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Serves You Right
Serves You Right episodes
- #66 Felice Capasso: What Does It Take To Be The World Class Winner?
Diageo’s World class competition is BY FAR one of the most difficult and impressive cocktail competitions in the world. Legend has it that the finals had no fewer than 7 skill challenges, and Felice swept through them all.
If you make drinks for a living, or enjoy them, this is the man you want to hear from.
Expect to learn
- Why reading the rules carefully gives you an unfair advantage
- How elite competitors reverse engineer judges instead of guessing
- The difference between learning information and building understanding
- Why bringing yourself to the stage matters more than being impressive
- How failure becomes fuel when you stop protecting your ego
Links
- Felice Capasso on Instagram
- The Spirits Journal on Substack
- Sesto Senso Spirits Academy
- World Class Bartender of the Year competition
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
- #64:Chris Tunstall of A Bar Above
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
59 min - #65 Neil Rogers: 7 Sales Rules You REALLY Learn Behind a Bar
Most sales advice is broken because it ignores how trust is actually built. It assumes scripts beat presence and attention. This episode dismantles that thinking. Neil Rogers shows why hospitality is one of the most intense sales training environments in existence, and how the habits learned behind a bar quietly outperform day in and day out. From organization and follow up to appearance, greetings, and intentional presence, this conversation reveals why people who master fundamentals compound advantage while everyone else wonders why effort is not converting.
Expect to learn
- Why organization creates more sales than talent or hustle
- How hospitality trains faster than any sales course
- The real reason ghosting is increasing and how to beat it
- A simple structure that turns scattered effort into momentum
- How appearance, preparation, and presence change outcomes instantly
Links
- Positive Activity website and blog
- Bar Tips: Everything I Needed to Know in Sales I Learned Behind the Bar by Neil Rogers
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
1 hr 11 min - #64 Chris Tunstall: From Cleaning Restaurants To A Bar Above
Most bartenders are prioritize a few things: speed, charm, and hustle. Almost none learn systems, margins, or leverage. That is why so many talented people burn out, stall, or leave the industry broken. This episode dismantles the idea that bartending is a dead end.
Chris Tunstall breaks down how structure beats talent, why most bar programs leak profit through invisible gaps (and visible jiggers), and how the same methods used to build great cocktails can build great careers. If your current approach feels reactive, exhausting, or capped, this conversation contains the corrective insight you did not know you needed.And if you’re an budding mixologist or avid amateur drink builder, check out A Bar Aboves equipment and courses. You will not be sorry.
Expect to learn
- Why most bartenders underestimate how much their tools distort drink quality and profit
- How to think about cocktail ingredients in a more in depth way
- How cocktail structure mirrors decision making under pressure
- The hidden leverage inside distributor portfolios and vendor relationships
- Why non-alcoholic cocktails are becoming a serious profit center
- How to transition from bartender thinking to operator thinking without burning out
Links:
- A Bar Above courses and barware
- Instagram @abarabove
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
1 hr 3 min - #63 THom Harrison: Is the Food Industry the Ultimate Training Ground?
You have been told your experience does not transfer. That working service jobs means starting over. That belief keeps talented people stuck because they never learn how to translate what they already know.
This episode gently tells a different story.
THom Harrison walks through how the food industry quietly builds systems thinking, emotional regulation, and execution under pressure. All in real kitchens, in real dining rooms, in real chaos.
From old school training systems to high trust hotel service environments, from food distribution to mergers and acquisitions, this conversation suggests that service professionals can outperform people with cleaner resumes once they learn how to aim their skill set.
Expect to learn:
- Why chaos feels comfortable to restaurant people and how to weaponize it
- The hidden systems inside great service teams and why they scale everywhere
- How discipline replaces motivation in high pressure environments
- Why action oriented people outperform talented planners
- How to turn service experience into long term optionality
Links:
- Pizzeria and Enzo Show
- Charleston Place Hotel
- Brinker International
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
1 hr 16 min - #62 Aliya Harrison: Why Bartenders Fail Alone…
Most bartenders are playing the wrong game. They chase shifts, tips, and titles while ignoring the education pipelines, industry programs, and visibility layers that actually create leverage. This episode exposes why that approach stalls careers and how intentional participation in programs like Tales of the Cocktail and CAP quietly rewires opportunity. If you think growth only comes from grinding harder behind the bar, this conversation will challenge that belief and show you what you did not know you were missing.
