Hello again! I wanted to do another short recap with some tips for COVID-era hospitality. I hope you are all faring well through these challenging and weird times. It has been around three months since this all started to directly affect our industry, and things just keep getting weirder. Extended quarantine orders, protests and violence, murder hornets—It’s all just a lot to deal with right now and I don’t think anyone is really thriving. That’s ok though, just remember to take a few moments to pause and breath, and check in with yourself about what you need. It’s also ok to ask for help some ..read more

(Post contains affiliate links) Hello again! The COVID-19 crisis has shown us how fragile and unsustainable our career and industry can be, and has many of us questioning what to do next. Let’s face it, things are not going to go back to the way they were. We’ve learned how easy it can be for our source of income to evaporate over night. Unlike people who work in offices, we can’t work from home, but perhaps using our bartender skills online can open up new opportunities and sources of income for us. But where do we begin? My guest today is Shana Race, she’s been in the industry for more than ..read more

Hello again! Are you going stir crazy yet? With shelter in place orders being extended across the country and around the world, it’s hard to say when we’ll be out of this. The uncertainty of this crisis is what makes it so difficult to deal with. If we knew the end date, it would be much easier to plan for. Staying positive and creative in quarantine in whatever way works best for you is very important. With so many of us out of work and stuck at home, I wanted to chat with another bartender and hear about there experience. Even though many of us are physically alone, we are all in this togeth ..read more

There’s a pretty good chance you’re also stuck in your house and not working behind the bar right now. Without our normal structure, it’s easy to fall into unhealthy habits, but it’s also an opportunity to form new ones. It’s easy to start small and practice new health and wellness habits during quarantine. Preparing one healthy snack a day or doing five minutes of breathing exercise when you wake up can vastly improve your wellbeing, especially during this challenging time. These are things you can carry forward into your daily routine when we are allowed to go back to work again. My guest to ..read more

We are living in uncertain times. Running a bar in a pandemic is one of the biggest challenges we’ve ever faced as an industry. As restaurants and bars across the world are being forced to close or pivot to pickup and delivery sales only, many are struggling to survive. One of those bars is Paper Plane in San Jose, Calif. in a county that has seen both the earliest and highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in the state. My guest today is Mary Palac, bartender at paper plane. She’s been in the industry since she was 15 and holds such accolades as Season 7 Ms. Speed rack California, two time Bar Man ..read more

So this is a pretty weird time to be a human in society. I’ve been struggling with it, as I’m sure you are as well. First of all, apologies for the radio silence. It’s been a bit of an adjustment for me too. I typically do in person interviews, but as you can imagine, that’s not possible right now, not to mention everyone in our industry is a little preoccupied. I’m working on a system for remote interviews, and hopefully we’ll have some conversations in the coming weeks about how people are handling this crisis. In the meantime I wanted to just share some of my thoughts about what’s going on ..read more

Things can get dicey when we borrow elements from other cultures for our bar programs.  Is it ok to use ceremonial fabric as a tablecloth or put tropical drinks in cups shaped like religious icons? Cultural consideration in bar programs is very important, but it is challenging when we don’t have an understanding or even exposure to those cultures. It’s easy to misrepresent someone else’s culture when you don’t have any knowledge about it, even if you are well intentioned. My guest today is Samuel Jimenez. He has been in the industry in the Bay Area for many, many years. He is currently th ..read more

Many of us, myself especially, wonder where to go next with our careers. One exciting option is to start an import business. It seems like an exciting career of traveling to far away places and shaking hands with bearded men in exotic marketplaces. While there is some measure of that, becoming a wine importer is not without its challenges, particularly when international trade disputes happen. My guest today is Ian Adams, Director of Spirits and Fortified Wines at Merchants of Thirst, an importer of wines and spirits from Europe. Ian has been in the hospitality industry for more than 15 years ..read more

Light Spanish wines are perfect for recording recap episodes Welcome back! Thanks so much tuning in to another recap of what we’ve learned in the past few episodes. We had four amazing guests this month who shared many useful tips for bartenders and industry professionals. Listen to the episode in the player or wherever you get your podcasts for some of the most important things we learned. In Episode 28, we learned all about how competitive bartending can make you a better bartender, with recent Speed Rack winner Jessi Lorraine. In Episode 29, we heard from Absinthia Vermut about starting a ..read more

Hospitality is our number one job. It is literally the name of our industry, but it’s often hard to be hospitable when you have other challenges going on in your life. Difficult customers, trouble with family or partners or simply being exhausted from work all make staying positive during service a big challenge. With a few good mental tools, however, we can learn to stay positive with our customers no matter what is going on in our lives. My guest today is Hubert Tang. He has been in the industry his entire life, as his parents worked and owned restaurants, so he really understands the indust ..read more