March 18, 2025 • 38 mins
Welcome to Episode 66 of the Wed.Co Podcast. Today, Toga sit’s down with Cody from The Vintage Bar Co for a chat about their beautiful mobile bars. This one was filmed at Coolibah Downs Private Estate
In this episode of the Wedco podcast, Toga interviews Cody from Vintage Barco, a mobile bar service that has gained popularity in the wedding industry. Cody shares the story of how The Vintage Bar Co was born during the COVID-19 pandemic, transitioning from a coffee van to a cocktail bar. The conversation explores the evolution of their business, the importance of bars in modern weddings, and the strategies they employed to grow and establish relationships with venues.
Cody emphasizes the significance of creating a unique experience for couples and the role of marketing and networking in their success. In this conversation, the Cody discusses the intricacies of running a mobile bar service for weddings, focusing on the importance of choosing the right bar, crafting premium cocktails, and providing exceptional service.
He emphasize the need for a personable staff who can engage with guests and create memorable experiences. The discussion also touches on the evolving trends in wedding sizes and drink options, as well as the future growth and expansion plans for Vintage Bar Co.
Takeaways
- Cody and Alex built various bar styles to fit different wedding themes.
- Bars have become a focal point in modern weddings.
- Word of mouth and social media are key marketing strategies.
- Building relationships with venues is crucial for success.
- Investing in PR packs helped them get noticed by venues.
- Couples often want the bar to be a feature of their wedding.
- Cocktail menus are tailored to fit the couple's preferences.
- Booking should be done at least 12 months in advance. Couples can choose their preferred bar when booking.
- Different bar styles cater to various wedding themes.
- Premium cocktails are prioritized over tap cocktails.
- A minimum of two staff members is provided for events.
- Staff focus on ensuring the bride and groom are well taken care of.
- Smaller, intimate weddings are becoming more popular.
- Staff training emphasizes customer service and engagement.
- The business is expanding through franchising.
- It's important for couples to focus on their preferences, not others'.
- Ask questions and explore options when choosing vendors.
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Join us for our next episode on the Wed.Co Podcast, where we continue to explore the mesmerizing and ever-changing landscape of weddings.
Toga xxx
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the Wedco podcast, your ultimate guide to the wedding world.
Whether you're a bride, groom or wedding vendor, this is the place to be.
Join us as we dive into real stories, expert advice and behind the scenes insights to helpyou plan the perfect day.
So grab a seat and let's celebrate love, connection and creativity together.
Before we get into this episode, I'd love to ask you a super quick and easy favor.
(00:24):
If you're enjoying the Wedco podcast, please hit that follow button on Apple, Spotify orYouTube.
It might seem small, but it makes a huge difference in helping the podcast grow and meansI can keep bringing on amazing vendors to share their insights with you.
Thank you so much for your support.
truly means the world.
Hello and welcome to the word co podcast.
Today I've got Cody from the vintage barco on the couch with me.
(00:44):
Thank you so much for coming on, mate.
It's like when I've seen you guys around like popping up like crazy lately.
And every time I see one of your bars, I just like, it just looks so cozy and so at home.
So I'm like, I definitely have to have you on the podcast.
you, we appreciate it.
Usually I'll kind of start with a little bit of the backstory, I guess, behind the brandand, you know, how you got into weddings and how long ago.
(01:05):
Yep.
So five years now, yeah, just over five years.
It was actually during COVID.
I'd always been in hospitality in Townsville.
had, you know, I think three weeks of closure for during COVID and I was at home and Ithought to myself, my God, I'm never going to have a job.
What am I going to do?
(01:25):
And my ADHD brain was like sitting there thinking, you know, what could I do during thistime?
Because I was bored and
I literally was like, how cool would it be to have to build bars and have like a pop-upbar in someone's backyard for an event?
was never real.
weddings were never a big focus.
(01:46):
It was just like, how cool would this be?
And then I kind of went down that rabbit Warren of, how cool would it be to have a vintagecaravan that was a mobile bar?
and yeah, so next minute I'm on Gumtree.
I found a vintage caravan in Melbourne of all places.
You can't go there for three years.
And I was like, how do I get this up here?
(02:08):
Because a lot of people, you know, weren't and weren't able to travel.
And it was like country Victoria as well.
And it was a coffee van down there.
It was a 1950 or 1960s caravan.
I couldn't view it.
I was just going off with what the video what the photos were that she had showed me theowner.
(02:30):
And yeah, got it brought up.
on the back of a truck and that was pretty much the first time I'd seen it.
It was a coffee van.
and then yet over the next kind of few months, we got rid of the coffee machine cause thatwas boring and, turned it into a mobile cocktail bar.
and yeah, literally from the moment that we, we opened in towns or announced that we wereopening, was just, yeah, crazy amount of inquiries coming in and we soon realized, wow,
(03:02):
there's a lot of weddings that
that want us.
So that kind of then just moved from being a much bigger focus from doing a backyard eventto doing weddings and those different things.
And then like, especially the amount of inquiries come through and you're like, cool.
And you can kind of plan out the year as well.
You're like, we're going to need some more, you know, vans.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(03:22):
Yeah.
So it was just out of that.
And then Alex, who's the other half of the vintage barco, he's kind of the handy, youknow, builder type person.
So then I was like in Pinterest and I was like, how cool would this pop up Barbie and howcool would this pop up Barbie?
So then we just kind of started building more bars from that.
(03:43):
to then, you know, we knew that the caravan wouldn't be able to get into a lot oflocations, so we built smaller bars, different coloured bars.
Yeah.
Well, it seems like, like I was before we came on, I was like, okay, I've got to do somemore research.
And I was looking at the list of bars, man.
There's a lot of different options there, but I feel like you kind of need it these dayswith like all the different styles of weddings and stalls of, guess, venues as well to
(04:05):
kind of tie in with those venues.
Yeah, absolutely.
Like, you know, we'll often get requests for, know, can you guys do, you know, have ablack bar or, you know, do you have a red bar or anything like that?
So we kind of had to build our bars to be able to adapt with that.
You know, we do do a lot of corporate events where they want to do self branding and thosebits and pieces on there.
(04:26):
So we kind of built our bars that.
It's not more so our branding on them.
We have very minimal branding on majority of our bars and it's more about it will justkind of fit into any anyone's day.
You know, it will just fit in nicely and you know, depending the flowers and the themingand the style that they have, you know, they'll be able to put that into the bar.
(04:47):
So is that something like prior to a wedding, like say a florist or a stylist will kind ofknow that one of your bars is going to be there.
And so they'll kind of plan for styling up, you know, the bar as well.
definitely.
the, a lot of the brides will reach out to us and say, you know, hey, we want the bar tobe a feature of our day.
You know, we want to do flowers and we want to do this and we just let them go wild.
(05:09):
You know, it makes our content look good too.
So yeah, they'll, you know, they can do what they like really.
Well, every time I say like one of the caravans there as well, it is such a big focalpoint and you have so many people just hanging out at the bar as well.
And like with weddings now, you know, it is such a big, like entertaining you guess.
And I guess you kind of hitting like two birds, one stones where you've got thesebeautiful cocktails and drinks you're providing, but then also like another focal point
(05:34):
where I guess we'll kind of hang out and, know, have something to do as well.
I think...
People are always blown away when they arrive to a wedding and there is a pop-up barserving cocktails and they're not paying $22, $23 from Margarita.
