With an impressive client portfolio including Mercedes-Benz, Moët Hennessy and more, today's guest today crafts unforgettable brand experiences. Gabriel Ornelas is a seasoned strategist in hospitality, food and lifestyle and host of ‘On The Pass’, another Top 100 podcast featuring industry leaders in food and beverages. The way Gabriel embodies the essence of hospitality - by putting others before himself - is one of the keys to his success and comes across in the way he talks about his guests. Something else that resonates is how he looks at brands as communities - and the episode has been named for that reason. It's exciting to share this interview with another podcaster in such a similar space.

For long-time listeners, the name ‘Mancino ’ might sound familiar. Giancarlo Mancino, the company’s founder, was one of the earliest guests on the program - at Episode 11, back in 2017. Now, a key player in the world of vermouth and aperitivos, Mancino is collaborating with EcoSpirits on a brand new low-waste packaging format. Elena Urbani, is paid to tour the globe and share that news - as Mancino Vermouth’s Global Brand Ambassador. Successful in her own right - having navigated a hospitality career spanning London’s top cocktail bars (Mr Fogg's, Nightjar and A Bar with Shapes for a Name) to a role as Commis Chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant, 'Frog' by Adam Handling - Elena also has a keen interest in philosophy and enrolled in an entire degree in it during the pandemic. Recorded in the back room of the award-winning cocktail bar, Above Board, we cover a great deal in this interview - and somehow only skim the surface of Elena’s multifaceted interests.

After working at Ottolenghi, in London, Ben Avramides co-founded the Tommy Collins Group in 2007 - with the intention of providing end to end catering. Now, over 16 years later, he leads the group as Managing Director and has contributed to countless Victorian venues - from iconic Melbourne pubs and cafes and major events. One thing that’s clear is Ben’s passion for hospitality. With this in mind, he tries to bridge quality and commerce with innovative food experiences.

James Sinclair, CEO & Principal of Signature Hospitality Group (SHG), joins the program today. SHG is the company behind The Sporting Globe Bar & Grill, TGI Fridays and Varsity. Over a decade ago, James saw an opportunity to double down on the American sports bar concept in Australia and has grown the business from a single venue in Geelong, to a network of over 50 venues and 2000 staff. We explore the philosophy required to do that, discuss how the group fosters creativity and consider how technology will affect the future of hospitality and sports entertainment.

Tom Amos is the CEO and co-founder of Sidekicker - a casual and temporary staff recruitment company. He drives Sidekicker’s vision and strategy to build a market-leading platform where businesses can access the best skilled hourly workers in Australia and New Zealand – they call them, Sidekicks. Under Tom’s leadership, Sidekicker has grown to acquire investment from the global leading employment marketplace SEEK. The company has previously been named - placing 13th - in Deloitte’s Tech Fast 500 APAC and Tom personally in Business News Australia's 2022 Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs, alongside co-founder and Director, Jacqui Bull.

Dark kitchens, ghost kitchens, smart kitchens - maybe you’ve heard these terms before, maybe you haven't. This episode opens a conversation on what they are - and what they’re not. Arin is the General Manager of Chef Collective - a leading Smart Kitchen operator in Australia - and oversees the business development, operations and customer success functions. After completing her MBA, Arin worked as a management consultant with A.T. Kearney Dubai on large strategy turnaround projects for telecom and media companies. She then led Global Development and M&A for Burger King and Tim Hortons in Asia Pacific - and was behind their multimillion dollar deals with Affinity Equity Partners and Nexxus Capital. Additionally, just prior to working with Chef Collective, she also led the successful launch of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen into China and the Philippines as the APAC General Manager.

Sven has long been considered one the most influential people in the Australian Bar industry. He’s the owner of multiple award-winning venues under The Speakeasy Group, founded a hospitality dedicated training platform and a bar-industry consultancy (called Behind Bars). He often writes for industry and consumer publications, presents as an industry keynote speaker and has been inducted by the Keepers of The Quaich - a global honour for dedication to Scotch Whisky. A new initiative by The Speakeasy Group is their Pathway to Partnership Program - an innovative way to support hospitality professionals to become venue owners. The group has supported previous guests of the program, Alex Boon and Pez Collier to create the hugely successful Melbourne cocktail bar, Pearl Diver.

Selasi Berdie is often recognised as an Australian professional rugby league player. Since playing for the Gold Coast Titans, however, he’s also become a successful marketer, owner of a popular Gold Coast cafe and food brand and led R&D for Australian supplement store, Body Science. Most recently, while looking for a solution to feed his own child, Selasi developed Sprout Organic, a plant-based baby formula on a global mission to become the most influential children's nutrition brand.

Paul Hadida is the APAC General Manager of SevenRooms - a guest experience and retention platform for the hospitality industry. You may remember the interview with Founder, Joel Montaniel, back at Episode 131. Paul followed his passion from real estate into hospitality, acquiring and growing a cafe, before moving into regional and national sales roles with Scoopon and Eatnow - under the Catch Group. He then became the APAC VP at Quandoo and oversaw a team of 80+ staff across Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Now, leading SevenRooms in the APAC region, Paul leverages a decade of hospitality experience and has forged partnerships with some of Australia’s largest venue groups including Merivale, Australian Venue Co and Rockpool Dining Group. (Another noteworthy partnership is with TheFork - in late 2021 - a global partnership to streamline bookings for operators.)

