Oh, a pint would be nice about now (or several glasses of wine ago). No beer in wine bars here. The powerful publican lobby has seen to that. All the places I visited were perfectly respectable (and I was as well--pretty much), but nothing special. Trying to find that place where you say, "Ah, this would work in Cork..or Edmonds..or New York, etc.."--it just doesn't happen. To be in this business, you have to possess a certain amount of confidence and a lot of lack of risk aversion. You can never be certain what's going to work--doesn't matter if you spend ten grand or ten million. One thing we don't mind is opening in an economic downturn (understated?) as you get a better sense of reality of the business you will do over time. Our first bar (in New York) opened in December, 2001--not a great time in New York.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Wine is fine, but beer...
Oh, a pint would be nice about now (or several glasses of wine ago). No beer in wine bars here. The powerful publican lobby has seen to that. All the places I visited were perfectly respectable (and I was as well--pretty much), but nothing special. Trying to find that place where you say, "Ah, this would work in Cork..or Edmonds..or New York, etc.."--it just doesn't happen. To be in this business, you have to possess a certain amount of confidence and a lot of lack of risk aversion. You can never be certain what's going to work--doesn't matter if you spend ten grand or ten million. One thing we don't mind is opening in an economic downturn (understated?) as you get a better sense of reality of the business you will do over time. Our first bar (in New York) opened in December, 2001--not a great time in New York.
