The future is yours to create: Dennis Thurner

Dennis Thurner is a Thailand-based bartender whose journey has taken him from hotel service to some of the country’s most formative cocktail spaces. Shaped by mentors, travel, and a steady curiosity for culture and flavor, his approach to hospitality is grounded in learning, generosity, and incremental growth. Today, as the Campari Red Hands APAC 2025 national winner for Thailand, he brings a calm confidence and deeply personal perspective to the global stage.

A little bit about me

I began my hospitality career in 2008 as an 18-year-old waiter in a hotel. At that time, service was my foundation. I learned how to read guests, how to anticipate needs, and how to understand that hospitality is about people first. Occasionally, when the bar got busy, I would step behind it to help. I didn’t know it then, but those moments planted the seed for what would become my path.

In 2017, everything shifted when I met my first bar mentor, who had just returned from Boston to Koh Samui. Through him, I was given the opportunity to work at Samui’s first airport bar, which exposed me to a completely different pace and standard of service. Shortly after, I was involved in opening Tiki Box Samui in 2018, the island’s first standalone cocktail bar. That experience showed me what it meant to build a bar identity from the ground up and how creativity could live alongside consistency.

“My goal is simple: to make people feel welcome and happy when they come to the bar.”

I moved to Bangkok to work at Asia Today under another key mentor in 2019. Being in the city pushed me further. The bar scene there challenged me to think more deeply about ingredients, technique, and storytelling through drinks. In 2021, the pandemic brought me back to Samui, which became a period of reflection and recalibration.

In 2024, I reunited with a longtime friend from my early bartending days to open Garnish Samui. It’s a modern cocktail bar built on a homie yet experimental spirit. For me, Garnish reignited my passion for creativity and hospitality. It became a space where I could be myself, share ideas freely, and reconnect with why I chose this industry in the first place.

How I approach my work

What I love most about this job is the constant exchange. Learning new cultures, exploring new flavors, exchanging knowledge, meeting new people, and traveling to new places are all part of the same cycle for me. Each experience feeds into the next, both behind the bar and as a person.

Happiness, for me, comes from small but meaningful moments. Making guests feel comfortable, seen, and genuinely welcome matters a lot to me. Outside of service, I find purpose in helping the friends and people around me through what I’ve learned over the years. Hospitality doesn’t stop at the bar counter. It’s a mindset that carries into everyday life.

What drives me is the idea of getting better by just one percent every day. Progress doesn’t always need to be dramatic. Sometimes it’s about not repeating the same mistake twice, or being a little more thoughtful than you were yesterday. That philosophy has stayed with me throughout my career.

“Try to make things better every day, even if it’s just by one percent.”

Education, competition, and travel all play different roles in my growth. Education helps me understand what I’m truly interested in and sharpens my perspective. Competition pushes me out of my comfort zone and forces me to confront my own limits, often opening doors I didn’t expect. Traveling expands everything. It teaches me about drinks, food, culture, and people in ways no book ever could.

I also believe motivation starts from the top. Seeing employers who continue to learn, set new challenges, travel, and openly share their experiences is incredibly inspiring. It creates an environment where growth feels collective, not individual. Brands, too, play an important role. They can create opportunities through events, travel, and competitions that genuinely change lives and careers when done with intention.

My Campari Red Hands journey

The Campari Red Hands journey has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my career. Winning the national finals meant a great deal to me, not only personally but also symbolically. Coming from outside Bangkok and being able to represent Thailand on a global stage felt like making history in a small but important way.

The national finals themselves were among the best competition experiences I’ve ever had. One moment that stands out clearly is the ending of my presentation. Seeing everyone in the room smile and laugh reminded me that connection matters just as much as technique. That reaction stayed with me long after I stepped off the stage.

Preparation has been about readiness rather than rigid planning. Without going into specific details, I can say that I prepared myself to face whatever came my way. One of the biggest challenges was my starting position. Being eighth out of ten competitors forced me to think carefully about how to build momentum and peak at the right moment. It pushed me to own the stage fully when my time came.

The story behind my competition cocktail is deeply personal. When I was 18, a hungover guest ordered a beer and an Americano. I misunderstood and served him a beer and a coffee, not realizing he meant the cocktail. That honest mistake stayed with me for years. Eventually, it became the starting point for an idea: why not combine both into one drink?

The result was Dunkel Americano, a modern interpretation of the Beer Americano created by Tommaso Cecca in 2013. I chose Dunkel beer as a nod to my Munich roots and its dark, malty character. To push the concept further, I developed a non-fermented coffee kombucha alternative using spent coffee grounds, Dunkel beer, and acids. The goal was to recreate kombucha’s balance in under an hour, showing that innovation and tradition can meet simply and thoughtfully in a drink built around Campari.

“Be yourself and show the world who you are.”

For the global finals, I plan to bring my local bar culture with me by staying true to who I am. Garnish Samui is built on a “Homey & Experimental” concept, and that spirit will naturally come through in my presentation. I’m most looking forward to delivering one of my best performances and sharing ideas and techniques that might inspire others.

Looking ahead, I’m excited about the opportunities that come after the competition. Collaborations, guest shifts, and sharing Campari cocktail creations in different places are all things I look forward to. More importantly, I want to inspire the next generation of bartenders in Thailand, not just to improve their skills and techniques, but to believe in their own stories and voices.

For future participants, my advice is simple. Be yourself. Competitions are not just about winning. They’re about learning, growth, and connection. If you stay honest to who you are and remain open to progress, the experience will shape you in ways that last far beyond the stage.