Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tony Bennett. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tony, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
When we all start out in hospitality, it is typically for different reasons. Sometimes to pay for school, good money with odd operating hours, or maybe we just intrinsically love interacting with people day to day. For us, food and drink has been such an incredible journey. The smiles and memories we forge to the wonky cobble stone streets we stumble through at 12am searching for that next hidden gem, it as given a level of value and excitement to life and just simply living. Our tendency (as people) to get wrapped up in the hustle of the day to day grind can sometimes cause us to forget to stop and smell the roses, but food and drink forces people to do just that. It is art on a level so intimate you cannot simply explain it, you must experience it. Our goal with The Alchemists Garden is to bring that to everyone that steps through our doors. A transportation outside of typical wine country and into the realm of culinary delights and libations that challenge classic and orthodox thought, all inspired by our local and wonderful agriculture here on the Central Coast of California.
The value of contributing in a meaningful way to our community has been a driving force behind our establishment, team and growth within, leading to our opening of our second program, a tiny little 12 seat cocktail program called “The Remedy” where we focus on offering cocktails derived from the inner workings of molecular gastronomy in a table-side and intimate fashion. Science in a cocktail elevates the level of flavor and texture, and that contributes to expanding our perception of what is possible in food and drink.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My journey down the rabbit hole of bartending began when I first set foot behind a hotel bar at 18 as a bar back covering a shift in a department I had never worked. . It was a radical change from the standard service floor I was used to. People were interested in the creations and ingredients that we had, the bottles that they didn’t recognize, and most of all, whatever it was that the bartender was toying with at the time. I was hooked before I even had a chance to know what hit me. The interest that our guests took in the relationship with their bartender felt so intimate and genuine in so many ways, and she was just painting a picture with liquids for 90 minutes at a time. I was just running for bottled beer and glassware, I felt like a part of something bigger that ultimately changed my entire life. This continued for years until I was finally able to mix cocktails, and when that day arrived it was everything I hoped it would be and more. Over the next 10 years I tended anywhere travels took me, from speed bartending in sports bars and nightclubs to managing and developing programs of my own. The excitement was only ever matched by a lack of sleep as the ideas just kept pouring out while winding down over a glass of Balvenie 12yr (one of my favs) post service.
Around 2014 we saw a major change in the dining scene here in Paso Robles where wine wasn’t the only contender for our travelers attention; the craft cocktail movement had finally found a solid foothold. Our current project is a collaboration of ideas from career bartenders and has been our dream to watch it come to life, but when it began we were all just becoming friends spending time at each others bars getting to know each other on nights off and bouncing ideas off one another. It created this really cool “rising tide floats all boats” perception where the bar community here became very close and many nights off became R&D evenings with the friends we eventually opened The Alchemists Garden with. This organic growth has helped the community here foster a brilliant and wonderful love of hospitality that allowed us to push the boundaries at every turn and us in turn see such an incredible acceptance of new and unique.
The Alchemists Garden focused on a lot of neutral grain infusions, clean and bright house syrups, cordials, liqueurs and tinctures to harmonize all the wonderful vegetables and fruits California is known for. The food menu is laid out to be dietarily friendly and unique, bright and colorful, and most of all, complementary to an incredible cocktail program based upon our local farms and agriculture. We opened our doors here in 2020 so needless to say it wasn’t without its challenges, but if asked to do it all over again, in a heartbeat. Andrew Brune had spent time in LA working in some really cool bars and restaurants before moving to Paso where we met and shared a love of Japanese Whisky. Alexandra Pellot came here from Puerto Rico with a background in hotel and hospitality management and was managing the Allegretto hotel where she became friends with Quin Cody who was running the wine program and tasting room at the hotel. This marked the beginning of something special that we didn’t quite recognize yet. Over the next few years we began to travel to all sorts of events: cocktail competitions, random R&D trips decided at 3am after shift, Tales of the Cocktail, Tales on tour. We loved every second of it. And we traveled well together (despite flying spirit once haha). At the end of almost 7 years together as friends, we began a venture that would change our lives, and we still hope to this day it gives a little bit to everyone visiting our lovely community when they make it in. As we venture into our 4th year I am writing about this journey and reflecting back on this last year where we opened our second concept, The Remedy, a 12 seat cocktail lounge designed like a British library. It offers a table-side experience through molecular mixology, using the senses to elevate and shift expectations, textures to enhance flavors and sometimes un-orthodox methods of production to create interesting and unique cocktails that will hopefully surprise and enhance once’s expectation of what a cocktail is. It aims to inspire something special.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
As bartenders we strive to be the life of the party, elevating your experience with our energy and charm, the men and women of mystery that work late into the night. Vampires by all public accounts. This all changes substantially when making a vertical move into management, full of pitfalls that are hard to overcome without guidance or training, but as many such as myself, we can find ourselves there more a result of resilience and longevity at a company versus someone professionally trained in that form of work. As career bartenders we all see the primary directive of creating an incredible experience for our guests, but we don’t necessarily plan what comes next. When you spend a decade behind the bar, whether tending or directing/managing, it can alter your view of things over time, but you never lose sight of the big picture, we just see it differently. When that step is taken into ownership everything changes yet again, but there isn’t really anyone to tell you that. The allure of a perfect service is always with us, and learning to trust the team with what needs to be accomplished really begins with us creating effective systems and tools as the leaders in our organizations.