They're just lined up on the bar and everyone is just always like, you know, we are themost popular part of any day.
(05:57):
Everyone is just shocked that, what do mean I don't have to pay for this?
And you guys are here for the next five hours serving us drinks.
So yeah, like we, yeah, we see it a lot and we're finding more and more people are puttinga
focus on the bar being a feature of their day.
know, a lot of people, like I said, they want to include the styling and all those littlebits and pieces just to make it seem like it is part of the entire event.
(06:24):
And like, feel like a lot of styled shoots and everything you have now, it's like, it'salmost the prerequisite for like a bar to be there as well.
Yeah.
It's like, cool.
We've got, know, we've got the stylist, we've got the florist and like the bars here, butit is, it is, it's such a big focal point.
Um, it's just like another extra add on that it's just everyone wants.
Do you want to talk about like the difference between, like the starting point and likewhere you are now, I guess.
(06:47):
Yeah, so when we started, it was literally just Alex and I, one bar.
We would do one event every month.
That then soon turned to a couple events a month and asking some friends to come and helpus serve drinks.
Then it kind of got to a point where it was every weekend, we were fully booked because itwas just Alex and I doing the weddings.
(07:15):
And we kind of got to a point where we thought to ourselves, how do we go full time intothis?
And as much as we loved North Queensland, we loved the community of North Queensland, wecouldn't just kind of expand enough to be busy enough up there.
So we decided, why don't we make the big moves to Southeast Queensland?
And why don't I just quit my job, lease a warehouse and hope that all falls into place?
(07:42):
And I can remember when we decided to do that.
I was, I've never been so scared in my life.
And I was like, I just need one booking a week to cover the warehouse rent.
All right, that's all I need to start off with.
And we moved down here and look, we put a heap into marketing, we put a heap into, youknow, networking and reaching out to venues and all those little bits and pieces.
(08:06):
And we worked really, really hard.
And I think we were about four weeks into being in Southeast Queensland.
And the bookings were just like coming in like crazy.
And we're like, do we have enough staff to be able to do all these events?
And then we soon, know, what started off with three extra staff turned to six extra staffto now 20 staff that work for us.
(08:29):
And, you know, this year we've, we've, we've got over 160 bookings booked in, which again,when we started, when we moved down here, we had zero.
And
I think, like I said before, we've just really hustled hard, you know, and just being ableto get our brand out there and yeah.
(08:53):
have either of you had businesses prior to this?
We used to actually own a photo booth business, which again was a side gig.
We would get, you know, a booking a month and we were like, cool, you know, we've got somemore money this month.
But no, never owned a business in itself.
(09:14):
Alex had no hospitality background.
had a mining background, but I'd always been in hospitality and in management.
So I kind of knew how to...
you know, run a business, but never on such a big scale.
Well, the reason I'm asking is like, because like even to dump money into advertising andeverything, like you've already taken this risk of, you know, like already this much money
(09:35):
is coming out every week for our lease for the factory.
Like that's a big gamble.
Like to even be able to do that and just be like, no, this is going to work.
Yeah.
You know, that's a big leap.
And I just can't even explain the feeling of, I really hope this works.
You know, and knowing that when we were moving down here, we also were opening ourselvesup to a lot more competitors.
(09:59):
You know, we were opening ourselves up to, but also a lot more clientele and weddings.
And yeah, we'd kind of just like, you know what, if we work hard at it, it'll work.
And yeah, that's what we did.
How do find most people finding you these days?
Is it still like a big advertising campaign like through better and stuff, or is there alot kind of, I'm assuming definitely word of mouth would be huge as well.
(10:26):
Yeah, definitely we've noticed word of mouth is a lot, but we'll kind of do a wedding or abirthday.
And there's always someone there who's getting married or has an event coming up.
And so, you know, we'll kind of get a booking from a booking.
Look, we definitely do push hard on Instagram advertising and Google advertising.
(10:46):
And I think that's an important part of any business.
You need to do that.
but you know, we, we work really hard to also build relationships with venues.
you know, when we first moved down here, you know, we wanted to, to work on thoserelationships with the venues where that don't have a bar service that we're going to be
able to fit into.
so yeah, we've worked really hard on building those relationships to now where we aretoday, where we're the preferred bar vendor for a lot of venues that we go to, which has
(11:15):
really helped.
you're providing a service for them, know, like, which is amazing.
They don't have to go and do like a full bar fit out for themselves, but these are theguys we use and they're amazing and their bars fit in with our venue.
And it's like, they're probably doing three or four weddings every week.
know, so it's like, that's, that's amazing that you had like the forethought to kind ofthink about that.
Cause everyone's like, yeah, you know, you've got a network, got a network, got a network.
(11:36):
But yeah, you find like, once you do get in with a few venues like that, it can kind ofchange the whole trajectory of a business.
And we didn't want to be, we've never wanted to be those annoying salesy people.
know, I don't want to, we didn't want to annoy venues and be like, pick us, pick us, pickus.
and when we first thought about moving down here, we're like, how could we be differentand get in front of venues?
(12:00):
And obviously we wanted to visit the venues and check them out.
And we actually sent a heap of venues, PR packs that we did ourselves that had a littlecocktail shaker and little cocktail recipe kit in there.
And it helped, you know, at the end of the day, if they want to book us, they'll book us.
(12:21):
You know, if they want us to be part of their preferred vendors, they'll want to do that.
So we thought it was important not to be like super salesy in their face, but just a hey,we're here, you know, give us a go
put like, that's all money as well.
You know, like it's a lot of money you put out there.
And I speak to, I speak to a lot of our wedding photographers too.
and I'm saying like, you know, like they want to get in with a venue.
(12:42):
like, can you just print them out a wedding album?
Like, Hey guys, can I just leave this wedding album with you?
Yeah.
Like, yeah, but I want to spend $600.
You're like, just spend the $600.
Do know what it is that, um, it does like, I think, you know, we spent over a thousanddollars on those PR packs when we sent them out to those venues.
(13:02):
And at the start I'm like, is this just ridiculous?
Is it too much money?
And, know, you have to spend money to make money.
And, and, and that was a way, a point of difference of putting us out there and getting infront of them.
And, you know, I feel it's much the same with, um, I talked to a lot of wedding vendorsthat say,
wedding open days are a waste of money, you know.
(13:24):
Whereas for us, I see it as a complete opposite.
Like, yes, it's going to cost you a little bit of money sometimes to be able to attendthese open days, but you're getting your brand and your business in front of so many
people who are ready to book, you know.
So I think that's important across the board.
I've been horrible with that in the past because like, just haven't feel like beingorganized and also had like a really good setup that I'm stoked with.
(13:48):
And so now like I'm speaking to Mandy from Ivy and blue and she's like, look, I'll helpyou with that.
It's like, cool, go spend a thousand dollars.
And then any open day, you don't have to be worried about going to, because you know, likeI've got this amazing setup.
It looks awesome.
Just take that and put that there.
There's also so much pressure with an open day.
Like you're kind of like, you know, does it look all right?
Cause in your mind, you're like, Oh, this is crap.
(14:10):
And everyone else is like, wow, this is awesome.
Um, but no, we've always found that, uh, you know, yeah, you might not get a booking fromit, but you know what?
There's going to be at a point where that person's going to remember your brand, um, andremember your business and going to want to book you.
For sure.
