50 world's best bars. He learned a lot and from bartender he became senior bartender and the Head Bartender in Oriole.

Together with Mihai, in this episode we’ll discuss about what does it take to succeed in the Hospitality Industry

In this podcast I will talk about How I learned to speak in english, even thou english it's not my first language and I'm not very good at it, without feeling embarrassed any more.

In this episode I'm sharing my backstory and the reason WHY I do what I do and WHY I started this daily Podcast. 

Today’s #SurpriseGuest is Katalin Bene who shares his #HospitalitySecrets with us.

Katalin is a well-traveled hospitality professional, with over 15 years of bartending experience.

She has dedicated her professional life to ensuring guests have amazing experiences in the bars in which she works.

First, she made a name for herself in London, as the Bar Manager of the Gibson Bar, then as Bar Manager of the Voodoo Reyes cocktail bar in Geneva.

She is a creative dynamo, or the “Swiss Tornado”, as some industry peers nicknamed her.

• Falstaff Magazine "Bar Woman of the Year" Award, 2019.
• ”Mixology Bar Awards” – Shortlisted in the Top 4 Bartenders of 2019.
• BRIFT Bar Convent "Best Mixologist Award", 2018.
• ”World Class Bartender of the Year” 2018, Switzerland.
• Global Finalist Diageo World Class Competition 2018.
• Winner of International Team Competition “De Kuyper Bar Fights”, 2015.

She’s happiest when her guests are happy, and her daily aim is to offer a memorable experience to everyone who walks into her bar.

Relax and listen to this episode to discover some of Kata’s hospitality #secrets.

Cheers!

P.S.

Today’s #SurpriseGuest is Diego Ferrari who shares his #HospitalitySecrets with us. Mixologist, Author of the World Prized Book “Low Alcohol Cocktails-New Frontier in Mixology “ and Creator of the famous group of Facebook Cocktail Art, the largest photo group of the world’s cocktails, discovering a natural talent in marketing through social networks, where today thousands of bartenders follow him around the world. Mentioned as #5 in the ranking of the Best Italian Brand Ambassadors in the Italian Bar Awards by Bargiornale in 2019. In 2020 Drink International Magazine mentioned him as the #83 in the ranking of the 100 World Most Influential Person in the bar industry. Last but not least, representing Matusalem Rum he had the honor to be included as one of the Top 10 Nominee as International Brand Ambassador in the Tales Of The Cocktails Spirit Awards 2020. Currently Europe Rum Barista for Matusalem. So, relax and click play to enjoy this episode of Hospitality Secrets Podcast. Cheers! P.S.

Today we have a Surprise Episode!

Sean Finter is the person who influenced my career in so many different ways. That's why I had so many questions to ask him, so we decided to do another episode. 

In this episode, Sean goes even deeper and shares some amazing #Secret strategies for running a successful business in Hospitality Industry.

In this episode, Sean shares some secret tools to help you run a world class bar/restaurant, so don't miss it. Click play and enjoy some mind-blowing  #HospitalitySecrets.

Cheers!

P.S.

Today’s #SurpriseGuest is Sean Finter who shares his #HospitalitySecrets with us.

Sean started working in Hospitality Industry at 13 years old at the Truck Stop in Canada.

In Canada being super cold in the winter, he had a dream job for that age, as a dishwasher, he was staying at heat near the dishwasher, pretty girls and discount at food.

He eagerly worked his way up to bartending in Toronto and then to multi-site management in London, England before landing in Australia. This is where he built his own small empire of eight bars & restaurants in Sydney. With each stop, he not only beat the odds but he outperformed the market by multiples. When he sold his bar group at the age of 33, he started Barmetrix to teach other operators the systems and techniques that made him successful. Since 1999, the Barmetrix team has served over 8,000 operation teams around the world, helping them to improve their business and increase their profitability .

If you want to hear Sean’s #Secrets , click play and enjoy!

Cheers! 🥂

P.S.

