E269 Karolina Sliwinska
Cocktails, Consulting, and Knowing Your Worth
In this episode, we sit down with Karolina Sliwinska — bartender, mixologist, bar program consultant, and founder of Elite Bartender — to talk about what it really takes to build a career in hospitality. From Toronto nightclubs to luxury Marriott and Hyatt properties across Canada, Karolina's path is a masterclass in versatility and knowing your craft inside and out.
**From Poland to the KW bar scene** — Karolina moved to Canada at 18 and worked her way from wedding catering in Guelph to some of Toronto's most iconic venues, including the Government Nightclub.
**Why nightclubs and chain restaurants matter** — Karolina makes a strong case that high-volume environments like Jack Astor's, Moxie's, and nightclubs teach speed, spill control, and accountability that craft-focused bars often skip entirely.
**Hotel bartending and slowing down** — She breaks down how Marriott and Hyatt properties reward personality and genuine connection over volume — and what bartenders should know about unionized vs. non-unionized hotel gigs before signing on.
**Spirit-free cocktails are here to stay** — Karolina has priced mocktails at $10–12 across menus she's designed for Hyatt, Marriott, the Gaslight District in Cambridge, and Mediterraneo in Waterloo — and they sell just as well as the boozy ones.
**The business side of bartending** — Understanding cost, margins, and how to get your front-of-house staff actually selling the menu is what separates a good mixologist from a truly elite one.
**Elite Bartender** — Karolina's KW-based brand offers bar program design, staff training, menu consulting, and private event bartending from house parties to 200-person weddings.
Find Karolina at the following:
A big thank you to Jean-Marc Dykes of Imbiblia. Imbiblia is a cocktail app for bartenders, restaurants and cocktail lovers alike and built by a bartender with more than a decade of experience behind the bar. Several of the features includes the ability to create your own Imbiblia Recipe Cards with the Imbiblia Cocktail Builder, rapidly select ingredients, garnishes, methods and workshop recipes with a unique visual format, search by taste, using flavour profiles unique to Imbiblia, share recipes publicly plus many more......Imbiblia - check it out!
Contact the host Kypp Saunders by email at [email protected] for products from Elora Distilling and Malivoire Winery.
Links
email us: [email protected]