Hello again! I wanted to do another short recap with some tips for COVID-era hospitality. I hope you are all faring well through these challenging and weird times. It has been around three months since this all started to directly affect our industry, and things just keep getting weirder. Extended quarantine orders, protests and violence, murder hornets—It's all just a lot to deal with right now and I don't think anyone is really thriving. That's ok though, just remember to take a few moments to pause and breath, and check in with yourself about what you need. It's also ok to ask for help sometimes, we can't do this alone. Fortunately we have an amazing community of helpful people in the hospitality industry.

We are realizing new challenges and problems resulting from this world crisis day by day, and we are also coming up with new and creative solutions. Some of the biggest challenges are related to uncertainty of the situation, constant change, struggles with motivation and not knowing what to do next. If you haven't checked out the most recent episodes, they deal with those very topics, so definitely go back and listen if you have a chance. In the meantime, you can check out this recap of the main points in the player or wherever you get your podcasts.

If you can, please consider supporting the show on Patreon or picking up some cool merch from the shop . You're 86 is made possible by the support of listeners like you. Be sure to also check out our homepage for much, much more, and stay tuned for next time. Cheers!

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Hello again! The COVID-19 crisis has shown us how fragile and unsustainable our career and industry can be, and has many of us questioning what to do next. Let’s face it, things are not going to go back to the way they were. We've learned how easy it can be for our source of income to evaporate over night. Unlike people who work in offices, we can't work from home, but perhaps using our bartender skills online can open up new opportunities and sources of income for us. But where do we begin?

My guest today is Shana Race, she’s been in the industry for more than 15 years, and she’s the host and creator of the Talk Tales podcast, online cocktail classes and more. She had a lot to say about her journey from behind the bar to new directions online.

Since I know you like bartender podcasts, be sure to check out Talk Tales in your favorite podcast player or on their homepage. You can support their show through their Patreon page or by leaving them a tip with Venmo (@talktales_podcast).  Be sure to visit our homepage as well, and if you'd like to help support You're 86 you can leave us a tip or pick up some You're 86 merch in the shop.

Also, if you are interested in podcasting, you're going to need a media host. You're 86 is hosted on Blubrry and I've been very happy with the service. If you sign up for hosting on Blubrry through my link, you'll get your first month free and help support this show. Thank you so much for your support, I'll see you next time!

Hello again! Are you going stir crazy yet? With shelter in place orders being extended across the country and around the world, it’s hard to say when we’ll be out of this. The uncertainty of this crisis is what makes it so difficult to deal with. If we knew the end date, it would be much easier to plan for. Staying positive and creative in quarantine in whatever way works best for you is very important. With so many of us out of work and stuck at home, I wanted to chat with another bartender and hear about there experience. Even though many of us are physically alone, we are all in this together.

My guest today is Phillip Kim. He is a bartender here in San Francisco at 15 Romolo, and he's also worked for The Keystone. Phillip has always been one of the most positive people I’ve known in the industry. It's always lovely to go visit him when he's behind the bar and see the creative projects he's getting into at work, so it was no surprise to hear that he is staying positive and creative at home too. He is also spending some time thinking ahead about what the industry will be like when our bars reopen.

If you would like to help Phillip and his colleagues at 15 Romolo, you can donate to their Go Fund Me campaign. You can also get 15 Romolo cocktails to go right now if you are in the Bay Area. Every little bit helps.

Listen to our conversation in the player or wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to visit our homepage for much, much more. You can also follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  Stay tuned for next week, we have more exciting stuff coming your way. Thanks so much for tuning in and I'll see you next time

There’s a pretty good chance you’re also stuck in your house and not working behind the bar right now. Without our normal structure, it’s easy to fall into unhealthy habits, but it’s also an opportunity to form new ones. It's easy to start small and practice new health and wellness habits during quarantine. Preparing one healthy snack a day or doing five minutes of breathing exercise when you wake up can vastly improve your wellbeing, especially during this challenging time. These are things you can carry forward into your daily routine when we are allowed to go back to work again.

My guest today is Amie Ward, aka The Healthtender. She’s a Chicago based industry veteran and an ACE certified health coach. When not behind the bar at Neon Wilderness, Amie travels the country to help educate bartenders on how to care for themselves physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually. She had a ton of advice about simple things you can do to stay healthy and form good habits during this crisis. From preparing healthy snacks and short exercise routines to keeping a food journal, it's easy to start forming new healthy habits. 

