April 20, 2021 • 36 mins
We've found a common theme among our April episodes: pivoting in the pandemic. This is exactly what our friend Jason has done (and quite well, we might add!). He owns The Long Room, a friendly neighborhood tavern in the Ravenswood Community of Chicago. Inspiration struck when all the bars & restaurants needed to close down, and he began selling bottled-up cocktails to go, which is not only cool but has kept his business thriving! It's also a great way to keep his staff safe which is a top priority for him. We also discuss being a Black-owned business in the wake of George Floyd's murder.
The Long Room, Chicago - https://www.longroomchicago.com/
The Blue Bird Inn (AirBnB) - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/39821609?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=8a3408a7-3843-4c90-90e0-e07fe4c2d83a
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Caroline Amos (00:00):
Hi, I'm Carolyn Amos.
Raymond McAnally (00:01):
And I'm Raymond McAnally.
Caroline Raymond (00:03):
And we are Fatigued (laughter)
Caroline Amos (00:13):
I love this part because I can say whatever I
want, and I can just cut it out.
And it's amazing. I could startwherever we want to start it. We
could start on a weird note, wecould start on a fun note. We
could start on like the Hello,Jason. It's very nice to meet
you. Welcome. Thank you fortalking to us on our podcast
today.
Raymond McAnally (00:29):
That's always do best if we could kick off
with the most boringintroduction possible that tends
to grab people's attention andhold them. (laughter)
Jason (00:38):
Yeah, I'll give you the most boring response. I can't do
I'll do what I can. (laughter)
Caroline Amos (00:41):
Oh, excellent.
Excellent. Jason, I like that.
You're a yes/and kinda guy.
You're gonna improvise the hellout of this with us. I love it.
Well, Jason, I am so pumped tobe talking to you today. I think
you are such a cool dude. Andyour cocktails look so good. I
was just scrolling through yourInstagram killing time earlier.
And I was like, Damn, I want totry all of these - Do you
(01:02):
shipped to New York!?
Jason (01:04):
I have not done any shipping we have actually we've
done a little bit of shipping tofriends but shipping by via car
or someone's backpack but notpacking it up and putting in the
mail. Yeah I haven't gotten intothat yet with shipping booze
across the country.
Raymond McAnally (01:20):
Yeah, there's a few laws involved with that
one.
Caroline Amos (01:23):
Oh, right. Well, when you when you figure out how
to do that, like please likethrow me on that list. I would
love to - I would love to signup that they just look so they
look so fun.
Raymond McAnally (01:32):
I mean, the the bottles that you use, I keep
referring to it. I know it's notcorrect, probably. But I keep
referring to it as likeapothecary style bottles like
you. They have an old schoolvibe. Like it just feels very
Chicago. To be honest. Like,yeah, I love the aesthetic.
Jason (01:51):
Yeah, the flat the we got very lucky. So when this whole
Cocktails To Go program gotgoing. There's legislation that
had to pass first. And then wewent back once that was
available. The kind ofarchitects of the program kind
of got in on these large flask375 millimeter glass through CS
(02:11):
distillery here in Chicago. Sojust pallets and pallets of
them. And so we jumped on boardand then like our friend Julie,
who's designer made the labelsfor us. And then we got into it.
It's been great.
Caroline Amos (02:23):
Yeah. So Jason - introductions, I want people to
know who the heck you are. Youare a bar with food owner. It
isn't technically a restaurantor is it a bar?
Jason (02:35):
It's a different question. So from the standpoint
of the customer, you may notknow the difference. But we are
a bar. We've been a bar for 21years. Got here in 1999. And we
operated just as a neighborhoodtavern, the first 15 years
starting to feel kind of a dipoff in business and decided to
make some changes. I own thebuilding so kind of built out a
(02:56):
commercial kitchen next door anddecided that I wanted to kind of
create a food truck indoorsenvironment.
Caroline Amos (03:04):
I like that, food truck indoors!
Jason (03:06):
Yeah, I was down in Austin, Texas. Prior to that, I
noticed a lot of these bars arefreestanding, with a lot of
property and land and had like apartnership with a single food
truck and stand alone. Let's dothat inside. So we started off
with two different restaurantsthat share the space and rotated
Beard and Belly and Biscuit Mannow it's just Biscuit Man. And
(03:28):
we did guest chefs. So to answeryour question the long way, we
are still a bar, we don't takeany money for food, you go to
the window and order your foodand then they run it out to you.
But we work together in manyways. So yeah, it's it's
different operations inside thesame building.
Caroline Amos (03:44):
Nice. And then you're also you're located in
Chicago, which is obviously apretty gigantic city that has
gotten pretty affected by COVID.
And we understand that youturned this opportunity into
really a great opportunity topivot. Talk to us about what
that was like. What was yourmentality as a business owner
and wanting to take care of yourstaff?
Jason (04:06):
There was just kind of two pronged I guess Initially,
the first stage was what do wedo in general? We're getting
shut down. Everyone has to geton unemployment and then we go
home and wait it out. I was in amore cynical side, I think this
is going to be a longer run.
Initially, they said you know,state order homes going to be
safe. Home order was going to beI think two weeks or something.
Caroline Amos (04:24):
Oh, yeah, we all remember those days.
Jason (04:27):
But I think what
Raymond McAnally (04:29):
Because history is filled with those two
week plagues. (laughter)
Jason (04:34):
Very efficient, you know?
Caroline Amos (04:36):
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
No.
Jason (04:39):
But no, but to answer your question, I think what what
really happened was we sat downwith the staff initially and
said, Nope, here we go. Let'ssee how this plays out. And
obviously want to keep you safe.
We want to keep the communitysafe. The Cocktails to Go,
didn't kick in until June but Isaw it coming so I knew it was
happening. So I was excitedabout that if we get this
opportunity You got to run withthis and see if people are up
(05:01):
for it. And they were.
Raymond McAnally (05:05):
And by that you mean you saw the legislation
being passed and allowed it tohappen? Because really we're
talking about, and a lot ofcities have these laws where you
cannot leave an establishmentwith alcoholic beverage you
purchased once you have it, thatwas that?
Jason (05:19):
Yeah, so that was the law adjustment. And in a nutshell,
yeah, and but they were reallyspecific about the cocktails to
go the package goods, theyallowed you to kind of wage that
license for the short term. Soin the beginning, we were just
selling kits or a bottle ofMaker's Mark, or you know, I'm
saying so like, that can only goso far. So with the cocktails to
go, what they allowed you to dois as long as you follow the
(05:41):
rules, you have to have a labelthat had your address on it,
your license number, all theingredients, and instructions
and a few other things. And soonce we saw that kind of coming
down the pipe, we just decidedit was going to happen. So we so
we started working on thelabels, and getting going and
then once we started to do itrealize this is a good way to
(06:05):
kind of stay safe, and we'regetting PPP money. So we can
pay, you know, keep us afloat alittle bit and but then we
checked in with the staff inAugust. Here's what happened. So
last August, was when the firstround of unemployment benefits
were supposed to stop, right?
Caroline Amos (06:22):
Yeah, well, yeah, I remember those days.
Jason (06:23):
So we met in July. And I was just like, Listen, my
assumption is come August, youwill probably want to come back
to work, because unemploymentwill be up. If I'm wrong, tell
me and they're like, I want tocome back to work. So we're
like, well, let's forget it.
Let's just keep doing it. Andthen Luckily, the they tie up
the unemployment, and we justkind of made it work. And
Raymond McAnally (06:43):
so what were some of the reasons that folks
didn't want to come back towork? Were they safety related
100% safety reasons?
Jason (06:50):
Yeah, yeah. 100%. And also to from a business
standpoint, to be honest, Idon't begrudge any business to
do what they have to do an openup but like limited occupancy
for a place like ours, is kindof meaningless. I don't know if
you haven't been there, but thelong, narrow bar 80% of the
space is a bar, the bar.
Raymond McAnally (07:07):
So there's not much that explains the Name,
which we haven't said yet.
Jason (07:11):
Yes, it's The Long Room.
Correct.
Caroline Amos (07:13):
The long the Long Room
Jason (07:15):
They call that burying the lead is what we just did.
Raymond McAnally (07:17):
Yeah, a lot of people don't understand this, if
they haven't worked at all inthe restaurant industry, or, or
that sort of service industry,you need X amount of tables
filled for X amount of hours aday to even break even. So
limited capacity, I imagine is ahuge issue, if it doesn't come
anywhere near that, that yield.
Jason (07:37):
Yeah. And also, you're also using up energy. I mean, we
were open from eight in themorning until two or two in the
morning. So it's a long day tobe running AC, running water,
just from a basic level, butalso to the more you're open,
you have to look open, right? Soit means we need inventory. But
with cocktails ago, we probablyneed run out when we run out but
(07:58):
wanted to have you don't have tohave the handles, you know, a
million tap handles up andbottles everywhere per display.
So we were able to kind of runon a really thin kind of setup
and make it work.
