Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: How does someone from Brittany end up in Britain

Speaker:

only to return to Paris and open, of all things,

Speaker:

a, uh, pub? Don't be surprised though. This pub

Speaker:

comes with a touch of ooh la la. I'm, um, Susan

Speaker:

Schwartz, your drinking companion, and this is

Speaker:

Lush Life podcast. Every week we're inspired to

Speaker:

live life one cocktail, cocktail at a time. I'm

Speaker:

joined by Jacynt, uh, Lesquitt, whose journey

Speaker:

began in France, where his love for hospitality

Speaker:

was first sparked while helping out in his

Speaker:

mother's Pizzeria. At just 12 years old, after

Speaker:

earning his master's degree in advertising,

Speaker:

Jacynth made his way to London, igniting his

Speaker:

passion for the craft of the cocktail. He then

Speaker:

returned to Paris where he championed seasonality,

Speaker:

sustainability and innovation. With this wealth of

Speaker:

experience, in 2019, he teamed up with friends to

Speaker:

open their own bar, the Cambridge Public House. A,

Speaker:

uh, space that brings his philosophy of flavor,

Speaker:

creativity and hospitality to life. Today, he's

Speaker:

here to tell us how it all began. But before that,

Speaker:

if you love Lush.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Life, we would so appreciate your support.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: By signing up to our newsletter, you can get our

Speaker:

advice on anything to do with home bartending,

Speaker:

where to drink in every major city, special

Speaker:

recipes, and even your very own Lush Life mug.

Speaker:

Just head to a lushlifemanual.substack.com and

Speaker:

sign up now. Let's join Jacent.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: So it's really great to have you on the show. I'm

Speaker:

so excited to have you, especially right after

Speaker:

your global series. So we're. Why don't you

Speaker:

introduce yourself? Even though I've done a little

Speaker:

intro in the beginning and tell the people who you

Speaker:

are, where you work and then we'll start.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Yeah. Well, thank you for having me. It's really

Speaker:

good to be here this morning. My name is Yassin

Speaker:

Espette. I'm the co founder of the Cambridge

Speaker:

Public House cocktail pub in Paris and also the co

Speaker:

owner of Little Red Door, also in Paris. And I'm a

Speaker:

bartender, owner and everything that's related to

Speaker:

this profession, this age.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Of time, all that great stuff. So here at Lush

Speaker:

Life, we always like to go back before we go

Speaker:

forward. It would be great to hear where you're

Speaker:

from and a little bit about your upbringing.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Yeah, of course. So I'm from, uh, Brittany, from a

Speaker:

tiny island in the west of France. I've been going

Speaker:

there until I was 18. They went to university. I

Speaker:

studied advertising strategy, which brought me to

Speaker:

Italy, Germany, and then some internship that I

Speaker:

didn't really like. So I moved to London and

Speaker:

started to Work in, in cocktail bars and.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Oh, wait, wait, wait. There's a lot to unpack

Speaker:

there. All right, so a little town in Brittany.

Speaker:

And were you always bartending while you were

Speaker:

studying? Was this something that you were doing

Speaker:

for extra money or was that something that came

Speaker:

after?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Yes. Uh, my mom had two pizzerias. So, um, I was

Speaker:

like 12, which is not really legal. I was working

Speaker:

there in the summer to just help and make some

Speaker:

money. And all the time throughout my university

Speaker:

time, I've been working in restaurants. Balls,

Speaker:

mostly. Drink, like waitering, not really

Speaker:

cocktails until London.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Was it something that you thought that you would

Speaker:

ever get into? I mean, was you. Did you have

Speaker:

parental pressure to say, come and take over our

Speaker:

pizzerias or was it, no way am I doing that, I've

Speaker:

got to do something completely different?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: No, there was no pressure at all. But it's just, I

Speaker:

guess a lot of people going in my age going to

Speaker:

marketing or communication, uh, studies was like

Speaker:

kind of where you go and you don't exactly know

Speaker:

what you want to do. So I think I've been looking.

