In this episode I chat with John deBary, the co-founder of the Restaurant Workers' Community Foundation, about anxiety, what lead him to creating the RWCF, writing a book and releasing it during a pandemic, and crying.
John deBary is a celebrated mixologist, author, and worker rights advocate with over a decade of experience crafting delicious drinks. He founded Proteau, a line of zero-proof botanical drinks in late 2019, currently producing two variants, Rivington Spritz and Ludlow Red. Proteau endeavors to make the world more delicious by creating engaging and delicious food-friendly drinks that are perfect straight from the bottle, no mixing required.
John is also an author who’s writing has appeared in GQ, Bon Appetit, PUNCH, Liquor.com, Thrillist, Food & Wine, Wine Enthusiast, and more. In June 2020, Clarkson Potter published his first cocktail book, Drink What you Want: The Subjective Guide to Objectively Delicious Cocktails.
In 2018, JdB co-founded Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation (RWCF), an advocacy and action nonprofit dedicated to finding structural solutions to quality-of-life issues facing workers in the hospitality industry. In March 2020, RWCF established a Covid-19 relief fund and has since raised over $8M towards relief efforts.
Wine Enthusiast magazine named JdB in their 40 Under 40 Tastemakers of 2020; he has also received Thrillist’s Local Heroes award and Tales of the Cocktail’s philanthropy award for his work with RWCF.