Raymond McAnally (08:10):
Yeah, that makes total sense. Almost like
the food truck version of a bar.
Caroline Amos (08:19):
So your staff has come back in August. Have you
guys had an opportunity at allto do any indoor dining? I know
that there's a lot of it'schanging a lot in a lot of
different places.
Jason (08:31):
Yeah. So at that point during August, I think I think
at that stage, they had openedup to 25% indoor, I think within
after that they rolled it back,but we didn't even bother with
any of it. So once that meetinghit, I think was pretty clear
that we were going to be kind oflong haul in this and do run
tails to go as long as peoplewere interested in it. And then
so yeah, so we never did anyopen closed up. We've always
(08:53):
been closed doing pickups only.
Raymond McAnally (08:57):
Was there any benefit to that?
Jason (08:59):
I think the biggest benefit was emotional, right? So
like the staff, you know, Iknow, people that worked in
other places that kind of theemotional impact of Oh, you're
back to work. Now. We're closedagain. Now we're back to work.
Now you closed again and likenot Yeah, yeah. where you stand,
get off and on and unemployment,all that stuff.
Caroline Amos (09:17):
Yeah, that'll take your toll and your
confidence too, and probablylike it. Even if you know that
you're unemployed for goodreason, like there being a
pandemic, there's still thatmentality given that we live in
a very capitalist state. There'sthat mentality that if you are
not working and hustling anddoing all of that 24 seven that
(09:37):
you are somehow less than thebest you are less than other
people. And so to be stoppingand starting and stuff I mean,
that's just yeah. emotionaltoll. He put it really well. I
like the way that you said that.
Jason (09:49):
Yeah, I think it's significant to me because you're
you're balancing like, how do Ifeel at work in terms of money?
Who's gonna come in? How arethey gonna make me feel how am I
going to feel about the whole AmI going to get sick and get
someone else sick, and you havethat anyway, just going to the
grocery store, you know, in theearly stages of this. So I just
think that it's an added stressthat we didn't need to take on.
Raymond McAnally (10:11):
Well, and one of the things that struck me,
when you and I talked initiallyabout doing this interview, when
you told me that as a, as theowner, that you listened to your
staff when they said, We don'tfeel comfortable doing this, and
maybe maybe you felt the sameway, you know, and that you guys
figured out a way to keep thingsgoing, but not put somebody in
(10:33):
that position, I immediatelythought of at least a handful of
friends I have who, you know,they're bartenders at pretty
high end places, usually in NewYork, and they were put in a
really awkward, horribleposition of deciding, you know,
what my long term financialneeds, versus what I feel safe
with, and a lot of them had toleave jobs that they'd had for
(10:56):
years. Because the owner wantedto open back up and they just
flat out did not feel safe. Thiswas this was around the time you
were making those decisions tolast summer. So we're talking
way before the benefit ofvaccines being out and, and all
those sorts of things. Alsothink about the reason I asked
(11:18):
about the benefits was, I knowaround here in Los Angeles, you
know, we have the benefit of itbeing outdoor weather pretty
much most of the time. So we hada lot of opening up an outdoor
dining regulations. And then wedid have some open and close,
open and close. And I know offew restaurant owners who you
(11:39):
know, they dropped 20k ongetting all that set up. And
then we're told you got to shutit down. And I can't imagine the
frustration of that, like youtold me I could do this. And now
you're saying it's not it's thatis like you're saying quite a
psychological toll.
Jason (11:56):
And I'm just selling booze. Imagine if you're a
restaurant and you order allthis perishable inventory. And
then later, sorry, you can'tcan't can't do this anymore. Now
you throw all that food away.
Raymond McAnally (12:08):
Oh, I can't even imagine I would not want to
be the one responsible formaking sure the freezer and
everything was stocked everyweek for a restaurant anyway.
But I can't imagine trying tonegotiate this. Like just when
you kind of understand what yourweekly needs are for say nothing
but takeout, right? And then allof a sudden, oh, wait, we can
(12:28):
open up we can have diners. Sohow much more do we add back to
that? And then once you get thatfigured out, boom, you're shut
down for what I mean. Yeah,that's a lot. I'm thinking I've
got an officer now just thinkingabout
Caroline Amos (12:40):
something that's really cool that I'm seeing
everywhere in New York is thatthey have taken up the sidewalk
to do outdoor dining. And as themonths go on, everybody's
upgrading their outdoor diningspace, like their spaces are
getting really nice. They've gotheaters, they've got air
conditioning, there's, you canrent a private room on the
street. Like it's, it's verycool. And some of them actually
(13:03):
like they look really cozy anddelightful. But I'm really
interested to see, are thesegoing to be available once in a
post COVID world? Are these likeoutdoor establishments are going
to is that going to be extraseating extra money for all of
these restaurants? Are theygoing to have to cut those off,
give the streets back to all ofour cars. And then watch as
(13:26):
everybody like and I don't knowI'm just really interested to
see if that's gonna stick aroundfor a while. I kind of love the
fact that it encourages morepeople being out on the sidewalk
like it does encourage itfosters community and
connection. I'm in a story ofQueens and I actually love the
fact like I think it's a littlebit terrifying seeing more
(13:46):
people out and about on thestreet but it It's so beautiful
to see everybody likecelebrating the businesses
celebrating the community aroundespecially after watching so
many beloved establishments gounder Yeah,
Jason (14:02):
good point there and i think i don't know i Chicago is
Chicago and I don't know howyour your accuracy is different
than ours but I think it willprobably go away for the most
part we have allowed that nodowntown but I think it's just
for traffic reasons andprimarily, they just can't
sustain it and also just theseasonality here so it's really
what are you gonna do with
Caroline Amos (14:23):
Oh yeah, well hold
Raymond McAnally (14:27):
Chicago is one of them there are areas that the
put the spaces that are now theoutdoor dining spaces if they
have any are the only places forcustomers to park right? Right
The only way to get quick andclose access to that particular
restaurant so you're now askingcustomers to park 6 or 7 blocks
away and then make make it tothe to the restaurant in usually
(14:51):
in Chicago weather. Yeah, that'sfun. So that yeah, I mean it's
there's some really cool thingsabout it, but it Imagine it's a
bit of an logistical for sure.
Jason (15:03):
But Caroline kind of go back to one of your points
though I think, not necessarilyrelated to the restaurant
Barbizon, specifically, but Ithink you hit on a really good
point about one of the positivethings coming out of this is
just the kind of change inenergy and the things that we
appreciate. And obviously peopleare forced to being outdoors.
Obviously, it's easier where youall live in here. But even here,
just for a quick example, on ourblog, we live here in Edgewater
(15:27):
neighborhood, and there's a bigschool called sin High School on
the corner. And it's a bigbeautiful campus for high
school. And there's a jazzmusician that lives on the
corner. And near the end of lastsummer, his courtyard is on the
corner of mangled in Glenwood bythat park, and his trio would
play in that little courtyard,turned into this huge thing
every Sunday, where they'd havea little Venmo size you can MIT
(15:49):
demo them for the entertainmentand people work, it turned into
150 people by the end of thesummer, and the police would let
it be because it's COVID rightnow. And I think that kind of
energy should continue. Like whywould you allow people to be in
the streets if they're behavingthemselves? You know?
Caroline Amos (16:04):
Yeah. Oh, that is so beautiful. I love that.
Raymond McAnally (16:08):
That reminds me of some of the viral videos
you see of like, you know,people in apartments playing
music across the, you know, theway from each other and things
like that. I think that'sbeautiful. Have you seen an
uptick in that, even thoughthings are shut down? And people
are, are inside a lot? Have youseen an uptick in community
(16:28):
involvement with your customerbase? Has it? Has it grown?
Jason (16:33):
100%. Yeah, no, really, not 100%. But I'm, you know, I'm
saying? No, it has been, I thinkit's been a combination of
things. I think. I look at itthis way. And people go into
this crisis, with similarmindsets, right. And obviously,
if you're living somewhere whereyou're, let's say you let's say
(16:53):
you want to you're an extreme,you think it's, you know, a
fraud, you know, COVID-19 real,real thing. Let's talk about
that. But if you're assumingthat the bulk of our clientele
are kind of like minded, right,and so they're, they want to
stay safe, keep their familysafe. So as a neighborhood
establishment that they love,and they want to get to, they
wouldn't go in, come to see usif we were open, right? Because
they want to stay on the staysafe. So they respect that we're
(17:15):
staying close. I think the firsttier was, oh, wow, the long room
is doing what they should bedoing what we believe they
should be doing. But then on topof that, not just shuttering,
but to really turn on a dime,and do really creative things
with these cocktails. Andreally, because we've done I
think from the beginning, westarted this thing I think we've
(17:35):
done like, one cocktail a weeksince last March, which is a
lot.
Caroline Amos (17:41):
Whoa, that's a lot of creativity. So
Jason (17:43):
it takes a lot of energy.