Today’s #SurpriseGuest is Kenji Jesse who shares his #HospitalitySecrets with us. ‼️ Kenji is a big fan of 80/20 Pareto Principle, so this episode is only 20 minutes of valuable information. Kenji is a #consultant in the luxury drinks industry with over 19 years experience advising and activating for Global on-trade brands. His work has taken him to over 70 countries, collaborating with some of the largest Alcohol and bar brands in the World such as Diageo Reserve, Monin and Smirnoff.  With a focus on Luxury, he has run experiential activation’s from London, New York, Tokyo and Moscow. His Consultancy, Nomu|Consult, reflects his half Japanese and half British heritage respecting the Japanese Ethos of Kaizen and the British principles of confidence and boldness. Kenji’s claim to fame is that in 2013, he was asked to facilitate 2 Guinness World Records at a Diageo Europe conference in Barcelona, hosting the “World’s Largest cocktail lesson” (1,774 people) and “The largest number of people simultaneously shaking a cocktail” (1,710 people). Having spent time in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, the past few years he has focused on the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He grew and mentored a team of 23 Reserve Brand Ambassadors across a network of 32 distributer markets, building their KPIs and train-the-trainer capability development. If you want to hear Kenji’s #Secrets, put your headphones, relax and enjoy this episode! Cheers! P.S.

Today’s #SurpriseGuest is David Rios who shares his #HospitalitySecrets with us. With a long history in #HospitalityIndustry , David shares a lot of secrets with us, so this episode is a bit longer that usual (1h 41min). With a long background as a football player, David started working in the Hospitality Industry as a bar owner. Soon he realizes that there are a lot of things to learn in this industry. In his first days behind the bar, he was learning how to mix drinks from his guests. They were telling him what to pour. Slowly he felt in love with this job and he started learning the craft of mixing drinks. After a while, David started participating in Cocktail Competitions. His motivation was to learn more from his competitors but to his surprise, he managed to win a few competitions. His participation in Cocktail Competitions culminated with winning the title of Best Bartender in the World in 2013 at the World Class competition. If you want to find out more about David’s journey and projects, check his website https://davidriosexperience.com But if you want to hear more of Davids’s #Secrets, put your headphones, get comfortable, relax and enjoy this #HospitalitySecrets episode. Cheers! P.S.

Vasilis was born in Piraeus, Athens’ hectic and industrial port area. An area once described as rough and ready, it’s undergoing a transformation. After finishing school, he moved to the centre of Athens, where he studied nursing and begun working in clubs, for the dual purpose of meeting people and making extra cash.

Bartenders aren’t always the club types, but Kyritsis claims working in a club came in mighty handy later on. “You had to work quickly, serving a lot of people whilst smiling,” he says. “Without the extra positive of serving cocktails, all we had was our good mood to convince people to drink more and more. In short, working in clubs makes you more humble and polite.” After working at Athens Island Club in 2006, he moved over to the famous Gin Joint, before opening up The Clumsies in late 2014.

Just before he opened his own bar, there’s two major formative experiences worth noting. In 2012 Vasilis was crowned national World Class champion, before going on to compete in the global finals in Rio de Janeiro. Diageo’s annual mass-bartender bout was an experience he savoured – both for making industry connections and learning about himself as a bartender. Another defining event was going to Tony Conigliaro’s Drink Factory in London, where he learnt how “bartenders can combine classic bartending with modern bartending.”

“The Clumsies is a traditional type of Greek place,” he explains, moving onto his current bar he opened up in 2014 with Nikos Bakoulis – a fellow bartender and the Greek World Class Winner in 2011 – and Lefteris Georgopoulos, Thanos Tsounakas and Giorgos Kaissaris. Open early with specialty coffee and breakfast food curated by Michelin Star chef Nikos Karathanos. Two floors encompass both a high volume bar and the 10 tabled “Room” upstairs where attendees can receive personalized drinks. There’s a lab too for innovation.

“One of the reasons we named the bar The Clumsies is that I have always had a touch of clumsiness. I drop things sometimes,” he laughs. “Clumsies means something more comfortable for our guests. It makes you feel more comfortable again. Nobody likes perfect people.”

Find Vasilis work:

Fb ► https://www.facebook.com/kiritsis.vasilis1

Insta ► https://www.instagram.com/bkyritsis/

The Clumsies:

► https://www.instagram.com/the_clumsies/

► https://www.theclumsies.gr

Hustler:

► https://www.instagram.com/hustler.greece/

► https://hustler.com.gr

Otto’s Vermouth:

► https://www.instagram.com/ottos_athens_vermouth/

► http://www.athensvermouth.com

Today’s #SurpriseGuest is Eddie Rudzinskas who shares his hospitality secrets with us.