Well, do you want to go back to couples a little bit here?
(14:32):
Yeah.
So like, what would their experience be with you?
So they've just, you know, they've come through Instagram, they found you like, what's theexperience as far as like, yeah, inquiring with you and going from there.
you know, we'll obviously, a query will come through to our website.
We know that their day is a huge part of their planning process, you know, for 12 months,nearly two years.
(14:56):
And we know that they're going to have a lot of questions, right?
And they're probably talking to 20 different vendors and all of our pricing informationsheets all look different.
They've all got heaps of information.
So we always recommend a phone call first.
We also understand that every single couple's day is going to be different.
Okay, so we always say that our pricing is not one size fits all, kind of use that as abase and then let's tailor what it is the vibe that you want to bring to life.
(15:26):
Let us help you do that.
So you know, a lot of people will have, you know, three pages of questions sometimes, youknow, how does it work?
And, you know, what do you mean, you just make cocktails all night and my guests drinkthem.
And it's things like a shopping list.
You how much alcohol do I need to buy?
So a big part of what we do is BYO weddings.
(15:46):
So that's where the bride and groom provide the alcohol.
And then we take care of everything else.
So the glassware, the bar, the staff, the ice, all of those bits and pieces.
But obviously when you're planning a wedding for hundred people, you're like, how muchalcohol do I need to be?
So we'll help with that shopping list process.
and then usually kind of once they're locked in, most couples then, go quiet for, youknow, six to 12 months.
(16:14):
And then it's usually like eight to 10 weeks out from their wedding day that then we'rekind of back on the scene again, you know, finalizing all those little bits and pieces.
But, you know, we're very much about, making our business fit their vibe.
You know, we, we, we want to be flexible.
and yeah, look, we understand that we're never going to be.
(16:35):
everyone's first choice.
But yeah, we just want to be a little bit different.
How does a different drinks list look throughout like say different weddings?
Do couples come to you and they they be like, look, I love this cocktail, this cocktail,this cocktail.
Or like, how does that kind of work?
Yeah, so obviously cocktails are a big part of what we do and to have it at a wedding isawesome.
(16:58):
I've never been to a wedding that's had a cocktail bar like ours.
But yeah, so they'll kind of come to us and they'll say, you know, this is the list thatwe want to put together.
And then we'll kind of give them advice.
Like quite often people will go, all right, over seven hours, I want cocktails served allnight and I want espresso martini served.
And we always say to them,
(17:18):
Espresso martinis over a seven hour period is never going to be a sessionable cocktail todrink.
and whilst that would be easy for us, because it means that we're not going to have toshake as many cocktails because people aren't going to have a heap of them.
We want it to be a drink list where people are like, wow.
You know, I can have an espresso martini for cocktail hour, maybe.
(17:40):
But you know, let's not waste one of those options on your menu being an espresso martini.
Let's focus on.
you know, a, a spritz based or a margarita or something that's going to be sessionableover seven hours.
you know, whilst there's definitely been guests that have drank an espresso martinis forseven hours.
yeah, we definitely wouldn't recommend it.
(18:00):
Yeah, something like more light and festive, like where people can kind of come back to itas well.
Yeah.
And I think like the weather plays a big part in it.
You know, when it kind of starts to, the temperature starts to drop, you know, you'll seedrink menus that have mulled wine and, know, Negronis and, you know, kind of more sipper
style drinks.
(18:22):
And then when it's hot, you know, all right, margaritas are coming out.
The spritzes are coming out.
Yeah.
Do you even find that with venues, if a couple is like, we're getting married at X venue,can you almost pick the type of cocktails they're going to want as well?
Yeah, % like margaritas.
I don't think there's ever been an event where there hasn't been a margarita on the menuthat is huge.
(18:43):
And it's great.
But yeah, you can kind of you kind of know from the get go what kind of style and vibe ityou know, that's going to be will always send the bride and groom a cocktail menu, which
is like four or five pages long.
And it just has a heap of different cocktails that, you know, we'll put some advice withwhat are like the most popular cocktails, because some people are like,
(19:04):
I don't know, I just want cocktails on my menu.
And then, you know, quite often we'll get custom requests.
So the bride and groom have maybe dined at a restaurant and they've had a cocktail therethat, you know, means a lot to them too.
So we'll kind of then, you know, search the restaurant, find their cocktail menu, youknow, find the ingredients and try and recreate that cocktail for the bride and groom.
(19:29):
And so like how far should people be booking out your service?
Look, we definitely say 12 months.
We've got bookings into 2026 and 2027 already.
And we always say, you may not know what package you want or what drink menu you want, butjust secure the date.
(19:53):
Just get that date locked in and then all the other little bits and pieces can just comealong.
you know...
A lot of people want to start discussing drink menus and all those bits and pieces 12months out from their wedding day.
And we always say we're always more than happy to do that.
But you know, just like wait for the, you know, what's the weather going to be like?
(20:13):
You know, how many people are you going to have that'll all change?
You know, what drink menu you have.
we're going to have to revisit it, you know, 10 weeks out.
Yeah.
So that's yeah.
Do that.
When people book in their date, are they actually choosing the specific bar that they wantat that time?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, we have multiple of most of our bars.
So we've got over 10, different bars and multiple of them.
(20:36):
So Frankie, our caravan bar, we've only got one.
so that's usually the bar that goes first.
Everyone kind of wants that.
And then, we've got multiple of the other bars.
So, yeah, once they book, they book their preferred bar.
and then that's kind of locked in, ready to go.
Like, they're all different styles.
Like you want to maybe outline like three or four of the different ones.
(20:57):
Um, like, cause I saw some like more modern ones with like the white and they, you know,like they would kind of.
Fitting in a more modern kind of venue.
Do you to go through a couple of different options?
Yeah, so they've all got names starting with F.
So Frankie, Flo and Fern, Freya has kind of been the theme that we've gone with.
So Frankie, Caravan Bar, obviously that's more suited to a certain type of vibe that youwanted to create for your big day.
(21:27):
Then we've got Flo and Fern, which are our white wedding bars.
They're four meters in length.
So they're kind of like the grand, know, no branding.
fit in with any, you know, themes that you're having.
and then we've got Fran, which is a black bar, which we've been so surprised has startedto become really popular with weddings lately, having, you know, a feature black bar on
(21:49):
there.
and then we've got bars which have beer taps on them to be able to do tap beer.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So yeah, you can also do tap cocktails.
Look, we don't, we're not a fan of tap cocktails.
We, a big part of what we
do is we want it to be premium.
So, you know, we definitely do.
(22:10):
We've done weddings for 200, 250 people before.
And, you know, if they're looking for quick service, then we might look to put a tapcocktail on.
But a lot of the time we want to focus on, you know, good tasting cocktails, premiumingredients, you know, like in our margaritas, we focus on like fresh lime juice and those
little bits and pieces that you just can't put in a big keg of cocktail mix.
(22:33):
Yeah.
So when people hire you, like how many bar staff would they typically get?
is it, you know, like if there's 50 guests, you've got to have one.
how does that work?
so we always have a minimum of two staff on so up to 50 would be two staff.
If you start creeping over 50 again, it kind of depends if you've got cocktails and nococktails, but basing on cocktails over 50, you'd be getting to three bar staff.
(22:58):
The closer you get to 100, you know, you're getting to four to five staff.
So we really focus on that level of service.
We want it to be it's such an important part of their day.