And that's not me, that's that'sobviously the team. You know,
who are out there doing this.
But at the end of the day, it'sjust been I think people get
excited because you're bored,you're at home, you're bored.
And now here we go, you know,bring in some new cocktails for
you to try. And so people havebeen into it been supportive,
and want to help us. Yeah, allthose things are good.
Raymond McAnally (18:04):
And is it? Is it that featured cocktail is
only available that week? Ordoes the menu keep growing,
Jason (18:10):
it grows to a certain point. So we try to keep it
around? Let's think about thisabout maybe eight large format
cocktails, which have three tofour cocktails, and we have four
or five static pocket cocktailsthat are individual ones a
little cute, 100 milliliterbottle flask. And then we've
been bottling carbonatedcocktails in house, our GM, Jeff
(18:31):
learned how to take barrels likekegs. And make it there. Force
carbonate it in house and thenyou put it on draft and you pour
it from a draft comes up. Cool.
sanitized really close. Yeah. Sowe're gonna continue doing that,
for sure.
Caroline Amos (18:50):
That is so rad. I mean, it's like, Oh, I love
anything on tap. So if it's acocktail on tap, even better,
that is so cool.
Jason (18:57):
pretty great. So we want to continue doing that after
this. For sure. Yeah, how
Raymond McAnally (19:01):
much of this?
I mean, do you think that thiswill be a part of the long room?
You know, for forever? Is it? Isit gonna go away when COVID?
Jason (19:10):
And I don't think so. I think it's been such a dramatic
mind. We've been open for 21years, we've kind of been
evolving for a long time just tostay alive, you know. And so,
because we've been able to kindof, I wouldn't say reinvent
ourselves, but to kind of likestay current and, and do
interesting things and becreative. I think with this. I
(19:31):
think the reason we didn't dothese kind of cocktail, we were
definitely a nice cocktailprogram. But our bar is so big.
It's a it's a 60 foot bar. So ifyou're working there on a
Friday, Saturday night, you'rerunning around and we had 18 to
20 draft handles spread,
Caroline Amos (19:44):
you get new steps and if you're working behind
that bar,
Jason (19:47):
right, yep. And so we always were mindful of not
making the cocktail list toofussy because it's too much time
for that for the I think we'regoing to change that we're going
to cut the beer way down, draftsome cocktails with some
cocktails and draft you Like,uh, you know, we'll get put a
vermouth on graph wine on draftand do all kinds of stuff, maybe
two or three cocktails. Andhopefully the the cocktails to
(20:09):
go will continue. There'slegislation to make it
permanent. And if that's thecase, we'll keep doing that,
too.
Raymond McAnally (20:15):
That's a game changer, right? That legislation
has to stay in has,
Caroline Amos (20:18):
you know, what that makes me think about things
like prohibition and alcohol,right? Like, it's, you know,
it's so fun to go to aprohibition party like bathtub
gin, that kind of thing. I lovethe idea that there's gonna be
like pandemic style, like, Hey,we had it, we started bottling
cocktails, because there was apandemic, and people couldn't
congregate in bars, like this.
There's gonna come a day wherethere's going to be like
(20:39):
pandemic chic. Things,experiences. That's,
Raymond McAnally (20:46):
that's an excellent point. Well, if only I
could think of Chicago basedtheme around prohibition. I just
don't remember Chicago havingany history there at all.
Jason (21:00):
Oh, my God.
Caroline Amos (21:03):
I also wanted to ask because you talking about
this, this immense uptick incustomer base, and I was
watching some videos and knowingthat you're a black owned
business. And after all ofwhat's been happening with
racial unrest in our country foryears been coming to a huge head
with George Floyd. Did you see ahuge uptick in customers wanting
(21:25):
to support your business? Andhas that been steadily incline?
Has that been a steady decline?
How's that been? How's that been
Jason (21:32):
going? Well, I think that's been a big thing. I think
that the thing that I wanted topoint out about that is venue
for 21 years. And so initially,when I opened the place with my
business partner, Clark, who wasnot black, but behind the bar
all, I mean, we literally wereonly much working shifts for the
first five years, exceptionalweekend staff. So I think, you
(21:53):
know, we had a big, kind of areally loyal customer base,
obviously knew who the ownerswere so but that conversation
wasn't something that was on thetable at the time wasn't like,
Oh, it's black on businesssupport black, this is a very
new thing. And by the time,George Floyd was killed, I made
a statement online, which wasn'tsomething I was doing very
(22:14):
often, kind of coming home andcurtains, I knew the end the
Instagram account, just becausethat's what it is. And I so I
think what happened was when Idid that a lot of the bar who
didn't know the person who madethe song around, didn't realize
I was the owner didn't realizeblack owned, so people weren't
blowing us up on putting us onlists and mentioning us. And so
I think it exposed a lot ofpeople, even if they love the
(22:37):
place already. Now they loved itmore.
Caroline Amos (22:39):
That's awesome, though.
Jason (22:40):
So I think yes, but a big part of our growth. And I think
we'll probably see that afterthis. When we get open. For
sure. I would imagine.
Caroline Amos (22:47):
That's, that's, that's incredible. I'm really
happy to hear, I'm happy to hearthat. I'm happy to hear that
you've got business man. Likethe fact that you've taken this
and you've turned it intosomething so great. In spite of
this being the absolute worstyear of all time. I'm just I'm
so impressed by you. And I'm soif you could say anything, if
(23:08):
you had any advice to give toother business owners in a time
like this, would you? Do youhave any advice for them?
Jason (23:14):
I mean, it's a tough one, because I fully recognize every
business is different. And Ithink that when I said that I
don't judge people for doingthings differently is because
you have the choices that youhave, right, and none of us
should be in this position, weshould have gotten, in my
opinion, keep us close as longas you want and give us grants,
and is to take out and calltoday. But that's not the case.
(23:36):
So I just think that everybusiness is different, every one
I own my building that helps. Soeven though I've got to pay my
mortgage, too, but I recognizethat not every business has the
same stresses. But I do thinkthat the staff is important, I
think, I mean, I would say thati mean i think that seeing what
your staff wants to do andsupporting that as you can is
(24:00):
extremely important and we'vealways kind of been that way
here anyway and so I'm we're asmall team we have like maybe 10
people that work here so it's itcould be a little more of a
family environment but even ifyou have 50 people I think you
have to find ways to reach outand make sure that they're
feeling comfortable and safe andand also part of the decision
making process because you canno business can be a business
without everyone right? I mean Idon't care if you own a hardware
(24:23):
store unless you're going towork it every day. You need
people on the floor to do it andbars in a way you know. I think
that's the if you want to ask mefor a bit of advice I think
involving everyone. This isunprecedented territory and so
we don't know and no one knowshow to manage this. So work
together on it. That's that'swhat I would say.
Caroline Amos (24:44):
Love that. I want that on a T shirt.
Raymond McAnally (24:47):
We're also talking about your and we can
cut this question out if if youdon't if you only want to focus
on the Long Room but I'm notsure if I made Caroline aware
that the rest of the building isa second business. You have an
Airbnb business as well, thathas also, didn't you just open?
(25:11):
Right before COVID.
Jason (25:12):
I got very, very lucky.
So check this out. So I own themixed use building going on. So
it's two storefronts. One is ouroffice. One is the bar and
behind the office is thekitchen. Now on top of the
kitchen off the side is like aframe house sitting on top of
three apartments that were alljust rental apartments for
years, and I had tenants thatwere bartenders along room, or
(25:33):
customers, but over time, I hadreally cheap rent. And I'm glad
I did that for many years. I hadsomeone living up there for 15
years. But what happened wasmaybe being a good friend and
good landlord in that regard. Iwasn't a good business person
with the building and thebuilding is old. I needed
serious repairs and new roof, Igot to a point where I had to
(25:53):
get alone to take care of thoseeveryone had to go. And I said
to myself, well, alright, if I'mreally doing this building and
redoing plumbing and all thisstuff. Do I really want to make
some, you know, nice apartmentsthat that are unaffordable, and
not someone that people have tolive over a bar. So I said,
Look, I really sat aboutthinking about it for a while
(26:14):
and said that, uh, excuse methat I always wanted to do a
hotel meet my friend john, we'relooking to a little boutique
hotel years ago, but it was youknow, having to raise a lot of
money. And so like I said, letme do this here on a small
scale. So yeah, cuz when youbought when you and john, we're
partners, Airbnb, that optiondidn't exist. Well, it's funny.
