About Mr Flavour
About
Specialists in event drinks.Ten years, one subject.
One thing since 2014: drinks, taken as seriously as the food. We design the bar, develop the serve and stand behind it ourselves, for Adidas, Aston Martin, Porsche, Puma and Bentley.
It started as shisha flavours.
It became the drink people photograph.
Mr Flavour began as an idea to sell shisha flavours. That never happened. It became events management instead, and then it became drinks.
Before any of it, Ali Waheed was working in hospitality. Every wedding ran the same way. The caterer picked drinks untrained staff could pour without thinking. Prosecco, wine, and elderflower fizz for anybody not drinking.
The food had already moved on, plated to a standard you could photograph. So when the company started properly in Manchester in 2014, it started by taking the technique that had changed the kitchen and putting it behind the bar.
Ali and Paul had already worked events together for more than three years by then. Teaming up properly was what turned one idea into the whole range of drinks services Mr Flavour runs today.
Nobody taught us.
We tested until a spec held, then gave the serves away at events to hear what guests actually said about them. Ask for the one drink that explains us and it is the Clarified Hibiscus Negroni: one of the most ordered drinks in the world, rebuilt in our own style.
Ten years on, we are still chasing the same ten seconds. Somebody takes the first sip and looks up. Everything else is engineering for that.
Ali Waheed, Managing DirectorManchester, permanent
Nine names.
Not a roster of strangers.
A small permanent team in Manchester, with the south run out of London. Not a roster assembled per booking. The people who quote your event plan it, and usually stand behind the bar on the night.
Every bartender is trained on your menu, in our studio, before the day. Ask us who will be at your event and we can tell you by name.
Managing Director
Ali
Founded Mr Flavour in 2014. Came from designing event concepts, not serving drinks, which is why every brief starts with the room.
Operations Director
Paul
Two jobs. The creative head, running research and development: flavour profiles, menus tied to the brief, the technique before the trend arrives. And the operations head, who briefs every project, hands it to the team and owns it from booking to the last glass.
Warehouse Manager
Ahdam
Tiny to everyone. Ali and Paul have the idea, Tiny works out how to build it. The fountains, the revolving towers and every custom fascia are his. He also runs the logistics: the vans, the drivers, and every set up and pack down.
Senior Events Manager
Kobe
Runs the teams on the floor. Takes a brief that exists on paper and makes it the night people talk about afterwards.
Senior Events Manager
John
The other half of delivery. Owns the room from load in to last glass and holds it to the standard, whoever is watching.
Events Manager
Shannon
Works across planning and sales. Usually the first person you speak to, and still there when the floor plan changes at nine at night.
Head of London Events
Athos
Runs the south. Recruits the London bar team and is their first point of contact, arranges every event below the Midlands, and is the one we send when a night wants flair behind the bar.
Film and story, freelance
Homam
Films the night as it happens and cuts it into the story of the event. Paid to chase the reactions rather than the set ups.
Health and safety advisor
AK
Brought in when an operation gets complicated and hygiene and food safety carry the risk. Mostly the public facing work, where the crowd is not a guest list.
DHL
“Mr Flavour created bespoke cocktails for our event that fit our brand perfectly. The team were extremely amenable, helpful and professional. We would definitely recommend them.”
Richard Smith
Puma
“The team went above and beyond to accommodate our last minute booking, and turned around branding requests at short notice. Incredible cocktails at record speed.”
Zoe Matilda Othieno
We start behind the bar.
Beautiful outside is the easy half.
Our bars are made in our own workshop in Manchester, to the room they will stand in. Power, ice, waste, glass storage and the path a bartender walks between shaker and guest. That is what decides whether the fiftieth serve is as quick as the first.
Then the front. Branded to your guidelines, or built to disappear into a room that does not want a bar shouting in it.
The one we got wrong.
We built our first bar in 2011, from scratch, with joiners. We did not think about weight, or breaking it down at two in the morning, or whether the front could change for the next room. Every bar since has been designed backwards from those three things.
The same workshop makes the features. The revolving champagne tower took three months, nine different coupe glasses and a weight test the cube version failed, before it became the acrylic plinth that turns today.
We have never sold a fixed menu.
Every couple of years, something new.
Usually because a client asked for what nobody could supply yet. Alcohol free bars in 2016, cocktail fountains in 2018, virtual masterclasses in 2020, our own canned line in 2024. Every one designed and built here first.
What is actually in the glass
Kitchen technique, behind a bar.
We learned it because nobody was doing it here.
Clarification
Clear in the glass, whole in the flavour
Our Clarified Hibiscus Negroni takes one of the most ordered drinks in the world and rebuilds it clear, with nothing lost.