You know, we make sure that we've always got one staff member who is just looking afterthe bride and groom.
We see it so often where the bride and groom have these massive weddings and just by theend they are so exhausted, you know, they just don't get a chance to get to the bar.
(23:26):
So one staff member is always looking after the bride and groom.
So we always make sure that they've got a drink in hand.
And yeah, we're kind of always looking and going, they're empty.
All right, let's just get another drink.
out to them.
It's so good because the amount of times you see a bride and groom kind of at the back ofa line and like go to the front.
Yeah.
Get to the front.
(23:47):
A lot of them feel bad that our staff are waiting on them.
Yeah, they're like, no, no, no, no, it's fine.
Like we can go to the bar.
It's like, absolutely not.
We're going to take care of you.
Yeah, exactly.
That's amazing.
So, like what would, what would a typical wedding look like for you day?
Like for you at the moment, like I said, like the whole entertainment factor comes intoit.
(24:09):
Are you doing like a lot of bigger, bigger weddings or?
Yeah, look, I would probably say this year there definitely has been the wedding sizes aregetting smaller.
And I think obviously cost of living and all those bits and pieces are coming into play.
Last year, we had a lot of really, really big weddings, but this year kind of we'venoticed that, you know, 50 to 80 seems to be that sweet spot for a lot of weddings.
(24:33):
It's like just nice and intimate as well.
like for, I feel like your staff that you have on, they are like everyone I've met that'sworked for you, like very charismatic.
Like they're people you want to talk to.
And so like when you do have these like, you know, 50 to 80 people events, you kind of doneed that as well.
Cause people leaning towards you.
Yeah, we look, when we hire staff, we're not looking for the most experienced cocktailbartenders in Brisbane.
(24:56):
We're looking for people that can have a conversation.
We're looking for people who are bubbly, people who are happy, you know, people that justwant to be there.
I don't think there's anything worse than, you know, going to an event or going to arestaurant and you can just tell that the staff don't want to be there.
So yeah, it's been a really big focus of ours is, you know, we want the staff to have aconversation.
(25:19):
We want them to ask a customer how their day's going.
I want them to stress over the bride and groom and make sure that they're happy.
That's what we want in a staff member.
And the training of being able to make a perfect cocktail, anyone can do that.
But customer service and being happy and bubbly, you've kind of got to put an effort inyourself.
(25:41):
As far as what does a team in the business looks like?
I know you go to like a lot of people working on the bars and everything like that.
What is it the actual core business look like at the moment?
Well, yeah, Alex and I is kind of full-time day-to-day inquiries, washing glasses, all thefun stuff.
And then we've got a team of about six supervisors, and they're all, you know, experiencedhospitality professionals that can run their own weddings and events.
(26:10):
And then we've got bartenders underneath that, that, yeah, so...
On a day-to-day basis, the team would arrive at our warehouse, the vans would be packedready for them to head out.
They would go do the event, come back to the warehouse, and then it's usually me washingthe glasses and unpacking everything.
That's what I was going to ask.
Do you get out on site very often now?
Like as far as to like the events yourself?
(26:32):
So, yeah, so I work every single weekend.
I probably don't need to, but I just, I love it.
give me, I would much rather be out shaking cocktails than be in the office on thecomputer doing a quote.
Like I just enjoy that hands-on side of things, but Alex and I are both in events everysingle weekend.
(26:58):
So, you know, usually we'll divide and conquer.
So, you know, for example, this weekend, we've got five different events on Saturday.
So I would do one, Alex would do one, the supervisors would then split up to do the otherone.
But I think it's important to be, you know, to work in the business so that you can kindof see firsthand.
Do you have couples saying like, no, we want you at our event.
(27:24):
We definitely do.
And when Alex and I moved down here, we very much made it.
We didn't want it in Townsville.
It was Cody and Alex with Vintage Barco.
And when we moved down here, we didn't want it to be that because the Vintage Barco isbigger than just us.
So we really, you know, wanted to make sure that
(27:45):
you know, our staff matched our vibe and, you know, would give the same experience thatAlex and I would at a wedding.
And we are so extremely lucky because all of our team absolutely match our vibe and whatwe give out.
But we'll still get bride and groom that'll say, so you and Alex will be at our wedding.
And we usually say, you know, one of us definitely could be, but probably not both of us.
(28:11):
And yeah, we always want to reassure them that just because it's not
us, there's still going to be someone there who is just just as good.
But yeah, we've got a couple of weddings coming up, which have, you know, said, just wantto make sure that it's either you or Alex, so they're going to be.
I've had that, was chatting to the guys from Avenue Andy, that was a while ago now, andsame thing, he does photo video, but he has like a director's like package as well.
(28:36):
Where it's pretty much like, okay, then I will be there, you know, it's like, it's almostgetting to the point where it's like, you need to have that as well.
Yeah, Alex and I often say, you you go to a barber sometimes and you look at the pricelist and there's like a direct price list, you know, if you want like the premium person
to cut your hair and yeah, we always say, oh, maybe we need to start charging more, youknow, if they want Alex or I to be at their wedding, but no, we're, yeah, we will always
(29:02):
be at
at an event every weekend, you know.
Yeah.
So we always look at, you know, what is the, we're always at the bigger ones as well.
You know, we always make sure that, you know, if there's ones that are a little bit morecomplex in terms of, you know, having cocktails in different areas and all those bits and
pieces that we can kind of be there to oversee that.
(29:24):
But yeah, we have an incredible team who definitely match the vibe that we bring to awedding.
I guess that's whole business, it?
Like that is a brand, like, yes, it is both of you, but like, but we've created this brandand we oversee everyone, we hire everyone, we train them in this way.
So that's what you're getting.
think a lot of people are scared as well.
Like lot of people will say to us, you know, are they your staff or are they agency staff,for example?
(29:50):
And that they're always our staff.
Like our core business is always our staff.
You know, I am like a helicopter dad when my team are at their own event and I need tomake sure that they got there on time.
I need to make sure that, you know, that they've set up the bar correctly and all thoselittle bits and pieces that I stress every weekend to make sure that it's perfect.
(30:14):
So, yeah, we all of our events are our staff that work them.
You know, all any new staff work alongside Alex and I for weeks before they would go outto work.
you know, an event themselves.
And we make sure that our supervisors that, you know, are looking after event, that theyall know what Alex and I expect from them when they go, and they go over and above that.
(30:39):
most of them have been in the bartender role for a while as well and they're kind ofstepping into that supervisor role.
Yeah, like, we've got one supervisor that's actually in the Air Force.
Tish was in, was in hospitality for a long time.
She's now an aviation mechanic in the Air Force, working Monday to Friday.
So, yeah, she's been with us since we first moved down here and she literally just worksSaturdays for us and like loves it.
(31:04):
I think that the big thing is
Like our staff, a lot of our staff are just so excited to come and work at the venues andwork at the houses that we get to go to for events.
And it is so different to working behind a bar where it's literally just a wave ofcustomers and you're just serving a serving, like you've got time to chat.
You've got time to engage with customers.
(31:25):
You know, there's fun, there's banter.
yeah.
That's almost having like that higher staff level as well is like that someone is probablygoing to be free to do that.
And that's what's going to make other like clients remember you as well.
Cause like they, don't want just like, yeah, I a cocktail.
He's a cocktail.
And that's it.
Like they're looking for that experience.