You mentioned that yeah. Sothey're all the license
(26:35):
structures for for any kind ofhotel in Chicago, there is
vacation rental which gets youAirbnb, hotel license, and then
a bed and breakfast license wasthe only license you can use and
do this. If you do a bed andbreakfast you have to live on
the on the on the premises,hotel license, you have all
kinds of rules that we can't,you know make happen like but
you know, fire escapes anddifferent levels of egress and
(26:57):
stuff. So the vacation rentalwas the way to go. But there's
been legislation in Chicago tolimit Airbnb ease in certain
numbers building, which I get, Ithink it's a good idea. So I had
to jump through some city hoopsand get approval to the city to
get all three November 9 2019. Igot open, thank God. Because if
it were a few months later, Idon't think I'd be sitting here
(27:19):
talking to you right now I'dhave no income coming in. So
that's been doing very well upthere, which is great. So it's
called Bluebird in. And the ideawas to kind of be a part of this
whole kind of hospitalityexperience in the building where
you have come down at breakfastand cocktails and coffee, and
nightcap and go back upstairs.
And it's just a beautiful,beautiful space. So it's been
really really, really great.
Raymond McAnally (27:40):
I can't wait to stay there. Yeah,
Caroline Amos (27:41):
I love that name.
That's so sweet Bluebird Inn
Jason (27:45):
Where we used to be the bar was called Bluebird Liquors
Incorporated. That's the oldTavern that was there. Before
that. We had to assume that theywere technically by law,
Bluebird liquors Incorporated.
Doing business. That's a longroom. That's why through
Bluebird and up there, that'd bereally cute.
Caroline Amos (28:00):
Yeah, that's really sweet. I love that.
Raymond McAnally (28:03):
And you were able, I know, you told me before
you were able to figure out atime to open up to rentals, even
in the Airbnb. So you you'venavigated that as well during
the pandemic.
Jason (28:15):
Yeah, so it was kind of a really scary moment. So in March
15, I think it was when the citysaid we got to close down. And
I'd been open upstairs for acouple months, few months. It
was kind of getting going alittle bit, but it got to the
point where I had bookings fromMarch through June solid 100%.
Now using this accurately now100% of them cancelled. for good
(28:36):
reason. The beginning of Yeah,so I was lucky in round maybe
April May to get some peoplethat were coming to visit family
couldn't stay with them and justkind of kind of rented for a
month or so. But then comes alie. I got really busy and kind
of busy up there ever since. Sopeople trapped. Wow.
Caroline Amos (28:53):
That's great.
Have you had a ton of essentialworkers needing to quarantine
there at all? Has that everhappened?
Jason (28:59):
That did not happen. I got one request from a couple
medical care professionals butthey they've just inquired and
must have found something elseearlier. But yeah, that would
have been a cool thing too.
Raymond McAnally (29:13):
Ya know, one of the things around here has
been people, you know, wantingto at least stare at a different
four walls. So they actuallylive in Los Angeles, but they'll
rent an Airbnb in Los Angelesjust to see another place for a
week.
Jason (29:28):
Yeah, I've got a lot of that I've gotten people. I think
right now it's been primarilypeople coming to visit their
kids or something. I get a lotof people working like from LA.
asked a lot of you from Austinfor some reason, and New York
coming to work that say theircompany has an office here.
They're going to come work here.
And just like you said, you havea different set of walls. Look
(29:49):
at what they're doing the work.
So that's been great. I lovethat kind of customer up there.
Yeah, so
Caroline Amos (29:55):
that's great and it couldn't be above a better
bar. Ah,
Jason (29:58):
come on.
Caroline Amos (30:00):
I say this man, I also I wanted to ask, just just
going back to the cocktailsbecause they just look so
scrumptious and fun. Andthere's, there's something about
alcohol that I think ishilariously delightful where
it's sort of like you've as youbecome an adult, you access a
new level of like a treat. Yes,like a fun little like, like a
(30:21):
little snack a little. You know,there's something so fun about
that. And these are delicious.
Do you have a particularfavorite? And why?
Jason (30:29):
That's a great question to treat is a good way to look
at it. Because I think what'shappening to people is, they're
used to going to their favoritebar and getting a whatever
cocktails and list now that'sgone, right? And so you don't
have to take it home, realizeyou can't make it at home. So
we've been really been a littlefuzzier about it. I think one of
the things that we've done justto start off with that, I think
one of an all time favorite isrooted in one of the additions.
(30:51):
So Ryan and Jeff started workingon shrubs, I'm not sure we know
what shrubs are, but I love ashrub grade. So drinking, I have
no idea what that is. It'sessentially a drinking vinegar.
So it's like a reduction ofvinegar and sugars. And then
however you want to flavor it.
So we've had a raspberry lemonshrub, a, a bell pepper for up
for more, you know, kind of avegetal cocktail. Probably one
of the first cocktail we didwith the shrub was Jeff's he I
(31:15):
think was called Bumble bird.
And this is an all timefavorite, I think so this was a
considered Elgin. He made ahoney simple syrup. And when the
shrub was blueberry, sage, andhoney as well, I think the
different honey in there. Andthat enlightened lime juice. And
that's been great. And then
Raymond McAnally (31:37):
kind of alchemy Are y'all doing it's gr
Jason (31:39):
Otherwise, we couldn't do this. But we may try to do these
things when you open up again. Ad like because we, Ryan and Je
f worked on these formulas, yu know how not to get too fus
y about how it's done. But yu've got a barn and it's shaken
and stirred up, what's happning is you are diluting wa
er in your cocktail to make italanced. And then you pour, r
ght so in order to make that hppen, if you mixed a cocktail to
(32:02):
go with no water in it, it's gong to be off. So they worked
out the left the number of gams of water that get diluted
in an average stir or shake. Ad so now we add that amount of w
ter in grams to the to the batcof booze and you pour it in
y that way, when you get it homeyou just take it out of your
freezer, just pour it you don'have to shake.
Raymond McAnally (32:23):
That's so impressive. So that's chemistry
that's like I and I have noappreciation for it or ability
to do it, I guess is a betterway of saying it because I am a
poor whiskey and a glass. Popopen the beer kind of kind of
person. Like even, we havefriends who we have a friend who
claims I make the best. gin andtonic. And the truth is I put I
(32:50):
I put in for ice cubes. And thenI pour the gin up to the top of
the ice cubes. And then put inlike a splash
Jason (32:59):
of top. That sounds delicious as far as I can.
Raymond McAnally (33:01):
Cuz all I know how to do is drink straight like
Caroline Amos (33:06):
that I also think needs to be noted Raymond that
every time we talk aboutanything regarding math or
science, you are always so quickto be like, I am not good at
this.
Raymond McAnally (33:18):
Yeah, it's cool taught me that, oh, my
degrees are in our
Caroline Amos (33:21):
green signal episode. I'm like, Oh, there
goes Raven talking about howhe's bad at science again.
Raymond McAnally (33:27):
talking to people who do know it, because I
love I'm interested in it. Butmy brain like it's not even an
eyes gloss over thing my brainjust goes and just
Jason (33:40):
shuts down. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Caroline Amos (33:45):
Well, Jason, we always love to round out with a
little bit of hope. Andhonestly, frankly, talking to
you, this has been an absolutelydelightful conversation. I don't
feel I don't feel scared of theworld after talking to you. But
I want to know, what is givingyou hope? What is getting you
through this right now?
Jason (33:58):
Yeah, I mean, I that's a great question. I think,
obviously, vaccine has beenexciting. I think I kind of try
to be kind of kind of glass halffull about this. Because you
know, we were talking about thissix, seven or eight months ago,
and we all didn't know thevaccine by now. Right? So yeah,
I like to lean on the fact thatyes, this has been over a year.
(34:19):
But this is exciting that wehave this opportunity now. And
I'm hoping that people,obviously a lot of nasty stuff
has happened socially andculturally, in the midst of
this, you know, magnified by thefact that people are anxious and
isolated. But I'm hoping thatthat doesn't blow up Powder Keg
situation where I'm sure therewill be some of that but I'm
(34:40):
hoping that there'll also besome you know, when you go to a
sporting event, and you see someunlikely people next to each
other hugging because yeah,their team did something
exciting. It's their team andother rock each other I'm hoping
we get a lot more of that. Youknow, people just excited to be
around other people and andsaying hello And meeting each
(35:00):
other and shaking hands huggingpeople, you know all that stuff.
So I'm looking forward to whatthat's going to bring for people
that kind of because isolation,even if you're with someone you
care about, not being able tohug someone else for this law is
unusual. And so I think thateven your own friendship groups,
I've noticed that when we havelittle backyard Gavin friends,
(35:21):
like it's exciting doing simplesthing.
Caroline Amos (35:24):
Yeah,
Jason (35:25):
having drinks. And, you know, I just think that that's
going to, you know, make peopleappreciate each other. You know,
the people we love already more,and I'm hoping that sticks
around.
Caroline Amos (35:37):
I love that. I couldn't have said it better
myself.
