Bastien, born in Switzerland to a family of restaurateurs and spirit maker, is a graduate of Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne. As a former vice president of the Swiss barkeeper association and F&B manager at Shangri-la Hotels, his experience expands over 3 continents, thus giving Bastien a worldly perspective of the F&B industry. Upon leaving his position at Shangri-la, He opened the first "speakeasy" cocktail bar in Guangzhou—Hope & Sesame with his university schoolmate Andrew Ho and wife, Marcia Xiao.
Hope & Sesame has been named twice "Bar of the year—China" among many other awards by DRiNK Magazine and has been for the past 3 years on the prestigious Asia's 50 Best Bars list as well as top 51-100 on the World 50 Best Bars. Within the last 3 years, he worked with Andrew and his team on multiple consulting projects across China with groups such as Four Seasons (Guangzhou) and Mandarin Oriental (Beijing & Shenzhen) Stiller by Taian Table and Ralph Lauren. He also hosted bartending shifts & brand events to over 40 cities across the globe. In 2019, the team launched Charlie's, a new project in a multi-level historic building in Guangzhou, housing an Italian cafe/bar a modern tasting menu focusing on seasonal Chinese produce, in 2020 they opened Bar SanYou a modern Baijiu Cocktail bar and Hope & Sesame Shenzhen, and in 2022, they just opened their 5th venue, Bar SanYou located in Futian, Shenzhen.
4.2H - Silk Road Hall
Bar SanYou, from 2019 to 2023, was honored for five consecutive years as one of the Asia's 50 Best Bars and received accolades such as the "DRiNK Magazine's Bar of the Year in China" and "Best Cocktail Menu." The founder, Bastien, has led a team that has served numerous leading Chinese Baijiu enterprises, assisting many Chinese baijius in finding new "modes of expression."
Bastien will share with us his experiences from the past year in promoting the culture of Chinese Baijiu globally: What kind of innovation and storytelling can help traditional Chinese Baijiu win over more new consumers?