The person behind DrinkThinkRelax Hospitality is Robert van Thiel. He has spent his life dedicated to the science and art of service in the hospitality industry focusing heavily on beverage creation and curation. Starting his career in pizza shops and retirement home food service then moving into high-end catering in Philadelphia, tending bar for events such as the Liberty Medal Honors & 2008 Phillies World Series party and many other distinguished events held at the National Constitution Center, Please Touch Museum and other event spaces around the Greater Philadelphia Area.
From there he went north to the Poconos area, settling in at 300 seat, local restaurant with over 100 beer options and a comedy club on Saturday nights rising quickly to the General Manger position at the age of 23. At this point he decided to polish some of his rough edges and completed an Associates Degree in Hospitality with Northampton Community College where later he would teach on the credit and non-credit side. That degree lead to an opportunity to compete in a sommelier competition that changed the trajectory of his career forever. Winning this competition won an externship to New Orleans and 7 days behind the scenes immersed in hospitality culture within Emeril's entire restaurant portfolio.
While completing the degree, an internship was needed this lead him to the Molinari family, another pivotal moment. For more than 6 years he was at the helm of an award winning beverage program at Molinari's, including a Wine Spectator award winning exclusively Italian wine list paired with an extensive rotating cocktail list then eventually became customizable to each guests experience. Beyond the curation of beverages, Robert also organized and executed the service of three to ten course wine & spirits paired dinners ranging from 30-80 guests throughout each year. He spent time in Italy on behalf of the restaurant learning appreciation for the Italian & international beverage industry.
Spending nearly two years of adapting the business during the COVID 19 pandemic including running the pizza oven while still tending to the bar and tables - he decided to move on to a position where he would have a more traditional schedule. Unfortunately an accident on a jobsite would lead to a compression fracture of his L1 vertebrae. Hard work and a positive attitude throughout intense physical therapy allowed him to recover without surgery. After spending a couple years making an income buying and selling video game collections from his home office, hospitality started calling again.
After providing a beverage consultation for and then executing the services of a 120 guest wedding top to bottom it was clear that is passion for beverage services would pull him back in, then it was a 30th birthday private in-home bar service that would convince Robert it was time to get back behind a bar. Finding a home within Paxos restaurant group mentoring bartenders and creating at the bar of Blue Grillhouse currently still Monday - Thursday...
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