Caroline Raymond (35:41):
Hey, this is Caroline and Raymond. Thank you
so much for listening toFatigued - from patients to
paramedics, long haulers tolessons learned. Sure, it's the
same virus but these are verydifferent stories. If you have a
question or a story you'd likeus to address on an episode,
please email us at fatiguedpodcast@gmail.com. And don't
(36:04):
forget to check us out onFacebook, Instagram, Twitter -
Clubhouse - right clubhouse Whatis that? I don't even know But
whatever it is, we're here tooffer genuine conversations so
we can humanize the issuessurrounding COVID and the
pandemic. These stories deservethe space to be remembered and
we relish the opportunity forconnection in this isolated
time. Perhaps you will to staypositive test negative and
(36:27):
thanks for listening. Bye
Hi, I'm Carolyn Amos.
Raymond McAnally (00:01):
And I'm Raymond McAnally.
Caroline Raymond (00:03):
And we are Fatigued (laughter)
Caroline Amos (00:13):
I love this part because I can say whatever I
want, and I can just cut it out.
And it's amazing. I could startwherever we want to start it. We
could start on a weird note, wecould start on a fun note. We
could start on like the Hello,Jason. It's very nice to meet
you. Welcome. Thank you fortalking to us on our podcast
today.
Raymond McAnally (00:29):
That's always do best if we could kick off
with the most boringintroduction possible that tends
to grab people's attention andhold them. (laughter)
Jason (00:38):
Yeah, I'll give you the most boring response. I can't do
I'll do what I can. (laughter)
Caroline Amos (00:41):
Oh, excellent.
Excellent. Jason, I like that.
You're a yes/and kinda guy.
You're gonna improvise the hellout of this with us. I love it.
Well, Jason, I am so pumped tobe talking to you today. I think
you are such a cool dude. Andyour cocktails look so good. I
was just scrolling through yourInstagram killing time earlier.
And I was like, Damn, I want totry all of these - Do you
(01:02):
shipped to New York!?
Jason (01:04):
I have not done any shipping we have actually we've
done a little bit of shipping tofriends but shipping by via car
or someone's backpack but notpacking it up and putting in the
mail. Yeah I haven't gotten intothat yet with shipping booze
across the country.
Raymond McAnally (01:20):
Yeah, there's a few laws involved with that
one.
Caroline Amos (01:23):
Oh, right. Well, when you when you figure out how
to do that, like please likethrow me on that list. I would
love to - I would love to signup that they just look so they
look so fun.
Raymond McAnally (01:32):
I mean, the the bottles that you use, I keep
referring to it. I know it's notcorrect, probably. But I keep
referring to it as likeapothecary style bottles like
you. They have an old schoolvibe. Like it just feels very
Chicago. To be honest. Like,yeah, I love the aesthetic.
Jason (01:51):
Yeah, the flat the we got very lucky. So when this whole
Cocktails To Go program gotgoing. There's legislation that
had to pass first. And then wewent back once that was
available. The kind ofarchitects of the program kind
of got in on these large flask375 millimeter glass through CS
(02:11):
distillery here in Chicago. Sojust pallets and pallets of
them. And so we jumped on boardand then like our friend Julie,
who's designer made the labelsfor us. And then we got into it.
It's been great.
Caroline Amos (02:23):
Yeah. So Jason - introductions, I want people to
know who the heck you are. Youare a bar with food owner. It
isn't technically a restaurantor is it a bar?
Jason (02:35):
It's a different question. So from the standpoint
of the customer, you may notknow the difference. But we are
a bar. We've been a bar for 21years. Got here in 1999. And we
operated just as a neighborhoodtavern, the first 15 years
starting to feel kind of a dipoff in business and decided to
make some changes. I own thebuilding so kind of built out a
(02:56):
commercial kitchen next door anddecided that I wanted to kind of
create a food truck indoorsenvironment.
Caroline Amos (03:04):
I like that, food truck indoors!
Jason (03:06):
Yeah, I was down in Austin, Texas. Prior to that, I
noticed a lot of these bars arefreestanding, with a lot of
property and land and had like apartnership with a single food
truck and stand alone. Let's dothat inside. So we started off
with two different restaurantsthat share the space and rotated
Beard and Belly and Biscuit Mannow it's just Biscuit Man. And
(03:28):
we did guest chefs. So to answeryour question the long way, we
are still a bar, we don't takeany money for food, you go to
the window and order your foodand then they run it out to you.
But we work together in manyways. So yeah, it's it's
different operations inside thesame building.
Caroline Amos (03:44):
Nice. And then you're also you're located in
Chicago, which is obviously apretty gigantic city that has
gotten pretty affected by COVID.
And we understand that youturned this opportunity into
really a great opportunity topivot. Talk to us about what
that was like. What was yourmentality as a business owner
and wanting to take care of yourstaff?
Jason (04:06):
There was just kind of two pronged I guess Initially,
the first stage was what do wedo in general? We're getting
shut down. Everyone has to geton unemployment and then we go
home and wait it out. I was in amore cynical side, I think this
is going to be a longer run.
Initially, they said you know,state order homes going to be
safe. Home order was going to beI think two weeks or something.
Caroline Amos (04:24):
Oh, yeah, we all remember those days.
Jason (04:27):
But I think what
Raymond McAnally (04:29):
Because history is filled with those two
week plagues. (laughter)
Jason (04:34):
Very efficient, you know?
Caroline Amos (04:36):
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
No.
Jason (04:39):
But no, but to answer your question, I think what what
really happened was we sat downwith the staff initially and
said, Nope, here we go. Let'ssee how this plays out. And
obviously want to keep you safe.
We want to keep the communitysafe. The Cocktails to Go,
didn't kick in until June but Isaw it coming so I knew it was
happening. So I was excitedabout that if we get this
opportunity You got to run withthis and see if people are up
(05:01):
for it. And they were.
Raymond McAnally (05:05):
And by that you mean you saw the legislation
being passed and allowed it tohappen? Because really we're
talking about, and a lot ofcities have these laws where you
cannot leave an establishmentwith alcoholic beverage you
purchased once you have it, thatwas that?
Jason (05:19):
Yeah, so that was the law adjustment. And in a nutshell,
yeah, and but they were reallyspecific about the cocktails to
go the package goods, theyallowed you to kind of wage that
license for the short term. Soin the beginning, we were just
selling kits or a bottle ofMaker's Mark, or you know, I'm
saying so like, that can only goso far. So with the cocktails to
go, what they allowed you to dois as long as you follow the
(05:41):
rules, you have to have a labelthat had your address on it,
your license number, all theingredients, and instructions
and a few other things. And soonce we saw that kind of coming
down the pipe, we just decidedit was going to happen. So we so
we started working on thelabels, and getting going and
then once we started to do itrealize this is a good way to
(06:05):
kind of stay safe, and we'regetting PPP money. So we can
pay, you know, keep us afloat alittle bit and but then we
checked in with the staff inAugust. Here's what happened. So
last August, was when the firstround of unemployment benefits
were supposed to stop, right?
Caroline Amos (06:22):
Yeah, well, yeah, I remember those days.
Jason (06:23):
So we met in July. And I was just like, Listen, my
assumption is come August, youwill probably want to come back
to work, because unemploymentwill be up. If I'm wrong, tell
me and they're like, I want tocome back to work. So we're
like, well, let's forget it.
Let's just keep doing it. Andthen Luckily, the they tie up
the unemployment, and we justkind of made it work. And
Raymond McAnally (06:43):
so what were some of the reasons that folks
didn't want to come back towork? Were they safety related
100% safety reasons?
Jason (06:50):
Yeah, yeah. 100%. And also to from a business
standpoint, to be honest, Idon't begrudge any business to
do what they have to do an openup but like limited occupancy
for a place like ours, is kindof meaningless. I don't know if
you haven't been there, but thelong, narrow bar 80% of the
space is a bar, the bar.
Raymond McAnally (07:07):
So there's not much that explains the Name,
which we haven't said yet.
Jason (07:11):
Yes, it's The Long Room.
Correct.
Caroline Amos (07:13):
The long the Long Room
Jason (07:15):
They call that burying the lead is what we just did.
Raymond McAnally (07:17):
Yeah, a lot of people don't understand this, if
they haven't worked at all inthe restaurant industry, or, or
that sort of service industry,you need X amount of tables
filled for X amount of hours aday to even break even. So
limited capacity, I imagine is ahuge issue, if it doesn't come
anywhere near that, that yield.
Jason (07:37):
Yeah. And also, you're also using up energy. I mean, we
were open from eight in themorning until two or two in the
morning. So it's a long day tobe running AC, running water,
just from a basic level, butalso to the more you're open,
you have to look open, right? Soit means we need inventory. But
with cocktails ago, we probablyneed run out when we run out but
(07:58):
wanted to have you don't have tohave the handles, you know, a
million tap handles up andbottles everywhere per display.
So we were able to kind of runon a really thin kind of setup
and make it work.
Raymond McAnally (08:10):
Yeah, that makes total sense. Almost like
the food truck version of a bar.
Caroline Amos (08:19):
So your staff has come back in August. Have you
guys had an opportunity at allto do any indoor dining? I know
that there's a lot of it'schanging a lot in a lot of
different places.
