Bar World of Tomorrow Awards Are Coming to Cities Across the Globe

What is The Bar World of Tomorrow?

The brainchild of Pernod Ricard, Trash Collective and The Sustainable Restaurant Association, The Bar World of Tomorrow is a collaborative initiative that aims to raise awareness and foster unity in the bar community for a more sustainable future. Through this visionary programme, Pernod Ricard aims to support bartenders around the world and equip them not only with knowledge on sustainability, but the specific actions they can take to make a positive difference. The main objective is to train 10,000 bartenders on sustainable and responsible bar practices by 2030. Our Food Made Good Framework forms the basis for the programme, ensuring that the content is comprehensive, practical and relevant to bartenders.

The Bar World of Tomorrow Awards

To raise awareness of the programme, this year Pernod Ricard launched The Bar World of Tomorrow Award with Time Out Magazine as part of its Food and Drink Awards. The award recognises bars around the world that are leading the way on sustainability and responsibility, in cities including Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona and Hong Kong, among many others. We’re proud to be involved in judging these inspiring awards. 

Reka:Bar wins the award for Kuala Lumpur 

Self-described as “your friendly post-modern flavour lab”, Reka:Bar has already made a splash this year, being recognised on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 51-100 list at number 65. In judging Kuala Lumpur’s Time Out Bar World of Tomorrow Award, we found plenty to love.

Reka:Bar demonstrated a breadth of sustainability efforts – from plastic and energy reduction to staff wellbeing and paid days off. Sustainability is central to decision-making, with the bar itself being designed and fitted out to limit energy use. Their use of LED lighting and added insulation, for example, helps reduce energy use and associate emissions. Their zero single-serve plastics policy is also encouraging to see.

What caught our attention most of all was their understanding of their supply chain. Across menus, Reka:Bar maintains visibility over ingredient origins, farming practices and transport methods. Beyond visibility, the team actively chooses to source from responsible farms and proudly feature local ingredients. 

The domino effect of food waste

Their ‘Domino Effect’ menu is another stand-out feature that garnered them this award. The goal at Reka:Bar is to use any ingredient sourced in its entirety. With this in mind, every cocktail on ‘The Domino Effect’ is created in a knock-on effect from the one preceding, like a set of dominoes. For example, if jackfruit appears in the description for one drink, its seeds are used in the next. Designing menus to reduce waste at source is far preferable to simply managing the waste generated on-site, even if that waste management is well considered.

As Time Out said when reviewing the shortlisted bars, “Reka:Bar doesn’t just champion Malaysian ingredients, it packs an entire symphony of flavour into its seasonal menus. Each menu reads like a themed album where Reka's bartenders remix and riff on classic cocktails to create freshly minted hits. The latest menu features an improved “Dusun 2.0”, which contains everything from tempoyak (fermented durian) and jackfruit soy milk to a chilli padi distillate. While dizzying in scope and taste, Reka:Bar is firmly rooted in sustainability as well. Its drinks feature repurposed items (like banana peels), and it strives to minimise ice usage throughout the night – a real feat in blistering hot KL.”

We would like to extend our warmest congratulations to the entire team at Reka:Bar for leading the way in creating a better Bar World of Tomorrow, where sustainability is front of mind for every bartender. The next Bar World of Tomorrow Award will showcase sustainable bars in Tokyo – keep an eye on our social channels to find out who wins!

Read more about our partnership with Pernod Ricard here.

Is your bar, restaurant or hotel ready to embark on its sustainability journey? Learn how the Food Made Good Standard can provide practical steps towards measurable results.