ABOUT COCKTAIL PROFESSOR
An international bar consultancy
for ambitious hospitality.
Cocktail Professor develops distinctive bar concepts and beverage programs for luxury hotels, hospitality groups and ambitious independent bars around the world.
Our work spans more than 100 clients and over 50 bar openings across the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and the Caribbean.
100 + INTERNATIONAL CLIENTS
50 + BAR OPENINGS WORLD-WIDE
OUR STORY
Curiosity has taken us a long way.
Cocktail Professor began with Jarl de Vries and Teisje van Emmerik and a shared curiosity for hospitality, design and the cultures that shape them. From the beginning, there was an instinct to look further: to travel, research, taste, question conventions and learn from people doing exceptional things in very different corners of the industry.
That combination shaped a broader perspective on bars. Culinary thinking could sit alongside visual culture; storytelling alongside service; experimentation alongside the realities of a busy operation. Not because every project needed to be complex, but because understanding more of the picture created more possibilities. That same openness to different disciplines and perspectives has continued to shape the team as Cocktail Professor has grown.
Today, Cocktail Professor is an international team working across very different expressions of bar culture. From classic luxury hospitality to progressive fine drinking, from independent destinations to concepts developed for global hotel groups. The projects vary widely in scale and character, but the standard we set for the work remains the same.
Different expertise.
A shared standard.
OUR TEAM
Cocktail Professor is a multidisciplinary team of hospitality and creative professionals, with experience spanning very different corners of the industry.
No two projects need the same team. One project may call for a World’s 50 Best Bars background, another for deep experience in high-volume hospitality. Others may benefit from expertise in design, coffee, operations or a particular region and drinking culture.
What connects the team is more than expertise. There is a shared sense of style, curiosity and ambition, alongside a deep respect for craft and the people who practice it. We like working with people who continue to develop their own point of view, challenge familiar ways of doing things and care about the details others might overlook.
COCKTAIL PROFESSOR × STUDIO NUMEN
Hospitality & design, in constant conversation.
Cocktail Professor works closely with its sister agency Studio Numen. The relationship has shaped both practices over the years: design thinking has become part of how we approach bar consultancy, while first-hand hospitality experience has become an integral part of how Studio Numen approaches design.
For Cocktail Professor, that design perspective opens up a broader creative vocabulary. We think about contrast and balance, composition and repetition, color, storytelling and multisensory experience, and how those elements can shape a guest journey from one moment to the next. A botanical used in a drink might inspire a pattern elsewhere in the project; a flavor contrast might find an echo in color or material; an idea developed through R&D might influence the way something is presented, communicated or experienced. The disciplines do not need to match literally, but they can speak the same language.
Studio Numen approaches hospitality design with an equally practical advantage. Years of experience in bars and restaurants bring an understanding of service, workflow and operations that is difficult to replicate from drawings alone. The result is design that considers how a space performs as carefully as how it looks and feels, and how the spatial experience can strengthen the wider F&B concept.
PRESS & PERSPECTIVE
Cocktail Professor in conversation.
Cocktail Professor’s work and perspective have been featured by international media across hospitality, travel and culture — from the story behind the company to changing drinking cultures and new ways of thinking about the guest experience.
PORSCHE · TIPPING POINTS
The story behind Cocktail Professor
Porsche followed founders Jarl de Vries and Teisje van Emmerik for its Tipping Points documentary series, exploring the curiosity, entrepreneurship and creative thinking behind Cocktail Professor — and the journey of building a company around a different way of looking at hospitality.
MARRIOT DDO APEC
Masterclass: The future of bar concept & Design
Cocktail Professor was invited by Marriott Design Development APEC to share its perspective on the future of bar concept and design. The masterclass explored concept development, storytelling, guest experience, sustainability and bar design, and how creative thinking and operational insight can shape the bars of tomorrow.
VINEPAIR
The restaurant-as-wine-bar goes global
VinePair spoke with Jarl de Vries about the changing idea of the modern wine bar and the rise of natural and low-intervention wine within a broader hospitality culture — one shaped as much by atmosphere, food, design and informality as by what is poured.
FORBES
A more sensory approach to zero-proof drinking
Forbes explored the zero-proof program developed by Cocktail Professor for ette Hotel in Orlando, where flavor, aroma, presentation and tableside ritual became part of the experience. The program approached alcohol-free drinking not as a substitute, but as its own creative territory — combining unexpected ingredients, sensory cues and theatrical presentation.
CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER
THE WORK BEHIND THE EXPERIENCE
Condé Nast Traveler featured Cocktail Professor’s work for Belmond’s Eastern & Oriental Express, exploring the drinking experience behind the train’s Wild Malaysia beverage concept and how the program draws on the ingredients, landscapes and drinking cultures encountered along the journey through Malaysia.
FES MAGAZINE
The ideas shaping the modern bar
Cocktail Professor founders Jarl de Vries and Teisje van Emmerik were interviewed by FES Magazine on the evolution of modern bars and the ideas shaping their future. The conversation explored concept-driven design, sustainability and closed-loop thinking, multisensory drinking experiences, the rise of no- and low-alcohol, flavor-led menus and the relationship between creative ambition and bar logistics.
START A CONVERSATION
Tell us what you are working on.
We work with hotels, resorts, hospitality groups and independent bars around the world on new openings, existing venues and ambitious new concepts.