Our viral content, mainly Instagram & TikTok, reached 8 million pairs of eyes in the last three months. Let’s put that crazy number aside for a moment, and focus on the negative: let’s say 0.01 of the eyes that were exposed decided to leave an insulting comment, 500 comments in a period of 90 days. 5-6 insulting comments a day.
98% of the hateful comments are something like this:
“Bring the fucking drink already!” in free translation.
Apparently, writing a blog about hateful comments means giving them weight and recognizing them, that would certainly be a mistake. It’s clear the right thing to do is move on with our lives, how do you say? “Haters gonna hate”
But the truth is that these responses express something that I don’t like to sweep under the carpet, they express contempt for aesthetics, they eliminate the importance of “appearance” within the whole experience of sitting at a bar. It was equally possible to write “What is that bombastic glass?”, let’s say, or maybe “Why are you showing off with a button shirt and a tie?” or anything else that relates to the sense of sight.
My friend Elad Baruch, the owner of the Clabis bar, once told me that the experience we strive to provide as service providers, as hosts, should touch all five of our senses. taste, smell, sight, hearing and touch. The five senses through which we experience the world. The whole thing, is the real thing. The whole is the way the customer experiences us. I connected with this view, this index, in which it’s easy to check ourselves according to clear parameters.
Now look, there’s no 100% in life, no matter how much you want, you will never achieve perfection that lasts more than a few moments. Perfection is a fantasy that does not exist in reality. You win some, you lose some.
Even if you invest every spare second of your life in finding the formula, you will find that perfection is unattainable. First of all, because it’s subjective, and second, because the entertainment experience is dynamic, changing, and we will never be able to be the most perfect thing for a wide variety of guests, at any given moment.
Our starting point as hosts must be different. Instead of striving for “perfection”, we must strive for “accuracy”.
precision: whether in the taste of the cocktail, in the music playing in the background, in the harmony of the bartenders, in the aroma rising in our noses, or the softness of the bar stool we are sitting on, precision is completely achievable according to our standards, and only according to them! I can achieve a high level of hospitality, by my standards alone, and that’s enough (provided you’re a good professional, of course.) In other words (and more accurate ????) not every bar is suitable for everyone, period.
back to the beginning
If you want your “fucking drink” already, and you don’t want an aesthetic experience while preparing it then maybe you should not come to a place that focuses on the aesthetics of the bartenders?
If you feel like sitting on a plastic box and drinking grapefruit juice, no problem, but maybe you shouldn’t book a place at the most fancy cocktail bar in town?
Do you want to hear pleasant violin and oboe in the background? Maybe you shouldn’t go to a metal concerts?
In short, haters are unnecessary. Those who don’t want to, shouldn’t come, everyone else is jealousy. We do what we do for those who love, not for those who hate. This blog was also written for those who are and not for those who aren’t. This is my guiding line from the first day I approached the craft, and it’s the best tip I can give to anyone who is involved in the creation: “mute background noise
