Our journey is coming to end but we have still some people to meet. From Europe we flight back to USA, exactly in New York, to interview Sother Teague of Amor y Amargo
Thanks Sother, first of all, tell us who you are
I’m Sother Teague beverage Director of Amor y Amargo, cohost of The Speakeasy podcast on Heritage Radio network and Author if I’m Just Here For The Drinks.
Could you describe, in short, your bar, its mood and your philosophy of bar?
Sother Teague
Amor y Amargo means “love and bitters”. The bar is intimate at only 240 square feet but houses an enormous collection of both tincture (like Angostura and Peychauds) and potable bitters (like Amaro Montenegro abd Cynar). We don’t use any juices nor house made ingredients. All the drinks are all spirit and stirred focusing on bitter flavors. We never hold the door and encourage people to fill in wherever they feel comfortable.
Coming to the covid-19 crisis, how did you react humanly, psychologically at the spread of the virus and the consequent lockdown?
This global crisis is like nothing we’ve lived through so it was at first quite a shock. Once we understood the realities of the situation we made the difficult decision to close the bar prior to the mandate from the government. Our Soave is tiny and typically quite crowded. We saw it as our duty to stop service to protect ourselves and our guests from contracting the virus.
The psychological toll has been heavy, we’re very accustomed to being close to people and sharing drinks and conversation. The practice of physical distancing is alien to us.
When the re-opening will be announced in your country what you will concretely do? what action will you put into practice?
We’re looking toward reservation only model for the return (if we make it). Flat fee for two hours of essentially open bar Piaf in advance so no contact for payment. Two seatings a night of only 16 guests (total of 32). All in pairs.
For a while:
QR code menus so guests don’t have to handle ours.
Amor y Amargo
Laser thermometer to get people’s temperature on entry.
Gloves/masks on the team.
Hand sanitizer and wipes available on the bar for everyone.
Full clean and disinfect between seatings.
What do you suggest to those who will be facing the re-opening phase soon?
Seek out as many methods of being contactless as possible and create an experience that you can up-charge for. We’ll all be limited on how many guests we can have by mandate. Meaning your Revenue will be limited. Charging for an experience will be crucial to making up some of that revenue loss.