Speaker:

I, um, didn't really know what I wanted to do. So

Speaker:

I've just been, okay, I'm going to study and

Speaker:

hopefully it will appear to me.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: But you worked in IT for a couple years, you said.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: I wanted to get a master degree in Italy, and then

Speaker:

I moved a little bit to Germany, still in the

Speaker:

process of studying. So I've done some internship

Speaker:

throughout my university time and never actually

Speaker:

worked full time in there.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: What was it about the drinks industry or what you

Speaker:

had been doing that was kind of so seductive that

Speaker:

you said, you know what, screw it, I'm going to

Speaker:

try my hand at this.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: On the first day in London, it was, uh, at the

Speaker:

radio bar and there was the bar backing. So I just

Speaker:

wanted to stay for the summer and I just got

Speaker:

interested. So I tried to push really hard to jump

Speaker:

behind the bar every time I see an occasion. I

Speaker:

tried to study cocktails. It just looked very, uh,

Speaker:

fun. And also the interaction with the guests and

Speaker:

the people and it was actually also really good

Speaker:

money. So there was a lot of factor that was

Speaker:

attractive to this profession. And then I was

Speaker:

lucky enough to push the right dolls and world of

Speaker:

like world, uh, class Cartel came to me and I hear

Speaker:

hand services. And um, yeah, I started at 69

Speaker:

copycrow and a drink factory. And that's where I

Speaker:

actually learned everything.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: I know you've mentioned a few things about the

Speaker:

community, about making some money. The cocktails

Speaker:

at that Time. Did you realize that this could be a

Speaker:

profession? You know, was. Because it's a while

Speaker:

ago.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Uh, yeah, for sure. I mean, the first year I was

Speaker:

like, okay, should I go back into what I've been

Speaker:

studying? So I don't like wasting it. I always say

Speaker:

the past five years of my life. No, I think also

Speaker:

my goal after doing some internship, I didn't

Speaker:

really enjoy the office of his job. I didn't

Speaker:

really enjoy having like, uh, the same schedule

Speaker:

every day and doing the same, like going to the

Speaker:

same office every day. So I think through

Speaker:

bartending and also seeing what could happen with

Speaker:

like events and guest shift and mostly also being

Speaker:

my own boss was something that really, uh,

Speaker:

interested me.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Especially working someplace like 69 Cobweh, which

Speaker:

was at the forefront of the cocktail renaissance

Speaker:

revolution or whatever you want to call it,

Speaker:

Especially here in London. Those you just. It

Speaker:

could blow your mind. I guess what they were doing

Speaker:

then.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. It wasn't really about the. The

Speaker:

cocktails are really interested there. I mean the

Speaker:

cocktails were interesting, of course, but it was

Speaker:

more the. The way the service was going was such a

Speaker:

tiny space, but, uh, so many people are going

Speaker:

through it. Uh, working there was probably still

Speaker:

the best bar ever walked out because it was like a

Speaker:

dance with the team. I, uh, was lucky enough to,

Speaker:

to be there at golden age the bar as well. So it

Speaker:

was a really incredible place to, to work at. And

Speaker:

then after I entered the drink factory part where

Speaker:

you can actually see the lab and you can see

Speaker:

production. And so, yeah, I was lucky enough for

Speaker:

them to trust me to go in every single department

Speaker:

of the company.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Having such a great experience there. Did you

Speaker:

always want to come back to Paris or, you know,

Speaker:

did you think that London would stay your home for

Speaker:

a while?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Uh, London was a little too intense for me. So

Speaker:

it's a really major city and um, it's quite long

Speaker:

to go any place to commute. Paris seems to be a

Speaker:

big city, but it's actually quite small. And if

Speaker:

you want to go from east to west, I cycle there in

Speaker:

30 minutes. Uh, London, everything takes 30

Speaker:

minutes minimum in London, which is good, but it

Speaker:

just wasn't for me. I think I also cherished like

Speaker:

work, life, balance. So Paris was a, uh, bit more

Speaker:

that to me and also a business perspective. I

Speaker:

think it was easier for me to. To open a bar in

Speaker:

Paris because I've got like my people here and I

Speaker:

didn't know the market at the time, but maybe it's

Speaker:

one or so came back to Paris. So we had. And I

Speaker:

think the cocktail wasn't as developed as London.

Speaker:

So, yeah, a lot of factors.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: What year are we talking about? When did you move

Speaker:

back?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: In 2015.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Okay. So a good 10 years ago when.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: I worked at the Bacon, La Marie Celeste, which is

Speaker:

part of the Quixotic Project. So Candelaria Group

Speaker:

and I opened the. A new business for them. And

Speaker:

after that, in 2019, we opened the Cambridge.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: When you were in London, what do you think that in

Speaker:

your mind, being an inherent marketer and having

Speaker:

studied it for a long time, that you were

Speaker:

thinking, okay, my goal is to have this kind of

Speaker:

thing that you thought, when I get to Paris, I

Speaker:

want to do everything that I can to do that.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. I think, again, the ultimate

