For our next interview we flight back to London to meet Tiago Vasconcelos of Coupette
Thanks Tiago, first of all, tell us who you are
Tiago Vasconcelos
My name is Tiago Vasconcelos, I’m 27 years old and I was born in Lisbon, Portugal. My career as a bartender started in Hilton Hotels back in Portugal, moving to Amsterdam to work in the chain’s Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam and later Door 74 until moving to London where currently I’m the Head Bartender at Coupette.
Could you describe, in short, your bar, its mood and your philosophy of bar?
Coupette is a neighborhood bar in East London, with a French inspiration in the flavours we serve. We specialize in Calvados, an apple based brandy from Normandy, and to the best of our knowledge we currently own the largest collection of it. As for the mood, we believe the ambience and general feeling when you walk inside Coupette is one of the most important feelings: the artwork, the paintings, our booths, the exposed brick and our famous French coin-made bar top all together combine in a welcoming, homie feeling, with an East London rough edge to it.
Coming to the covid-19 crisis, how did you react humanly, psychologically at the spread of the virus and the consequent lockdown?
Honestly the week we had to close Coupette I didn’t really know the challenge we were up against: most people and businesses were speaking about 14 day closures, which frankly didn’t sound like much of a challenge, but very soon we were informed that no date was known for the lockdown rules to be lifted. Isolation isn’t easy but keeping a routine can really help, at least that is my experience; even if you don’t accomplish a lot of work in one day, being productive a couple of hours a day and exercising can really help giving meaning to your days.
Champagne Pina Colada
When the re-opening will be announced in your country what you will concretely do? what action will you put into practice?
Well right now we are very close to being able to go out of lockdown but bars will only be allowed to open later on, so in this period of lower lockdown restrictions we are currently working on a soft launch for Coupette, where we will be serving guests through takeaway and delivery services. As per now there is no information for the UK but, just like is happening now in China, there are probably going to be several restrictions for bars reopening like distancing between guests and maximum number of guests in one venue, so we will all have to adapt to this new reality.
What do you suggest to those who will be facing the re-opening phase soon?
Re-opening a bar after a crisis is no easy task. I believe first and foremost we need to transmit confidence to our guests by showing them we are taking all the mandatory measures seriously, being it the use of necessary equipment like masks and gloves or even enforcing social distancing in the way we sit our guests in our bar. Secondly and as important as the first, our guests need to feel like they did before this crisis happened, it’s our job to take their worries away for a couple of moments while they enjoy some drinks and a good chat; we are there to give them a good night, and that’s why they keep coming back.
