Artem Klymenko, Bar Consultant, Flair Expert and Trainer at Tito’s Group

At the young age of 37, Mr. Artem Klymenko, is one of the best and most talented bartenders, five times champion of the Ukraine and the Middle East and among the World’s top 20 bartenders. Presently he is the Bar Consultant at Tito’s Group and is also a Flair Expert and Trainer. In the 18 years of his career, he has unrivalled knowledge on bartending and flair bartending.

He completed his army training and joined a night club as a bouncer which was tedious and uninspiring. So, on his request to the management, he was transferred to the bar, which is comparatively attractive. From then, there is no looking back. No doubt, it is more hectic and requires more energy, but still, Mr.Artem Klymenko, is devoted to his job and simply enjoys his work. He loves to interact with different people which it more interesting. He foresees a great potential in India with respect to the Bar Industry and his goal is to teach and share his knowledge, skills and expertise with entire Indian Crowd interested in this industry.

Though, Mr.Artem is a Flair expert and has achieved several awards ,he gives first preference to service. He believes that you should always compete with yourself at whatever you do, to improve yourself. He emphasises that –no matter what, service comes first .A the sign on the wall of a Bar School displays – “SERVICE FIRST, FLAIR SECOND AND COMPETITION ALWAYS.”

Mr. Artem expends maximum time and efforts to train, develop and enhance the performance of the Bartenders. He deems it worth it to teach them the skills of being a good bartender. Every bartender should have excellent knowledge of choosing the right ingredients, mixing, garnishing and serving variety of drinks as per the needs and preferences of the customers. So he has to plan, present the bar menu, search and replenish fresh and best spices, required ingredients and alcohol. Mr.Artem personally takes care of these minute details.

Mr. Artem takes keen interest in organising and participating in various events, camps, challenges and competitions pertaining to Bars and Beverages. There he gets opportunities to meet different people who exhibit and share diverse ideas and innovations of modern garnishing, innovations of glassware and ingredients. He believes that the best thing of the 21st Century is the fact that one need not travel far and wide but get any information at a click of a button. He keeps himself updated through social media which offer the best ideas.

He believes that a bartender is a person who creates the memories for his guests. So he speaks and interacts with people and strives his best to give them a moment of happiness by serving them or by flaring. He reads and gauges the customer’s mood and psychology to give them exactly what they are looking for, sometimes even without a word with them. According to him there are no specific problems which the bartenders face and even if there are problems, each individual needs to resolve them at his level.

With regards to training new comers, he believes that breaking or damaging equipment is not wastage, but actually it is an expense to obtain creativity. He encourages them to experiment and go a step further. He thinks that it is very much essential to motivate employees to grow and deems that if the management allows the employees to grow then only the organisation will grow and prosper. So the management should undertake appreciation, appraisals, incentives and good treatment to motivate employees.

His message to his readers is to “Never give up .Take the failure as a stepping stone to success.”