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Meet more of our winners and members

The Altos Tahona Competition has made a powerful impact in the hospitality industry. Explore our past winners!

🇦🇺 Australia

Alejandro Archibald

PROJECT

Taste
TASTE is a mobile food and drink truck concept serving snacks, cocktails, and ferments made from imperfect produce and surplus ingredients. By sourcing from local farms and venues and reusing packaging, TASTE aims to reduce waste and keep prices accessible. Ingredients would be prepped in partner kitchens and pop-ups, creating lifestyle-friendly jobs and one-of-a-kind drinks that celebrate what might otherwise go unused.

🇨🇦 Canada

Marcus Huynh

PROJECT

The Social Impact Bar & Beverage Lab

The Social Impact Bar & Beverage Lab will be Canada’s first community-built bar dedicated to hospitality with purpose. Set to open at the Centre for Social Innovation in downtown Toronto, it will be a space where drinks spark dialogue and ideas grow. The lab will incubate sustainable food and beverage concepts, model zero-waste service, support inclusive leadership, and offer mentorship to hospitality workers. Through events and partnerships, it aims to help co-create a more connected, regenerative industry—one round at a time.

🇨🇴 Colombia

Cristina Botero

PROJECT

Shaking Lives

Shaking Lives is an emerging training initiative designed to empower 200 vulnerable young people—100 in Chile and 100 in Colombia—for careers in the growing bar and hospitality sectors. Built on Fundación Gastronomía Social’s existing Ñam platform, the program offers hybrid, gamified learning focused on bartending, leadership, and financial literacy. With microlearning tools, a job board, and a reward system, Shaking Lives aims to connect participants to real opportunities through a strong network of industry partners.

🇦🇪 UAE

Miriam Guida

PROJECT

Mixonomics

MIXONOMICS is a concept in development that aims to empower bartenders by addressing financial instability and strengthening community cohesion. While bartending brings together passion and the art of flavor, it often lacks economic recognition—leaving many professionals in precarious situations. MIXONOMICS proposes a resource to help bartenders view their craft as a sustainable career, offering tools to save and invest wisely without major sacrifice, while also building connection and openness within the industry.

🇮🇹 Italy

Luca Funari

PROJECT

ColLAB

ColLAB redefines sustainability in the bar industry by rethinking how tools, spaces, and resources are shared. This developing concept envisions a collaborative lab that helps bars reduce waste and energy use while lowering costs and improving workflows through shared professional equipment. ColLAB aims to build a community where bartenders support each other and grow together—while making sustainability more accessible for all.

🇲🇽 México

Audrey Hands

PROJECT

Brindemos Bienestar

Brindemos Bienestar is a social initiative designed to improve safety, well-being, and sustainability in Mexico’s hospitality industry. The concept centers on an anonymous digital survey where employees and customers can share real-time feedback, later analyzed by experts to propose tailored solutions. With a 360º approach—from diagnosis and reporting to training and mentorship—Brindemos Bienestar would support staff, managers, owners, and guests alike. By fostering open communication, it aims to help build a safer, more supportive, and resilient hospitality environment.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Giuseppe Quartararo

PROJECT

Shake for change

Shake for Change is a global social venture in development from World of Mixologists—a platform that connects bartenders across borders to learn, grow, and give back. The idea is simple: each event would feature cocktails inspired by a specific region or culture, with proceeds supporting a local charity. By partnering with bars, guest bartenders, and NGOs, the project aims to donate a portion of each drink sold to causes like education or clean water access. Shake for Change seeks to amplify underrepresented voices, spark cultural conversations, and build purpose-driven collaborations—all while keeping the fun and creativity that fuel the industry.

🇺🇸 United States

Cynthia Philippe

PROJECT

BarSpoon of Change

BarSpoon of Change is a mobile breast cancer screening initiative being developed to support hospitality workers—a group often left out of traditional healthcare systems. The concept is to use repurposed sonogram equipment to bring affordable, preventive care directly to bars, restaurants, and other community spaces. With a sliding scale payment model and donation-based options, the project aims to make screenings accessible regardless of insurance status or income. Alongside the mobile clinics, it would offer education on self-exams and lifestyle choices that can help reduce risk. By meeting people where they are, BarSpoon of Change strives to build a more informed, supported, and health-conscious industry.

