Employees Only is a twelve-year-old cocktail bar in New York City and now here in
Singapore we're happy to bring some of our New York style and flair
I got into this business 14 years ago while I was serving in the United States
Marines, I actually had a head injury and that kind of derailed my career and while I had
extra time healing up, I was in Washington DC, I picked up a job at
this little dive bar live music venue and you know for the first time in my
life it actually brought happiness, I was really sad when I was injured
but being behind a bar brought me happiness, that sort of released this passion
within me, and then 14 years later, here I am achieving a lifelong dream
that's the long story short. Why the move to Singapore well a lot of reasons
english-speaking, 1, i'm really good at speaking English, very very good, not very
good at speaking Chinese at all, probably a level of zero.
Believe it or not the bar scene here in Singapore is huge, it's growing massively
and people are coming from all over the world to set up shop here. You have some
European style bartenders you have some American-style bartenders you have
Japanese style bartenders and they all kind of merge together in this little island
you could get anything and all the bars unique there's no format
to say okay, this is the bar, this is the Singaporean cocktail bar, it's like everybody's
different and it's just so unique. I brought 17 cocktails from our menu that
have been on the menu once before in New York, just proven tried and
tested recipes. So now phase two is coming up soon where we can take it up
a notch with flavors and with more elaborate cocktails and stuff. When it comes
to signature cocktails we have a bunch
I never like to be defined by one drink. One thing though they're really
loving at the moment is our gimlet. Gimlet, classic British cocktail made
in the 19th century by a doctor. This is the Employees Only lime cordial recipe, it's
got fresh lime, agave and kaffir lime leaf. Then mix that with some gin and you just have
a tasty concoction. In New York kaffir lime leaves are hard to find
but here it's everywhere, so as soon as I found out I was coming to Singapore I'm like boom we
have to bring back to gimlit. That's the drink, that sort of old-school, simple,
two-ingredient drink which is super tasty, multi-dimensional and uses
local flavors like kaffir lime leaf. That sort of embodies who we are, pays ode to the old
cocktail culture of the past and also embraces local places
that's what I'm all about. Our style is very different than
all the other cocktail styles, our high to the eye free pouring style, our pace, our
service style, the intensity that we bring. It's unique to this market, so I
took six apprentices under my wing, local, all Singaporean and the challenge is to teach them a
new style of working, to become a complete bartender. Their hearts have been in it one hundred percent.
To find a team, for me it's quite simple
I focus less on actual skill or experience, for me it's about the
heart, it's about somebody that I can hang around with, somebody that has
passion for the business. One thing I learned in the military is that you have to
approach people differently and train people differently and to tap into
whatever it is that their strongest at and that's been a lot of fun
starting from scratch really just trying to paint this picture and create
something that matches my vision and once again it'll get there but it starts with
people's hearts you know. I want to join it guide them in the right direction to
help fulfill their dreams, much like mine came true. I started as barback at this
company, started at the bottom rung and now eight years later I'm
partner here, that's the dream come true right there.
I was going to say the American dream oops
It's the Singaporean dream.