Jason (08:31):
Yeah. So at that point during August, I think I think
at that stage, they had openedup to 25% indoor, I think within
after that they rolled it back,but we didn't even bother with
any of it. So once that meetinghit, I think was pretty clear
that we were going to be kind oflong haul in this and do run
tails to go as long as peoplewere interested in it. And then
so yeah, so we never did anyopen closed up. We've always
(08:53):
been closed doing pickups only.
Raymond McAnally (08:57):
Was there any benefit to that?
Jason (08:59):
I think the biggest benefit was emotional, right? So
like the staff, you know, Iknow, people that worked in
other places that kind of theemotional impact of Oh, you're
back to work. Now. We're closedagain. Now we're back to work.
Now you closed again and likenot Yeah, yeah. where you stand,
get off and on and unemployment,all that stuff.
Caroline Amos (09:17):
Yeah, that'll take your toll and your
confidence too, and probablylike it. Even if you know that
you're unemployed for goodreason, like there being a
pandemic, there's still thatmentality given that we live in
a very capitalist state. There'sthat mentality that if you are
not working and hustling anddoing all of that 24 seven that
(09:37):
you are somehow less than thebest you are less than other
people. And so to be stoppingand starting and stuff I mean,
that's just yeah. emotionaltoll. He put it really well. I
like the way that you said that.
Jason (09:49):
Yeah, I think it's significant to me because you're
you're balancing like, how do Ifeel at work in terms of money?
Who's gonna come in? How arethey gonna make me feel how am I
going to feel about the whole AmI going to get sick and get
someone else sick, and you havethat anyway, just going to the
grocery store, you know, in theearly stages of this. So I just
think that it's an added stressthat we didn't need to take on.
Raymond McAnally (10:11):
Well, and one of the things that struck me,
when you and I talked initiallyabout doing this interview, when
you told me that as a, as theowner, that you listened to your
staff when they said, We don'tfeel comfortable doing this, and
maybe maybe you felt the sameway, you know, and that you guys
figured out a way to keep thingsgoing, but not put somebody in
(10:33):
that position, I immediatelythought of at least a handful of
friends I have who, you know,they're bartenders at pretty
high end places, usually in NewYork, and they were put in a
really awkward, horribleposition of deciding, you know,
what my long term financialneeds, versus what I feel safe
with, and a lot of them had toleave jobs that they'd had for
(10:56):
years. Because the owner wantedto open back up and they just
flat out did not feel safe. Thiswas this was around the time you
were making those decisions tolast summer. So we're talking
way before the benefit ofvaccines being out and, and all
those sorts of things. Alsothink about the reason I asked
(11:18):
about the benefits was, I knowaround here in Los Angeles, you
know, we have the benefit of itbeing outdoor weather pretty
much most of the time. So we hada lot of opening up an outdoor
dining regulations. And then wedid have some open and close,
open and close. And I know offew restaurant owners who you
(11:39):
know, they dropped 20k ongetting all that set up. And
then we're told you got to shutit down. And I can't imagine the
frustration of that, like youtold me I could do this. And now
you're saying it's not it's thatis like you're saying quite a
psychological toll.
Jason (11:56):
And I'm just selling booze. Imagine if you're a
restaurant and you order allthis perishable inventory. And
then later, sorry, you can'tcan't can't do this anymore. Now
you throw all that food away.
Raymond McAnally (12:08):
Oh, I can't even imagine I would not want to
be the one responsible formaking sure the freezer and
everything was stocked everyweek for a restaurant anyway.
But I can't imagine trying tonegotiate this. Like just when
you kind of understand what yourweekly needs are for say nothing
but takeout, right? And then allof a sudden, oh, wait, we can
(12:28):
open up we can have diners. Sohow much more do we add back to
that? And then once you get thatfigured out, boom, you're shut
down for what I mean. Yeah,that's a lot. I'm thinking I've
got an officer now just thinkingabout
Caroline Amos (12:40):
something that's really cool that I'm seeing
everywhere in New York is thatthey have taken up the sidewalk
to do outdoor dining. And as themonths go on, everybody's
upgrading their outdoor diningspace, like their spaces are
getting really nice. They've gotheaters, they've got air
conditioning, there's, you canrent a private room on the
street. Like it's, it's verycool. And some of them actually
(13:03):
like they look really cozy anddelightful. But I'm really
interested to see, are thesegoing to be available once in a
post COVID world? Are these likeoutdoor establishments are going
to is that going to be extraseating extra money for all of
these restaurants? Are theygoing to have to cut those off,
give the streets back to all ofour cars. And then watch as
(13:26):
everybody like and I don't knowI'm just really interested to
see if that's gonna stick aroundfor a while. I kind of love the
fact that it encourages morepeople being out on the sidewalk
like it does encourage itfosters community and
connection. I'm in a story ofQueens and I actually love the
fact like I think it's a littlebit terrifying seeing more
(13:46):
people out and about on thestreet but it It's so beautiful
to see everybody likecelebrating the businesses
celebrating the community aroundespecially after watching so
many beloved establishments gounder Yeah,
Jason (14:02):
good point there and i think i don't know i Chicago is
Chicago and I don't know howyour your accuracy is different
than ours but I think it willprobably go away for the most
part we have allowed that nodowntown but I think it's just
for traffic reasons andprimarily, they just can't
sustain it and also just theseasonality here so it's really
what are you gonna do with
Caroline Amos (14:23):
Oh yeah, well hold
Raymond McAnally (14:27):
Chicago is one of them there are areas that the
put the spaces that are now theoutdoor dining spaces if they
have any are the only places forcustomers to park right? Right
The only way to get quick andclose access to that particular
restaurant so you're now askingcustomers to park 6 or 7 blocks
away and then make make it tothe to the restaurant in usually
(14:51):
in Chicago weather. Yeah, that'sfun. So that yeah, I mean it's
there's some really cool thingsabout it, but it Imagine it's a
bit of an logistical for sure.
Jason (15:03):
But Caroline kind of go back to one of your points
though I think, not necessarilyrelated to the restaurant
Barbizon, specifically, but Ithink you hit on a really good
point about one of the positivethings coming out of this is
just the kind of change inenergy and the things that we
appreciate. And obviously peopleare forced to being outdoors.
Obviously, it's easier where youall live in here. But even here,
just for a quick example, on ourblog, we live here in Edgewater
(15:27):
neighborhood, and there's a bigschool called sin High School on
the corner. And it's a bigbeautiful campus for high
school. And there's a jazzmusician that lives on the
corner. And near the end of lastsummer, his courtyard is on the
corner of mangled in Glenwood bythat park, and his trio would
play in that little courtyard,turned into this huge thing
every Sunday, where they'd havea little Venmo size you can MIT
(15:49):
demo them for the entertainmentand people work, it turned into
150 people by the end of thesummer, and the police would let
it be because it's COVID rightnow. And I think that kind of
energy should continue. Like whywould you allow people to be in
the streets if they're behavingthemselves? You know?
Caroline Amos (16:04):
Yeah. Oh, that is so beautiful. I love that.
Raymond McAnally (16:08):
That reminds me of some of the viral videos
you see of like, you know,people in apartments playing
music across the, you know, theway from each other and things
like that. I think that'sbeautiful. Have you seen an
uptick in that, even thoughthings are shut down? And people
are, are inside a lot? Have youseen an uptick in community
(16:28):
involvement with your customerbase? Has it? Has it grown?
Jason (16:33):
100%. Yeah, no, really, not 100%. But I'm, you know, I'm
saying? No, it has been, I thinkit's been a combination of
things. I think. I look at itthis way. And people go into
this crisis, with similarmindsets, right. And obviously,
if you're living somewhere whereyou're, let's say you let's say
(16:53):
you want to you're an extreme,you think it's, you know, a
fraud, you know, COVID-19 real,real thing. Let's talk about
that. But if you're assumingthat the bulk of our clientele
are kind of like minded, right,and so they're, they want to
stay safe, keep their familysafe. So as a neighborhood
establishment that they love,and they want to get to, they
wouldn't go in, come to see usif we were open, right? Because
they want to stay on the staysafe. So they respect that we're
(17:15):
staying close. I think the firsttier was, oh, wow, the long room
is doing what they should bedoing what we believe they
should be doing. But then on topof that, not just shuttering,
but to really turn on a dime,and do really creative things
with these cocktails. Andreally, because we've done I
think from the beginning, westarted this thing I think we've
(17:35):
done like, one cocktail a weeksince last March, which is a
lot.
Caroline Amos (17:41):
Whoa, that's a lot of creativity. So
Jason (17:43):
it takes a lot of energy.
And that's not me, that's that'sobviously the team. You know,
who are out there doing this.
But at the end of the day, it'sjust been I think people get
excited because you're bored,you're at home, you're bored.
And now here we go, you know,bring in some new cocktails for
you to try. And so people havebeen into it been supportive,
and want to help us. Yeah, allthose things are good.
