Personalities Of The Event Industry: Meet Kemi Fakoya Of Icey Drinks & Cocktails

Kemi Fakoya is the brain behind Icey Drink & Cocktails, a drinks management outfit. She runs a global brand which she built from the scratch. she has paid her price and she is a head bartender with a difference. She takes us through her experience and what future has for the industry she operates in. enjoy is while you can.

H.E.B: Kindly introduce yourself and tell us what you do
Kemi Fakoya: My name is Kemi Fakoya, head bartender Icey drinks and cocktails. We are a drinks management outfit. We cater for event drinks, cocktails and mocktails. We supply, we ice, we serve drinks for parties so we are basically about drinks.
H.E.B: What is the most memorable event you’ve worked on?
Kemi Fakoya : That was a recent event which was quite big and challenging. That was in December access bank end of the year party. It was really interesting and very tasking considering the time I was given the notice.. a 24hrs notice. Thank God we were able to pull through and everybody had the icey experience.
H.E.B: Have have you being able to build such an excellent reputation in the event industry?
Kemi Fakoya : It is crucial that you know your onions. Identify what you are good at and improve on your craft. We learn everyday.. personally, I read everyday about my business, I read about every other thing that can make my business grow. Social media, marketing my business, advancing in skills. So those are the things are put together to take my business to the next level. Learn your craft like nobody else knows it in this world. Be the best at whatever you can be and market yourself. People say I’m always on facebook, twitter, instagram and I tell them if coca cola as a brand that is well known in the industry today is still doing their marketing and are getting it right so who am I not to market my business. My clients wont come to the room to meet me if I don’t market my product and my services. So those are the things that have helped in growing the business.
H.E.B: What are the latest trends in the cocktail world?
Kemi Fakoya : So many things, the set up, the drinks, the garnishes etc. I feel a lot of people are diverting from the cocktail culture itself and everybody is trying to get creative with their drinks but we shouldn’t forget the main purpose of that drink which is the cocktail. Balancing it very well, garnishing it with the right garnish and bringing out a good product.
H.E.B: What are the skills, education needed to be a mixologist
Kemi Fakoya : To be a mixologist is a lot of work. First you need to know the art of bartending. You cannot be a mixologist without being a bartender. A bartender is somebody who is attending at the bar, you know your equipments, everything you need to use for your job and the art of mixology itself. Knowing your modifiers, your mixers and balancing your cocktails. Its not a day job. It’s a continuous job so you need to keep learning and learning.
H.E.B: What are the common misconceptions people have about your job?
Kemi Fakoya: Lol! A whole lot. Once they see it colouring ‘is it not water and colouring’ and everybody calls it chapman. A cocktail is an alacholic drink that has two or more ingredients and atleast one of those ingredients is a spirit. A mocktail is a non alcoholic drink that does not have any liquor or spirit in it and people just call you and say ‘we want to order for 200 chapman’ and you say chapman alone or what exactly. Chapman is a cocktail but everybody sees all these things as chapman, everything to them is chapman. This is what we are trying to preach to them that this is beyond chapman. Even when they see you are making Pina Colada, they come asking if they can have ice cream. Whether its alcoholic or not. So there’s a lot of misconception about the cocktail world. If your drink doesn’t have any alcoholic content in it, its not cocktail, it’s a virgin drink.. it’s a mocktail. So those are the things we are trying to put in place and correct to let people know what they are drinking.
H.E.B: What do you think is the industry’s biggest problem?
Kemi Fakoya: I would say the people that are in the business just to make money. They really don’t know the art of cocktails.. they really don’t know the craft. They don’t know the culture. So many people see me like oh business is booming, you’re rich bla bla bla. But its beyond that. You need to have a passion for what you are doing and when you start a business without passion, you will be out of business as soon as u can. You need to understand your business, you need to know the low and the high periods of your business and you need to know what your audience want and give them what they want.
H.E.B: What is most challenging about your business?
Kemi Fakoya: A lot especially with Nigerian parties. Everybody comes up and say give us 10 trays of chapman, give us 10 cups of chapman and it could be challenging. Start up is also not as easy as people thing. People don’t understand the real value of the cocktail business and they feel it is just something that is so cheap like is it not just to mix this and this. You hear a lot of people say how can I pay so much on cocktail when I can easily buy beer. but is beyond that. A lot of people want to drink these things at parties. Cocktail is not something you buy on the road. Its either you are at a restaurant or in a lounge before you can get a cocktail. You have a guest of 1000 people at a party and you’re making cocktail for just 100 guests; it’s a lot of work for us because it is just that saturday that they get to drink the cocktail except they go to another party. It is unlike the soft drinks that they can just buy on the road or in traffic so these are part of the challenges we face in the business. The people who go to parties and mix up rubbish. They mix tasty time with boom and add aperito bitters. They just mix something and call it a cocktail drink. They give it to client at #200 per cup, #100 per cup. These are the challenges we are facing and that’s what we are trying to phase out.
H.E.B: What are the toughest decisions you’ve had to take in your career?
Kemi Fakoya: You face a lot of challenges as each day come by but you have to decide as an entrepreneur. You have to make up your mind and you just must be brave to take the risk. It’s a win, win thing or a loose, loose thing. 
H.E.B: What are the personality traits someone needs to succeed as a mixologist?
Kemi Fakoya: Well I wouldn’t limit it to my industry alone as it applies to whatever one is doing. For me, I am a very funny and cheerful person. You need to bring in your personality into your business, if you have a nasty personality its not going to work for you. As a bartender, you need to be very very friendly. You cannot talk to people rudely because you don’t know who the person you’re talking to is. That person could be a potential client. It has happened to me so many times at the bar when I am tired and exhausted. They could be rude to you but you need to keep your cool and attend to your guests as nicely as you can. This has opened a lot of doors for me.
H.E.B: What crucial lesson have you learnt on the job?
Kemi Fakoya: To always collect my money before I go for an event. Lo! It’s a battle we are facing right now. Four months, three months after an event and you are still running after your client. I always remind my client that this is my profession, I know my onions and I know my job. We always have the problem where the client tells you he is expecting 200 guests and but on the d-day it turns out to be 500 people. The client complains saying you didn’t serve up to 200 cups. Those are the challenges and they find flimsy reasons why they shouldn’t pay your balance. 
H.E.B: How do you unwind after an event?
Kemi Fakoya :Lol! I go home and sleep. It’s a whole lot of work having to shake, mix and attend to different categories of human beings. Its a lot of work. I get home and hit the bed straight.
H.E.B: Describe yourself in two words
Kemi Fakoya : I am very humble and nice to a fault
H.E.B: Words to live by
Kemi Fakoya: Keep marketing yourself. Blow your trumpet .. nobody will blow your trumpet for you.
H.E.B: How far do you go to please your client?
Kemi Fakoya: I go to any length as long it has to do with my job. I do whatever it takes to get the job done rightly I will do it and I go the extra mile for clients satisfaction
H.E.B: How has social media helped your business?
Kemi Fakoya: Social media has really really helped me. I get 90% of my client via social media. I hear a lot of people tell me that I live on instagram, I live on facebook. I tell them thank you. Its building my business.. People abroad see you. They see what you are doing.. they contact you. There are so many people that call me from the UK, US and they say they got my number from instagram and they will like me to cater for their event. You need to keep advertising yourself. Showing your products and services. You also have to live by your word. Whatever you put out let people meet that same standard when they get to meet you.