Bringing the bar to your home isn’t rocket science. But it’s how you do it!
For some it’s just another day in lockdown, while for others it’s still work, work, work if one is to be so fortunate. After a weekend of indulging in local New York City finds and taking the opportunity to experience “cocktails to-go”, I reached out to a good friend of mine in the bar business in Zurich, Switzerland.
Alex Arnone, manager at Barbrick and Barflyz; both located not far from each other in what would be the city’s “busy” financial district paired up with owner of the two trendy hot spots, Daniel Schürch, in creating their "side hustle" aka HomeTender. After weeks of quarantine, like all businesses around the world, Alex is wondering and waiting for things to open up again. In the meantime, this clever entrepreneur and his business partner, Daniel, have just the right concept in place thats grabbing our attention in the food & beverage world in Zurich.
"In Switzerland, it looks like the ban will be lifted soon does it not?" I asked. Alex responded by saying that they are expecting bar and restaurant establishments to be up and running by June. Still a big cloud of uncertainty is hovering over all of us but in hopes of staying afloat the business partners, Alex and Daniel are testing out other alternatives.
HomeTender Handcrafted Classic Cocktails come in a stack of 3 250mL mini bottles with the option to customize your drinks selection.
The choices that are offered are a Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Sazerac, Vieux Carre, Bobby Burns, Bijou, Martinez, Negroni and Boulevardier to be selected and sold for CHF94.00 (Swiss Franc). The concept is to easily crack it open, add ice and stir away as you pour own own Mad Men favorite. Just don't forget your garnishes as they are your finishing touch. If emulating Don Draper doesn’t sound appealing in your home but in a correct, tactful way, (sorry Stanley Tucci)… then I don’t know what does.
The guys wanted to reach the very specific client back in 2017, the Don Drapers and cocktail afficionados of the world.
They wanted to come up with a sexy, sleek way of concocting pre-mixed spirits and ingredients for classic cocktail fans. The presentation of the product is masculine in appearance so it gives this sense of a booze forward experience whether its presented as a gift, waiting for you at your hotel room mini bar, or you just want to glam up your home bar collection, it’s a good looking cocktail trio set. They can be stacked up one on top of each other like a classic cocktail totem pole or they can be lined up next to eachother, side by side. Each 250 mL elixir makes about 4 mini cocktails, so perhaps 2 each if you are sharing, and 2-3 for the non sharer. Each bottled set can be found on www.hometender.ch however for now HomeTender Handcrafted Cocktails are only sold in Zurich but the guys are working on fitting the specifications to make its way here in the states. It’s no surprise that this idea is taking off now but at least you know who the OG's are! As restaurants recalibrate their business models; bartenders, chefs, sommeliers, and managers are doing the same but taking the road of entrepreneurship in hopes to stay afloat. For Alex Arnone it’s something more, as a passionate barman of his industry he wishes to motivate others to do the same thing but in hopes to never let our industry die.
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