Jack Sotti chats career advice and Bar Convent London
As the inaugural Bar Convent London approaches, ambassador Jack Sotti shares his passion for hospitality, the importance of education and parental support in the trade.
The first Bar Convent London show will kick off at the end of this month from 30 June to 1 July. Set to take place at London’s Tobacco Dock, the event has promised to bring its international format seen in Berlin, Brooklyn and São Paulo to the UK capital.
In the lead up to the show’s opening, Sotti, brand ambassador for Bar Convent London, spoke to the host of The Spirits Business Podcast, editor-in-chief Melita Kiely, on a broad range of topics. From recounting the early days of Sotti’s hospitality career – including taking some career-changing risks in New Zealand – to opening his own venue, and championing the on-trade further through his ambassadorship role, Sotti’s candid conversation offers valuable insights into the world of hospitality.
For Sotti, hospitality is what came first, and cocktails second.
“No one trained me to make cocktails, really, I just learned it on the job. It was always about the hospitality first – it still is,” he said.
Both elements will play a crucial role at Bar Convent London.
Sotti stresses that this is not just a show for London dwellers; Bar Convent London is about uniting the hospitality industry in the UK and Ireland.
“This is a UK-Ireland trade show,” he said. “We just finished the road show [in April], where we wanted to bring a little taste of some really great world-class education to the rest of the major UK cities. We had Ian Burrell, Anna Sebastian, we had Kevin Armstrong, and Elliot Ball all delivering some really cool sessions in six key cities around the UK and Ireland.”
Focus on quality educational sessions
While the scale of the first Bar Convent London will be a smaller affair than its more established shows overseas, Sotti is confident in the quality of education and brands it will deliver.
“For our first year, we wanted to make sure that we’re serving the community, so we’re keeping it small, intimate,” Sotti explained. “We’ve got three stages, we’ve got a workshop stage, a brand stage and the main stage.”
On the education front, he continued: “We’ve got some deep dives on liquid, more pragmatic business stuff, looking at how to run a bar in this terrible economic climate, we’ve got some inspiration stuff, we’ve got some stuff on neurodiversity in the industry. And crucially, we’ve got some great brands that are all signed up to be there. The stands are going to be very exciting, and there’s going to be loads of activations going on.”
Outside of the main Tobacco Docks venue, there will also be a number of activations taking place in the city across the two days.
To listen to the full conversation with Sotti, head to your usual podcast streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
Alternatively, click the link below to listen for free.
Past guests on The Spirits Business Podcast have included Deano Moncrieffe, founder of Hacha Bar and Equal Measures, Trudiann Branker, the first female master blender for Mount Gay Rum, and Claire Warner, head of luxury advocacy at Diageo.
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