As creatives by nature, we challenge ourselves to make sure we are on cutting edge and proving our worth in that role, but sometimes the simple is better when developing these skills. Building systems takes time, but utilizing your entire team and leaning on the correct individuals doesn’t make you weak or lazy, it allows you time to see the big picture and ensure that the machine is operating smoothly. This was my single biggest challenge in this transition.
One of the hardest parts for me when we made this change from managing bars into owning a bar was the challenge of letting go of certain elements of the operation and trusting in the scope of the project. I have always loved what we do and this stemmed from the light in a guests eyes when they taste something unexpected, see something extravagant, or are shocked at some part of the production. It is this “magic” that can set you apart.
It is this magic that I think as humans we are always in search of, inspiration or to be inspired. My major pivot came in the form of realizing that the most benefit I could offer the team was to become better as a leader, and that was scary at first because it was so different than what I expected it to be, but probably the single most important piece of advice for anyone thinking about this journey for themselves. No matter what you think it is going to be, be ready to pivot and adapt to what the real needs are.
Many of us thought that this step would simply mean we work for ourselves now, but it really did come with a steep learning curve, so we fought and adapted at every turn. Looking back, some of the greatest tools we had were right in front of us; these fantastic friends I had made over the years that were partners in this project. Some of the classes offered at Tales of the Cocktail that lended insight into ownership and challenges that the business end created as an owner that didn’t exist as a bartender. Identifying these challenges early is crucial to keeping that business alive and healthy. We get to provide jobs in our community to people we love and share a genuine love of food and drink every single day. And we get to share these creations with people from all over the world! It is this mentality that makes this industry what it is through and through. Chasing those dreams every day. We may not be in the same dream today that we were 10 years ago, but you know what? As long as we have an opportunity to share and inspire another day were doing something right.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
This is such a simple answer, but I think commonly overlooked. People don’t go out to eat and drink because they want to sit quietly at a table and not be disturbed. People want to be seen. Acknowledged and heard. I think this would apply to any business model, but is especially true in hospitality. We have the incredible benefit in our job that THE ENTIRE scope of our job is to be of service to our community. If we treat our guests with incredible hospitality, they feel that and it is soooo contagious. It allows us to feel seen and to be apart of something that is valuable because it isn’t’ expecting anything from you. Carry this genuine attitude into every conversation you hold with someone. When we opened Alchemists Garden we had such an incredible amount of support from our community despite the timing, and it wasn’t because we had some fantastic bartenders. We had the support of an amazing group of people that we have served for the last 14 years here in Paso Robles. Those relationships that have been fostered were all real. Even our partner groups friendship began with one of us on the other side each others bars. If you want to truly grow your brand in this industry, just be genuine with your guests and make them feel seen every time they come through your door. I always joke that I will go the the place with decent food and drinks with impeccable service over the place with incredible food and drink with lacking service experience, but quite frankly its the truth.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.alchemistsgarden.com
- Instagram: Alchemistsgardenca
- Facebook: The Alchemists’ Garden
Image Credits
Photo Credit: Sarah Kathleen Photography