100 and like, you we often say that bartenders also can be counselors as well.
(31:50):
Because, you know, everyone just wants to have a chat at the bar, you know, and it'sreally, really lovely.
A lot of people will, you know, want to engage with the staff and like, what do you do?
And are you a uni?
What are you studying?
And, you know, there's kind of the conversation just flows.
We always say to the staff, it's really important to remember what people drink as well.
so, you know, if engage in a conversation with someone, just remember what they'redrinking for the remainder of the night.
(32:15):
You know, when they're walking up to the bar or that they're drinking espresso martinis,I've already gotten espresso martini.
That makes people so happy.
really does.
It's like, it me feel so special.
Like they, they see me.
Do you have any hints or tips for like a couple?
Um, they probably like, they don't drink all that much, but they, they definitely wantyour services because they, they love the bars and everything like that.
(32:36):
Any hints or tips for them?
Look, we we've actually done quite a few weddings, which has been no alcohol weddings aswell.
But I think our advice to bride and grooms or couples in general is not to try and pleaseeveryone.
You know, we'll see it a lot where only Cheryl only drink Chardonnay and this one onlydrinks Rose.
(32:57):
And we always say to them like, don't stress about that, you know, focus on
on the drink list that you would want part of your day, you know?
And if that means that they're not big drinkers and they want to see mocktails on themenu, but they're worried, but you know, such and such life's cocktails, well, it's your
day, you know, focus on what it is that you want on your menu and your day.
(33:20):
And don't worry about trying to please so many people.
There's always going to be another option for them to drink on the menu.
Yeah, exactly.
Nani Shera can bring a bottle of rose if she really wants to.
What's next for the vintage Barco?
Yeah, so further growth.
So we need to expand our team a lot more.
We actually franchised our business as well and kept Vintage Barco in Townsville.
(33:47):
So really crazy, we had announced that we were leaving North Queensland.
Everyone was like, what are we going to do?
And Ben and Ash, which are actually wedding singers in Townsville, who we just did lots ofevents with, like, obviously the vendor community is much smaller in Townsville.
(34:08):
And they reached out to us one day and we said, can we franchise Vintage Barco and keep itin Townsville?
And we were like, what?
What do you mean?
And yeah, we were kind of in the middle of finishing up in Townsville and then also tryingto create this franchise, which we didn't have any experience with.
So yeah, so we ended up long story short franchising.
(34:30):
So Vintage Barco is still in Townsville as well.
And Ben and Ash and Adam do an incredible job up there.
They've got a vintage caravan.
They've got the same bars that we've got up there.
So I think the future goal is looking at, you know, how do we expand?
Vintage Barco, we've got the brand, we've got every other little bit and piece to helpmake it successful for a couple.
(34:57):
And I think if I can do it and Alex can do it, anyone could do it.
So yeah, that's probably the future goal is to see where else can we bring Vintage Barcoto life.
right.
Sydney and Melbourne watching out.
All of a sudden you have to be moving down to Melbourne.
Well, that's, big.
Like, yeah, to be that excited and being able to move like that.
(35:17):
Yeah, so it was great because, you know, it was important.
You know, we, we, we loved Townsville.
loved the community in Townsville, but we needed to take that next step.
And we thought that meant at the time finishing up in Townsville, we never consideredthat, you know, that there'd be someone that wanted to buy our business.
(35:38):
We're like, what, really?
So yeah, we, it's, it's up there.
You know, those guys do, you know, over 50 weddings a year.
up there with it and obviously being North Queensland, it's the wedding season is muchsmaller because of the heat and those bits and pieces.
So yeah, it's, it's, you know, we'll go back to Townsland and visit and it'll be crazy.
(36:01):
We'll be like driving somewhere and we'll see like the vintage barco van driving and we'relike, that's ours.
Like we created that.
Yeah.
It's kind of cool and surreal.
Does expansion look like franchising out or does it look like building your act like thebusiness to further out?
Probably franchising, know, Alex and I can't do it all.
(36:22):
You know, we seriously, as much as I would love to be in a hundred places at once, Iseriously can't.
you know, we, you know, I think two years into the vintage barco in North Queensland, Alexand I, you know, we were both very busy in our full-time roles and we thought, do you know
what?
I think it's time to sell.
(36:43):
And I put it on the market and I got tie kickers.
come and look at it.
And I was like, I said, I remember saying to Alex, like, I don't want these people to ownmy business.
And, you know, I guess we cared a lot about the bride and the groom and the couples we hadcoming up that we were like, you know, I couldn't see those people taking care of it.
(37:05):
And I thought to myself, I obviously don't want to sell it because if I did, I wouldn'tcare so much, I don't think so.
Yeah, I think, yeah, long term is expanding that brand.
Whether that be Sydney, Melbourne, we'll see where it takes us.
That's amazing, mate.
Thank you.
All right.
And then any parting words for couples at all?
(37:28):
No, I think, you know, just take the time, ask questions.
There is, you know, a lot of different mobile bar vendors out there as well.
You know, quite often we will, you know, again, we can't do it all.
And we have so many good relationships with other different mobile bar vendors inSoutheast Queensland.
And we're always very, you know, we want to make sure that they've got someone incrediblefor their day if it's not going to be us.
(37:54):
So, you know, we always are keen to recommend other mobile bar vendors.
So I think it's important just to, you know, look around and ask questions.
Perfect.
All right, where can people find you?
Instagram, Facebook website, the Vintage Bar Co.
But yeah, very, very active across all the social channels.
Thank you for having me.
(38:18):
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Hello and welcome to the word co podcast.
Today I've got Cody from the vintage barco on the couch with me.
(00:44):
Thank you so much for coming on, mate.
It's like when I've seen you guys around like popping up like crazy lately.
And every time I see one of your bars, I just like, it just looks so cozy and so at home.
So I'm like, I definitely have to have you on the podcast.
you, we appreciate it.
Usually I'll kind of start with a little bit of the backstory, I guess, behind the brandand, you know, how you got into weddings and how long ago.
(01:05):
Yep.
So five years now, yeah, just over five years.
It was actually during COVID.
I'd always been in hospitality in Townsville.
had, you know, I think three weeks of closure for during COVID and I was at home and Ithought to myself, my God, I'm never going to have a job.
What am I going to do?
(01:25):
And my ADHD brain was like sitting there thinking, you know, what could I do during thistime?
Because I was bored and
I literally was like, how cool would it be to have to build bars and have like a pop-upbar in someone's backyard for an event?
was never real.
weddings were never a big focus.
(01:46):
It was just like, how cool would this be?
And then I kind of went down that rabbit Warren of, how cool would it be to have a vintagecaravan that was a mobile bar?
and yeah, so next minute I'm on Gumtree.
I found a vintage caravan in Melbourne of all places.
You can't go there for three years.
And I was like, how do I get this up here?
(02:08):
Because a lot of people, you know, weren't and weren't able to travel.
And it was like country Victoria as well.
And it was a coffee van down there.
It was a 1950 or 1960s caravan.
I couldn't view it.
I was just going off with what the video what the photos were that she had showed me theowner.
(02:30):
And yeah, got it brought up.
on the back of a truck and that was pretty much the first time I'd seen it.
It was a coffee van.
and then yet over the next kind of few months, we got rid of the coffee machine cause thatwas boring and, turned it into a mobile cocktail bar.
and yeah, literally from the moment that we, we opened in towns or announced that we wereopening, was just, yeah, crazy amount of inquiries coming in and we soon realized, wow,
(03:02):
there's a lot of weddings that
that want us.