Expect to Learn:
- Why education programs outperform talent alone in the beverage world
- How CAP and Tales of the Cocktail actually work behind the scenes
- What separates bartenders who travel and advance from those who plateau
- The hidden leadership skills these programs force you to develop
- How to apply even if you think you are not qualified
Links
- Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
- Cocktail Apprenticeship Program (CAP)
- Bar Five Day Program
- Follow Aliya on Instagram: @yourflavormother
- Dorothea (Greek restaurant)
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
38 min - #61 Agent Cru (aka Addison Rex): 7 Brutal Truths About Buying “Discount” Wine
Most wine buyers assume discounts mean flawed wine, distressed producers, or leftovers no one wanted. Most people think cheap wine is cheap for a reason.
They’re wrong. :P
That belief is costing them access to better bottles at better prices
In this episode, I sit down with Agent Cru, AKA Addison Rex, the man behind the curtain at Wine Spies. For years. One wine a day. Unspeakable quantities moved. And more wine tasted than most people will see in a lifetime.
Agent Cru explains how Wine Spies actually works and why selling a wine at huge discounts can often be a sign of strength, not failure. We talk about the one moment when wineries panic, the when inventory becomes a liability, and how the smartest producers turn “discounts” into long-term demand.
There’s also a surprisingly vulnerable moment where we admit something most wine professionals never say out loud. The more you know about wine, the more aware you become of how little you truly understand.
The most profitable insight comes from how they predict demand. After years of PhDs, algorithms, and AI models, the final call still comes down to human judgment. Not spreadsheets. Not scores. Taste, timing, and instinct.
When we turn to the industry at large, we don’t shy from the large topics looming on the horizon. The wine industry is not collapsing because of seltzers, Gen Z, or Dry January. It’s choking on its own overreactions. Those who understand the mechanics will thrive. Those who don’t will keep paying more for less.
Expect to Learn
- The moment a winery decides a wine must disappear fast
- Why “best price in the world today” matters more than scores
- How tasting panels actually reject wine most people would buy
- The prediction mistakes that AI makes with wine demand
- Why most wine education may make people worse buyers, not better
Links
- Wine Spies official site
- Free the Grapes advocacy initiative
- Deerfield Ranch Winery
- Vinitaly international wine fair
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
1 hr 7 min - #60 Winston Greene: a Tonic to Soothe Your Amygdala
Most bars don’t fail because the drinks are bad. They fail because the owner breaks first.
In this episode, I sit down with Winston Greene, owner of Tonic in Santa Fe, to talk about what really happens when passion turns into ownership. Winston didn’t come up chasing clout or trends. He came up hauling ice, working twenty-hour shifts, and learning the business the hard way, then betting everything he had on one idea and one space.
We talk about what makes ownership hard: the point where the grind stops feeling noble and starts quietly destroying your health, your relationships, and your sense of time. Winston shares the wake-up call that forced him to rethink what success actually costs, and why ignoring sustainability almost ended his career before it really began.
From designing a bar that repels the wrong customer on purpose, to why most managers misunderstand labor, scheduling, and leadership, we get right into it.
If you’ve ever thought about opening a bar, running a restaurant, or turning your craft into a business, listen to this all the way through. It might save you years of damage you didn’t know you were signing up for. And we get to talk about tequila. Oh, so much tequila…
If your current approach feels exhausting, reactive, or quietly unsustainable, this episode offers a corrective truth most operators only learn after real damage is done.
Expect to Learn
- The hidden health cost that takes more bar owners out than bad margins
- Why working harder early almost guarantees long-term burnout
- The leadership mistake that silently destroys staff trust and retention
- How designing your bar for the right customer can save your business
- The mindset shift that turns ownership from survival into sustainability
Links
- Tonic Santa Fe official website (Visit Tonic in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the full experience)
- Tonic on Instagram
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
51 min - #59 Felix Cordova: How Many Friends Do You Lose Before You Wake Up?
Party culture does not just burn you out slowly…it erodes you quietly until one day you look around and realize you are surviving instead of living.
Felix Cordova known for years as Your Boy Reflex was everywhere in New Mexico. The guy who kept the night alive while everyone else fell apart. What most people never saw was the cost. The drinking. The endless nights, not taking care of the body, and on and on. The grief stacking year after year. Friends lost to addiction. Suicide. Accidents. A cycle that felt impossible to exit.
In this conversation Felix tells the truth most people in nightlife never say out loud. You have to decide if you’re in charge of the party, or if the party is in charge of you.
