Eve Bergeron of Trader Vic’s

Shift Drink

If this week’s guest sounds familiar, you probably recognize her last name. Eve Bergeron, granddaughter of the late Trader Vic Bergeron, is now helping to run the family business that just celebrated it’s 90th Anniversary. For those unfamiliar with Tiki and Polynesian Pop history, Trader Vic is one of the “Big Three” and his biggest claim to fame is the Mai Tai (or arguably Crab Rangoon). Eve is now protecting that legacy. Not only does she travel the world promoting the Trader Vic’s brand and helping to open new concepts, but she has been very active in preserving and archiving historical documents and ephemera surrounding her grandfather and Trader Vic’s.

But she is no “nepo baby”. In fact, she wasn’t even really aware of the impact the restaurants had made on the world by the time she was eating there with her parents in the late 70’s and 80’s. She just knew that her family was in the food business. Nothing more. But after spending time in the hospitality industry in Europe, she made her return to the states and a return to the family legacy (yes, I know… I use that word a lot in this episode). She now wears a lot of hats, and today you’ll hear about some of them.

Photo of Eve Bergeron courtesy of Jeffrey Bond Photography