Raymond McAnally (18:04):
And is it? Is it that featured cocktail is
only available that week? Ordoes the menu keep growing,
Jason (18:10):
it grows to a certain point. So we try to keep it
around? Let's think about thisabout maybe eight large format
cocktails, which have three tofour cocktails, and we have four
or five static pocket cocktailsthat are individual ones a
little cute, 100 milliliterbottle flask. And then we've
been bottling carbonatedcocktails in house, our GM, Jeff
(18:31):
learned how to take barrels likekegs. And make it there. Force
carbonate it in house and thenyou put it on draft and you pour
it from a draft comes up. Cool.
sanitized really close. Yeah. Sowe're gonna continue doing that,
for sure.
Caroline Amos (18:50):
That is so rad. I mean, it's like, Oh, I love
anything on tap. So if it's acocktail on tap, even better,
that is so cool.
Jason (18:57):
pretty great. So we want to continue doing that after
this. For sure. Yeah, how
Raymond McAnally (19:01):
much of this?
I mean, do you think that thiswill be a part of the long room?
You know, for forever? Is it? Isit gonna go away when COVID?
Jason (19:10):
And I don't think so. I think it's been such a dramatic
mind. We've been open for 21years, we've kind of been
evolving for a long time just tostay alive, you know. And so,
because we've been able to kindof, I wouldn't say reinvent
ourselves, but to kind of likestay current and, and do
interesting things and becreative. I think with this. I
(19:31):
think the reason we didn't dothese kind of cocktail, we were
definitely a nice cocktailprogram. But our bar is so big.
It's a it's a 60 foot bar. So ifyou're working there on a
Friday, Saturday night, you'rerunning around and we had 18 to
20 draft handles spread,
Caroline Amos (19:44):
you get new steps and if you're working behind
that bar,
Jason (19:47):
right, yep. And so we always were mindful of not
making the cocktail list toofussy because it's too much time
for that for the I think we'regoing to change that we're going
to cut the beer way down, draftsome cocktails with some
cocktails and draft you Like,uh, you know, we'll get put a
vermouth on graph wine on draftand do all kinds of stuff, maybe
two or three cocktails. Andhopefully the the cocktails to
(20:09):
go will continue. There'slegislation to make it
permanent. And if that's thecase, we'll keep doing that,
too.
Raymond McAnally (20:15):
That's a game changer, right? That legislation
has to stay in has,
Caroline Amos (20:18):
you know, what that makes me think about things
like prohibition and alcohol,right? Like, it's, you know,
it's so fun to go to aprohibition party like bathtub
gin, that kind of thing. I lovethe idea that there's gonna be
like pandemic style, like, Hey,we had it, we started bottling
cocktails, because there was apandemic, and people couldn't
congregate in bars, like this.
There's gonna come a day wherethere's going to be like
(20:39):
pandemic chic. Things,experiences. That's,
Raymond McAnally (20:46):
that's an excellent point. Well, if only I
could think of Chicago basedtheme around prohibition. I just
don't remember Chicago havingany history there at all.
Jason (21:00):
Oh, my God.
Caroline Amos (21:03):
I also wanted to ask because you talking about
this, this immense uptick incustomer base, and I was
watching some videos and knowingthat you're a black owned
business. And after all ofwhat's been happening with
racial unrest in our country foryears been coming to a huge head
with George Floyd. Did you see ahuge uptick in customers wanting
(21:25):
to support your business? Andhas that been steadily incline?
Has that been a steady decline?
How's that been? How's that been
Jason (21:32):
going? Well, I think that's been a big thing. I think
that the thing that I wanted topoint out about that is venue
for 21 years. And so initially,when I opened the place with my
business partner, Clark, who wasnot black, but behind the bar
all, I mean, we literally wereonly much working shifts for the
first five years, exceptionalweekend staff. So I think, you
(21:53):
know, we had a big, kind of areally loyal customer base,
obviously knew who the ownerswere so but that conversation
wasn't something that was on thetable at the time wasn't like,
Oh, it's black on businesssupport black, this is a very
new thing. And by the time,George Floyd was killed, I made
a statement online, which wasn'tsomething I was doing very
(22:14):
often, kind of coming home andcurtains, I knew the end the
Instagram account, just becausethat's what it is. And I so I
think what happened was when Idid that a lot of the bar who
didn't know the person who madethe song around, didn't realize
I was the owner didn't realizeblack owned, so people weren't
blowing us up on putting us onlists and mentioning us. And so
I think it exposed a lot ofpeople, even if they love the
(22:37):
place already. Now they loved itmore.
Caroline Amos (22:39):
That's awesome, though.
Jason (22:40):
So I think yes, but a big part of our growth. And I think
we'll probably see that afterthis. When we get open. For
sure. I would imagine.
Caroline Amos (22:47):
That's, that's, that's incredible. I'm really
happy to hear, I'm happy to hearthat. I'm happy to hear that
you've got business man. Likethe fact that you've taken this
and you've turned it intosomething so great. In spite of
this being the absolute worstyear of all time. I'm just I'm
so impressed by you. And I'm soif you could say anything, if
(23:08):
you had any advice to give toother business owners in a time
like this, would you? Do youhave any advice for them?
Jason (23:14):
I mean, it's a tough one, because I fully recognize every
business is different. And Ithink that when I said that I
don't judge people for doingthings differently is because
you have the choices that youhave, right, and none of us
should be in this position, weshould have gotten, in my
opinion, keep us close as longas you want and give us grants,
and is to take out and calltoday. But that's not the case.
(23:36):
So I just think that everybusiness is different, every one
I own my building that helps. Soeven though I've got to pay my
mortgage, too, but I recognizethat not every business has the
same stresses. But I do thinkthat the staff is important, I
think, I mean, I would say thati mean i think that seeing what
your staff wants to do andsupporting that as you can is
(24:00):
extremely important and we'vealways kind of been that way
here anyway and so I'm we're asmall team we have like maybe 10
people that work here so it's itcould be a little more of a
family environment but even ifyou have 50 people I think you
have to find ways to reach outand make sure that they're
feeling comfortable and safe andand also part of the decision
making process because you canno business can be a business
without everyone right? I mean Idon't care if you own a hardware
(24:23):
store unless you're going towork it every day. You need
people on the floor to do it andbars in a way you know. I think
that's the if you want to ask mefor a bit of advice I think
involving everyone. This isunprecedented territory and so
we don't know and no one knowshow to manage this. So work
together on it. That's that'swhat I would say.
Caroline Amos (24:44):
Love that. I want that on a T shirt.
Raymond McAnally (24:47):
We're also talking about your and we can
cut this question out if if youdon't if you only want to focus
on the Long Room but I'm notsure if I made Caroline aware
that the rest of the building isa second business. You have an
Airbnb business as well, thathas also, didn't you just open?
(25:11):
Right before COVID.
Jason (25:12):
I got very, very lucky.
So check this out. So I own themixed use building going on. So
it's two storefronts. One is ouroffice. One is the bar and
behind the office is thekitchen. Now on top of the
kitchen off the side is like aframe house sitting on top of
three apartments that were alljust rental apartments for
years, and I had tenants thatwere bartenders along room, or
(25:33):
customers, but over time, I hadreally cheap rent. And I'm glad
I did that for many years. I hadsomeone living up there for 15
years. But what happened wasmaybe being a good friend and
good landlord in that regard. Iwasn't a good business person
with the building and thebuilding is old. I needed
serious repairs and new roof, Igot to a point where I had to
(25:53):
get alone to take care of thoseeveryone had to go. And I said
to myself, well, alright, if I'mreally doing this building and
redoing plumbing and all thisstuff. Do I really want to make
some, you know, nice apartmentsthat that are unaffordable, and
not someone that people have tolive over a bar. So I said,
Look, I really sat aboutthinking about it for a while
(26:14):
and said that, uh, excuse methat I always wanted to do a
hotel meet my friend john, we'relooking to a little boutique
hotel years ago, but it was youknow, having to raise a lot of
money. And so like I said, letme do this here on a small
scale. So yeah, cuz when youbought when you and john, we're
partners, Airbnb, that optiondidn't exist. Well, it's funny.
You mentioned that yeah. Sothey're all the license
(26:35):
structures for for any kind ofhotel in Chicago, there is
vacation rental which gets youAirbnb, hotel license, and then
a bed and breakfast license wasthe only license you can use and
do this. If you do a bed andbreakfast you have to live on
the on the on the premises,hotel license, you have all
kinds of rules that we can't,you know make happen like but
you know, fire escapes anddifferent levels of egress and
(26:57):
stuff. So the vacation rentalwas the way to go. But there's
been legislation in Chicago tolimit Airbnb ease in certain
numbers building, which I get, Ithink it's a good idea. So I had
to jump through some city hoopsand get approval to the city to
get all three November 9 2019. Igot open, thank God. Because if
it were a few months later, Idon't think I'd be sitting here
(27:19):
talking to you right now I'dhave no income coming in. So
that's been doing very well upthere, which is great. So it's
called Bluebird in. And the ideawas to kind of be a part of this
whole kind of hospitalityexperience in the building where
you have come down at breakfastand cocktails and coffee, and
nightcap and go back upstairs.