Listen to our conversation in the player or wherever you get your podcasts to find out more about quarantine health and wellness for bartenders. Don't forget to check out our homepage for much, much more, and stay tuned for more great conversations during this challenging time. Thanks so much for tuning in! I'll see you next time.

We are living in uncertain times. Running a bar in a pandemic is one of the biggest challenges we've ever faced as an industry. As restaurants and bars across the world are being forced to close or pivot to pickup and delivery sales only, many are struggling to survive. One of those bars is Paper Plane in San Jose, Calif. in a county that has seen both the earliest and highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in the state.

My guest today is Mary Palac, bartender at paper plane. She’s been in the industry since she was 15 and holds such accolades as Season 7 Ms. Speed rack California, two time Bar Mania champion, president and founding member of USBG Silicon Valley, and much more. She’s been a huge inspiration to me, and she had a lot to share about how she and Paper Plane are handling this crisis.

One of the things that impressed me the most about Paper Plane was how they didn’t react immediately and they instead took the time to do things right, and that’s really paid off for them. With circumstances changing daily, it’s really important to slow down a little bit and do things safely and correctly.

If you'd like to help Mary and her colleagues at Paper Plane, you can donate to their employee relief fund, or order food and cocktails to go from their Tri Force menu.

Check out our conversation in the player or wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to visit our homepage for much, much more. Thanks so much for listening, stay safe out there and I'll see you next time.

So this is a pretty weird time to be a human in society. I’ve been struggling with it, as I’m sure you are as well. First of all, apologies for the radio silence. It’s been a bit of an adjustment for me too. I typically do in person interviews, but as you can imagine, that’s not possible right now, not to mention everyone in our industry is a little preoccupied. I'm working on a system for remote interviews, and hopefully we’ll have some conversations in the coming weeks about how people are handling this crisis. In the meantime I wanted to just share some of my thoughts about what's going on, how it relates to our industry and some internal work we can all do. 

As you might expect, both of the bars I work for are closed, which is a bit of a reality check. I usually feel like, “Well, if things go sideways I can always pick up shifts." And now here we are. I know this is a scary time, and one of the scariest things is the uncertainty of it all. It’s such a bad feeling to be powerless and have no control over the situation. Will we have to shelter even longer? Will we have a job to go back to if and when this ends, will we get sick? Will someone we’re close to get sick? What is the world going to be like on the other side of this? 

It’s scary to think about and we want to do something about it, but there really isn’t anything we can do, on the outside anyway. Hoarding toilet paper and pasta isn’t going to change anything, except maybe the amount of available space in our closets.

What we can do is work on what’s going on inside of us. I’ve done a few episodes about different mental tools that help us get through our shift behind the bar, and those are absolutely applicable to our current situation, even though we are not at work. Listen to this episode in the player below and Episode 31,  Episode 24, Episode 22 and Episode 19.  

One thing that has really been helping me is focusing on all of the positive things I see, and you aren’t going to see those things in the news. That’s just not what the news reports. So if you must read the news, it’s important to keep in mind that all of the news is going to be bad. It doesn’t mean that everything happening in the world is bad though. In fact, I believe there is a lot more good happening that we think.

I’ve seen a lot of positive things and I’m kind of excited for the potential for positive change because of this. I mean, there’s nothing like a common enemy to bring us all together. I've seen so much generosity, humor and creativity especially. I’ve seen things like Dani and Jackie’s virtual happy hour, where bartenders are showing folks at home how to make cocktails, and the bartenders can get tipped out for it. Maybe you want to try something like that for regulars at your bar?

I’m really grateful for those things, and that’s another thing I’ve been doing too, focusing on what I’m grateful for. I mean, I have a home that I really love to shelter in. Some of us aren’t so lucky.

Another thing we’re going to have to do right now is to practice patience. We’re all concerned about money. I mean it’s really scary to suddenly lose our jobs or worry about losing our businesses. It’s just adding to the uncertainty. But we have to try to be patient, compartmentalize our emotions and worries. Our unemployment checks are going to come when they come and there’s nothing that we can do about it. In California alone, the Employment Development Department has received more than one million unemployment claims in the past two weeks. It’s like those times at the bar where a bus load of 40 people all walk in at the same time and then the dishwasher breaks. There’s only so much they can do.

