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Meet more of our winners and members

The Tahona Society Competition 2018 was truly a success. The tremendous amount of impact of this global bartender community competition was seen in the 110 sustainable projects that participated, 15 of which were selected to go to the final round in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Colombia

Mile Castro

UK

David Martin

Winning Project

UK
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Hospitality Gardens
IT IS ABOUT: So many bars & restaurants have unused outdoor spaces in the UK. Hospitality Gardens want to  utilize these spaces by opening them up to local growers.

Creating greener spaces which serve functionally for cultivating produce alongside a bars cocktail programme and for the grower to sell on and develop their own independent business

Perú

Jorge Cruz

Winning Project

PERÚ
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: E-Comanda
IT IS ABOUT: Focuses on the thermal paper we use in command printers, this is highly toxic due to its component Bisphenol. The objective that we want to achieve with E COMANDAS is to reduce the danger of the workers when handling these papers in the bar kitchen and of our clients when handling these papers via tickets and/or  invoices.

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Baltics

Kristo Tomingas

Winning Project

BALTICS
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Bartenders Money Wisdom
IT IS ABOUT: A platform for bartenders to exchange their knowledge of successes & fails when it comes to growing in their hospitality careers. Via his website, a bartender could put together a plan (both business & financial) to learn how to reach their goals of opening their own venue.

Kseniya Yashchuk
Belarus

Kseniya Yashchuk

Winning Project

BELARUS
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Happy Brain
IT IS ABOUT: Happy Brain is a wellness project focusing on educating the hospitality industry on the importance of healthy eating. It plans to employ this by catering events like bar shows & delivering healthy meals to hospitality workers during shifts.

China

Heaven Luan

Winning Project

CHINA
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: EPC
IT IS ABOUT: An online platform where you can exchange recycled products for points that can be redeemed for other recycled products or services. These exchanges will begin between cocktail bars, flower shops, coffee shops, fruit suppliers & alcohol distributors.

The Real Jibaros
Cuba

Diana Figueroa & David Roque

Winning Project

CUBA
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Eco Jibaro
IT IS ABOUT: Focuses on adapting the concepts of sustainability, social responsibility and seasonality. Working with small producers they are searching to respect the raw material & maximize the use as a whole.

Davide Capodicasa
Italy

Davide Capodicasa

Winning Project

ITALY
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Eutropia
IT IS ABOUT: Eutropia is an academy in Palermo, Italy for migrants and citizens to work together in improving & innovating the bar community. It will be a working space that interchanges as a café, bar & academy that brings together experienced or novice bartenders with migrants to work and learn with each other.

Ale Diorio
Mexico

Ale Diorio

Winning Project

MEXICO
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Tenders on the Road
IT IS ABOUT: A bartending agency that guarantees professionally trained bartenders for hire for venues & events. She provides fair financial security, mental health services & a high level of hospitality education for those who work through ‘Tenders on the Road’

Connor Thornton
Norway

Connor Thornton

Winning Project

NORWAY
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Lighthouse
IT IS ABOUT: Connor aims to build an ordering system for bars & restaurants through using a QR code. Within this system will be the Lighthouse project, designed to educate the guest about staying safe while enjoying your night out. Including maps to safe places, venues & how to alert someone if feeling unsafe.

Emelie Hjärtström
Sweden

Emelie Hjärtström

Winning Project

SWEDEN
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Always Here
IT IS ABOUT: A pin-concept where those who wear the pin are strong pioneers of creating safe environments. If a person is feeling uncomfortable in a situation in a hospitality venue, they can search for someone wearing the “Always Here” pin and know that that person will be there to help.

Andrii Osypchuk
Ukraine

Andrii Osypchuk

Winning Project

UKRAINE
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Ecomanifest
IT IS ABOUT: Ecomanifest aims to create a community amongst bars & restaurants to sort trash & cooperate with local companies to recycle into coasters & souvenirs. They also are working to raise money from cocktails sold to plant trees in their city.

United States

Christopher Bidmead

Winning Project

USA
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Hospy
IT IS ABOUT: Hospy is a learning & skills management platform designed to create opportunities for hospitality workers in the global gig economy. They are building a platform that assess, manages and deploys hospitality minded problem solvers

United States

Erik Puryear

Winning Project

USA
MY PROJECT IS CALLED: Bartenders Safety & Future Fund
IT IS ABOUT: BAR CU is a credit union for hospitality workers. It is too often that our industry is not taught about saving, especially with the tipping culture of the United States. BAR CU will encourage hospitality staff & venue owners to learn about savings, investments & planning for their future.