And it's just a beautiful,beautiful space. So it's been
really really, really great.
Raymond McAnally (27:40):
I can't wait to stay there. Yeah,
Caroline Amos (27:41):
I love that name.
That's so sweet Bluebird Inn
Jason (27:45):
Where we used to be the bar was called Bluebird Liquors
Incorporated. That's the oldTavern that was there. Before
that. We had to assume that theywere technically by law,
Bluebird liquors Incorporated.
Doing business. That's a longroom. That's why through
Bluebird and up there, that'd bereally cute.
Caroline Amos (28:00):
Yeah, that's really sweet. I love that.
Raymond McAnally (28:03):
And you were able, I know, you told me before
you were able to figure out atime to open up to rentals, even
in the Airbnb. So you you'venavigated that as well during
the pandemic.
Jason (28:15):
Yeah, so it was kind of a really scary moment. So in March
15, I think it was when the citysaid we got to close down. And
I'd been open upstairs for acouple months, few months. It
was kind of getting going alittle bit, but it got to the
point where I had bookings fromMarch through June solid 100%.
Now using this accurately now100% of them cancelled. for good
(28:36):
reason. The beginning of Yeah,so I was lucky in round maybe
April May to get some peoplethat were coming to visit family
couldn't stay with them and justkind of kind of rented for a
month or so. But then comes alie. I got really busy and kind
of busy up there ever since. Sopeople trapped. Wow.
Caroline Amos (28:53):
That's great.
Have you had a ton of essentialworkers needing to quarantine
there at all? Has that everhappened?
Jason (28:59):
That did not happen. I got one request from a couple
medical care professionals butthey they've just inquired and
must have found something elseearlier. But yeah, that would
have been a cool thing too.
Raymond McAnally (29:13):
Ya know, one of the things around here has
been people, you know, wantingto at least stare at a different
four walls. So they actuallylive in Los Angeles, but they'll
rent an Airbnb in Los Angelesjust to see another place for a
week.
Jason (29:28):
Yeah, I've got a lot of that I've gotten people. I think
right now it's been primarilypeople coming to visit their
kids or something. I get a lotof people working like from LA.
asked a lot of you from Austinfor some reason, and New York
coming to work that say theircompany has an office here.
They're going to come work here.
And just like you said, you havea different set of walls. Look
(29:49):
at what they're doing the work.
So that's been great. I lovethat kind of customer up there.
Yeah, so
Caroline Amos (29:55):
that's great and it couldn't be above a better
bar. Ah,
Jason (29:58):
come on.
Caroline Amos (30:00):
I say this man, I also I wanted to ask, just just
going back to the cocktailsbecause they just look so
scrumptious and fun. Andthere's, there's something about
alcohol that I think ishilariously delightful where
it's sort of like you've as youbecome an adult, you access a
new level of like a treat. Yes,like a fun little like, like a
(30:21):
little snack a little. You know,there's something so fun about
that. And these are delicious.
Do you have a particularfavorite? And why?
Jason (30:29):
That's a great question to treat is a good way to look
at it. Because I think what'shappening to people is, they're
used to going to their favoritebar and getting a whatever
cocktails and list now that'sgone, right? And so you don't
have to take it home, realizeyou can't make it at home. So
we've been really been a littlefuzzier about it. I think one of
the things that we've done justto start off with that, I think
one of an all time favorite isrooted in one of the additions.
(30:51):
So Ryan and Jeff started workingon shrubs, I'm not sure we know
what shrubs are, but I love ashrub grade. So drinking, I have
no idea what that is. It'sessentially a drinking vinegar.
So it's like a reduction ofvinegar and sugars. And then
however you want to flavor it.
So we've had a raspberry lemonshrub, a, a bell pepper for up
for more, you know, kind of avegetal cocktail. Probably one
of the first cocktail we didwith the shrub was Jeff's he I
(31:15):
think was called Bumble bird.
And this is an all timefavorite, I think so this was a
considered Elgin. He made ahoney simple syrup. And when the
shrub was blueberry, sage, andhoney as well, I think the
different honey in there. Andthat enlightened lime juice. And
that's been great. And then
Raymond McAnally (31:37):
kind of alchemy Are y'all doing it's gr
Jason (31:39):
Otherwise, we couldn't do this. But we may try to do these
things when you open up again. Ad like because we, Ryan and Je
f worked on these formulas, yu know how not to get too fus
y about how it's done. But yu've got a barn and it's shaken
and stirred up, what's happning is you are diluting wa
er in your cocktail to make italanced. And then you pour, r
ght so in order to make that hppen, if you mixed a cocktail to
(32:02):
go with no water in it, it's gong to be off. So they worked
out the left the number of gams of water that get diluted
in an average stir or shake. Ad so now we add that amount of w
ter in grams to the to the batcof booze and you pour it in
y that way, when you get it homeyou just take it out of your
freezer, just pour it you don'have to shake.
Raymond McAnally (32:23):
That's so impressive. So that's chemistry
that's like I and I have noappreciation for it or ability
to do it, I guess is a betterway of saying it because I am a
poor whiskey and a glass. Popopen the beer kind of kind of
person. Like even, we havefriends who we have a friend who
claims I make the best. gin andtonic. And the truth is I put I
(32:50):
I put in for ice cubes. And thenI pour the gin up to the top of
the ice cubes. And then put inlike a splash
Jason (32:59):
of top. That sounds delicious as far as I can.
Raymond McAnally (33:01):
Cuz all I know how to do is drink straight like
Caroline Amos (33:06):
that I also think needs to be noted Raymond that
every time we talk aboutanything regarding math or
science, you are always so quickto be like, I am not good at
this.
Raymond McAnally (33:18):
Yeah, it's cool taught me that, oh, my
degrees are in our
Caroline Amos (33:21):
green signal episode. I'm like, Oh, there
goes Raven talking about howhe's bad at science again.
Raymond McAnally (33:27):
talking to people who do know it, because I
love I'm interested in it. Butmy brain like it's not even an
eyes gloss over thing my brainjust goes and just
Jason (33:40):
shuts down. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Caroline Amos (33:45):
Well, Jason, we always love to round out with a
little bit of hope. Andhonestly, frankly, talking to
you, this has been an absolutelydelightful conversation. I don't
feel I don't feel scared of theworld after talking to you. But
I want to know, what is givingyou hope? What is getting you
through this right now?
Jason (33:58):
Yeah, I mean, I that's a great question. I think,
obviously, vaccine has beenexciting. I think I kind of try
to be kind of kind of glass halffull about this. Because you
know, we were talking about thissix, seven or eight months ago,
and we all didn't know thevaccine by now. Right? So yeah,
I like to lean on the fact thatyes, this has been over a year.
(34:19):
But this is exciting that wehave this opportunity now. And
I'm hoping that people,obviously a lot of nasty stuff
has happened socially andculturally, in the midst of
this, you know, magnified by thefact that people are anxious and
isolated. But I'm hoping thatthat doesn't blow up Powder Keg
situation where I'm sure therewill be some of that but I'm
(34:40):
hoping that there'll also besome you know, when you go to a
sporting event, and you see someunlikely people next to each
other hugging because yeah,their team did something
exciting. It's their team andother rock each other I'm hoping
we get a lot more of that. Youknow, people just excited to be
around other people and andsaying hello And meeting each
(35:00):
other and shaking hands huggingpeople, you know all that stuff.
So I'm looking forward to whatthat's going to bring for people
that kind of because isolation,even if you're with someone you
care about, not being able tohug someone else for this law is
unusual. And so I think thateven your own friendship groups,
I've noticed that when we havelittle backyard Gavin friends,
(35:21):
like it's exciting doing simplesthing.
Caroline Amos (35:24):
Yeah,
Jason (35:25):
having drinks. And, you know, I just think that that's
going to, you know, make peopleappreciate each other. You know,
the people we love already more,and I'm hoping that sticks
around.
Caroline Amos (35:37):
I love that. I couldn't have said it better
myself.
Caroline Raymond (35:41):
Hey, this is Caroline and Raymond. Thank you
so much for listening toFatigued - from patients to
paramedics, long haulers tolessons learned. Sure, it's the
same virus but these are verydifferent stories. If you have a
question or a story you'd likeus to address on an episode,
please email us at fatiguedpodcast@gmail.com. And don't
(36:04):
forget to check us out onFacebook, Instagram, Twitter -
Clubhouse - right clubhouse Whatis that? I don't even know But
whatever it is, we're here tooffer genuine conversations so
we can humanize the issuessurrounding COVID and the
pandemic. These stories deservethe space to be remembered and
we relish the opportunity forconnection in this isolated
time. Perhaps you will to staypositive test negative and
(36:27):
thanks for listening. Bye
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