Stories

Sonia Elia

1 April 2021

My Story

Welcome to the Bar

Nationality: Italian
Occupation: Franklin and Sons Brand Ambassador
Workplace: London UK
Favorite Cocktail: Martinez
Favorite Spirit: Whisky

What inspired you to become a bartender?

My uncle had a bar and when I was eight years old I enjoyed making coffee for the regulars. I was very tiny so my uncle and my cousin gave me a little stool to reach the coffee machine. I felt like I was on stage in the middle of a theatre and I loved it.

Tell me about your bartending journey and how you got to where you are now:

I studied in Sicily at Alberghiero, a school which gives you the opportunity to study food, beverage and hospitality in general. While studying, I was doing my first job experiences in a residence and I had the opportunity to work with lovely people that transmitted the passion of this job to me. After my experience and my studies, I decided to move to London 11 years ago. I think it was the best decision I could ever make. I remember that the first thing I learned in English was “I’m looking for a job”, so I packed my bag full of printed CVs and walked around London to look for a job. As my English was really poor, I started to work as a food runner in a beautiful restaurant in Covent Garden. That was the first experience which gave me the opportunity to step up as my English improved and so I got a position as a waitress. After this, I decided to leave and work in an Italian restaurant in Piccadilly as a bar-back, and then as bartender. This job gave me the opportunity to be in touch with what I really wanted to do. As I met a lot of people between those experiences, I had the opportunity to make a big jump, and so I jumped on the 28th floor of Hilton Park Lane as bartender and eventually head bartender. Here is where I developed my skills and my career. I had the opportunity to work with amazing mentors such as Fred Siriex, to do my first cocktail competition, and an amazing school of service. After that, I worked as Head Bartender at the new bar of Sheraton Park Lane and then I moved to Novikov to experience the club and Asian cuisine. After this experience I went to Sartoria as Assistant Bar Manager and here I was working with an amazing chef, Francesco Mazzei, and mentor of the cocktail menu, Simone Caporale. I then decided to make a bigger step as Bar Manager in an Italian restaurant in Mayfair and that gave me the opportunity to grow in every single aspect. As a Bar Manager I decided to experience Ibiza in IT and that was one of the best experiences of my life. Once back in London I decided to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone and I accepted the job as BDE with Franklin and Sons and now UK Brand Ambassador. This job has improved a lot within myself and others and I love it.

What stamp would you like to leave on the industry?

There is no particular stamp I would like to leave as there are a lot of good leaders in the bar industry out there, but I can say that if you meet me at the bar we can laugh together. So the stamp I would like to leave is a good laugh and good moments with people, that is very important.

Can you explain your personal process for creating a cocktail?

I don’t have a guide as I’m a person that goes with the flow. I usually get inspired from music, art, colours and everything that surrounds me. Then I try to translate this into flavours and play with them and try to match flavours and smells. Of course, I read a lot of books and I take inspiration from there as well. When I was working in a bar, I made little difference as I had to follow or perhaps even develop a concept and translate this into flavours and cocktails.

What is the most important part of what you do and what does it mean to you?

The most important thing to me is to love what I do, the rest will come automatically.

What do you think will be the future of the F&B industry?

I think the bar industry will come back stronger. As human beings we need contact with people, we need to socialize and the bar is the perfect scenario for this. I believe it will be much better and maybe with many more details.

Most bizarre client request:

Water with no ice because of an allergy to ice.