Hospitality Secrets

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/ [https://www.instagram.com/parovozspeakeasy/] Parovoz Mixology Course: https://www.facebook.com/parovozmixologycourse [https://www.facebook.com/parovozmixologycourse] Parovoz Chips - parovozchips.com [http://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/ [https://www.instagram.com/mightyschneidey/] Employees only https://www.instagram.com/employeesonlysg/ [https://www.instagram.com/employeesonlysg/] Elysian Café: https://www.instagram.com/elysiancafehoboken/ [https://www.instagram.com/elysiancafehoboken/]

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, [http://www.theginjoint.gr/]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 [http://www.diageo.com/en-row/Pages/default.aspx]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 [http://www.thedrinkfactory.com/#home] 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 [https://www.facebook.com/kiritsis.vasilis1] Insta ► https://www.instagram.com/bkyritsis/ [https://www.instagram.com/bkyritsis/] The Clumsies: ► https://www.instagram.com/the_clumsies/ [https://www.instagram.com/the_clumsies/] ► https://www.theclumsies.gr [https://www.theclumsies.gr/] Hustler: ► https://www.instagram.com/hustler.greece/ [https://www.instagram.com/hustler.greece/] ► https://hustler.com.gr [https://hustler.com.gr/] Otto’s Vermouth: ► https://www.instagram.com/ottos_athens_vermouth/ [https://www.instagram.com/ottos_athens_vermouth/] ► http://www.athensvermouth.com [http://www.athensvermouth.com/]

Martin Hudák was born in Prešov, Slovakia and began his career behind the bar immediately after graduating from secondary school. He quickly discovered a passion for both coffee and cocktails, and for combining the two, and through determination and hard work moved to London five years later to join one of the world’s best bar teams at The Savoy’s and legendary the best bar in the world American Bar, where he held the position of senior bartender for nearly for years. Not only does Martin hone his bartending skills behind this famous bar but he continues to showcase his expertise by participating in prestigious industry competitions. He has shaken and stirred at the world finals for various global competitions. As well he has made it to the world finals of Coffee in Good Spirit several times. Martin was a double runner up in Melbourne (2014) and Shanghai (2016) with his signature coffee beverage program and his Irish Coffee respectively. And after so many years all his effort result into the title of World Coffee in Good Spirit Champion from Budapest (2017). With this title over one year he travelled more than 50 countries and trained around 3000 passionate coffee and cocktail aficionados during his training programs and cocktail demonstrations touching topics of coffee cocktail future. Likewise, his company Spiritual Coffee is responsible for many coffee cocktail programs during events to be mentioned – London Coffee Festival, London Fashion Week and Bar Shows or personalized coffee cocktail concepts for bars and coffee shops around the globe. Martin is also Global coffee ambassador for Australian craft coffee liquor – Mr. Black Spirits which he represents around the world. Currently based in Sydney where he opened with his team new concept Maybe Sammy as a “swing” on a classic hotel cocktail bar, minus the hotel. Inspired by 1950s Hollywood glamour. And lately won at TOTC – Best New International Cocktail Bar 2019 and also got ranked as Best Australasian Bar and no 11th within 50 World’s Best Bars 2020. Lastly during Drink Magazine Bar Awards ceremony in Shanghai, he was announced by peers as new International bartender of the year 2019. And in March 2020 was recognized by Forbes magazine Slovakia as one of 30 under 30 most talented and inspirational young personalities. And in September 2020 recognized as 49th most influential industry icon in the globe by Drinks International. Martin’s Insagram ► https://www.instagram.com/martin_hudak/ [https://www.instagram.com/martin_hudak/] Maybe Sammy ► https://www.instagram.com/maybe_sammy_sydney/ [https://www.instagram.com/maybe_sammy_sydney/] Sammy Junior ► https://www.instagram.com/sammy_junior_sydney/ [https://www.instagram.com/sammy_junior_sydney/] Spiritual Coffee ► https://www.spiritualcoffee.co [https://www.spiritualcoffee.co/]

Born in London to a British mother and Colombian father and raised in the Burgundy wine region of France, Stephanie had a unique cultural upbringing that sparked her passion for the drinks & #HospitalityIndustry. It also gave her the added bonus of having not one, but three native languages: English, Spanish and French. Business developer, marketer and trade advocacy specialist who thrives in an entrepreneurial dynamic environment with over 15 years’ experience in the wine & spirits industry, Stephanie is also an accomplished keynote speaker, leading seminars across global drink trade conferences on future drinking trend and various spirits category deep dives.  More recently she co-founded award-winning Avallen Spirits, a pioneering new Calvados brand bringing a modern face to a traditional French classic. Avallen has a mission to be the most sustainable spirit on the market, and save bee populations along the way. Find Stephanie's work: ► https://www.instagram.com/drinkingoutloud/ [https://www.instagram.com/drinkingoutloud/] ► https://avallenspirits.com [https://avallenspirits.com/] ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPNvt41750NuM-4adRAE9Ow [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPNvt41750NuM-4adRAE9Ow] ► https://www.instagram.com/avallenspirits/ [https://www.instagram.com/avallenspirits/]