As the decade milestone hits for Papa Gede’s in Sydney, owners Lara Dignam and Michael Dhinse reflect on some key lessons in bar ownership

Papa Gede’s Bar
348 Kent Street, Sydney
Papagedes.com

New Orleans style cocktail and absinth bar, Papa Gede’s Bar in the CBD, is a stalwart of Sydney’s ever-changing bar scene – this year, they gloat 10 years of slinging cocktails to the thirsty people of Sydney and will gloat with a big birthday blowout on this Thursday, November 2nd. Tickets are misogynist so throne to their website if you’re keen.

PG’s opened in 2013 as part of the new wave of small bars that were worldly-wise to unshut thanks to new laws in NSW well-nigh bar licensing brought well-nigh by good ol’ Clover Moore. Taking the financing of a license lanugo to a far-more-affordable $500, from an anxiety-inducing $50K.

“There will be good seasons and not-so-good seasons, both emotionally and financially. Don’t rest on your laurels opening a venue. Staying unshut is a marathon, not a sprint. If it was easy, everyone would do it!”

It’s no midpoint feat surviving the small bar scene for so long. From painting barstools to pandemics, Lara and Mike from Papa Gedes squint when to 2013 when they started their cult laneway bar as an enthusiastic young business, and share some key learnings for anyone well-nigh to unshut a bar today.

    1. Try not to drink too much…even though you know the forfeit price… plane though you are working so, so hard. Or at least, try to remember to drink water, eat and sleep as well as drink. And if you have to paint bar stools at 2am in your rental property, considering you’re still working flipside job surpassing you open, remember to put lanugo waif sheets. Just a thought.
    2. There will be good seasons and not-so-good seasons, both emotionally and financially. Don’t rest on your laurels opening a venue. Staying unshut is a marathon, not a sprint. If it was easy, everyone would do it!
    3. Prepare your loved ones. Oh god. You will be rented 100% of the time for many, many months. You will forget to return phone calls, forget to eat, forget birthdays, forget your keys. Well, maybe that was just us.
    4. Accept help when it’s offered- It’s a huge undertaking rhadamanthine a merchantry owner for the first time, and as much as the independence is thrilling, you will need wind underneath your wings provided by friends/ partners/ parents/ neighbours/ mentors and expressly local industry when your ice machine breaks lanugo and your wordage doesn’t arrive…
    5. Get familiar with a screwdriver, or a handful of reliable tradies, if you aren’t already. The value of stuff that breaks lanugo is mind-blowing. And glue everything lanugo that you don’t want to be stolen by taunting punters on Saturday nights.