James first met Sean as the Australian National Brand Ambassador for Johnnie Walker and the Classic Malts, during the second industry event he’d ever attended (coincidentally that was at Malt Dining, owned by another guest of the program, Nick Pinn) but his career has spanned every role imaginable in the Australian bar scene and he even had a short stint on Masterchef in 2014. Now, a partner in the South Australian spirits company, Never Never Distilling Co., Sean works as Brand Director and plays an important role in drink strategy and development. Through Sean's leadership, Never Never was named by Drinks International as the tenth Hottest Trending Global Gin Brand in 2022.

Chris Illman has spent over 20 years in the FMCG and Liquor industries, working in senior Sales and Marketing roles at blue chip global companies including Kraft Foods International, Fosters Group, Southcorp and most recently as Head of Sales & Marketing at the Bickford's Group of Companies. Chris possesses a thorough knowledge of the key drivers for success in building brands in the Food and Beverage sector and consults to start-up businesses to deliver growth strategies He’s a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a Bachelor of Economics (Flinders University) and Master of Marketing (Melbourne Business School).

Rebecca Burrows is the General Manager of DoorDash Australia. Her leadership has seen the business employ a sports-focused approach to develop a diversified audience and grow brand awareness and engagement - working with the NBL, Touch Football Australia and having maintained their official partnership with the NRL. Previously having held leadership positions at Australia Post - as General Manager of Small Business - and as the Strategic Pricing Lead at Shell, Rebecca has a customer-centric outlook and is focused on the performance of small businesses.

Founded by Polish Prince, restauranteur, and photographer - Jan Woroniecki - Kavka is a unique vodka produced using classic methods from the 19th century - the distillery has in fact been making vodka for over 200 years. With pot distillation at its heart, Kavka’s flavour is strikingly different to the modern, US-dominated definition of vodka - a spirit without taste, flavour, character or colour - and conversely boasts bold and distinctive flavours. Jan predicts a resurgence of vodka is looming - after years of gin and whisky in the spotlight - and joins me for an exciting episode today.

Saltsmith is the brainchild of Simon Lawry and David Ball, two friends with a vision to show Australian consumers what’s possible with a rasher of bacon. While working full time jobs, the two have harnessed Simon’s hobby of making charcuterie to commercially produce bacon - chosen out of personal interest and early customer feedback. Now - around three years later - the pair produce three types of commercial streaky bacon - including one in collaboration with the Starward Distillery.

James 'Jimmy' Sherry met his business partners in Guadalajara - back in 2005 - where they made a pact to no longer live conventional lives or work typical jobs. They partnered with Master Distiller, Marco Cedano, and his son Rodrigo and vowed to make extraordinary tequila with Tequila Tromba. After travelling the rugged Jalisco highlands to build a name for the brand, James took Tromba to the US and was based there for 8 years before a global pandemic forced him back to Australia, where he’s now based.

Founder and Managing Director of the Australian, New Zealand and Los Angeles arms of UK-based premier drinks consultancy, Sweet & Chilli - Cameron Northway - has worked for VIP clients like The Rolling Stones, Kanye West and Prince Harry over a two-decade long career in the beverage industry. That career has led him to collect a long list of other involvements including: Rocker - a venue in Bondi, Cocktail Porter - a pre-made and DIY cocktail business, The Whisky Mill - an online rare whiskey store - and most recently, ATYPICAL - a hospitality design agency that has already developed F&B systems and experiences for some of the most luxurious developments in Australia.

Zhong Xu created the first iPad Point-of-Sale (POS) in the EMEA region, ten years ago. This SaaS product has since evolved into the company known today as Lightspeed and is now available in over 100 countries. Zhong was Global Director of Lightspeed Hospitality until 2018, when he co-founded Deliverect - a third-party food delivery aggregator that integrates platforms with restaurant POS systems.

Building on his success as the Founder of Hey You (a consumer ordering and payments app), Adam Theobald continues to forge hospitality industry change with Ordermentum - a B2B ordering platform for the food and beverage sector. Driven by a passion for technology and its ability to create a more seamless and efficient experience, Ordermentum is bringing new ways of working to supplier, retail and technology companies and has become the chosen platform by more than 28,000 hospitality venues and hundreds of wholesale suppliers around Australia.

Born from foodservice industry disruptor, The Village Co. - Grub Lab is a childrens’ entertainment solution for hospitality venues. Founder - of both of those entities - Mick Carr, the program shortly after the announcement of Grub Lab’s collaboration with the NRL. Designed to engage and entertain children in these restless spaces, Grub Lab seeks to innovate in a unique way - with an augmented reality, smart device app that brings content to life.

Based in Melbourne, where he is the founding director of BlueRock - a multidisciplinary, entrepreneurial advisory firm - Pete Lalor applies his passion for automation and innovation to do things differently. Overseeing 13 service divisions in this company alone, Pete is also a Chairman of the 100 Burgers and Mr Burger groups, a director of Belles Hot Chicken and beyond hospitality, is heavily involved in the property industry and the founder of Rosewood - an early-stage venture capital fund.