Eddie is the Founder and the Owner of Cocktails_For_You platform.

Being very passionate about cocktails, he started a personal blog on facebook 9 years ago. He wanted a place where he can share his two big passions: cocktails and photography. Slowly this small passions transformed into his full time work.

Eddie started working in the Hospitality Industry at the age of 17. He worked in all types of bars and restaurants on all positions.

Born in Lithuania, 14 years ago he moved to Ireland where he joined the local Bartender Association and from that moment on he started to participate in many national and international Cocktail Competitions following his love for cocktails.

Slowly he cultivated also his passion for photography, he learned the secrets of that craft and around 2 years ago, e quit his job and dedicated 100% to Cocktails_For_You. His passion transformed in his Job.

If you want to hear more of Eddie’s secrets, put your headphones, get comfortable and enjoy this #HospitalitySecrets episode.

Cheers!🥂

P.S.

Today’s Surprise Guest is Viteszlav Cirok who shares his hospitality secrets with us.

I met Vita in the year that I was competing to World Class in 2015, he was representing Czech Republic and he managed to be in the top 6 bartenders in that year in the World Class Global Competition.

Born in a small city, 400 km from Prague he moves to capital and start working in Hospitality Industry. Soon he felt in love with the craft and dedicates all his time and energy in becoming better and better. Slowly he became a bartending legend in Czech.

In the present, together with his team he is running his own Bar Consulting company - Apollo. They are doing also Pre-Batch Cocktails (http://apollodrinks.cz/) and work on their own batched product. Inspired by Apollo program, they think about opening Space (a Lab for their products and a space to teach the new generation of bartenders).

Find out more #Secrets by listening to the whole episode. 🎙

If you don’t want to miss any hospitality secrets, follow and subscribe to Hospitality Secrets Podcast

Cheers! 🥂

P.S.

Today’s special Guest is Danil Nevsky who shares his hospitality secrets with us.

‼️ This is a longer episode. Danil had a lot of value to share so we decided to go a bit longer than usual.

Danil began his journey in Hospitality at the age of 15 in Scotland where he started working as a waiter for weddings. Soon he started working as a bartender in different bars (one of the bars he worked for 2 years was in an ex church).

At the age of 22 he was the General Manager in a big club, being in charge of 62 people but he soon realizes that he liked bartending more so he returns to bartending and start going to cocktail competitions. After 23 competitions with no remarkable results, he started getting some good results, culminating with 1st place at Bols Around The World in Uk.

He moves to Amsterdam where he becomes the creative force behind the worlds 18th best cocktail bar: Tales & Spirits Cocktail Bar.

Being very ambitious, he decides to be the best bartender in the world but he couldn’t make the world come to him so he decides to go to the world so he starts The Vagabond Project so he started to work and travel around the world: in 16 months he traveled in 11 countries working in 11 bars (crazy!!)

After this insane journey he joins his forces to develop the worlds biggest bartender social media platform: Cocktails For You.

Recently he took his own path and started the Indie Bartender project with the purpose of Creating a new career path for the future leaders of the bar industry.

Find more details about this project and Danil’s story on his site:

https://www.indiebartender.com

If you want to hear Danil’s perception about Hospitality, jump in the podcast and enjoy our chat.

Cheers!🍸

P.S.

Today's guest is Nicky Neykov, who shares his story of over 20 years in the Hospitality Industry

He started in Hospitality Industry for pocket money but soon he realizes that he can make a career in this industry.

After working as a bartender in many places and being very passionate about this industry, he opens his own bartending school (first serious school in Bulgaria) back in 2003.

Then he moved to Spain where he spent 7 years where he established another bartending school, a bartenders equipment store, lots of bar catering events, consulting, and he opens his own bar which he franchised. Then he started competing in mixology competitions

Being tired of Gin and Tonics he goes back to his roots, in Sofia where he got the role of World Class Brand Ambassador, role that he still holds.

Since then, beside the World Class Brand Ambassador role, he starts lots of different projects. From events to consulting and many more. Jump in the episode to find out more…

Enjoy!

Cheers! 🍸