Poland - Warsaw

Karol Lubash

Italy - Milan

Fabrizio Candino

Mexico - Guadalajara

Haydee Barrón Flores

South Africa - Cape Town

George Hunter

South Africa - Cape Town

Cameron Leigh

Belarus - Minsk

Mikhail Kanavalenka

Belarus - Minsk

Anton Budkevich

Canada - Toronto

Alex Black

Canada - Vancouver

Mackenzie Chilton

France - Paris

Valentin Vignolles

Finland

Tomi Hiltunen

Finland

Sampsa Tukia

Bulgaria - Sofia

Manol Lazarov

US - Chicago

Laura Kelton

UK - London

William Campbell

Singapore

Loga Raj

Portugal - Lisbon

Sofia Marques

Latvia

Leo

Latvia

Elizabeth

China - Shanghai

Gordon Guo

Winner 2017
Denmark

Jeppe Nothlev

Quick Bio

25 contestants from 18 markets. Jeppe Nothlev brings the trophy home to Denmark with "Sweet Effort"

USA - NYC

Anthony Bholinger

USA - LA

Karen Grill

AUSTRIA -SALZBURG

Attila Szelhoffer

AUSTRIA - SALZBURG

Thomas Hausknecht

SCOTLAND - EDIMBURGH

Kaiko Tulloch

UK - LONDON

Oliver Cush

FRANCE - LYON

Samuel Dedieu

POLAND -GDANSK

Oscar Wereza

BELARUS-MINSK

Egor Kozlovsky

MEXICO - CDMX

Mario Mena

MEXICO - PLAYA DEL CARMEN

Elizabeth Gordillo

PORTUGAL -LISBON

Alain Branco

CANADA - TORONTO

Mike Birdsey

LITHUANIA - VILNIUS

Karolis Jakelevicius

SOUTH AFRICA

Aj Snetler

IRELAND, GALLAWAY

Jonathan Callaghan

OSLO, NORUEGA

Evan Rage

COLOMBIA-BOGOTÁ

Ana Milena Alzate

COLOMBIA-BOGOTÁ

Laura Barbosa

RUSSIA

Mikhail Melnik

RUSSIA

Adil Zhelnov

TURKEY

Yigitcan Gencer

TURKEY

Mete Bas

TURKEY

Bahaddin Aydin

Kelsey Ramage. A bartender serving cocktails.
Winner 2016
UK

Kelsey Ramage

Quick Bio

21 contestants from 19 markets. Mexican Flavor Revolution Concept. Kelsey Ramage brings the trophy home to the UK with “Nunca Mueras”

RUSSIA

Evgeny Nagimov

AUSTRIA

Manuela Lerchbaumer

LITHUANIA

Vainius Balcaitis

SOUTH KOREA

Cho Hyun Sung

BELARUS, MINSK

Mikhail Konovalenko

POLAND

Mateusz Szuchnik

IRELAND

Shane Harte

NORWAY

Simon Kistenfeger

COLOMBIA

David Fuentes

PORTUGAL

Nuno Figueiredo

CANADA

Christina Veira

MEXICO

Abraham Delgado

USA

Max Green

USA

Bethany Ham 

USA

William Cutting

Mexico

Julio Cesar

Denmark

Christopher Steward

Greece

Thanos Loannou

Winner 2015
US

Michael Capoferri

José Luis León
Winner 2013
México

José Luis León

Quick Bio

José Luis León won 1st place for MX with his “Mama’s Soup”

Heinz Kaiser
Winner 2012
Austria

Heinz Kaiser

Quick Bio

Cocktail competition. Heinz Kaiser from Austria won with his “La Paloma Negra”

Charles Joly
Winner 2011
US

Charles Joly

Quick Bio

US competitor Charles Joly’s “Eve’s Answer” won best margarita

Kurt Schlechter
Winner 2010
South Africa

Kurt Schlechter

Quick Bio

Kurt from South Africa won our 1st Margarita Competition with his “My Friends’ Margarita”

ipPps5yr Enter The Competition

Meet our members and previous competition winners