Isai Xolalpa
Beverage & Hospitality Consulting
Cocktails, mocktails, and the teams that pour them.
+50%
$5M→$7M
$25M
Monthly Revenue growth
W Philadelphia
Annual revenue
W Aspen
Annual F&B Revenue
InterContinental Cluster
I build beverage programs that make money — and teams that can run them without me.
Ten years inside hotels: JW Marriott Mexico City, InterContinental Cleveland, W Aspen, W Philadelphia. Operations ranging from a single bar to a three-property cluster turning $25 million a year.What I actually do is narrower than that résumé suggests. I take a bar that's underperforming, figure out whether the problem is the menu, the pricing, the systems, or the training — usually it's all four — and fix them in the right order. Then I write it all down so the program survives after I leave.I'm not a guest bartender. The work I'm good at is unglamorous: costing every recipe, mapping a station, teaching a twenty-three-year-old how to describe a mezcal to a nervous guest, and building the checklist that keeps the bar looking the same on a Tuesday as it does on a Saturday.
What I do
Beverage Program Design
Pricing & Revenue Architecture
Signature cocktails rooted in your concept. Classic standards executed identically every time. Craft non-alcoholic programs priced as a peer menu, not an afterthought. Wine lists with a by-the-glass strategy and pairings your servers can actually sell.
Every recipe costed against a target pour cost. Tiered pricing with entry, signature, and premium anchors. Menu engineering driven by sales mix. Happy hour rebuilt for margin instead of discount.
Team Development
Operations & Standards
Steps of service built for the bar, not borrowed from the dining room. Product knowledge in spirits, wine, and the kitchen's menu. Upselling frameworks built on guest benefit. Train-the-trainer certification so the program survives turnover.
Station mapping and mise en place. Par levels and ordering discipline. Opening, mid-shift, and closing checklists. Batching and prep workflow — the fix for both speed and consistency. Written SOPs, specific to your property.
Openings & Reopenings
Concept through opening for bars and hotel F&B outlets. Equipment specification, vendor strategy, pre-opening hiring and training.
Selected work
Built for hotel bars operating at volume. Technique that holds up on a Friday night, not a photo shoot.
Press
- Forbes — 7 Tea Martinis That Are Redefining Cocktail Culture
- Hotel Management — Hotelier Spotlight
- Total Food Service — How Festival Drinks Pack Your Bar
- Metro Philadelphia — WET Deck Summer Program
- Eater — Winter Social Hour, W Philadelphia
About
Born in Mexico City. Trained in hospitality management with a focus in mixology at Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School in Sydney, Australia.Agave, amaro, and Asian ingredients aren't trend items to me — they're the pantry I grew up cooking and drinking from.Certified in mixology and culinary (Sydney), RAMP (Pennsylvania), TIPS, Revenue Management (IHG), Managing Difficult Interactions (Harvard), and Marriott's Leadership Programs.Fluent in English and Spanish.
Let's talk about your bar.
[email protected]
970-456-8851
Philadelphia, PA
© 2026 Isai Xolalpa · Beverage & Hospitality Consulting