We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jonathan Kaplan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jonathan , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Back in 2017, a close friend & I discussed starting a mobile bartending business as a way to earn extra money, make great cocktails & have fun with people. This was in response to working with non-profit groups at arena & concert venues around Phoenix as bartenders. I knew I wanted a name that was somewhat original, fun, and something you could say out loud (or shout).
I thought of things that might influence me from pop culture. I immediately thought of the 1988 movie Cocktail starring Tom Cruise. , where he is known for his charisma & bar tricks. He recites The Last Batman Poet. When he is done, he takes a shot & yells “Bar’s Open”. From this I took- The Bar Is Open, which sounds better & added “AZ.” I still love the name, put it on my shirts and still believe it says it all!
Jonathan , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I really got into bartending as a way to pay for my daughters cheerleading. It was a 2nd job. I worked concerts, hockey games & football. The more time that went by, I really enjoyed making drinks & helping people have a fun night but less so all the specific rules on how we had to do things. I wanted to be more creative and also do smaller but fun events. We started doing holiday parties birthday’s, Happy Hours, weddings & an occasional bachelorette. People use to always ask me how to make specific drinks. I started doing mixology classes every other month in Surprise at a Paint & Sip location focusing on different themes or holidays. Eventually I would get asked to do a mixology class for a birthday, corporate event or bachelorette. We started to get calls more & more for bachelorettes as a fun & interactive event to do while you are at your Airbnb instead of just going out to a bar. Once Covid started, I began doing monthly virtual classes for the public as well as corporate events & date nights. Once 2021 started, everything shifted to 90% bachelorette parties. I started to really focus on making this a special event including not only a custom interactive class but included doing fun Bachelorette games in between cocktails. We also tried to bring the same fun mixology to Bachelorette pool parties. Sometimes we would do up to 3 Bachelorettes in a weekend. I made it about celebrating a special occasion in a fun & unique way. We focused on quality & fun details. With 2022, less than 2 months old, we are already booked for most weekends through most of the first half of the year.
We still do corporate events, birthdays, weddings & other special events but somehow we have fallen into this niche event in Scottsdale, AZ.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
We used to be concerned with finding clients using paid event sites. The more we did events, I realized we just wanted to do such a good job that people who hire us again & again each year for their special occasions or tell friends and then they would hire us.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think it is simple. Really care about what you do, try your best to make people happy & smile. Just do good quality work & try to do the little extras to go above & beyond peoples expectations.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thebarisopenaz.com
- Instagram: @thebarisopenaz
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebarisopenaz
- Other: Email us at [email protected]