A lot of our guests on the show have mentioned meditation practice as something that helps them, and myself as well. Just 5-10 minutes a day can make a world of di...

Things can get dicey when we borrow elements from other cultures for our bar programs.  Is it ok to use ceremonial fabric as a tablecloth or put tropical drinks in cups shaped like religious icons? Cultural consideration in bar programs is very important, but it is challenging when we don't have an understanding or even exposure to those cultures. It's easy to misrepresent someone else's culture when you don't have any knowledge about it, even if you are well intentioned.

My guest today is Samuel Jimenez. He has been in the industry in the Bay Area for many, many years. He is currently the bar manager at Novela in San Francisco, and he was recently chosen as one of Imbibe Magazine’s 75 People, Places and Things that will shape the way you drink in 2020, after spending 2019 educating the beverage world about Polynesian culture and history and how it relates to tiki. Samuel believes that the key to running more thoughtful bar programs is having a better understanding of the cultures you're representing.

As a fist generation Samoan American, Samuel has a deeply rooted connection to Samoan culture, which many Americans have little understanding or exposure to. Samuel had so much to say about cultural consideration in bar programs and the importance of knowledge and cultural exchange. Listen to the episode in the player or wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe and stay tuned for more. Also be sure to check out our homepage for more great advice on some of the biggest challenges in our industry. Cheers!

Many of us, myself especially, wonder where to go next with our careers. One exciting option is to start an import business. It seems like an exciting career of traveling to far away places and shaking hands with bearded men in exotic marketplaces. While there is some measure of that, becoming a wine importer is not without its challenges, particularly when international trade disputes happen.

My guest today is Ian Adams, Director of Spirits and Fortified Wines at Merchants of Thirst, an importer of wines and spirits from Europe. Ian has been in the hospitality industry for more than 15 years managing bars and restaurants, including 15 Romolo. A couple of years ago he and some colleagues started Merchants of Thirst, and he had a lot to say about what he’s learned along the way and how he’s facing obstacles like the tariffs that were imposed in October on goods from the EU.

Check out our conversation in the player or wherever podcasts are found to hear what Ian learned about becoming a wine importer. Be sure to also check out our homepage for much, much more, and don’t forget to hit subscribe and stay tuned. I’ll see you next time!

Light Spanish wines are perfect for recording recap episodes

Welcome back! Thanks so much tuning in to another recap of what we've learned in the past few episodes. We had four amazing guests this month who shared many useful tips for bartenders and industry professionals. Listen to the episode in the player or wherever you get your podcasts for some of the most important things we learned.

In Episode 28, we learned all about how competitive bartending can make you a better bartender, with recent Speed Rack winner Jessi Lorraine. In Episode 29, we heard from Absinthia Vermut about starting a craft spirits company and the value of writing a business plan. In Episode 30, we heard from Mike Miranti about the challenges of high end restaurants. Finally, in Episode 31, we got to sit down with Hubert Tang and hear how he stays positive on the floor.

That’s all for this week, but be Sure to also visit our homepage for much, much more. Be sure to sign up for our mailing list while you're there. It’s another way to stay up to date with all of this great information. I'm sending out the next newsletter soon, so don't miss it! I’ll see you next time!

Hospitality is our number one job. It is literally the name of our industry, but it’s often hard to be hospitable when you have other challenges going on in your life. Difficult customers, trouble with family or partners or simply being exhausted from work all make staying positive during service a big challenge. With a few good mental tools, however, we can learn to stay positive with our customers no matter what is going on in our lives.

My guest today is Hubert Tang. He has been in the industry his entire life, as his parents worked and owned restaurants, so he really understands the industry. Him and I currently work together at High Treason where we recorded this interview, and he is exceptionally good at staying positive and hospitable to customers no matter what’s going on.

Check out my interview with Hubert in the player or wherever podcasts are found, and hear what he had to say about staying positive during service. Visit our homepage for more and be sure to hit subscribe in your favorite podcast player, we have new conversations every week. And please share us with your friends and colleagues in the industry. This is such great information for everyone. I'll see you next time.