E80 Alie Kudoba

This weeks guest is Alie Kudoba who is currently the head Bartender at The Bauer Kitchen in Waterloo, Ontario. Born and raised in Kitchener Ontario, Alie got her start in the industry as a barista at Second Cup while still in high school. It was Alie’s first test of a fast paced customer service environment. At that point in time, Alie realized she enjoyed the challenge of making drinks beautifully but also with speed and efficiency.  Alie eventually moved on to Molly Blooms in Kitchener, where she started serving and bartending. Alie worked with the greatest people at that little dive bar which included one of her very best friends still to this day. After two years at Molly Blooms, Molly and a couple of her friends moved out to Whistler, British Columbia together. At the time, Whistler would not hire anyone in the industry without a minimum of 3 years serving/bartending experience, so Alie settled for another barista job.  During her time in Whistler, Alie met an Australian boy, and decided to move to his home town on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland Australia. While in Australia, Alie got a job working at a fine dining restaurant on the beach. Eventually, the Australian romance fizzled out, and Alie moved back to Whistler BC.  Now that Alie finally had 3 years of serving and bartending experience, Alie was hired at Earls Whistler in the dead season of summer. However, her job did not start until September. Running low on funds, Alie reached out to her mom. Her mom’s advice was to move back to Ontario and live at home and save up some money until Alie could go back out west on her own dime. Alie’s plan was to work at The Bauer Kitchen in Waterloo for 6 months and then move back to Whistler. However, while working at The Bauer Kitchen, Alie met the love of her life. Being close to home and family and with a new romance, Alie decided to end her backpacking plans, and call Kitchener-Waterloo her home.  Alie has now been working at The Bauer Kitchen for 8 years now. During the early stages of the covid lockdown, Alie has also started her own side hustle. Under the name “Alchemist Alie” - she started hosting online mixology courses through zoom, paired with cocktail kits and bar tools. From there, she gained private bartending gigs and is now venturing into bottled cocktails with a friend who owns The Grazing Table in KW. You can find Alie on instagram at @alchemist.alie. Links   @alchemist.alie The Grazing Table The Bauer Kitchen @the_industry_podcast email us: [email protected] Podcast Artwork by Zak Hannah  @zak.hannah