He opens up about the moment that finally cracked everything. Losing a close friend. Watching himself repeat the same escape patterns. Realizing he could be next. That is the emotional center of this episode. Raw. Unpolished. Honest in a way that hits hard if you have ever used alcohol to survive grief.
Then comes the shift. The most profitable insight in this episode is not about quitting drinking forever. It is about identity. Felix explains why trying to change for others always fails and why changing for yourself finally works. The journaling habit. The breathing practice. The rule he made with himself that rewired his behavior without white knuckling discipline.
If you have ever told yourself you will slow down later, then this episode is the interruption you did not know you needed.
Expect to Learn:
- The moment party culture stops being fun and starts quietly controlling your life
- Why changing for others guarantees relapse and changing for yourself actually sticks
- The journaling habit that replaced social media and reduced anxiety fast
- How grief fuels addiction cycles in hospitality without anyone noticing
- The mindset shift that made quitting drinking feel like relief instead of loss
Links:
- yourboyreflex on TikTok
- @yourboyreflex on Instagram
- Ski Santa Fe
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
50 min - #58 Ryan Gromfin: 7 Brutal Truths About Running a Restaurant
Most restaurant owners believe the problem is effort. Longer hours. More passion. Better attitude. Ryan Gromfin argues that mindset is exactly why so many restaurants fail. Just TRY to understand…
In this episode, we unpack restaurant systems and processes, restaurant management vs leadership, why restaurant owners burn out, how to build a scalable restaurant business, and why most restaurants are impossible to sell.
Ryan makes the case that your restaurant isn’t broken because your people are bad. It’s broken because you’re managing humans instead of systems. He explains why checklists fail when they’re built wrong, why coaching beats telling every time, and why results are the only thing the market rewards no matter how unfair that feels.
Expect to Learn:
- The hidden reason your restaurant can’t run without you
- Why effort is invisible to the market and results aren’t
- The coaching mistake that triggers fight-or-flight in your team
- How systems eliminate emotion from management conversations
- The two words that quietly destroy accountability in restaurants
Links:
- The Restaurant Boss website
- Make It Happen by Ryan Gromfin
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
49 min - #57 Rina Bussell: The Lies People Believe About Becoming a Sommelier
Most people approach wine education, sommelier certification, and hospitality careers the same broken way. They obsess over credentials, grind endless hours, and assume burnout is the price of legitimacy. Or, they assume it will be a walk in the park. Both paths are broken: this episode dismantles that belief through the lens of advanced sommelier training, fine dining wine programs, Court of Master Sommeliers exams, hospitality career longevity, and wine tasting methodology.
Rina Bussell explains why passing tests does not equal readiness, how imposter syndrome quietly drives bad career decisions, and why many talented sommeliers sabotage their long term growth chasing prestige instead of skill. She reveals what actually matters on the floor, in blind tasting, and behind the scenes at elite restaurants like Carbone Las Vegas. The truth is uncomfortable but freeing.
If you feel overwhelmed by wine theory, stuck in hospitality burnout, or unsure whether certifications are worth the sacrifice, listen up!
Expect to Learn:
- Why passing every sommelier exam can still leave you unprepared
- Why not passing a sommelier exam can still be worth it
- The blind tasting mistake that keeps smart people failing under pressure
- How tasting like a winemaker rewires your palate faster than memorization
- The hidden career tradeoff nobody tells aspiring master sommeliers
- Why quality of life may be the ultimate competitive advantage in hospitality
Links:
- Rina Bussell on Instagram: @tequila_neat
- Carbone Las Vegas
- Court of Master Sommeliers
- Ruinart Champagne
Service starts now.
Follow the show: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube
I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website Here and get in touch with me!
Classic Episodes You May Like:
- #22:Doug Frost MW MS
- #23:Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- #31:ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)
- #38:Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze
- #39:Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication
- #46:Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine
As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.
Cheers
50 min
About Serves You Right
From the publisher's feed
Most bartenders are great at their jobs and have no idea what to do with that...
Nobody tells you that the skills behind the bar: reading people, building experiences, thinking fast under pressure, are actually worth something. They just hand you a shaker and hope you figure it out.
Serves You Right is for bartenders who are done drifting and ready to do something. Every episode, host Andrew Roy talks with the people who are currently doing something inspiring, and pulls out exactly how they did it.
Your career behind the bar is the starting point. Not the ceiling. Let's make some drinks!