🇺🇸 United States

Christina Mercado

PROJECT

C-Sweet Syrups

C-Sweet Syrups is an emerging sustainable syrup brand offering bars, cafés, and consumers a better way to sweeten drinks. Crafted with natural sugars like coconut, date, and monkfruit, the syrups have a lower glycemic index and a smaller environmental footprint than refined sugar. As the venture grows, it also aims to become an educational resource—raising awareness about sugar alternatives and promoting healthier, more sustainable choices through campaigns designed for both industry professionals and the public.

🇺🇸 United States

Nikolas Sparks

PROJECT

Batch Math

Batch Math is a bar management app and system designed to help hospitality teams track and reduce variable costs—like product, labor, and waste—by using data they already collect. Instead of introducing new platforms, Batch Math aims to connect to existing POS systems and turn inventory, sales, and staffing info into practical tools such as prep guides, waste tracking, and scheduling. Planned as a modular subscription, Batch Math strives to make sustainability and smart business easier without disrupting daily service.

🇨🇳 China

Ring Zhao

PROJECT

Bar Choice

Bar Choice’s “Traditional Tea, Modern Cocktail” project blends Chinese cultural heritage with contemporary mixology by crafting tea-based cocktails in collaboration with Phoenix Dancong tea masters. The initiative promotes Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) through immersive experiences, such as tea rituals, antique teaware integration, and educational labs that showcase traditional vs. modern tea processing. It also emphasizes sustainability through AR-enhanced storytelling, profit-sharing with tea masters, and zero-waste practices like reusing tea leaves and developing cross-industry tea products.

🇦🇺 Australia

Jeremy Blackmore

PROJECT

Industry Solar
Industry Solar is a scheme to unlock solar ownership for small and medium business owners in Australia.

🇳🇿 New Zeland

Jason Clark

PROJECT

Glass to Gold
Create a much more efficient and beneficial system to reduce, recycle, reuse and resell this glass for benefit the local environment and community.

🇨🇴 Colombia

Jenny Teasdale & Jeffrey Garcia

PROJECT

Green Apple: Zero Glass Waste Cartagena
Zero Glass Waste Cartagena is the next step for Green Apple in supporting bars wanting to recycle glass in the city. We aim to set up a new recycling center in Cartagena, bringing bars together to recycle, to change the perception of glass waste and create great jobs in a city, where recycling is still difficult and sometimes impossible to do.

🇳🇴 Norway

Marius Østby

PROJECT

The Art of Human Sustainability
A system to better incorporate, map and execute rutines for psycosocial work environment into the daily HSE(Health, safety and environment)-plans of a service industry company. My solution is a kit. Something managers can just incorporate into an already up and running HSE-system. It will include a mapping of employee well-ness, and focus areas based on the results. And also your day to day “”to do”” list, and general philosophy behind
everything. Presented in a way thats already present for the other parts of HSE. Because this is just as important, or maybe even more, as checking cooler temperatures, checking for fire hazards, cleaning routines etc.

🇸🇪 Sweden

Robin Abrahamsson

PROJECT

IN BLOOM
IN BLOOM is leveraging artificial intelligence to create personalized wellness plans that cater to the unique needs, preferences, and goals of each individual. Our platform also offers data analytics tools that provide valuable insights to workplaces, allowing them to create a more supportive and mentally healthy culture.

🇦🇪 UAE

Jaco Raath

PROJECT

The HospoHub
A platform that will elevate all in the hospitality industry with its key focus to provide endless training and development content showcasing the true essence of hospitality. A space that allows with great features the accessibility for easy budgeting and investing tools and foster a community of likeminded people.