Speaker:

goal was to not have any bosses.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: All right, I forgot. Yes. I don't think you said

Speaker:

that before. Exactly.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Yeah. It's to be free to do, like, whatever kind

Speaker:

of whatever I want. So that was. That was the goal

Speaker:

behind opening a bar.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Sometimes the bar can be the boss, you know?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Yeah. There's always the bank.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: So the bank and the bar. Right. There's always

Speaker:

some ball. All right, so. So you're working,

Speaker:

you're doing your menus. Did you have a kind of

Speaker:

bar in mind? Because it's. It's funny that you

Speaker:

started one that's named after some place in

Speaker:

Britain. Not Britain, but Britain, you know. So

Speaker:

what were some of your ideas before you started,

Speaker:

uh, the Cambridge?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Well, to be honest, when we moved to Paris, we

Speaker:

were, like, maybe a little cocky. Was like, oh,

Speaker:

we've been to London. We're going to move to

Speaker:

Paris. We're going to. We're going to open the

Speaker:

best bar. Something like that. And then after one

Speaker:

week, we realized, like, we weren't ready. So we

Speaker:

pushed back the project for.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Okay.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: We didn't decide for how long, but we're like,

Speaker:

okay, we're not ready. Uh, you guys are gonna do

Speaker:

what he's doing. I'm gonna walk in different bars

Speaker:

and restaurants and see how it goes. We didn't

Speaker:

have the idea of the pub at first, but it's, uh,

Speaker:

with another. Our third partner called Greg, is

Speaker:

from London. We used to work together there. And,

Speaker:

um, we realized we. We miss pubs, so we are

Speaker:

meeting every week for some drinks. And then we

Speaker:

always talked about it. So the idea came. Came

Speaker:

like that, just by having something that we were

Speaker:

missing in Paris.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Now, you said we. Who was the other person?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Uh, so a guy called Greg Inder.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: No, no, I meant other than Greg. You said, we came

Speaker:

in So I wasn't sure if there were two of you @

Speaker:

Paris.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: My partner today is uh, called Hugo, uh, is uh,

Speaker:

doing more the back of house and the financials

Speaker:

development part of the company. It's not working

Speaker:

in bars. It's always working as uh, an

Speaker:

entrepreneur or in startup, something like that.

Speaker:

So he's my m business partner.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: So the three of you, you got your two Frenchmen

Speaker:

and one Brit and you come up with this idea for a

Speaker:

pub type bar, right?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Exactly.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Did you think there is kind of a rivalry between

Speaker:

the Brits and the French? How did you think the

Speaker:

Parisians would take to it?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: I say everybody, everybody loves a pub here. We do

Speaker:

have a lot of pubs but they all have the same

Speaker:

offers kind of so you can find the same beers and

Speaker:

the same food, etc. Uh, and it's not really well,

Speaker:

well seen. Sometimes it's a little bit dirty. It

Speaker:

doesn't have the same appeal as the pubs you have

Speaker:

in London and UK or in Ireland. So we want

Speaker:

something a bit more modern. We already saw some

Speaker:

cocktail pubs in London where it's a little bit

Speaker:

more of a modernized version of a pub. So we

Speaker:

really wanted to have this like, include cocktails

Speaker:

and into like casual environment. At the time it

Speaker:

was still very much a speakeasy trend. In Paris

Speaker:

you have a lot of speakeasies and we didn't want

Speaker:

to walk in the dark for our life. So we want

Speaker:

something very open, something welcoming. Cocktail

Speaker:

culture is a bit hard in France because we have a

Speaker:

big wine culture, beer culture, sorry. So to have

Speaker:

like a very uh, welcoming space to make everybody

Speaker:

feel like safe and welcome to enjoy your cocktail

Speaker:

beer they want, that was the goal.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Maybe you can talk me through not just your first

Speaker:

menus but maybe your kind of your mission for it

Speaker:

because you're a B corps now. I mean was this

Speaker:

always part of your plan to put sustainability at

Speaker:

the forefront?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Well, the last, last project I worked at before

Speaker:

the uh, Cambridge was called Les Gros Vert. It was

Speaker:

the new bar restaurant of the quixotic groups in

Speaker:

Paris. And it was a goal to be to waste as less as

Speaker:

possible. Even with the kitchen, to the bar, to

Speaker:

the furniture was really well uh, thought of. So I

Speaker:

got a lot of inspiration from that. But it was

Speaker:

mostly to work with seasonality and I think was it

Speaker:

wasn't really nice everywhere but it wasn't that

Speaker:

much at the time. We always had the idea to change

Speaker:

the menu a bit every week. Also it's, I find it

Speaker:

boring sometimes to work in bar where you know,

Speaker:

you don't really have access to creativity and you

Speaker:

just replicate the menu for one year. So after a

Speaker:

few months it becomes quite monotonous. So

Speaker:

changing a little bit every week, working with

Speaker:

season because we have such a great terroir in

Speaker:

France. So it wasn't so much about being like,

Speaker:

okay, we're not going to waste anything away. It

Speaker:

was always to incorporate this in the creative

Speaker:

process. But some of it, you have fun and to be

Speaker:

playful with ingredients.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Uh, I don't know if you remember it's been a while

Speaker:

since you opened, but you know, some of those

Speaker:

first cocktails and how you felt that the people

Speaker:

who were coming into the bar and enjoying them, as

Speaker:

you said, how they took to these cocktails, did

Speaker:

they like them? Were they open to this? Was it

Speaker:

tough to get people thinking about the way or

Speaker:

thinking the way you thought?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: No, to be honest, it was quite easy. Uh, the first

Speaker:

menu was mostly some classic twists I've learned

Speaker:

from London that was maybe not very famous in

Speaker:

Paris. So we took a stone friends and worked with

Speaker:

quints. We took an army navy and worked with

Speaker:

seaweed. Uh, just having a little twist on this

Speaker:

classic. Mixing spirits as well into cocktails is

Speaker:

something like we always did. And slowly, slowly

Speaker:

we walked throughout the, the cocktail of the week

Speaker:

phase. So every week we have a, we have a new

Speaker:

cocktail. And it was a great way for us to um, to,

Speaker:

to work with Regulus to open the uh, cocktail

Speaker:

world to some of, some of the guests that were

Speaker:

just coming for beers and we became friends. So

Speaker:

after a few weeks, like, okay, we have this new

Speaker:

cocktail. Do you want to try it? It's on us. And

Speaker:

then, you know, slowly, slowly, they just come

Speaker:

every week to, to try the new cocktail. So it's

Speaker:

very, very easy and well received from a

Speaker:

community.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: That's a great idea that cocktail of the week,

Speaker:

especially to get beer drinkers. Because obviously

Speaker:

you come to a pub here, most people drink it.

Speaker:

Actually, most people don't expect cocktails to be

Speaker:

that great at a pub. It's really. I won't say it's

Speaker:

rare, but they're definitely coming for the beer.

Speaker:

So if that's the same, and especially in Paris

Speaker:

where they weren't, as you said, so in tuned to

Speaker:

cocktails. That's brilliant. It's a great see the

Speaker:

marketing in you.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: And the cocktail of the week is always our best

Speaker:

sell, whatever it is. So even if we have a drink

Speaker:

with red onion, it will still be the best sell.

Speaker:

But people get really interested and I think they

Speaker:

kind of trust us now.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: So, yeah, they're coming back for that cocktail of

Speaker:

the week. It's a brilliant one. So let's go on to.

Speaker:

Okay, you're chugging along. You're doing your

Speaker:

cocktail of the week. Why don't you talk about

Speaker:

what your global series is and why you thought it

Speaker:

was necessary to start something like that?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Definitely it was more about community than

Speaker:

sustainability. I think we look more into, like,

Speaker:

community and responsibility, but it's just

Speaker:

because we've always been kind of grateful. We are

Speaker:

really lucky to be living in Paris. We have

Speaker:

everything we need. So, uh, very grateful to have

Speaker:

some food on our plates and, like, a roof over our

Speaker:

head. So we're always grateful for all of this. So

Speaker:

we really want to give back to our community.

Speaker:

Also, the first year we opened in Paris, we were

Speaker:

struggling, so we only survived because we have

Speaker:

communities. Always been very grateful, and we

Speaker:

kind of want to give back. So the global series

Speaker:

started as a fun project. We used to have this

Speaker:

amazing, amazing festival in Paris, Cocktail

Speaker:

Spirits, where they were really pushing education.

