Despite being born into a family of hospitality, bartending wasn’t the first love for River Wood – it was football. “I always wanted to be a footballer, Peter Schmeichel was my childhood hero,” says Wood, who played at a high level in goal before injury turned him to coaching.
“At one stage I was working in a bar in Stellenbosch which I would open at 6:30am and close at 4pm. Then I would take a couple of goalkeeping sessions and get home at about 9pm before working in a nightclub from 11pm until the early hours. This was just to make enough money to supplement my coaching courses, I’d only ever seen hospitality as a way of making money to support my passion, which was football.”
Growing up in Hermanus near Cape Town, Wood helped out in his mother’s restaurant during his formative years and one New Year’s Eve he substituted for a sick bartender.
“The first bottle of champagne I opened hit me straight in the eye, so it was certainly a memorable night. But to be honest, I knew from that point I could see myself working in hospitality.”
In 2017 Wood joined Seabourn Cruise Line to grow his bartending knowledge and in January of the following year he made it to the global final of Diageo World Class.
“I learned a lot from American bartenders and it was different to anything I’d previously picked up from just reading books. There was a proper training programme which blew my mind about the industry.”
Life behind the bar was beginning to flourish for Wood, but while on board he received a call from Benni McCarthy, former Premier League footballer and the current first team coach of Manchester United, who wanted a goalkeeping coach to join him at Cape Town FC – an offer which couldn’t be refused. However, a career in coaching proved to be nothing more than a sabbatical year and, after returning to hospitality, Wood was focused. By this stage he was armed with his own consulting and events company, but a total of a half-year ban on alcohol during the outbreak of Covid-19 led him to Southampton in the UK to stay with his parents.
“As an aspiring bartender London is the place to be, but I didn’t have many connections at that time. I knew I wanted to work in a bar which was operating at the 50 Best level.”
Influencing experience
Wood spent a year working for a bar group in Southampton growing his skill set before an opportunity at Heckfield Place, Hampshire, arose. The luxury hotel has a professional bar set-up which Wood was in charge of and he developed the beverage programme for Marle, the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant.
“I wanted to get into hotels because, similar to being on a cruise, you can have an influence on the entire experience of your guests which you can’t do in a regular bar.”
After a year, Wood’s reputation had blossomed and the head of bars at Gleneagles, Michele Mariotti, came calling.
“When Michele reached out I was super honoured, but I was happy where I was so it took a bit of persuading. However, when I saw the place and got a feel for the size and quality of the operation it was a no-brainer. I don’t think there’s a better place in the UK for me to learn on such a scale with such a great team of people.”
Wood now has a team of 36 people looking after all 11 cocktail outlets at the hotel, which earlier this year was ranked 32 in The World’s 50 Best Hotels. But something much closer to Wood was the hotel’s American Bar winning the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu at The World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony in Singapore.
“The award was insane. Book of Berries [American Bar’s latest menu] was launched just before I arrived, but I helped tweak the drinks and honestly, we still do. Because the ingredients are local or seasonal the flavours can vary slightly, and we revise the techniques too. It’s also important to listen to customer feedback, because there’s no point in serving people your idea of the perfect drink.
“Featuring in The World’s 50 Best Hotels has taken things to another level. We’re crazy busy and I work all the time, I’m usually told to go because otherwise I’d never leave. I’m most productive at about 10pm so it never really stops, but any spare time I have I’m outside hiking. But it’s getting cold now man, I thought the south coast was cold but it’s like four degrees and everyone keeps telling me it’s going to snow soon.”
From goalkeeping to throwing Martinis, the South African has always been hands-on, and his efforts are now being recognised at the very top. Working in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment which demands excellence is Wood’s perfect ecosystem.
