Good Morning! I’m excited to welcome lots of new subscribers and to say thank you to you all and to Lui for a whole year of getting to write this amazing newsletter. This has been a big week for me: my one year anniversary of writing for In Good Spirits and my nephew made his appearance earthside just yesterday afternoon. This week we are changing our typical layout a little bit in order to talk about another industry professional and content creator and the insightful new series that he has been making about the bar industry. Lui was able to pick the brain of fellow creator Saeed (Saeed “Hawk” House @saeedhawkhouse on Instagram) about his ongoing video series titled ‘hospitality hot takes’.

Don’t forget to join us on Discord to talk about anything and everything bar, spirits, and cocktail related!

Hawk Talks Industry Bests and Worsts With Professionals

Everyone loves some minor controversy, that’s why ‘hot takes’ are a great way to get audience engagement. Getting ‘hot takes’ from bartenders is not only fun and entertaining for other industry professionals but it’s something that anyone who enjoys going to bars can appreciate. Saeed talks to bartenders and gets them to offer up their inner thoughts in a candid and humorous way. What he’s doing is also giving everyone in and around the industry a playful way to discuss things that may or may not be off the table in a typical bartender-to-bar-guest interaction.

The series starts off hot with the first two videos arguing for and against the famous espresso martini and from there talks about everything from self-identifying in the industry, guest etiquette, and what a menu should contain. You can find the series so far on Instagram here: @hospitalityhottake. Lui wanted to get the inside scoop on what inspired this series and what is driving it forward so he reached out and talked to Saeed directly.

Lui: Saeed, You have been a bartender and cocktail/bartending content creator longer than almost anyone. Having been around and seen this space explode over the last several years with so many different types of content and creators, What was your inspiration for innovating and trying something new and different like this?

Saeed: I pretty much got bored of creating cocktails in my studio and at home. The space got super saturated during COVID with a lot of new cocktail content creators, and I felt it was time for a change. Ever since I started my social media accounts, I knew I always wanted to be a host of something.

What originally started as a simple collab with Myles from StandishCocktails on a Patrón Hacienda trip, where I'd ask him his hospitality hot take, turned into something bigger. After that first video, I realized I was surrounded by hospitality people I could ask this same question. Some I already knew, others I had just met on that trip.

I recorded the first 8 episodes before I even edited a single one. That's when I knew this had legs. I'm also a huge fan of Subway Takes, and Kareem inspired me to take that format and apply it to the community I know best. That's the hospitality industry.

The series has also helped to bring Saeed back in touch with something he said he really missed about being behind the bar at a brick and mortar establishment, human connection. He said that being able to talk to other bartenders reignited his love for connection, getting to know others on a deeper level. He also said that his conversations have helped illuminate what he thinks are some of the more prominent issues facing the hospitality industry today.

Saeed: Through the conversations I've had so far, about 20 of them, I've noticed we seem to have forgotten the basics of what hospitality truly is in its purest form. And it's not solely on the customer. There's a lot of etiquette that needs to be revisited on both the customer and service side. I do feel that entitlement is at an all time high, not only on the customer side but on the service side too.

Series like this one can be just what the industry needs to look inward, and outward, on how to better tailor guest experiences and foster the community that we all love and desire within cocktail and drinks culture. Lui asked directly what Saeed hoped to achieve through this series.

Lui: Obviously one of the goals any creator can aspire for is for their series to reach a large audience, but aside from that, what are your goals you hope to achieve with this series? Is there something you hope the audience can take away as a whole? Is there something you hope to influence or change?

Saeed: Ultimately, yes, I do hope the audience can learn a thing or two from these conversations. I truly believe that ever since COVID, hospitality hasn't been the same. I do hope this series can teach both the customer and the service industry professional to be human again. In this day and age, with everything going on, we could use a little more humanity.

Lastly, my plan is to take this series further than bartending. I want to interview flight attendants, hotel front desk workers, bellmen, housekeepers, casino dealers, cruise ship workers, brand ambassadors, chefs, baristas, wedding planners, and many more positions across the hospitality industry. I think it would be really cool to hear from those we rarely get to hear from in this industry.

Hospitality Jobs Crash as World Cup Boom Fails to Deliver

The hospitality sector saw a staggering loss of over 60,000 jobs in just one month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) had reported a boom in hospitality jobs just this May in anticipation of the World Cup. Bars and restaurants ramped up hiring for a busy season that never really delivered. The blip of business that came in for most was gone just as fast and unfortunately for employees cuts could be made no where else but in labor cuts.

With certain costs only getting higher bars and restaurants have to make tough calls on where to spend their budgets. Often staffing has to take a hit because rent, food costs, and utilities are locked in and non-negotiable.

Of course in a newsletter all about a kick-ass video series I can’t get any videos to embed. This video from Saeed’s Hospitality Hot Takes might have been my personal favorite. J’Nai (@jnai.angelle) says what I think a lot of us have thought at one point or another. Getting all the gossip or deep hidden secrets of bar guests really is what keeps you alive sometimes as a bartender, so make sure as a guest you give your bartenders a little window into your soul sometimes. Just try and make sure that you don’t get too carried away and turn it into a free therapy session.

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