Speaker:

And this disappeared with COVID So we didn't have

Speaker:

really a, uh, platform for this in Paris. I think

Speaker:

it's also very, uh, for me, I mean, I'm super

Speaker:

happy to invite this, like, nine people, A, uh,

Speaker:

lot to say about. And there's three topics that

Speaker:

are very important to the Cambridge, which are

Speaker:

education, environment, and the social aspect of

Speaker:

the bar industry. So every year now, we invite

Speaker:

nine bartenders from all around the world to share

Speaker:

the story. There's three days of events and guest

Speaker:

shifts, but there's also one big day of education

Speaker:

where we do some roundtables about very, uh,

Speaker:

important topics. And it's super well received. We

Speaker:

had over 100 people this year, uh, attending the

Speaker:

seminars, which is very good for Paris, for

Speaker:

France. So, yeah, very happy about this. It was

Speaker:

just an idea at the beginning where the Rugby

Speaker:

World Cup. I wanted to do something with all the

Speaker:

cocktail pubs. And then we're like, okay, why we

Speaker:

don't do it with more bars?

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Who comes to these?

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Who attends them?

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Um, are they geared towards on trade or also

Speaker:

consumers? Do any consumers come as well?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: It's open to everyone for the education part and

Speaker:

even the guest shift. Really, it's really fueled

Speaker:

by the industry part. So we have a lot of

Speaker:

bartenders, chefs, waiters, et cetera coming. But

Speaker:

we try to open it to Pakta schools as well. So we

Speaker:

try to have a lot.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Of students coming because I find, uh, you all in

Speaker:

the industry are just so conscious of it. So Hyper

Speaker:

conscious. I always tell people I think you guys

Speaker:

are really doing the most that I've ever seen in

Speaker:

any industry. Of course, I only know this

Speaker:

industry, but so much for sustainability. And I

Speaker:

wish that everyone could attend. These are, uh,

Speaker:

people not in the industry to hear and to be

Speaker:

influenced by you guys. And obviously that's why

Speaker:

I'm interviewing you, is that I also want to get

Speaker:

that word out because I find it so important. Do

Speaker:

you find that this is getting disseminated as much

Speaker:

as you would like to the greater world at large?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: I think it's just the right amount. Now we don't

Speaker:

want to stream it as a thing. We're really

Speaker:

conscious about greenwashing, social washing. So

Speaker:

everything we do is for us and the community. And

Speaker:

we have all the information on our website. If

Speaker:

people want to know more about it, we're happy to

Speaker:

share. If people want to know more about it. But

Speaker:

we don't want to put it in people's face and be

Speaker:

like, hey, listen, we are the first big. That's

Speaker:

what we. This is not really us. We try to be

Speaker:

humble about it.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Oh, gosh. Well, I'm going to shout it out, let me

Speaker:

tell you. Hopefully people like me do. Now you

Speaker:

brought it up, but I would love to talk a little

Speaker:

bit about your B Core status and what that process

Speaker:

was like and why you decided to take those steps.

Speaker:

Because a lot of people might not even know really

Speaker:

what a B Core is, of course.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Well, B Corp is the certification that is all

Speaker:

about all the scopes of sustainability. So not

Speaker:

necessarily just the planet, but also community

Speaker:

and guests and, um, transparency, governance. So

Speaker:

it's all the parts of the company are taking into

Speaker:

consideration, which is why it was really

Speaker:

interesting to us because we had a motto, because

Speaker:

we always say, like, be nice in the planet, but

Speaker:

don't forget the people on the way. We're very

Speaker:

close to our community and we really want to push

Speaker:

this. So BICOP was a good structure for us to go

Speaker:

through and that's what we needed. The way Hugo

Speaker:

works as well, uh, it's always about trying to

Speaker:

find some structure to get better. So, um, the

Speaker:

goal was not to achieve it, but when we looked

Speaker:

through different structures and there was like

Speaker:

the Paris Agreement or the Sustainable Development

Speaker:

Goals of the United nations, we looked at all

Speaker:

these things and BCOP gave us, you have 200

Speaker:

questions to or 200 reports to do. And for us it

Speaker:

was 200 opportunity to get better in different

Speaker:

ways. So we just took them one by one.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Can you give us an Example of one or two of them.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Yeah. Somewhere really simple uh, is to do like

Speaker:

transparency meetings with your, with your

Speaker:

employees and staff. It's something we do, we have

Speaker:

always done, we always meet every week. But we uh,

Speaker:

don't have any report, we don't have any, we don't

Speaker:

really follow up. We do it, we have a small team

Speaker:

and we go on. But bcorp, uh, say oh no, you need

Speaker:

to have this report and structure. You need to be

Speaker:

uh, organized about it. So this kind of

Speaker:

organization really helped us to get better. It

Speaker:

was also some simple thing with like maybe uh, the

Speaker:

data of your guests, like how do you treat the

Speaker:

data of your guests? Or we went through a website,

Speaker:

we didn't know about this and went through a

Speaker:

website. Okay, this maybe we need to change

Speaker:

because you will be more secure for, for the

Speaker:

people that go through our website or with the

Speaker:

banks with the credit card details, et cetera. So

Speaker:

you have a lot of different things that you don't

Speaker:

actually know about. And some are very simple,

Speaker:

some are um, not that simple. It's definitely not

Speaker:

something that's easy for a small business and a

Speaker:

small team to accomplish but it's really rewarding

Speaker:

at the end.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: And how do you feel that it's changed you? Was

