I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of “PAYBACK” for, well, years now. I think that in terms of James Brown songs or Mel Gibson movies, the term has a sort of sinister context.
PAYBACK, in terms of vaguely cohesive bar pop-ups that I plan, is more about trying to give back to those that I have worked with or inspired me in my work.
In March we were curators for the Bar & Beverage Stage at the Restaurants Canada Show. The venue was further away from downtown than in previous years. Rather than having our out-of-town guests navigate ride shares, the UP Express or the TTC, I decided to set up a little bar in our hotel room.
When coming up with things to serve at PAYBACK, I want to not just look after the guests that might show up but also give nods to prior connections. Also, jokes, because…the bar top is an ironing board and the ice comes from the machine next to the elevator.
I chose to serve from a giant bottle of Canadian Club that we “inherited” from my uncle’s “collection”, intended to be consumed with ginger ale (Restaurants CANADA show, remember). Hendrick’s Martinis, because even 11 years after leaving the job, I still love them. Campari has always put me on, so Campari Soda was on the menu. I also brought a bottle of Wray and Nephew because I am a sucker for tropical drinks but there was no way I was bringing everything to make a Zombie or a Pago Pago. Wray & Ginger is a cheat code.
Jess had put together a selection of bar snacks. Plus we found some cute napkins at the dollar store.
The playlist was called Bitterer Days and is an ever growing list, originally created for a pandemic era pop-up.
I wore an apron and a tie but only for the first round. After that the bar became less formal.
My depletion estimates were met or exceeded and the cash drawer balanced at the end of the pop-up. All guests seem to have enjoyed their time. I even had some regulars (we did this 3 days in a row, there was no charge for anything and only like 7 people knew we were doing it).
I will be doing more PAYBACK style bar shifts, but none are planned currently. The whole thing is a practice in taking hosting seriously, while not taking myself seriously.
