It seduces, fascinates, and sometimes irritates if it remains untold: a secret is democratic — everyone has one, and everyone hopes to uncover someone else’s. But there is one secret that draws more curiosity than any other, the one people long to possess for themselves. The secret of success. The elusive formula that leads to great personal and professional triumphs. And when that secret belongs to a speakeasy — a bar built on mystery and exclusivity — it becomes even more compelling, even harder to replicate. Such is the case with Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City.
Handshake Speakeasy’s Rise To Success
Crowned No.1 at The World’s 50 Best Bars last October in Madrid, the meteoric rise of Marcos Di Battista, Rodrigo Urraca, and Eric Van Beek is more than a personal victory: it has become a catalyst for the entire Latin American bar community. Like any recipe, this success rests on a precise balance of ingredients, each one essential in shaping the transformation of a Mexican cocktail bar into a global benchmark.
A Journey to the Top of the Ranking
The story is already near-legend, as Urraca recalls: “At that gala of the World’s 50 Best Bars, Marcos and I promised each other we would one day see our bar at the very top. That trust is one of the first secrets binding us as partners — the ability to rely on each other’s word, loyalty, and responsibility, even in the darkest times. During Covid, or with our first version of Handshake in Polanco, which focused more on aesthetics than the journey we truly wanted to pursue.” The pandemic years, the lifeline of the 50 Best Recovery Fund, and the arrival of Eric marked a turning point. The Dutch bartender’s energy disrupted the balance, strengthening the trust that anchored Rodrigo and Marcos.
Team Power, the Second Secret to Success
“We believe the greatness of one is the strength of the other,” says Rodrigo, describing Handshake’s second secret: the power of the team. Built on values of trust and loyalty, this code of ethics binds everyone who joins the family. Just as Marcos’s entrepreneurial instinct, Eric’s mastery of drinks and service, and Rodrigo’s ability to draw out people’s talents form a triad, so too the team thrives on spotlighting and amplifying each individual’s skills for the benefit of all.
The Importance of Training
Here training becomes another vital element. It is Rodrigo’s passion, the channel through which he communicates, motivates, and instils in the team both pride in their role and awareness of their responsibility toward guests. “For me, professionalism means focus, integrity, passion, hospitality, and belief — in yourself and in the group. As partners, our job is to transmit that sense of trust that shows everything is possible. It takes hard work, sacrifice, and dedication, but always with a positive outlook on success. If every collaborator believes it can be done, then the third secret is revealed.”
Looking in the same direction, feeling like part of a family striving for a common goal, fuels each bartender’s drive to excel. It’s also why every service, every guest shift carries with it a deep sense of belonging, allowing Handshake to travel the world even without the physical presence of its three partners.
How to Face Challenges
Proud of its Mexicans roots above all, and to run the world’s top-ranked cocktail bar in Mexico City, the team feels a responsibility to represent their country. That pride becomes an attitude, an instinctive form of hospitality that seems to come naturally. Every new recruit hears the same lesson from Rodrigo: “You have to be able to show who we are to every guest — with the composure of Giorgio Bargiani, for example, or the smile and dynamism of Simone Caporale. Every professional today has something to give. What really matters is the mindset with which you face challenges.”
The Last Secret of Handshake Speakeasy
In the end, the secret of Handshake lies in the very truth on which it was founded: the certainty that each partner could rely on the other. To support one another, and the community around them. To chase new projects with the conviction that everyone must aim higher still. That, more than anything, is what success looks like.
The article first appeared on Coqtail – for fine drinkers. Order your copy here
Photo courtesy Handshake Speakeasy
