Meet Savannah Morales | Professional Private/Mobile Bartender

We had the good fortune of connecting with Savannah Morales and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Savannah, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I have been a professional bartender for over 20 years, and I absolutely love what I do. During covid times, my family and I moved from the Bay Area to Hawaii and lived on the Big Island for about six months. Unfortunately, it did not work out for us living on Hawaii as we were having difficulties finding the right place to live. We collectively decided to move back to California. When we discussed where in California, we decided to try a new place and moved to San Diego. I was always aware that the bar and hospitality scene in San Diego was bigger than the bay area, so I was excited since this was the career path I chose. Unfortunately, when we moved to San Diego, I was having difficulties finding a job. There were barely any job postings and the possible job prospects I did have never panned out. I became discouraged for a little bit because it was becoming hard to find the right job. I had plenty of experience and did not understand why I was having so much difficulty. I did see many people posting on social media about their ambitions to start their own mobile bartending business and the success they were having bartending privately. I finally realized that this was something I could do as well. I had the experience and the ambition to keep moving forward to find a way to bring in income. So instead of moping and waiting and searching endlessly for someone to hire me, I finally decided to start my own business and work for myself. I did my research on what the necessary steps were to start and took it from there. In November of 2021, I had filed for my own Business License, got the proper Insurance, set up a website and my social media platforms and started to research networking groups to attend to start meeting people and talk about my services. When I attended my first networking meeting I was connected to my first potential client. In December of 2021, I had booked my first event. It was such a great feeling, and the event went amazing. I knew this was something I could continue to do as long as I kept up my hard work. Almost three years after planting my seeds and nurturing my business, I have to say I have had my most successful year to date. I am truly seeing the fruits of my labor and I am continuing to grow and nurture my business. My thinking behind starting my own business was that if I really needed to survive off my skills and hard work, I truly could do anything I set my mind to. I did not want to depend on waiting to get a call back from a potential job or continue to work in a toxic work environment. This was something I could do all on my own and I will be good at it as long as I continue do the necessary work to be successful. I did not want to depend on a job and would rather depend on myself.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My uncle Jesse was a professional bartender for many years. He was so good at what he did, and I admired him in so many ways. When I was 21, I got my first job working in the service industry as a cocktail waitress and saw how much fun the bartenders were having behind the bar just like my uncle did. I knew it was something I wanted to do. From all the years of working as a bartender and learning something new about it every day, I am now implementing all that I have learned and continue to learn into my business. I always say there are so many different types of bartenders out there. Some that specialize in Flair Bartending, or Spirit Knowledge. I personally consider myself a Service Excellence Bartender meaning I specialize in giving the best service I can to my guests and clients and giving them a personalized experience. Whether it is making sure they get the highest quality of service possible. creating a special cocktail just for them or just making a genuine personal connection. I think in the service industry sometimes it can easily become purely transactional and the whole idea of service can get lost. I give people a memorable experience as best as I can. I get that quality from my Uncle Jesse. He always had a smile on his face, was genuine and made sure that all his guests felt like a guest in his home. I am proud to walk on a similar path as him and having my guests or clients walk away with a smile and the feeling of getting well taken care of. When a guest or client tells me they had the best experience ever, that is what makes me happy and excited to keep doing what I am doing. I got to this point in my life by being open to learning, growing, expanding and making genuine connections with people. I worked for Marriott for ten years and I definitely learned a lot there such as the true meaning of hospitality and how important it is for the service industry. Getting to where I am today was definitely not easy. I shed a lot of blood, sweat, tears and energy. I truly believe it was all for a reason. I chose to grow for those experiences and learn from it as best I could. There was always something to take in and rationalize why it happened. If I didn’t do that, I don’t think I would be where I am today. I chose to move forward from my struggles and find productive ways to improve and look ahead. I also know there is a reason and a purpose for everything. I am a very passionate and sensitive person and having these qualities has gotten me to persevere through the difficult times. It is also the reason why I will one day open my own bar and restaurant. My Mobile Bartending Business is the steppingstone to getting me there. My life and work experiences are my motivators to setting me apart from all the rest. My employees will be just as important as the guests walking through the door. I have worked in some pretty toxic environments where the managers and the business just see their employees as expendable and do little to nothing to improve the workplace. I think it is crucial to take care of those that work with you and not see them as people who work for you. I truly believe in the saying, “If you take care of your employees they will take care of your business,’ and that is what I plan to do when I open up my own bar. This is only the beginning and I am excited for you all to see what I have in store for the future.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am so fortunate to live in San Diego, it is just so beautiful and there is so much to do. I absolutely love going to the beach. My perfect day is driving my car, with the top down of course, and going to Selva Coffee House and getting their Luna Del Miel, which is a Lavender Latte. It is the best one in San Diego and trust me I have had a lot from many different places. Next, I would drive along the coast on the most scenic route possible and head to La Jolla from Ocean Beach, which is where I live. My favorite beach is Marine Street Beach. I happened to find it by accident a few years ago and it is now my go to spot. Its dog friendly and absolutely magical. I also love taking walks along the famous La Jolla Cove Walk path. I love getting some good cardio with a view. During mid-May to the end of October, it is Sea Lion Season, so you get to see Sea Lions and their pups all over the beaches. The sunsets are also amazing to see in La Jolla, I love sungazing and meditating on the beaches or along the pathway. Of course, after a long beach day I have had time to work up a hunger, so I definitely have a few places that I enjoy. For Sushi, I love Full Moon Sushi in Downtown and Azuki Sushi near Balboa Park. For Burgers, Rockys in Pacific Beach and Neighborhood in East Village which is in the downtown area. Neighborhood has been my favorite bar since I moved to San Diego. My experiences there are always great. The Bartenders are friendly, hospitable and are awesome at what they do. The food and cocktails are some of the bests in all of San Diego in my opinion and it is one of the few places that serve good food and cocktails late. There are also two speakeasys within it which are Noble Experiment and Youngblood. If your ever in San Diego, you should definitely check out all three. There is such a great vibe from the moment you walk in. I absolutely love to dance, and Camino Riviera is one of my favorite spots. They usually have Dj’s Thursday through Saturday, and you can see the airplanes flying over from the patio. I also love going to Blue Monday at The Merrow in Hillcrest area. That has been my new favorite thing to do since I recently discovered it. I always end up meeting really cool people there as well. I think in general; San Diego is full of awesome people and since it is such a big melting pot, there are always opportunities to make new friends and new connections. San Diego is such a fun place to be.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to give a big shoutout to my Husband and our son, who have been my biggest supporters throughout this journey. This has not been easy for them as I have chosen to stay in San Diego to pursue my dreams and grow my business. They have moved back to the bay area so that my son can be close to his family, friends and attend college in an environment that he is more comfortable in. Even though it was hard for us to live far apart, they understand that this is something I need to do for myself. I would also like to give a shoutout to David Zumaya, who is the founder of The Cafecito Networking Group which was my first networking group that I attended and am still a member of today. He was the person to connect me to my first client and has since connected me to other amazing people. He is also a friend who has helped me and welcomed me into his community.

Website: https://www.redlotuslibations.com

Instagram: @redlotuslibations

Linkedin: @Savannah Morales

Facebook: @redlotuslibations

Other: I also have a podcast coming out soon and preview videos are up now on Instagram @libations_and_sensations