The Trailhead

As a bartender coming up in a university town in the 1990’s, opening my own place seemed like the only logical goal for a career path obstructed by the limits of what I knew was possible for me at the time. Back then, most of my colleagues relied upon bar and restaurant work to help pay for schooling or training in other fields they intended to pursue once their education was complete. My intention to remain in the industry raised eyebrows when folks inquired what I was going to do for a living after graduation. Founder of a non-alcoholic aperitif brand, Claire Warner shares a similar origin story, having

“spent about 4 years behind the bar, starting out while I was at university in Nottingham, and then carrying on in London once I left.”

Our career paths both opened up around the same time: for me in New York City, and for her in London.  She told me,

“I fell in love with cocktails and creativity, so I entered lots of competitions to try to quickly learn and improve.”

After working with Henry Besant and Dick Bradsell for about two years, she made the move into brand advocacy.

While our career paths have forked in different directions, their common denominators are the mentorship and entrepreneurial spirit of pioneering bartenders like Dick Bradsell in London, and Dale DeGroff in New York City. Claire credits Dick’s proteges including

“Nick Strangeway, Henry Besant, Jason Fendick, Justin Smythe, and many others, who contributed to a cocktail revolution which united a community of like-minded bartenders.”

On my side of the Atlantic, DeGroff’s proteges, including Audrey Saunders and Julie Reiner (who each mentored me), Sasha Petraske, Dushan Zaric and Jason Kosmas blazed trails in New York City. Bartender and multiple aperitif brand-founder, Giuseppe Gallo shared a similar journey as Warner, having served as the bar manager at the Sanderson Hotel in London in the early aughts. Gallo told me,

“I oversaw over forty bar staff and our education program was a key part of the team success. I quickly realized that inspiring the team and giving them the tools to succeed benefited the entire business.”

Once he figured out that he could provide tools from the other side of the bar, he took a role with Martini & Rossi as their global ambassador in 2009, and

“my career path was defined.”

Lauren Mote, co-founder of a bitters company who also serves as the Global Director of On-Trade Excellence for PATRÓN Tequila, recalls that,

“even ten years ago, the number of industry professionals evolving from slinging drinks into more brand-led positions was few and far between. Today, bartenders, hospitality professionals and operators are looking for possible career journeys. There are more success stories now than ever before of those who initially didn't have the education or opportunity for these more prominent corporate business positions.”

Mote started flipping burgers while singing condiment-themed songs at Lick’s in Toronto in 1996.

“I started bartending when I was 18, in 2000 – it was a natural fit for me with a blend of my background as a performer, a hospitality and a flavour lover.”

Mote, Gallo and Warner all share global success stories as former bartenders who leveraged their experiences to propel their careers as ambassadors and entrepreneurs. Warner suggests that this is likely because,

“very often, the best ideas come from those who are less entrenched and can see problems with a fresh perspective.”

Mote attributes her competitive advantage as an entrepreneur to the skills she developed in hospitality,

“where I more than made up for lack of capital funding in my customer follow-up and service,” and her “ability to search through new audience channels and seamlessly link my product and service in a way that brought a new supply and demand chain.”

Gallo chalks up his success as an entrepreneur to the work ethic and sacrifices that were required for him to be successful in hospitality.

“Working in hospitality means you’re always on during holidays and festivities; therefore, your routine doesn’t follow the standard life curve, and you live in a parallel world due to the work pace.”

All three noted the lack of any meaningful work/life boundaries in their lives as entrepreneurs as one of the cautionary tales, which frequently get written off as part of the mythology of boot strap success in business. On the topic of success, Gallo sagely counsels that

“success creates a fake world of friends around you, as we all know, ‘success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.’ He “firmly believes that to be a successful entrepreneur, you must fail and be able to bounce back; this will straighten your belief and character.”

In my career, I’ve been fortunate (if you could call it that) to fail or underachieve in business as an employee working for other operators and had my own share of personal failures too. The opportunity to learn on someone else’s dime while being mentored in the process goes uncelebrated in our winner-take-all culture. Gallo posits that while,

“the young generation is far more talented than ours, social media has created a myth that everything can be achieved immediately and effortlessly, in a matter of a click.”

All three entrepreneurs extolled the virtue of sticking with what you’re doing, with Mote pointing out that

“the time spent in all situations is essential – maxing out in the capability of a role, reaching the apex of learning, managing yourself out of the position – all of these things take years.”

Besides the growth opportunities lost by individuals who depart their roles prematurely, the transiency we now see as a by-product of so many paths out of the industry with few roads back in salts the earth from which so much meaningful growth has occurred. Warner notes that when folks move on without shoring up their replacement before they leave,

“we tend to lose a lot of the knowledge, expertise and experience which is not passed down to help guide and shape the upcoming generation of hospitality workers.”

Claire credits her fifteen years at a luxury spirits house, where she was encouraged to have an entrepreneurial spirit, to

“having the freedom to work so creatively on the vodka brand meant that I increasingly felt the pull to create something that represented me, versus something already established; and I wanted to put something new and innovative out into the world. As a result, I’ve had multiple experiences that have been very positive and produced work that I’m incredibly proud of.”

Unlike Warner, Gallo’s path has followed decade long cycles over the last three decades,

“I worked behind the bar for over ten years before taking the global ambassador role for almost 8 years and I have been in this new entrepreneur path for just about 8 years again.”

Mote, who currently has one foot in advocacy and the other in her bitters business, says she’s

“still getting the original things I craved – higher academic learning and personal purpose that helps a vast number of people. Whether my brand or the larger ones I've worked for, I'm exactly where I am supposed to be, and the options and journey ahead of me are endless – I'm not even close to my destination… yet.”

For hospitality workers out there on the career path wondering which path to pursue, Mote notes that

“the industry today is very different than before the pandemic, and I think we all have to be more open and supportive of hybrid positions as this continues to evolve.”

I asked each of them if there was anything they missed about their days behind the bar and Claire warmly recalled

“the comradery, staff meals and a cold beer after service.” Those are three experiences I’ll never outgrow, which keep leading me back to the trailhead as a career hospitality worker.