SAVING THE EARTH ONE GLASS BOTTLE AT A TIME: INDUSTRY NIGHT, SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

On this week’s Industry Night: Back in June I was fortunate enough to be at the James Beard Awards in Chicago. I am sure those of you who tune in regularly are like — no duh Nycci, we know! Well you are going to hear about it again, but for a totally different reason. Yes, I am a believer in the James Beard Mission, reason 1 why I was there. And yes I got the gig of a lifetime being hired by Hilton to be their ambassador on the red carpet — interviewing all the amazing people in the culinary world — like last week’s show’s guest James Beard Award winner, Rob Rubba. BUT! I also met amazing people. Like my guest today. Have you heard of Proof & Company? They are on a mission to cultivate the second golden age in drinking… What does that mean? They are collective of creative experts from the cocktail and spirits community. They distribute hundreds of premium craft spirit cocktail ingredients, bottles, and glassware and they partner with the regions, best bars, restaurants, hotels, and collaborate on bar projects consistently that rank in the world 50 best bars. So there is all of that. So back to James Beard — while there I met several of the people behind Proof & Company because they had activations all over the 3-day event and that is when I met, Zdenek Kastanek — Z has an amazing resume and is one of the founding team members of Proof & Company. But his passion lies in saving the planet. Fortunately for him, that passion is now an off shoot of Proof & Company and it is AMAZING. Z is the managing Director for Ecospirits USA and it is building and operating a first to market circular distribution system … What does that mean?

Well we are about to get into it.

Listen to the full episode here. 

Watch the full episode here. 

Today's Guest: 

Zdenek Kastanek 

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