Speaker:

there something on the list where you thought oh

Speaker:

gosh, I've never even thought of that and now I do

Speaker:

it completely differently. There may not be

Speaker:

because you may have been doing everything but I

Speaker:

was just wondering if there was something that it

Speaker:

just awakened in you to do more of.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Well here's something really eye opening and

Speaker:

something that's ah, really hard for us to

Speaker:

improve. Like there's some categories with like

Speaker:

um, we sell alcohol so uh, with big copies like

Speaker:

not nice because you don't sell a nice product to

Speaker:

your guests. So this is really challenging. So

Speaker:

maybe we have to push more of a non alcoholic

Speaker:

offer or there's something we can try to do. We

Speaker:

also been doing our uh, carbon footprint audit so

Speaker:

to know exactly where we spend the most of our

Speaker:

footprint and this is really high opening because

Speaker:

we realize some small decision can actually have a

Speaker:

big impact. We knew beef was bad for m the planet

Speaker:

when you actually see the. But your spending is

Speaker:

incredible. And from one day to another we changed

Speaker:

chicken and we saved about 8% of our footprint. So

Speaker:

something like this, yeah, you can always get

Speaker:

better. And that's the nice thing we have about B

Speaker:

Corp. I don't want to preach about because I'm not

Speaker:

here for that but uh, you always have to get

Speaker:

better. Like, we have three years to, in three

Speaker:

years we have to redo the audit and we don't have

Speaker:

to go through the initial score, but we have to

Speaker:

get better than our score. So that's what's

Speaker:

interesting is that you, they always push you to

Speaker:

get better.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Uh, you're not preaching at all. No, it's really

Speaker:

interesting. And also I'm hoping that if any other

Speaker:

bars or anyone in the industry who may be

Speaker:

listening might want to do it, they can hear from

Speaker:

you that it is absolutely achievable. And it's

Speaker:

something maybe to have a goal for because it's,

Speaker:

uh, a really wonderful thing that you've been able

Speaker:

to achieve with this and it's really important for

Speaker:

the world. You should be so proud of yourselves.

Speaker:

There are a couple other things as well. I know

Speaker:

you started something called Shaken Leaf and I was

Speaker:

wondering if you could tell everyone what that is.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Yeah, of course. It came from, um, from something.

Speaker:

We have something called the Community Plan within

Speaker:

the team, the Cambridge, where everybody, every

Speaker:

single person from the team works into either like

Speaker:

some team, um, sorry, education, part, environment

Speaker:

focus, uh, topics. And it was the goal of one of

Speaker:

our, uh, teammates called Julien. He was like,

Speaker:

okay, I want to share information and to collect

Speaker:

information and share to the world. So the first

Speaker:

goal was to interview pioneers from the world of

Speaker:

sustainability and responsibility. So we were in

Speaker:

art and interview people like Luke Worthy and Matt

Speaker:

Wiley and Agun from penicillin. And he was to have

Speaker:

this interview and put into poor advices. So you

Speaker:

can go on the website and go into like, um, I want

Speaker:

to improve my electricity, uh, spending on my

Speaker:

water concentration. So you can go through water

Speaker:

and you can find some tips and maybe they will

Speaker:

apply to your market, maybe they won't. But it's

Speaker:

to have all this thing really simplified for

Speaker:

everybody around the world to, to get some ideas

Speaker:

and to, to get better. Because sometimes you

Speaker:

don't, you don't know where to start. And people

Speaker:

want to get better, but there's also some pressure

Speaker:

to be like, oh, I want to, I want to be zero waste

Speaker:

or I want to, to be sustainable. It's a really

Speaker:

like step by step process. And the thing is to get

Speaker:

better every day or every week and not

Speaker:

necessarily, you can't, you can't get there in one

Speaker:

day or so. Simple devices. Yeah, of course, all

Speaker:

collected in a single platform. We also ask

Speaker:

people, anybody in the world to go and put the

Speaker:

information. There's like a form where you can,

Speaker:

you can share your story, you can share Some tips,

Speaker:

and then we will, we will go through it and put it

Speaker:

on the website as well. So it's a new project you

Speaker:

just started. Hopefully it will get bigger.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Yeah, it just shows how, um, after three years of

Speaker:

doing the um series, a lot changes within that

Speaker:

world. And it's great to have something that makes

Speaker:

it completely up to date. Now I would love to talk

Speaker:

about some of the things that you do in the bar.

