At Walt Disney World’s Swan and Dolphin Resort, Assistant Director of F&B Luciano Sperduto and the rest of the F&B team create unique themed bars to pair with banquet menus and get guests involved in the action.

“Our banquet beverage station always starts with the food,” Sperduto says. For instance, salt-crusted whole snapper inspires a Mojito or Caipirinha station. For Mojitos, guests are given a selection of berries, citrus fruit, and fresh mint they muddle themselves. The bartender finishes the creation and pours it. “For the Caipirinha bar, we set up a sugarcane juicing station with fresh sugarcane to complement the rum,” he adds.

For other events, the Chef’s Bar features fresh ingredients presented on butcher block tables. “Guests come up and select their own ingredients— mint with fresh melon juice, for example. We have cantaloupe and honeydew at the station, and they choose their vodka,” Sperduto says.

Guests also choose their own flavored rims, from options such as watermelon and raspberry. “We do cobbler-style drinks, with chunks of fruits and crushed ice in them,” says Sperduto. “We want guests to see the ingredients are fresh.”

For breakfast events, Swan and Dolphin offers a Bloody Mary bar. Guests choose their rims from Old Bay, celery salt, traditional salt, or a chili powder/paprika blend, then they skewer their garnishes, perhaps peppers or shrimp, and add a dash of one of the fresh sauces.

Healthy superfoods also find their way from the buffet into cocktails or mocktails for groups going alcohol-free, and herb teas can transform the room with their scent. “We did a rosemary tea pre-set at every plate with a fresh sprig in every glass. The whole room smelled of rosemary when the guests entered,” Sperduto recalls. “It was a real sensory treat.”

John Paul Boukis helped develop the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s publishing division and is a founding editor of HOTEL F&B. He is based in Tampa.

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