Reverse spherification
A mojito you eat first
Carbonated mojito held in a sphere, served on a spoon, built in the studio and trained into the team before it ever reaches a guest.
Super juice
Six lemons from one
Oils and acid taken from the peel, so we buy a fraction of the fruit and the drink is brighter for it.
Liquid nitrogen
Minus 196, at the pass
Frozen and finished in front of the guest, on a back bar set up to do it safely, fifty times a night.
Fire, smoke and dry ice
Theatre with a timing sheet
Every one of them is rehearsed, risk assessed and placed where the room can see it.
Branding
Your logo, in the foam
Signature serves designed to your guidelines, printed onto the drink, the glassware, the bar and the can.
The work
Ten years of rooms like yours.
The brief changes. The standard does not.
Adidas, Aston Martin, Land Rover, Bentley, Porsche, Amazon, Puma, DHL, Barclays Eagle Labs, Softcat, P.Louise and Finance Magnates. Brand launches, corporate hospitality, exhibition floors, race weekends and weddings.
Mobile bar hire, cocktail bar hire, exhibition bars and wedding bar hire, all run by the same team. Brief by brief, the work is in our case studies.
Two bars and 2,000 guests in one evening is the biggest we have run. Fifty guests in a private room gets the same function sheet.
And the one thing nobody else has.
The 360 degree revolving champagne towers are ours. We designed them, we built them, and they are still the only ones in the United Kingdom.
Every supplier says they care.
Here is ours, written as jobs.
It is the cheapest sentence in hospitality. These are the six things that happen on every event, whatever the budget.
Written before, not decided during
The function sheet
Call times, floor plan, service timings, stations, and what happens if the schedule slips. Agreed with the venue in advance.
Fourteen allergens, every serve
The allergen sheet
A full FSA sheet for every drink on every menu. Ask at eleven at night and the bartender has the answer.
Tested on us before you
The studio build
Nothing reaches your guests before it has been built, tasted, argued over and trained into the team.
Finished before anyone asks
The early load in
Ice in, garnish prepped, glassware polished while the room is still empty. It should look like it was always there.
Line by line, not day rates
The itemised quote
A line for the build, the staff, the drinks and the logistics. Nothing quietly absorbed into a day rate.
One lead, first van to last glass
The break down
The team that builds the bar takes it out, so you have one person to speak to all night.
And the proof behind it
Insurance
Public liability cover, certificated on request.
Licensing
Held in house. We manage Temporary Event Notices for unlicensed venues.
Food safety
Hygiene rated prep kitchen, Level 2 Food Safety trained. Rating on the FSA register.
Allergens
Full FSA documentation issued per event as a bar list.
Health and safety
Risk assessments and method statements per build. All kit PAT tested.
International
Europe and the Middle East, licensing included.
The one we do not usually tell
Not every night goes to plan.
Here is one that did not.
The day before an event, in the week the country went into lockdown, we lost six staff overnight to illness. Twenty four hours to fix it, and no way to replace them with people of the same experience. We went with a team that was less qualified than the one we had booked.
Everybody left standing worked harder than they should have had to. The client never knew.
We are not proud of the position. We are proud of what the team did with it.
Almost all of it is habit.
Most of it is fixable in prep.
A busy bar throws away a staggering amount for no good reason. Crates of spent citrus, fruit bought for one serve and binned after it, single use plastic by the sack.
Most bar companies work out of whatever corner a venue can spare, so waste is the only option. Ours is a five star rated kitchen, which is what gives the excess somewhere to go.
Modern bar technique
Six lemons from one
Super juice takes the oils and the acidity out of the peel, so one lemon yields roughly six lemons of juice. Far less fruit bought, and a brighter drink for it.
The fruit we cut, not the fruit we juiced
Dehydrated, not binned
Citrus cut for garnish and left over at the end of a night goes into the dehydrator, and comes back as garnish at the next event. Juiced fruit cannot: once the structure has gone there is nothing left to dry.
Smoothie stock, after the event
Syrups, then frozen
Excess smoothie stock is cooked down into syrups and frozen rather than left to spoil in a fridge. It comes back when a menu calls for it.
Made here, not bought in
Customised in house
Cordials, syrups, infusions and batching, all made in our kitchen to the menu we wrote rather than poured from a supplier bottle.
Down to the server
Plastic free where we can be
Real glassware wherever the floor plan allows, reusable serveware where it does not. Even this website runs on green hosting.
Where it still bites
The honest bit
We are not plastic free on every event yet. Some venues and some floor plans do not allow it. We would rather say that than print a leaf on the menu.