Speaker:

You alluded to the fact that it was really tough

Speaker:

for your first year a few minutes ago. Why do you

Speaker:

think that was and why do you think things

Speaker:

changed? Is it just people became more aware of

Speaker:

what you were doing or what the world was doing in

Speaker:

cocktails?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: I think there was a lot of different factors.

Speaker:

Also. We struggle because we make some mistakes.

Speaker:

We are here like too much stuff. The stuff. Um,

Speaker:

rates in Paris are really high. You have a lot of

Speaker:

taxes. And because we really care for our staff,

Speaker:

it took a long time for us to, to, to restructure

Speaker:

the team and to let people go. So it affected a

Speaker:

lot of the money we had. But also in Paris it's

Speaker:

people like novelty. So over the first two months

Speaker:

we're doing really well. And then after you have a

Speaker:

big, big crash, which is pretty hard to, to deal

Speaker:

with. We didn't really have any money for PR or

Speaker:

communication. So it just, it just takes some

Speaker:

times. I think it's, it's a normal thing in Paris

Speaker:

to wait a year, year and a half, two years before,

Speaker:

uh, you actually see some, some improvement. Lingo

Speaker:

also was really hard for us that we've been

Speaker:

getting some awards right away. So we wear, wear

Speaker:

Smith pudding. So we won like best bar. And then

Speaker:

you win this award and you're like. But nobody's

Speaker:

there in the box. It's really frustrating. But

Speaker:

that after one year we had Covid. And so, oh yes,

Speaker:

for us in France, it was really, really easy. We

Speaker:

had some good help from the government. All the

Speaker:

staff were taken care of. We didn't struggle as

Speaker:

much as the communities or countries, but, um,

Speaker:

also give us a lot of time to reassess and to, to,

Speaker:

to take a step back and see our, uh, mistakes and

Speaker:

what we can do better. And yeah, we were seeing

Speaker:

some improvement before COVID but after that we

Speaker:

really. It's really when it started, uh, for us to

Speaker:

get busy. And of course three years ago we had

Speaker:

the. Or two years ago we had the first appearance

Speaker:

in the 50 Best World list. So that gave us a big

Speaker:

push. But also it changed a lot of the guests. We

Speaker:

have in the bar. So we used to be. Maybe we lose a

Speaker:

little bit of regulars. We sell more cocktails

Speaker:

definitely. But uh, we also had to adapt to this.

Speaker:

So I give way long answers. But you can.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Sometimes people speak for an hour and a half. So

Speaker:

don't. No, we want to hear you. It's all about

Speaker:

your bar. Also you had the Olympics, so that.

Speaker:

Sure, I'm sure uh brought some other people in.

Speaker:

But I love the fact that you're doing something so

Speaker:

new in the oldest part of Paris and Le Marais. Was

Speaker:

there a reason why you picked there, Sammy?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: We had a few areas in mind. The biggest thing was

Speaker:

to be in the area that were open to having a pub

Speaker:

of course, but also where there's the ratio of

Speaker:

consumers between 25 and 40 years old. Some

Speaker:

locals, both, some tourists, a mix of everything.

Speaker:

But finding that this bar in Marais was really

Speaker:

great because it was also in this little cocktail

Speaker:

hub of this little red dog on the layer like

Speaker:

Celeste. Everything is like five minutes walk. And

Speaker:

so it really helped us to be in this cocktail

Speaker:

world rather than just being like a pub in the

Speaker:

neighborhood.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: So what are you doing going forward now? Now that

Speaker:

the global series I know just ended well with the

Speaker:

Cambridge.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: I think now we're looking for more stability. As I

Speaker:

mentioned we had this thing called community plan.

Speaker:

So we really try to push the team to work within

Speaker:

the field, uh arts in the bar, but outside of the

Speaker:

bar towards education, environment, some social

Speaker:

aspect. We haven't done as much as we wanted the

Speaker:

past year because we really got busy and we hired

Speaker:

new positions. So the team got bigger. We also

Speaker:

purchased um, a uh, Little Red Door last year. So

Speaker:

we went through a company of 8 to a company of 29.

