Darwin duo strengthen local bar community with Hospo & Hanky

Brought to life by Anneliese Grazioli and Joey Folkersma, Hospo & Hanky is a Darwin-based community-driven training and support group for local hospitality professionals.

The initiative is designed to bring the local hospitality community together through engaging masterclasses, friendly cocktail competitions and hands-on training – providing an avenue to drive creativity and confidence behind the bar.

Explaining how the initiative came to be, Anneliese says: “Over the years, Darwin has always had such a supportive hospitality scene, but structured training opportunities have been a bit thin on the ground.

“Brands have absolutely come up and supported with wonderful BAs, rep training and more, but it’s not super consistent and has definitely dropped off over the years. Everyone’s cutting costs, and it’s sad, but completely understandable. We’ve got some incredibly passionate, talented people here but as with most small and high-staff-turnover cities, venues have had a high turnover of teams and it’s harder to train past the basics.”

Hospo & Hanky kicked off in May this year, and already Anneliese and Joey have hosted four free sessions focused on one sponsored spirit. Leaning on their contacts across the industry, the duo have been able to source brand sponsorships that have made the initiative possible, all while coordinating venue setup, promoting the event, developing their own understanding of the expression, and designing sessions that are both educational and fun.

Sessions begin with half an hour of networking, followed by a deep dive into the brand’s history, production and a tasting, and finally, a relaxed competition that helps local bartenders develop their knowledge, confidence and competition skills.

“It’s less about winning and more about getting people to think creatively about the spirit, practise public speaking, and play with flavour pairings. This helps with in-venue service too, giving the bartender more confidence in speaking to guests about the products they are serving but also giving them great skills for larger cocktail competitions,” Anneliese explains.

“We’ve covered a mix of spirits so far and the feedback has been amazing, bartenders walk away with new knowledge, more confidence behind the bar, and stronger connections within the industry.”

Last week, the fourth session saw eight of Darwin’s top emerging bartenders create a Calvados cocktail to pair with a cheese. The competition was tied to Cerbaco’s national competition, and Celine Saudray of Willing Distillery will compete in the Melbourne finals with the drink she created at Hospo & Hanky.

“Calvados is already a fun and less-popular spirit, and pairing it with cheese really pushed everyone to think about balance and texture in a new way. The room was buzzing with ideas and the team was excited,” says Anneliese.

“What we have loved most was seeing the bartenders think outside of their usual flavour comfort zones. They walked away not only with more knowledge about Calvados, but with a sharper sense of how to build a drink around a specific pairing, a skill that’s really valuable in competitions and impressing guests visiting their venues.”

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Building a culture where bartenders feel inspired

Anneliese is a well-known figure in Australia’s hospitality industry, and she has long championed Darwin’s bar scene. Her passion for supporting the local bar community goes back to her days managing Hot Tamale between 2012 and 2021, where tequila trainings for her team grew into larger training sessions for the full lineup of Darwin Waterfront venues. In 2018, she started the Bars of Darwin initiative with Joey, and the pair hosted countless training sessions over a two-year period before Covid hit.

“Covid, then the opening of my two venues, put a bit of pin in this initiative, but we had recently been seeing a bit of dip in turnout and growth in our scene up here so we wanted to get everyone back together again, learning and supporting each other,” Anneliese told Bars & Cocktails.

“Similar to our Bars of Darwin training, but with a sharper focus on guest experience, competitions and skill-building, Hospo & Hanky is all about giving bartenders a free space to learn, practice, network, and hopefully see Darwin represented more on the national stage.”

Being from Darwin, Anneliese wants not only to support local bartenders to succeed, but nurture better acknowledgement of the city’s world-class hospitality.

“[Darwin’s bar scene] always been small but passionate and talented above its population. We weren’t given much national support or recognition in my earlier years and still unfortunately get left out of activations and competitions due to the cost of travel, freight, etc. Joey and I are trying to help the next generation be seen and understand that they don’t have to move to the bigger cities to grow a wonderful career in hospitality. 

“It’s not just about making great drinks; it’s about building a culture where bartenders feel inspired to push themselves, share knowledge, and represent Darwin proudly on bigger stages. If Joey and I can play even a small part in that, it’s worth every bit of effort.”

Hospo & Hanky sessions are free and open to all of Darwin’s hospitality – Anneliese encourages anybody who is interested to join the Hanky & Hospo Facebook group and get involved.

“Darwin bartenders can gain so much from these sessions, exposure to spirits they might not get to work with regularly, the chance to practice competition skills in a low-pressure setting, and genuine connections with other industry people,” she added.