So that kind of then just moved from being a much bigger focus from doing a backyard eventto doing weddings and those different things.
And then like, especially the amount of inquiries come through and you're like, cool.
And you can kind of plan out the year as well.
You're like, we're going to need some more, you know, vans.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(03:22):
Yeah.
So it was just out of that.
And then Alex, who's the other half of the vintage barco, he's kind of the handy, youknow, builder type person.
So then I was like in Pinterest and I was like, how cool would this pop up Barbie and howcool would this pop up Barbie?
So then we just kind of started building more bars from that.
(03:43):
to then, you know, we knew that the caravan wouldn't be able to get into a lot oflocations, so we built smaller bars, different coloured bars.
Yeah.
Well, it seems like, like I was before we came on, I was like, okay, I've got to do somemore research.
And I was looking at the list of bars, man.
There's a lot of different options there, but I feel like you kind of need it these dayswith like all the different styles of weddings and stalls of, guess, venues as well to
(04:05):
kind of tie in with those venues.
Yeah, absolutely.
Like, you know, we'll often get requests for, know, can you guys do, you know, have ablack bar or, you know, do you have a red bar or anything like that?
So we kind of had to build our bars to be able to adapt with that.
You know, we do do a lot of corporate events where they want to do self branding and thosebits and pieces on there.
(04:26):
So we kind of built our bars that.
It's not more so our branding on them.
We have very minimal branding on majority of our bars and it's more about it will justkind of fit into any anyone's day.
You know, it will just fit in nicely and you know, depending the flowers and the themingand the style that they have, you know, they'll be able to put that into the bar.
(04:47):
So is that something like prior to a wedding, like say a florist or a stylist will kind ofknow that one of your bars is going to be there.
And so they'll kind of plan for styling up, you know, the bar as well.
definitely.
the, a lot of the brides will reach out to us and say, you know, hey, we want the bar tobe a feature of our day.
You know, we want to do flowers and we want to do this and we just let them go wild.
(05:09):
You know, it makes our content look good too.
So yeah, they'll, you know, they can do what they like really.
Well, every time I say like one of the caravans there as well, it is such a big focalpoint and you have so many people just hanging out at the bar as well.
And like with weddings now, you know, it is such a big, like entertaining you guess.
And I guess you kind of hitting like two birds, one stones where you've got thesebeautiful cocktails and drinks you're providing, but then also like another focal point
(05:34):
where I guess we'll kind of hang out and, know, have something to do as well.
I think...
People are always blown away when they arrive to a wedding and there is a pop-up barserving cocktails and they're not paying $22, $23 from Margarita.
They're just lined up on the bar and everyone is just always like, you know, we are themost popular part of any day.
(05:57):
Everyone is just shocked that, what do mean I don't have to pay for this?
And you guys are here for the next five hours serving us drinks.
So yeah, like we, yeah, we see it a lot and we're finding more and more people are puttinga
focus on the bar being a feature of their day.
know, a lot of people, like I said, they want to include the styling and all those littlebits and pieces just to make it seem like it is part of the entire event.
(06:24):
And like, feel like a lot of styled shoots and everything you have now, it's like, it'salmost the prerequisite for like a bar to be there as well.
Yeah.
It's like, cool.
We've got, know, we've got the stylist, we've got the florist and like the bars here, butit is, it is, it's such a big focal point.
Um, it's just like another extra add on that it's just everyone wants.
Do you want to talk about like the difference between, like the starting point and likewhere you are now, I guess.
(06:47):
Yeah, so when we started, it was literally just Alex and I, one bar.
We would do one event every month.
That then soon turned to a couple events a month and asking some friends to come and helpus serve drinks.
Then it kind of got to a point where it was every weekend, we were fully booked because itwas just Alex and I doing the weddings.
(07:15):
And we kind of got to a point where we thought to ourselves, how do we go full time intothis?
And as much as we loved North Queensland, we loved the community of North Queensland, wecouldn't just kind of expand enough to be busy enough up there.
So we decided, why don't we make the big moves to Southeast Queensland?
And why don't I just quit my job, lease a warehouse and hope that all falls into place?
(07:42):
And I can remember when we decided to do that.
I was, I've never been so scared in my life.
And I was like, I just need one booking a week to cover the warehouse rent.
All right, that's all I need to start off with.
And we moved down here and look, we put a heap into marketing, we put a heap into, youknow, networking and reaching out to venues and all those little bits and pieces.
(08:06):
And we worked really, really hard.
And I think we were about four weeks into being in Southeast Queensland.
And the bookings were just like coming in like crazy.
And we're like, do we have enough staff to be able to do all these events?
And then we soon, know, what started off with three extra staff turned to six extra staffto now 20 staff that work for us.
(08:29):
And, you know, this year we've, we've, we've got over 160 bookings booked in, which again,when we started, when we moved down here, we had zero.
And
I think, like I said before, we've just really hustled hard, you know, and just being ableto get our brand out there and yeah.
(08:53):
have either of you had businesses prior to this?
We used to actually own a photo booth business, which again was a side gig.
We would get, you know, a booking a month and we were like, cool, you know, we've got somemore money this month.
But no, never owned a business in itself.
(09:14):
Alex had no hospitality background.
had a mining background, but I'd always been in hospitality and in management.
So I kind of knew how to...
you know, run a business, but never on such a big scale.
Well, the reason I'm asking is like, because like even to dump money into advertising andeverything, like you've already taken this risk of, you know, like already this much money
(09:35):
is coming out every week for our lease for the factory.
Like that's a big gamble.
Like to even be able to do that and just be like, no, this is going to work.
Yeah.
You know, that's a big leap.
And I just can't even explain the feeling of, I really hope this works.
You know, and knowing that when we were moving down here, we also were opening ourselvesup to a lot more competitors.
(09:59):
You know, we were opening ourselves up to, but also a lot more clientele and weddings.
And yeah, we'd kind of just like, you know what, if we work hard at it, it'll work.
And yeah, that's what we did.
How do find most people finding you these days?
Is it still like a big advertising campaign like through better and stuff, or is there alot kind of, I'm assuming definitely word of mouth would be huge as well.
(10:26):
Yeah, definitely we've noticed word of mouth is a lot, but we'll kind of do a wedding or abirthday.
And there's always someone there who's getting married or has an event coming up.
And so, you know, we'll kind of get a booking from a booking.
Look, we definitely do push hard on Instagram advertising and Google advertising.
(10:46):
And I think that's an important part of any business.
You need to do that.
but you know, we, we work really hard to also build relationships with venues.
you know, when we first moved down here, you know, we wanted to, to work on thoserelationships with the venues where that don't have a bar service that we're going to be
able to fit into.
so yeah, we've worked really hard on building those relationships to now where we aretoday, where we're the preferred bar vendor for a lot of venues that we go to, which has
(11:15):
really helped.
you're providing a service for them, know, like, which is amazing.
They don't have to go and do like a full bar fit out for themselves, but these are theguys we use and they're amazing and their bars fit in with our venue.
And it's like, they're probably doing three or four weddings every week.
know, so it's like, that's, that's amazing that you had like the forethought to kind ofthink about that.
Cause everyone's like, yeah, you know, you've got a network, got a network, got a network.