🇲🇽 México

Francisco Oropeza & Sandra Reyna

PROJECT

Semilla Baja Lab
Semilla Baja Lab specializes in hand crafted non-alcoholic spirits ¨ Xantus Hydrosols ¨.Our home-base is a small agricultural town, El Pescadero Baja California Sur Mexico were we have our own bio dynamic agriculture botanical garden and grow, distill and bottle our spirits. We distribute our product to local cocktail bars, restaurants and luxury resorts. We use our platform to do community outreach events, like fundraisers for local organizations and Alcohol awareness pop up for our local middle school.

🇮🇹 Italy

Damiano Angelozzi

PROJECT

Natural Beach Bar
The social venture consists in a sustainable beach bar: it is a detached structure from other buildings so that there is more freedom when it comes to designing it. It is scalable on every kind of territory with beaches, and it transforms negative environmental impacts in positive ones. For example by installing solar panels on the top of gazebos or by promoting environment awareness amongst its customers. It also contributes actively with the local micro-economy by prioritizing zero- kilometer farmers/producers/providers. “Hot
as ice” is the proposed motto/name of the afore-mentioned social venture because, other than being a catchy name, it refers to the possibility to even produce ice with the solar energy collected by its photovoltaic panels.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Danilo Frigulti & Davide Leanza

PROJECT

Tahona Exchange
“The Tahona Exchange” is an innovative project that aims to reduce waste in the bar industry by providing a sustainable solution for barware. The project is based on the idea of exchanging used barware for new, sustainable barware, creating a closed-loop system that reduces waste and promotes sustainability. Tahona Exchange works by partnering with bars and restaurants to collect their used
barware, such as glassware, shakers, and strainers. The collected barware is then sent to a facility where it is cleaned, sterilized, and repackaged for reuse. In exchange for their used barware, the participating bars and restaurants receive credits that can be used to
purchase new, sustainable barware from the Tahona Exchange. The new sustainable barware offered by the Tahona Exchange is
made from eco-friendly materials, such as recycled glass and bamboo, and is designed to be durable and long-lasting. The project also offers training for bartenders on how to properly care for and maintain their barware to ensure maximum lifespan.

🇨🇦 Canada

Martine Fortin & Callum Tyler

PROJECT

Foot Print
This venture will consist of collecting and recycling the PVC “Core” of used receipt paper rolls from local community restaurants and businesses, and repurposing them into a vertical seven-tier self-watering hydroponic garden. The recycled tubes will act as gemination pods and then support the root structure of the plant allowing it to grow and self water itself from a series of watering pipes. These pipes are connected to one-another and allow for a single point of watering which then feeds the rest of the vertical structure. These structures will be sold as kits with light assembly required by the customer. There will be two options available: a wall mount version and a stand alone frame which is supported by a stand {included in the kit). The goals for this product are to create an aesthetic and functional hydroponic garden in modern living environments such as apartments; to promote self-sustaining, accessible and pesticide free food production; to repurpose the used cores, reducing landfill waste; and to share Indigenous knowledge such as connecting to the land and harvesting traditional medicine. The Seven-tiers of the structure represent the 7 Generation Solution of Traditional Indigenous Knowledge.

🇬🇷 Greece

Dimitris Kaitalidis

PROJECT

Drink Lab
My project is about the evolution of the bar society in my town. I want to create a place , a lab in particular, that will be a place for everyone. Drink Lab will be a fully organized lab . This lab would serve as a space for bartenders to experiment with new ingredients, techniques, and flavors, ultimately leading to the creation of innovative and unique cocktails. By providing this resource, my social
venture aims to support the professional development and creativity of bartenders, while also contributing to the growth and innovation of the beverage industry of my city.

🇺🇸 United States

Alex Jump & Shannon Michelle

PROJECT

Focus on Health
Focus on Health is currently a for-profit organization that advocates for the health and wellness of the food & beverage sector. Our mission is to help those who work in F&B find ways to make this career a lifelong one while also taking care of themselves. This year we have applied for grant funding to develop a food & beverage industry specific harm-reduction and overdose prevention training program. In the future we would like to move into a non-profit space where we can provide trainings and resources to our community free of cost. It’s like we always say, “Hospitality starts with taking care of yourself.”

Colombia

Mile Castro

UK

David Martin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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