We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ella Zoller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ella, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

I’ve always been a big advocate for taking time away from work. I operate with the philosophy that wiser and more effective decisions (in work and in life) are made when we aren’t burnt out and run down. The ultimate form of taking care of your business is to take care of yourself. I take a short trip every few months for 3-4 nights at a time. Not too much to disrupt operations, but enough time for me to reset.

My vacations usually fall under the umbrella of “r&d trips.” I have the privilege of spending my time on trips that can be helpful for work and also feel like a vacation for me, but that’s not how it is in every industry. I’m not a person who feels restored by going into the woods and unplugging for a week, so even if it didn’t happen to relate to my work, I would still explore a bustling city. My creative energy is replenished when I see the perspectives of people in other cities, and stepping away for a moment helps give me a clearer head when I return to work.

I encourage this for everyone, if you can, as it really helps my morale and stamina. I do reserve one trip a year that has nothing to do with r&d – sometimes you gotta let it all go.

Ella, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

– Who am I? How did I get into beverages?

My name is Ella Zoller, and I’m a beverage director and bar consultant. I got into the industry by way of music and acting. I started bartending as a means of supporting myself while making art, and a few years ago I pivoted into making drinks full time. I’ve bartended at various spots across the city such as Bar Flores and Here’s Looking At You, and created bar programs for Good Housekeeping, Checker Hall, Superfine Playa, and currently, Honey House. Dreaming up a cocktail menu uses a similar skillset to writing a poem or a song, so it satisfies many of the same aspects of my creativity.

– What is my business? What services do we provide?

I’m the owner/beverage director of a pop-up bar called Honey House. We’re a community-focused cocktail bar from northeast LA with the mission of pairing inventive seasonal cocktails with the local art & music scene. We took Honey House, an artist collective up in the Bay Area, and grounded it here in LA with the same values but in the beverage world.

As beverage director, I come up with unique menus tailored to the experience of each event, and host the parties along with my business partners Ty & Valentino. A Honey House party captures the spirit of a 70’s house party. We’ve spent the last year hosting a series of pop-up cocktail events across the city highlighting California spirits, beer, and wine, and collaborating with local artists. At Honey House we offer a vibrant space to enjoy a great drink and catch up with a friend, or meet a new one. We’re currently seeking a brick and mortar location where we hope to welcome you next summer!

– What sets us apart? What am I most proud of?

The energy at a Honey House gathering is really special. We’ve made a sincere effort to create a communal haven for guests when they are in our space, and the vibes tend to be immaculate. I’m so lucky to be able to throw parties and make drinks for all of my friends as a ‘big girl job.’

– What I want the community to know about our work and upcoming projects:

We just announced our next pop-up, the Honey House Holiday Party on 12/12 at the Silver Lake Pool & Inn! This is set to be our biggest event yet, and I’m partnering with some incredible brands on the holiday-themed cocktails. Follow us on socials to keep up with our progress towards a brick and mortar location. We can’t wait to see you there!

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met Ty (Director of Operations) when I was the bar manager at Good Housekeeping in Highland Park. He lives a few blocks down, so he would come in with his friends for drinks and to say hi to the DJs. One night he invited me to Sunday Dinner, a weekly dinner for friends that he hosted at his house, most of whom had recently moved down from San Francisco. I started joining them every week and bringing flowers from my garden. We became close very quickly after that, and I was introduced to a community of wonderful people that have opened so many doors for me.

Valentino (Creative Director), long-time friend of Ty’s, came down from SF soon after and moved into Ty’s house. One night I was doing r&d for the new cocktail menu at Good Housekeeping, and Ty and Valentino walked in. A few martinis later we realized that we all had the same dream of opening our own cocktail bar, and the rest is history.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There’s an episode of the podcast Hidden Brain called “The Secret to Great Teams” where psychologist Anita Woolley unpacks the components of the best teams. It’s easy to think that if you bring together a group of highly accomplished and talented people for your business and have them follow a skilled leader, that team will be successful. That’s not necessarily the case.

It’s not as much about what people know on their own, as it is about the way they coordinate their inputs. This means that when building a bar team, it’s best to think about combining people with interpersonal and technical skillsets that complement each other, both while on the floor and behind the scenes. If you just gather the fastest and most technically proficient bartenders in the city, but none of them know how to talk to each other or work together, you’re not going to see the most harmonious teamwork.

At the end of the day, a business is a collaboration between people towards a shared goal, and the team you build may be the most important aspect of setting yourself up for success out of the gate.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.honeyhousecollective.com
• Instagram: @honeyhouse_la, @__xoller

Image Credits
Robert Campbell, Ty Thorpe, Kyle Norton, Emma Arends