Where we draw the line
Things we will not do.
- Send a bar and hope. If our name is on it, one of our people is behind it.
- Quote a day rate and let the detail arrive later as an invoice.
- Let you meet the bar team on the day, at the same time your guests do.
- Treat the alcohol free menu as an afterthought.
- Take on more weddings in a year than we can give our own names to.
- Work for exposure. A large following is not a fee, and it does not pay the team.
We would rather lose the booking than deliver one of those.
Common questions
About Mr Flavour.The things people ask before they enquire.
Who will actually run my event?
The same people who quote it. Mr Flavour keeps a small permanent core team in Manchester and a bartending roster booked event to event, all trained in house on your specific menu before the day. One event lead owns the night from the first van to the last glass, and we can tell you their name in advance.
What does Events Differently mean?
Events Differently is Mr Flavour's tagline and the brief the company set itself in 2014. Catering had already raised its standard, with chefs plating food to be photographed, while event drinks were still a fizz reception and a jug of orange juice. Mr Flavour applies the same level of craft to the drinks, using modern gastronomy and molecular mixology techniques, so the drink is designed for the specific event rather than poured from a standard list.
What is Mr Flavour's signature drink?
The Clarified Hibiscus Negroni. It takes one of the most ordered cocktails in the world and rebuilds it using modern technique, clarified so the drink is clear in the glass while the flavour stays intact. Mr Flavour develops its serves in its own studio and prep kitchen rather than working from a fixed drinks list.
What does Mr Flavour do?
Mr Flavour designs, builds and staffs bespoke drinks experiences for events, using modern gastronomy and molecular mixology techniques rather than a fixed drinks list. That covers mobile bar hire, cocktail bar hire, branded bar builds for brand activations, exhibition and corporate hospitality, wedding bars and full event management, plus event drinks production such as branded canned drinks, barista coffee, smoothie and alcohol free bars.
Who owns Mr Flavour and when was it founded?
Mr Flavour was founded by Ali Waheed in Manchester in 2014, initially as a themed events specialist before moving into luxury mobile bars and event drinks. It remains independently owned and trades as MF Alchemists Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 09279464.
Where is Mr Flavour based and where does it work?
The head office, bar workshop, drinks studio and prep kitchen are at Unit 1, Floats Road, Roundthorn Industrial Estate, Manchester M23 9LJ. We also hold offices in London and Birmingham and deliver events across the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East, handling kit, staffing and local licensing for events abroad.
Is Mr Flavour insured and licensed?
Yes. We carry £10 million public liability insurance, hold Personal Licences within the team and apply for Temporary Event Notices on your behalf where a venue is unlicensed. We are Level 2 Food Safety trained with a five star food hygiene rating, supply FSA fourteen allergen documentation for every serve, and issue risk assessments, method statements and PAT certification for every build.
What are revolving champagne towers?
A champagne tower built on a 360 degree revolving base, so the tower turns as it is poured and lit. Mr Flavour designed and built them in its own workshop in 2021 and they remain the only revolving champagne towers in the United Kingdom.
Does Mr Flavour have its own workshop and kitchen?
Yes. Bars are designed and built in our own workshop in Manchester, to the room they will stand in. Alongside it we have run a full hygiene approved prep kitchen since 2022, rated five star, so production no longer depends on whatever kitchen space a venue can spare.
Which brands has Mr Flavour worked with?
Clients include Adidas, Aston Martin, Land Rover, Bentley, Porsche, Amazon, Puma, DHL, Barclays Eagle Labs, Softcat, P.Louise and Finance Magnates, alongside five international race weekends.
Has Mr Flavour won any awards?
Yes. Mr Flavour is Winner of Mobile Catering and Bar Specialist of the Year at The Nations Wedding Awards 2026, a national award, and Regional Winner of The Wedding Industry Awards 2023 for the North West.
What makes Mr Flavour different from a standard mobile bar company?
We design the drinks experience to the room and the audience rather than supplying a stock bar, we build the bars and develop the menus in our own workshop and studio including bars branded to a client's guidelines, and we staff and run the service with our own trained team rather than subcontracting the bar on the day.
Work with us
Tell us about the room.We will come back with a concept and a price.
Send us the space, the guests and the date. A written concept and an itemised quote, usually within twenty four hours.
Studio and workshop
Unit 1, Floats Road, Roundthorn Industrial Estate, Manchester M23 9LJ
Company
MF Alchemists Ltd, trading as Mr Flavour. Company number 09279464
Working
UK, Europe and the Middle East. Offices in London and Birmingham
Contact
info@mrflavour.co.uk
Ali reads ali@mrflavour.co.uk himself