Lounge
Bartenders shake up the business
Summary
As India’s burgeoning cocktail industry matures, mixologists have become the vanguards by opening new places with sophisticated drinks and personalised service. Even water and beer seem to taste better in bartender-owned bars
One of the key strengths of a good bartender is a razor-sharp memory. It’s useful not only to recall recipes in seconds, but also remember details, like a patron’s name and their preferences. It’s a quality often overlooked by guests, but it’s a hook to build loyalty. The simple act of remembering is a form of personalised service, and a thoughtful bartender makes it seem effortless to warrant return visits. This is one of the many aspects that defines a bar owned by a bartender—beyond great cocktails.
Take a look at Asia’s 50 Best Bars through the years: it is dominated by places that are wholly or partially owned by bartenders. From India, Delhi’s Sidecar frequently features on this list and this year, its co-owner, bartender Yangdup Lama, was awarded the prestigious title of Industry Icon in Asia. “You will have a much better and holistic experience in a bartender-run bar. As bartenders, we inherently know what consumers want," says Lama. “My definition of a good bartender is somebody who can make a regular beer taste better at his bar."
While it boils down to touchpoints like the serve-ware, temperature, and ambience, there are intangibles such as the hospitality with which it is served. In Lama’s case, these came together to create India’s first “bartender’s bar" Cocktails and Dreams in Gurugram, which he opened in 2012 in partnership with hospitality entrepreneur Minakshi Singh. Six years down the line, the duo launched the multiple award-winning Sidecar in Delhi. Within the last decade, bar guests have become discerning too and seek drinks beyond ice-cold mojitos. They want to be impressed by sous-vide Negroni, pickled Gimlets and zero-alcohol Old Fashioned. Simply put, they demand more. It has given rise to a cocktail culture marked by technique and ingredient-forward menus that put a bartender’s talent front and centre. As the cocktail scene has evolved, it has attracted investment in innovative bar concepts.
While Lama pioneered the concept of bartender-owned bars in India, post the pandemic, a number of similar places launched to rave reviews. In 2022, the cocktail-forward Cobbler & Crew, co-founded by bartender Mayur Marne, made a splash in Pune. Last year, Bar Spirit Forward and Wine in Progress, both co-owned by bartender Arijit Bose, and Soka, co-founded by mixologist and bar consultant Avinash Kapoli, opened in Bengaluru. This year, Bose unveiled the rum-forward Bar Outrigger in Goa’s Dona Paula and bartender Pankaj Balachandran started Boilermaker in collaboration with craft beer entrepreneur Nakul Bhonsle.
Also read: Meet the modern Boilermakers of Goa
Each of these bartenders-turned-bar entrepreneurs have a somewhat similar career trajectory. It began with the ambition to start a bar early in their professional journeys. They graduated from hospitality colleges, worked in five-star hotels and stand-alone restaurants, took on consultancy roles, created cocktails for weddings and events, travelled widely to study good bars in other countries. Some went on to launch multi-faceted beverage consulting companies, and after spending more than a decade in the alcohol industry, fulfilled their long-held ambition of owning bars. Take the case of Kapoli, 37. After a hospitality degree at Bengaluru’s Christ College, he designed bar programmes for multiple stand-alone restaurants, including Farzi Café; spent four years with Bacardi from 2017-21 as the trade ambassador from South India and was promoted to the countrywide role of advocacy lead; and in 2021 launched his partnership business Kompany that does brand advocacy, beverage consultancy. He still does the cocktails for Bengaluru business baron Jitender Vaswani’s annual Diwali party and has an engaging industry-centric podcast, Cocktail Klub. The profits from all these businesses and jobs were directed towards opening the intimate, cocktail-focussed bar Soka in Indiranagar, Bengaluru, last year. It is a complete bartenders’ team with eight employees who make the drinks, serve them and clean the tables. Before the opening, the team travelled to Bangkok to study its booming cocktail scene.
Kapoli speaks of bars in Bangkok that are owned by bartenders, his favourite being the speakeasy #FindTheLockerRoom. At Soka, besides serving flavourful cocktails, like Lady Kutty (blended scotch, Irish whiskey, and coconut lemon ginger soda) and U.A. Paloma (tequila, grapefruit soda and sumac), they pay attention to water too. Kapoli says during the team’s Bangkok trip they realised that guests should not pay for water in a bar. To upgrade the water experience at Soka, it is served chilled at 5-8 degrees Celsius in a 200ml glass, meant to be drunk in two sips to avoid wastage, and it accompanies a cocktail order. “We cheekily tell the guest, get hydrated before you get dehydrated." It’s little things like this that counts.
While the menu and experience are key to a bar, another equally important aspect is the capital. To start a decent bar in a large metro city, one requires about ₹1.5-2 crore, according to Bose. Some bartenders seek out investors. Balachandran’s family and friends invested in the two-week old Boilermaker, while Bose’s Bar Spirit Forward has 10 investors, including capital flow from the food and beverage investment platform Investaurant.
Salman Sait, one of the three co-founders of the Bengaluru-based platform Investaurant, says they want to support promising talent in India’s food and beverage industry. “There are two motivating factors for an investor to consider putting money in a bar or restaurant. The first part is, if it is run well, it gives good returns, because money is invested in the initial stage, and if you’re smart about it—where you cover your entire cap-ex, and the working capital is decent—you don’t need to put any more cash later, break even swiftly, and register profits on a monthly basis. The second part is, F&B is more of a lifestyle investment. Some of our investors believe it’s cool that they’re part of one of the hottest bars in the city," he points out. Their investor profile consists of people with diverse backgrounds, from doctors to lawyers and business owners to non-residential Indians who consider it a worthy alternative investment.
The rise of bartender-run bars is a sign of an industry that’s gradually maturing. It is driven by skilled mixologists, consumers seeking elevated drinking experiences and food and beverage investors looking to support talent for profits as well as uplifting their city’s cocktail scene. As Bose says, “We have all grown up."