(11:36):
But yeah, you find like, once you do get in with a few venues like that, it can kind ofchange the whole trajectory of a business.
And we didn't want to be, we've never wanted to be those annoying salesy people.
know, I don't want to, we didn't want to annoy venues and be like, pick us, pick us, pickus.
and when we first thought about moving down here, we're like, how could we be differentand get in front of venues?
(12:00):
And obviously we wanted to visit the venues and check them out.
And we actually sent a heap of venues, PR packs that we did ourselves that had a littlecocktail shaker and little cocktail recipe kit in there.
And it helped, you know, at the end of the day, if they want to book us, they'll book us.
(12:21):
You know, if they want us to be part of their preferred vendors, they'll want to do that.
So we thought it was important not to be like super salesy in their face, but just a hey,we're here, you know, give us a go
put like, that's all money as well.
You know, like it's a lot of money you put out there.
And I speak to, I speak to a lot of our wedding photographers too.
and I'm saying like, you know, like they want to get in with a venue.
(12:42):
like, can you just print them out a wedding album?
Like, Hey guys, can I just leave this wedding album with you?
Yeah.
Like, yeah, but I want to spend $600.
You're like, just spend the $600.
Do know what it is that, um, it does like, I think, you know, we spent over a thousanddollars on those PR packs when we sent them out to those venues.
(13:02):
And at the start I'm like, is this just ridiculous?
Is it too much money?
And, know, you have to spend money to make money.
And, and, and that was a way, a point of difference of putting us out there and getting infront of them.
And, you know, I feel it's much the same with, um, I talked to a lot of wedding vendorsthat say,
wedding open days are a waste of money, you know.
(13:24):
Whereas for us, I see it as a complete opposite.
Like, yes, it's going to cost you a little bit of money sometimes to be able to attendthese open days, but you're getting your brand and your business in front of so many
people who are ready to book, you know.
So I think that's important across the board.
I've been horrible with that in the past because like, just haven't feel like beingorganized and also had like a really good setup that I'm stoked with.
(13:48):
And so now like I'm speaking to Mandy from Ivy and blue and she's like, look, I'll helpyou with that.
It's like, cool, go spend a thousand dollars.
And then any open day, you don't have to be worried about going to, because you know, likeI've got this amazing setup.
It looks awesome.
Just take that and put that there.
There's also so much pressure with an open day.
Like you're kind of like, you know, does it look all right?
Cause in your mind, you're like, Oh, this is crap.
(14:10):
And everyone else is like, wow, this is awesome.
Um, but no, we've always found that, uh, you know, yeah, you might not get a booking fromit, but you know what?
There's going to be at a point where that person's going to remember your brand, um, andremember your business and going to want to book you.
For sure.
Well, do you want to go back to couples a little bit here?
(14:32):
Yeah.
So like, what would their experience be with you?
So they've just, you know, they've come through Instagram, they found you like, what's theexperience as far as like, yeah, inquiring with you and going from there.
you know, we'll obviously, a query will come through to our website.
We know that their day is a huge part of their planning process, you know, for 12 months,nearly two years.
(14:56):
And we know that they're going to have a lot of questions, right?
And they're probably talking to 20 different vendors and all of our pricing informationsheets all look different.
They've all got heaps of information.
So we always recommend a phone call first.
We also understand that every single couple's day is going to be different.
Okay, so we always say that our pricing is not one size fits all, kind of use that as abase and then let's tailor what it is the vibe that you want to bring to life.
(15:26):
Let us help you do that.
So you know, a lot of people will have, you know, three pages of questions sometimes, youknow, how does it work?
And, you know, what do you mean, you just make cocktails all night and my guests drinkthem.
And it's things like a shopping list.
You how much alcohol do I need to buy?
So a big part of what we do is BYO weddings.
(15:46):
So that's where the bride and groom provide the alcohol.
And then we take care of everything else.
So the glassware, the bar, the staff, the ice, all of those bits and pieces.
But obviously when you're planning a wedding for hundred people, you're like, how muchalcohol do I need to be?
So we'll help with that shopping list process.
and then usually kind of once they're locked in, most couples then, go quiet for, youknow, six to 12 months.
(16:14):
And then it's usually like eight to 10 weeks out from their wedding day that then we'rekind of back on the scene again, you know, finalizing all those little bits and pieces.
But, you know, we're very much about, making our business fit their vibe.
You know, we, we, we want to be flexible.
and yeah, look, we understand that we're never going to be.
(16:35):
everyone's first choice.
But yeah, we just want to be a little bit different.
How does a different drinks list look throughout like say different weddings?
Do couples come to you and they they be like, look, I love this cocktail, this cocktail,this cocktail.
Or like, how does that kind of work?
Yeah, so obviously cocktails are a big part of what we do and to have it at a wedding isawesome.
(16:58):
I've never been to a wedding that's had a cocktail bar like ours.
But yeah, so they'll kind of come to us and they'll say, you know, this is the list thatwe want to put together.
And then we'll kind of give them advice.
Like quite often people will go, all right, over seven hours, I want cocktails served allnight and I want espresso martini served.
And we always say to them,
(17:18):
Espresso martinis over a seven hour period is never going to be a sessionable cocktail todrink.
and whilst that would be easy for us, because it means that we're not going to have toshake as many cocktails because people aren't going to have a heap of them.
We want it to be a drink list where people are like, wow.
You know, I can have an espresso martini for cocktail hour, maybe.
(17:40):
But you know, let's not waste one of those options on your menu being an espresso martini.
Let's focus on.
you know, a, a spritz based or a margarita or something that's going to be sessionableover seven hours.
you know, whilst there's definitely been guests that have drank an espresso martinis forseven hours.
yeah, we definitely wouldn't recommend it.
(18:00):
Yeah, something like more light and festive, like where people can kind of come back to itas well.
Yeah.
And I think like the weather plays a big part in it.
You know, when it kind of starts to, the temperature starts to drop, you know, you'll seedrink menus that have mulled wine and, know, Negronis and, you know, kind of more sipper
style drinks.
(18:22):
And then when it's hot, you know, all right, margaritas are coming out.
The spritzes are coming out.
Yeah.
Do you even find that with venues, if a couple is like, we're getting married at X venue,can you almost pick the type of cocktails they're going to want as well?
Yeah, % like margaritas.
I don't think there's ever been an event where there hasn't been a margarita on the menuthat is huge.
(18:43):
And it's great.
But yeah, you can kind of you kind of know from the get go what kind of style and vibe ityou know, that's going to be will always send the bride and groom a cocktail menu, which
is like four or five pages long.
And it just has a heap of different cocktails that, you know, we'll put some advice withwhat are like the most popular cocktails, because some people are like,
(19:04):
I don't know, I just want cocktails on my menu.
And then, you know, quite often we'll get custom requests.
So the bride and groom have maybe dined at a restaurant and they've had a cocktail therethat, you know, means a lot to them too.
So we'll kind of then, you know, search the restaurant, find their cocktail menu, youknow, find the ingredients and try and recreate that cocktail for the bride and groom.
(19:29):
And so like how far should people be booking out your service?
Look, we definitely say 12 months.
We've got bookings into 2026 and 2027 already.
And we always say, you may not know what package you want or what drink menu you want, butjust secure the date.
(19:53):
Just get that date locked in and then all the other little bits and pieces can just comealong.
you know...
