Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Goodnoe.
Hi Chris, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been in hospitality almost twenty years — hotels, dive bars, airport lounges, all of it. I’ve never been the bartender looking for the exit; I genuinely love this business. Nothing beats watching someone’s face light up over a drink they love. People always ask my favorite drink to make, and my answer’s always the same: whatever’s going to make you happy. That’s the only question that matters.
COVID is what changed everything. When the industry shut down, it took my whole livelihood overnight. I’d always had an entrepreneurial itch, but that was the moment I stopped thinking about it and made it happen.
I started WinterBrooke Bar about two years ago with zero idea what I was doing — just small birthday parties, figuring it out. Then I joined Wedding Venue Map and started building real relationships across the Central Florida wedding industry, and that’s where I actually learned the business — not just bartending, but how to connect with people.
At the end of the day, I’m building this for my family — my wife, and my two daughters. I recently got full custody of my 12-year-old, and that’s never far from my mind. Every event, every proposal, every early setup is in service of something real for them. I’m self-made, I crack way too many jokes, and I love what I do. That’s WinterBrooke Bar in a nutshell.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t been smooth, no. COVID took my entire livelihood overnight — the whole service industry just stopped. That’s not a small thing to rebuild from. I had to start completely over, and I did it with zero idea what I was doing. My first jobs with WinterBrooke Bar were small birthday parties — I was learning the wedding and event industry from scratch, one event at a time.
The bigger challenge honestly has been doing all of it while raising my daughters, especially after recently getting full custody of my 12-year-old. Building a business from nothing is hard enough. Doing it as a hands-on dad, where I’m the one who has to be there, means there’s no separating “business Chris” from “dad Chris” — they’re the same guy, and both jobs need me at full capacity. It forced me to get a lot more intentional about how I build this thing — not just chasing every event, but building it in a way that’s sustainable for my family long-term.
We’ve been impressed with WinterBrooke Bar, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
WinterBrooke Bar is a premium mobile bartending service based right here in Orlando, and we bring the full bar experience to weddings, private parties, and corporate events across Central Florida. We show up, set up two matching white portable bars, and take care of everything — professional bartenders, custom menus, all the little details most people don’t think about until they’re missing.
What sets us apart is that we treat every event like it’s the only one we have that week. That means a custom cocktail menu built around the client, presentation touches most bars skip — dry ice fog, real glassware, even a smoke bubble gun for signature cocktails — and a team that shows up polished, professional, and genuinely happy to be there. We also lean heavily into non-alcoholic and mocktail programs using cold-pressed juice, because a “kids’ table” drink menu shouldn’t be an afterthought — it should be just as intentional as everything else on the bar.
At the end of the day, I’m most proud of the reputation we’ve built in two years: people trust us to make their event look effortless, even when we’re the ones sweating the details behind the scenes. That’s the whole brand in one sentence — we make you look good in front of your guests.
What’s next?
Big picture, I want to grow WinterBrooke Bar into the corporate event space here in Central Florida — turns out companies throw parties too, and most of them are stuck with a sad folding table and a case of warm White Claw. There’s a lot of room to do better than that.
I’m also working on building out a real team so I’m not the only guy behind the bar. Two years in, I’ve learned I can’t be at three events on the same Saturday no matter how good my time management is.
But honestly, the real plan hasn’t changed since day one: build something solid enough that it gives my daughters a good life, and gives me the time to actually be there for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://winterbrookebar.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/winterbrooke
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/winterbrooke
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-goodnoe/
