Free hospitality education
Learn the industry from the people who run it.
BARVOX is a free educational resource for bar, restaurant, hotel and HoReCa professionals. Every episode is a long-form conversation with someone who has actually done the work: opened the bar, built the brand, survived the burnout. Full transcripts included. No paywall, no course fees.
Opening and running your own venue
What it really takes to go from behind the bar to owning the room: money, boundaries, standards and staying power.
- Kirsten Holm (KBAR): 23 years running Copenhagen’s longest-standing cocktail bar: standards over discounts, boundaries over burnout.
- From bartender to bar owner: co-founding a venue and the unglamorous side nobody warns you about.
- From young sommelier to bar owner in six months: an unconventional route built on recognition and relentless learning.
Career paths and changing direction
Hospitality careers rarely move in straight lines. These conversations map the transitions: into the industry, up through it, and sideways out of service into brand and business roles.
- The truth about overworking: from bartender to brand manager, through burnout, with lessons on balance that every professional should hear.
- From law to hospitality: why skills transfer further than credentials.
- Hotels to events to entrepreneurship: reputation, networking and presentation as career currency.
- Kitchen to wine to spirits to product manager: finding a path by staying curious.
Building products and brands
For bartenders with a product idea and producers entering the market: how drinks brands actually get built, distributed and sold in the Nordics.
- From working in bars to producing rum: transparency, pricing and reinvention from the founder of a rum brand.
- Reinvention with edible insects: building a food concept nobody asked for, and making it work.
- From chef to glassware designer for the Danish royal wedding: turning craft skills into a product business.
- Read our guide for producers and brands entering the HoReCa market →
People and culture
The industry runs on people. These episodes tackle the human side: representation, mentorship and mental health.
- Being a woman in a male-dominated industry: an honest conversation about culture and persistence.
- Browse every episode →
Common questions
Is BARVOX free to use for learning?
Yes. Every episode, transcript and article is free. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube, or read the transcripts on each episode page.
Who is BARVOX for?
Bartenders, baristas, chefs, sommeliers, floor staff, managers and owners in bars, restaurants, cafés and hotels; hospitality students; and producers or FMCG brands that sell into the HoReCa channel.
How often are new episodes published?
A new interview episode is published every second Monday, with industry news published several times a week.
Do episodes have transcripts?
Yes. Every episode page has a full transcript, so you can read, search and cite the conversations.