The Hospopreneurs Podcast

Dan Sims, award-winning sommelier and CEO of Revel - the brand behind Pinot Palooza and Mould Cheese Festival - joins the program today.  

From his early days working in some of Melbourne’s top restaurants to creating international wine and cheese events across 14 cities and 6 countries, Dan has been a driving force in making wine accessible, inclusive, and fun. 

In this episode, Dan describes how hospitality powers his events, the significance of showcasing local producers and how his business is adapting the festival model in a post-pandemic world.

Fabio Angele - owner and director of iconic Melbourne institution, Brunetti Classico - joins the program today. Drawing on 50 years of hospitality experience learned under his father's mentorship, Fabio rises at 1:30am everyday to oversee operations. 

We explore why he does that, look at some of his management philosophies, the history of the brand and complexities of working with family.

Jun Lee is the founder of Korean Fried Chicken QSR, Gami Chicken and Beer. Leveraging a career in sales and strategy with multinational giants like Samsung SDS and BMC Software, Jun rekindled an old promise to his undergraduate mates after completing his MBA to form Gami - a business that reported to earn AUD 52 million in revenue across 38 locations in F23. 

In the episode, Jun shares the way he thinks about cuisine integration to deliver Korean food and culture to a western consumer, along with his leadership philosophies and much more.

Founder of Mr Black Spirits, Tom Baker, joins the program today. Until the brand was acquired by Diageo in 2022, Tom led the business as CEO, alongside Master Distiller, Philip Moore. 

The bittersweet Australian liqueur’s iconic bottle was created by Tom - a designer by trade - and is now known the world over, with everything still produced at their distillery/roastery just North of Sydney. 

Making sense of customer data can be unbelievably difficult. Today, David Shukri - Client Service Director at Shopper Intelligence - joins the program to discuss exactly this. With over a decade of experience helping retailers and manufacturers navigate data to innovate, David has found himself focusing his interests on the Australian liquor industry - to distill complexity and navigate the noise to generate actionable insights. 

Aaron Trotman - the Founder of zero percent alcohol, alternative-wine brand, NON - joins the program today and shares a window to his philosophy and experience in business.  

While globetrotting through Europe and Asia with his partner, they noticed that the option to exercise temperance with degustation meals was lacking, sparking the idea for NON - to create a bottled drink that mirrors the quality and flavours found in prestigious kitchens without the booze.

I had the pleasure of enjoying a tasting at NONHQ - in Melbourne’s South East - it’s a little bit out of town but I highly recommend you check it out because the experience surprised me. I was appropriately sceptical but Aaron, Nick and the team take the product seriously and NON tasted great. 

I hope you enjoy the episode today

Paul Cooper earned an early restaurant education in Australia before hitting his stride in world-class European kitchens - Barcelona’s ABaC, London’s iconic Pied a Terre (under Shane Osborn) and Michel Bras’ acclaimed French restaurant, Bras. 

Returning home with incredible Michelin-star experience, he has since come to own multiple venues, vineyards and joins the program today as an Executive Chef with a top-to-tail philosophy, sparing ‘no broccoli stump’. 

This episode was recorded at Oakwood Premier Melbourne.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a bartender that doesn’t know the guest today - Imbibe Magazine has even called him, ‘the most famous cocktail bartender in the world’.

Dale DeGroff humbly deflects it to Joe Baum but is credited with transforming cocktail culture while working at the Rainbow Room in New York in the 1980s. He popularised a number of things including the use of fresh juice and garnishes, the Cosmopolitan as we know it today and even named the Nick and Nora glass.

Dale has received numerous awards, trained many of today’s greats and authored bestselling cocktail books - including The Craft of The Cocktail.

He’s the founding President of The Museum of the American Cocktail, serves as a consultant for Holland America Line and continues to entertain audiences with lively presentations on TV and stage worldwide.

Recorded inside the world’s first standalone Grey Goose bar at Crown Melbourne, Le Martini. Officially open, the venue offers a range of martinis designed by Dale.

Mike Brabant - CEO of Australian independent coffee company, Single O - joins the program today. 

The company was called Single O before single origin really became a thing, so they’ve always seemed to be a step ahead. We talk about that focus on innovation, its link with sustainability and the brand’s expansion into Japan - along with the economic and cultural differences between each market.  

After their recent $3.6 million dollar capital raise - backed by Invest South and Mainland Angel Investors - the New Zealand based, First Table, is armed to rapidly expand.

The guest today, Chris Bradley - known to many as ‘Squid’ - is the brand’s Australasian Business Development Manager and carries similar experience from GrabOne, BookMe and Everything Travel Group.

We explore his journey with the business, vision, challenges and exciting prospects in the ever-evolving industry that is hospitality technology.