Speaker:

So there were some big changes for us. I think we

Speaker:

were looking for more stability in order to grow

Speaker:

and to start doing again to community feels that

Speaker:

really matter to us.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: And as you brought up you took over Little Red

Speaker:

Door. How did that come about?

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: So Little Red Door was going through some. They

Speaker:

were under administration so not getting to

Speaker:

bankruptcy but looking for some state uh of France

Speaker:

or looking for some new owners. So we found it was

Speaker:

honestly a good opportunity for us. When does the

Speaker:

one of the best buy in the world next? 300 meters

Speaker:

from your embarclass. So it was not a good

Speaker:

opportunity uh, financially and to grow as a

Speaker:

company. But also we didn't really want to see

Speaker:

Little Red Door going to bigger groups or to be

Speaker:

just bola for the. For the image or for the brand

Speaker:

and not really after legacy it deserves. There was

Speaker:

a mix of these things that led us for. To just go

Speaker:

through it and to go for it. So we won the bid and

Speaker:

we had the keys, and in two weeks, we had to, uh,

Speaker:

was. Was still the sixth best Buy in the world at

Speaker:

the time. So a lot of pressure, uh, on the team

Speaker:

and from the guests. Like, I guess maybe 95% of

Speaker:

the of our customers weren't aware that actually

Speaker:

been a change. So we had to step into some

Speaker:

pictures.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Yeah, yeah, I'm, um. You are their angels. I mean,

Speaker:

if anyone should take over how fabulous that it

Speaker:

was you guys, because you certainly have the same

Speaker:

vision and ethos and missions, and so it's great

Speaker:

to see. So, um, thank you. I think, you know,

Speaker:

that's a great place to stop. Um, thank you. Um,

Speaker:

obviously you've got a great website where anyone

Speaker:

can find anything, and I'll have all the links on

Speaker:

the show notes. So, you know, everyone head to

Speaker:

Paris and go to the pub. I know that sounds funny,

Speaker:

but I.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Think our website is also very interesting because

Speaker:

we are the. Every year we do an ESG report. I

Speaker:

think it's. It's nice to go through it as a

Speaker:

bartender, as a business owner, because you can

Speaker:

find a lot of tips, and we're very transparent and

Speaker:

we love data. There's a lot of information in

Speaker:

there that can be useful or not. But, uh, really

Speaker:

interested to see us. If you're a little bit

Speaker:

nerdy, Uh, I think it's nice to go.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Definitely. It is. I am a little nerdy, and I've

Speaker:

been through it, and it's fantastic. But thank you

Speaker:

so much for being on the show. It's great to hear

Speaker:

your story. It makes me want to get on your show

Speaker:

right now and come out and have a drink with you,

Speaker:

even though it's only, uh, 8:30 in the morning

Speaker:

here.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Thank you so much for having me. It was great.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Sure.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: It was great for me too. So, um, thanks and

Speaker:

abiento.

Speaker:

>> Speaker C: Bye. Bye.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: I so want to thank Yasen for.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Joining me on the program.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: I must admit it, this may be the cocktail of the

Speaker:

week that might have my favorite name. Our

Speaker:

cocktail of the week is the cigarette after sex.

Speaker:

How French is that?

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: First you need a wine glass.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Then wet the side of it and dip it into some

Speaker:

lapsang souchong tea. Then fill that glass with

Speaker:

ice and pour in all the ingredients. 25 mils of

Speaker:

siete mistieros mezcal, 15 mils of sloe jam, 90

Speaker:

milliliters of agua uh, de Jamaica and 10

Speaker:

milliliters of verju and then stir well. Then add

Speaker:

more ice if necessary and serve. You'll find this

Speaker:

recipe and all the cocktails of the

Speaker:

week@alushlifemanual uh.com thanks for everyone's

Speaker:

patience. Seems like scheduling can be really

Speaker:

tough at this time of year. If you live for Lush

Speaker:

Life, then make sure you head out to the bars you

Speaker:

love and order a drink. Theme music for Lush Life

Speaker:

is by Steven Shapiro and used with permission. And

Speaker:

Lush Life is always and will be forever produced

Speaker:

by Evo, Terra and Simpler Media Productions. Which

Speaker:

leads me to say the wise words of Oscar Wilde all

Speaker:

things in moderation, including moderation, and

Speaker:

always drink responsibly. Next time we head from

Speaker:

Paris to Cinzi. Until then, bottoms.

Speaker:

>> Susan Schwartz: Um.