Alex Kratena recently visited Dubai in mid-2015, hosting a presentation and Q&A session at Buddha Bar, Grosvenor House.
When celebrities come calling, rooms are usually packed. People are clamouring for photos with the celeb in question, so much so that there’s a queue of fans just waiting to take the perfect selfie. That’s exactly what it was like when Alex Kratena was in Dubai.
During a trip with Fresh Express and Monin in mid-2015, award-winning bartender Kratena hosted a presentation and Q&A session at the Buddha Bar restaurant at Grosvenor House, with everyone eagerly listening to what he had to say.
Until November 2015, Kratena was known as the head bartender of The Artesian at The Langham, London.
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After eight years with the bar, Kratena left with Simone Caporale to launch a new project that will work on re-imagining the future of bars, along with launching a not-for-profit organisation to reach the wider drinks community.
So far, so good. And yet, Kratena did not think about entering the bar industry. Like many others in hospitality, he fell into it by accident. He tells Caterer that his ultimate dream was to travel. When he was 18, he went to the US under a student exchange programme, while working part-time in bars. He stayed. From the US, he also gained experience in nightclubs in Tokyo, Japan, and in his home country of the Czech Republic. Then he went to London.
He reveals: “I got myself a job at a Michelin starred restaurant which was around the corner from The Langham, as a bartender. I kept looking around because I was quite ambitious and the opportunity at Langham came up.”
Kratena admits that the moment he walked into the bar, he felt it had “huge potential”. “When I joined, the whole company was going through a massive refurb, so it was challenging. Many people in London actually thought the bar had closed down,” he explains.
His approach to working with bars is to take “everything that makes a great bar, and take all the snobbish things out of it”. He credits this to the changing demands of the customers. “If you look back in the day, people were dressing up and showing off their wealth, and today people are dressing down.”
Another development has been the issue of provenance. While chefs have certainly seen this arise as an issue with ingredients, Kratena says it’s also prevalent in the bar industry. “People question things like they question food — where does this come from, how is it made? People care so much more about what they’re drinking, and I can tell it’s a huge change.
“Maybe we still are in the early stage — but this early stage will define everything that comes down the line in the next 25-30 years.”
He says this development has made him and his team think a lot more about everything in their operations. “Ten years ago people didn’t care what we were throwing in the bin. Now people are thinking about how to make their business more sustainable. And this is logical, as wastage affects business to a great length.”
Kratena also discards the idea of trends to follow. He says that he doesn’t think there will be trends anymore. “There are so many people who pursue their own style, so people tend to be less affected by the overall trends. Most of the industry will follow what’s happening in the top tier, but overall, we have common issues in the industry whether you work in the high street or a hotel.”
I point out that all the bartenders who were at the Buddha Bar to listen to him were very excited to hear his advice. What tips does he have to give them, I ask? He says: “There are three basic questions: how can I make this special? What can I add to this? How can I make this different?
“And it’s about having that attitude: never thinking about what you’ve done yesterday. You need to understand the past, but look to the future. And realising it’s not only about the drink, it’s about everything else. Anyone can provide great service, but it’s all about how you make people feel.”
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