Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Norkus.
Hi Chris, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When the pandemic hit and restaurants were closed, I was furloughed. I got a text from an old manager asking if I wanted to do a virtual happy hour for one of his friends who worked at Dell. Like most people at that time, I had never heard of a virtual happy hour, but I said yes. We kinda made it up on the fly and came up with something really cool. The first one we did was for tips only. After that, word of mouth started to spread, and a couple of other people from Dell reached out to me and asked if I was the guy who did the virtual happy hours. I said.. um, sure. When word of mouth kept spreading and people were contacting me from other companies, I said to my fiancé, Chelsea, that we might be able to turn this into a business. Things snowballed, and then it started to really take off. We did an event with 100 people for Dell in October. It was a great success. We’re now working with more than 20 companies and putting together virtual happy hours for them. We’ve done events with Google, AstraZeneca, Dell, Intel, Stifel Investment Banking, AXA, and many more. Personally, this is an incredible step for me. Last year I was diagnosed with stage 1 throat cancer—Squamous cell carcinoma on my vocal cords. The first time I noticed that something was wrong with my voice was actually working behind the bar. I was trying to shout over the music and I had no voice. I did seven weeks of radiation in Houston in the fall of 2019, and I’m now one year cancer-free. Just when I finally got back to work at a restaurant, the pandemic hit. I was in serious debt due to medical bills and unemployment when I did that first event, and now things are looking much better.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My doctor told me that I had to quit alcohol and any smoking/vaping. I’m now a year and a half sober. Sobriety has been a great thing for me. I used to struggle pretty heavily with alcohol, and it contributed to the kind of cancer that I eventually got. It’s not easy being a virtual home bartender and having to make cocktails all the time and not drink them. But Chelsea appreciates the free drinks, and it helps me keep costs down.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We’re really doing our best to keep people connected during these weird times. Everyone has a fun time at our events. They get to interact with their coworkers in a different way and learn how to make really cool cocktails. We’ve started doing a lot of private events also. Families get to see each other and share drinks around the holidays, and celebrate birthdays virtually since they can’t see each other in person. Drinking and driving is incredibly dangerous and sometimes too common, it makes me happy that people are going to be much safer drinking at home and not driving. We have a staff of four incredibly talented and fun bartenders. I hired people with whom I’ve worked with in the past. Bartenders who have been doing this most of their lives and have a ton of knowledge and great stories to share. Everyone in the service industry is struggling at least somewhat, and it makes me happy that I get to give people jobs right now. The business is constantly evolving, and I’m so excited to see where it goes next.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was an introvert. I was kind of a quiet kid with a small group of friends. We played a lot of basketball. As I got older, I realized that alcohol would help me get out of my shell, and I started partying a lot. I still have a lot of the same interests now as when I was a kid: Bicycling and basketball. I used to read a lot of books then, and I still do now.
Pricing:
- $100-$200/person (estimate)
Contact Info:
- Email: chris.norkus@cocktailsfromhome.com
- Website: www.cocktailsfromhome.com
- Instagram: @cocktails.from.home
Image Credits
Peter Coronel, Michael Johanessen, James Blizard
