T.G.I. Friday's names 'World's Best Bartender'

With a raucous crowd of cheering fans and confetti-cannon explosions, Hiroyuki “Mark” Yamada of Tokyo won the title of T.G.I. Friday’s “World’s Best Bartender” on Wednesday night.

Yamada competed in Dallas with nine other Friday’s bartenders from around the world. They were judged on the World Bartender Championship’s various criteria, including recipes and “flair-tending” skills for four completed drinks in eight minutes, as well as basic bartending banter with judge-customers.

Matt Durbin, Friday’s vice president of bar and beverage innovation, said the bar has been an integral part of the 922-unit global brand since the first one opened in 1965.

“Our vision is to create the best corner bar in every town where we operate,” he said after Thursday’s championship at the House of Blues in Dallas. Durbin added that the yearlong championship, conducted among more than 8,000 bartenders, was aimed at honing skills in what Friday’s calls “Tutti-Frutti Innovation,” or creating drinks “that folks are willing to drive for miles to go taste.”

Yamada took the top spot, followed by first runner-up Paul Gil of the Friday’s in Santiago, Dominican Republic, and second runner-up Joachim “Jack” Reichel of Oslo, Norway. Russell Ward, a bartender at the Friday’s unit in Sheffield, United Kingdom, was named the “fan favorite.”

The other seven finalists were: Scott Christian of Beaver Creek, Ohio; Chantry Coffman of Dallas; Aaron Hardy of Orlando, Fla.; Andy Hool of Canton, Mich.; Kristian Mihailin of Las Vegas; and Jessica Myers of Vestal, N.Y.

The event was emceed by Jon Taffer, host of Spike TV’s “Bar Rescue” reality series.

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