Being good to look at counts in a saturated market
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Foodprints
Editor鈥檚 note:
Foodprints is a series profiling the smaller restaurants and unsung chefs working every day to provide Shanghai with food that is tasty, imaginative, wholesome and memorable.
鈥淭oday, a cocktail is judged by its presentation first, the taste often comes second,鈥 said Xu Lei, a veteran bartender who is bar manager at Cinker Pictures.
The cocktail business in Shanghai is booming as more and more young people consider drinking a couple of easy cocktails a fun lifestyle.
For Xu, the important thing is to be consistent with market expectations.
Born in 1982, Xu has been in the bartending business for 16 years, starting from the lowest level at M on the Bund in 2002 when he was just washing glasses and cleaning the floor.
鈥淭o be honest, I got into the industry because the entry requirement was low, I was introduced to the restaurant by a friend, by chance I started to work in bars and I haven鈥檛 changed ever since,鈥 said Xu.
It took him over six months to understand the basic operation of the bar and the culture of drinks. Only two years later did he started to learn about the wines, liquors and spirits.
鈥淚 was quite drawn to the art of mixology. For me the foundation is always the knowledge of the drinks. The recipes are different in every bar, if you know the ingredients well, you can adapt really quickly,鈥 he said.
After three years at M on the Bund, Xu decided to go out and see the outside world. He took a job at VaBene, an Italian restaurant at Xintiandi.
鈥淚t was similar, both are bars in restaurants, but at VaBene, there were more wines, so I got to learn something new,鈥 he said. 鈥淎fter all these years working at different establishments, I think it doesn鈥檛 matter if the restaurant is small or large. There鈥檚 always something to learn, something I didn鈥檛 know before.鈥
Professional cocktail bars often have the highest standards for the taste and presentation of the drinks. Nightclubs are more casual, and Xu preferred working at clubs because it gave him the opportunity to freestyle.
Without rules, he was able to develop creative recipes. Innovation is a must in mixology, as the drink menus must surprise customers constantly. One of the crazy drinks he was tasked to create was a black cocktail.
Xu first used squid ink but the fishy smell and taste was hard to remove. Then he turned to black vodka, which appeared in Shanghai many years ago but had no stable supply. Next, he tried the black alkaline water from the brand blk. (a mineral water), but the color was brownish.
In the end, Xu used black charcoal powder from Japan, a healthier alternative to artificial coloring.
However, Xu likes the classic, whiskey-based cocktails like the Old Fashioned and Whiskey Sour.
鈥淎lso, a lot of the new specialty drinks are created based on the classics.鈥
The biggest challenge in the bartending business is the schedule, Xu confessed.
鈥淔or a long time, I only got off work after sunrise,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hen I was young, I liked working at the clubs because of the freedom. After I had my own family, I wanted to find a more stable platform, that鈥檚 why I joined Cinker Pictures.鈥
Xu rarely goes out to drink at other bars, because spending at least five days a week in the same environment makes him want to take some time off.
In 2008, Xu joined the newly opened M1NT Club, a top party spot.
In five and a half years, he worked his way up from a bar supervisor to bar manager.
鈥淚 always believe that no matter how good you are at mixing drinks, you are only an excellent bartender. A good team must know how to manage the bar and venue,鈥 he said.
Now, Xu heads a team of seven to manage beverage operations.
He asks his staff to do a lot of things beyond making drinks, like checking and controlling costs, so that when the brand expands to open new restaurants, the staff can be promoted to management positions.
The market in Shanghai is now pretty much saturated, said Xu. Bars that can survive in the city today must have ideal locations and be more cost efficient.
鈥淭he customers can afford the spending on wine and cocktails. It鈥檚 just that they will compare different bars on the location, taste of the food and beverages, as well as cost,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut for us, the key is always the product, people who spend money must recognize the quality.鈥
A trend in the Chinese market now is the need for cocktails to be photogenic.
Social media now plays an important role in people鈥檚 daily lives and snapping a shot of food and drinks is a must, especially among young people.
While looking at international cocktail competitions, Xu saw that trends are leaning toward simplicity abroad.
The cocktails are not garish in presentation but stress the depth of flavor.
鈥淭hat won鈥檛 work in China at the moment. The customers are more curious and they want fun experiences when ordering drinks in bars. If the presentation is excellent and the taste is not bad, people will come back,鈥 said Xu.
The much-exaggerated cocktails people seek for their appearance may not be healthy, he said, as a large amount of artificial colorings and additives are involved in making colorful drinks.
Customer taking photos can also be a good thing for restaurants and bars, the younger customers are easy to communicate with, and having a successful profile on social media brings more people to try new concepts.
鈥淚 check the reviews of the restaurant on dianping.com every night, to see what the customers think of the beverages and what we can do to improve,鈥 he said.
When Xu joined Cinker Pictures, he was tasked to create a cocktail menu inspired by films, like 鈥淭he Italian Job,鈥 which is composed of cynar, sweet vermouth, Aperol, orange bitters, edible gold foil and maraschino cherries.
He spent a long time researching the films to look for elements that can relate to the drinks.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 keep studying in the business, you鈥檒l be washed out,鈥 said Xu.
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