A lot of people want to start discussing drink menus and all those bits and pieces 12months out from their wedding day.
And we always say we're always more than happy to do that.
But you know, just like wait for the, you know, what's the weather going to be like?
(20:13):
You know, how many people are you going to have that'll all change?
You know, what drink menu you have.
we're going to have to revisit it, you know, 10 weeks out.
Yeah.
So that's yeah.
Do that.
When people book in their date, are they actually choosing the specific bar that they wantat that time?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, we have multiple of most of our bars.
So we've got over 10, different bars and multiple of them.
(20:36):
So Frankie, our caravan bar, we've only got one.
so that's usually the bar that goes first.
Everyone kind of wants that.
And then, we've got multiple of the other bars.
So, yeah, once they book, they book their preferred bar.
and then that's kind of locked in, ready to go.
Like, they're all different styles.
Like you want to maybe outline like three or four of the different ones.
(20:57):
Um, like, cause I saw some like more modern ones with like the white and they, you know,like they would kind of.
Fitting in a more modern kind of venue.
Do you to go through a couple of different options?
Yeah, so they've all got names starting with F.
So Frankie, Flo and Fern, Freya has kind of been the theme that we've gone with.
So Frankie, Caravan Bar, obviously that's more suited to a certain type of vibe that youwanted to create for your big day.
(21:27):
Then we've got Flo and Fern, which are our white wedding bars.
They're four meters in length.
So they're kind of like the grand, know, no branding.
fit in with any, you know, themes that you're having.
and then we've got Fran, which is a black bar, which we've been so surprised has startedto become really popular with weddings lately, having, you know, a feature black bar on
(21:49):
there.
and then we've got bars which have beer taps on them to be able to do tap beer.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So yeah, you can also do tap cocktails.
Look, we don't, we're not a fan of tap cocktails.
We, a big part of what we
do is we want it to be premium.
So, you know, we definitely do.
(22:10):
We've done weddings for 200, 250 people before.
And, you know, if they're looking for quick service, then we might look to put a tapcocktail on.
But a lot of the time we want to focus on, you know, good tasting cocktails, premiumingredients, you know, like in our margaritas, we focus on like fresh lime juice and those
little bits and pieces that you just can't put in a big keg of cocktail mix.
(22:33):
Yeah.
So when people hire you, like how many bar staff would they typically get?
is it, you know, like if there's 50 guests, you've got to have one.
how does that work?
so we always have a minimum of two staff on so up to 50 would be two staff.
If you start creeping over 50 again, it kind of depends if you've got cocktails and nococktails, but basing on cocktails over 50, you'd be getting to three bar staff.
(22:58):
The closer you get to 100, you know, you're getting to four to five staff.
So we really focus on that level of service.
We want it to be it's such an important part of their day.
You know, we make sure that we've always got one staff member who is just looking afterthe bride and groom.
We see it so often where the bride and groom have these massive weddings and just by theend they are so exhausted, you know, they just don't get a chance to get to the bar.
(23:26):
So one staff member is always looking after the bride and groom.
So we always make sure that they've got a drink in hand.
And yeah, we're kind of always looking and going, they're empty.
All right, let's just get another drink.
out to them.
It's so good because the amount of times you see a bride and groom kind of at the back ofa line and like go to the front.
Yeah.
Get to the front.
(23:47):
A lot of them feel bad that our staff are waiting on them.
Yeah, they're like, no, no, no, no, it's fine.
Like we can go to the bar.
It's like, absolutely not.
We're going to take care of you.
Yeah, exactly.
That's amazing.
So, like what would, what would a typical wedding look like for you day?
Like for you at the moment, like I said, like the whole entertainment factor comes intoit.
(24:09):
Are you doing like a lot of bigger, bigger weddings or?
Yeah, look, I would probably say this year there definitely has been the wedding sizes aregetting smaller.
And I think obviously cost of living and all those bits and pieces are coming into play.
Last year, we had a lot of really, really big weddings, but this year kind of we'venoticed that, you know, 50 to 80 seems to be that sweet spot for a lot of weddings.
(24:33):
It's like just nice and intimate as well.
like for, I feel like your staff that you have on, they are like everyone I've met that'sworked for you, like very charismatic.
Like they're people you want to talk to.
And so like when you do have these like, you know, 50 to 80 people events, you kind of doneed that as well.
Cause people leaning towards you.
Yeah, we look, when we hire staff, we're not looking for the most experienced cocktailbartenders in Brisbane.
(24:56):
We're looking for people that can have a conversation.
We're looking for people who are bubbly, people who are happy, you know, people that justwant to be there.
I don't think there's anything worse than, you know, going to an event or going to arestaurant and you can just tell that the staff don't want to be there.
So yeah, it's been a really big focus of ours is, you know, we want the staff to have aconversation.
(25:19):
We want them to ask a customer how their day's going.
I want them to stress over the bride and groom and make sure that they're happy.
That's what we want in a staff member.
And the training of being able to make a perfect cocktail, anyone can do that.
But customer service and being happy and bubbly, you've kind of got to put an effort inyourself.
(25:41):
As far as what does a team in the business looks like?
I know you go to like a lot of people working on the bars and everything like that.
What is it the actual core business look like at the moment?
Well, yeah, Alex and I is kind of full-time day-to-day inquiries, washing glasses, all thefun stuff.
And then we've got a team of about six supervisors, and they're all, you know, experiencedhospitality professionals that can run their own weddings and events.
(26:10):
And then we've got bartenders underneath that, that, yeah, so...
On a day-to-day basis, the team would arrive at our warehouse, the vans would be packedready for them to head out.
They would go do the event, come back to the warehouse, and then it's usually me washingthe glasses and unpacking everything.
That's what I was going to ask.
Do you get out on site very often now?
Like as far as to like the events yourself?
(26:32):
So, yeah, so I work every single weekend.
I probably don't need to, but I just, I love it.
give me, I would much rather be out shaking cocktails than be in the office on thecomputer doing a quote.
Like I just enjoy that hands-on side of things, but Alex and I are both in events everysingle weekend.
(26:58):
So, you know, usually we'll divide and conquer.
So, you know, for example, this weekend, we've got five different events on Saturday.
So I would do one, Alex would do one, the supervisors would then split up to do the otherone.
But I think it's important to be, you know, to work in the business so that you can kindof see firsthand.
Do you have couples saying like, no, we want you at our event.
(27:24):
We definitely do.
And when Alex and I moved down here, we very much made it.
We didn't want it in Townsville.
It was Cody and Alex with Vintage Barco.
And when we moved down here, we didn't want it to be that because the Vintage Barco isbigger than just us.
So we really, you know, wanted to make sure that
(27:45):
you know, our staff matched our vibe and, you know, would give the same experience thatAlex and I would at a wedding.
And we are so extremely lucky because all of our team absolutely match our vibe and whatwe give out.
But we'll still get bride and groom that'll say, so you and Alex will be at our wedding.
And we usually say, you know, one of us definitely could be, but probably not both of us.
(28:11):
And yeah, we always want to reassure them that just because it's not
us, there's still going to be someone there who is just just as good.
But yeah, we've got a couple of weddings coming up, which have, you know, said, just wantto make sure that it's either you or Alex, so they're going to be.
I've had that, was chatting to the guys from Avenue Andy, that was a while ago now, andsame thing, he does photo video, but he has like a director's like package as well.
(28:36):
Where it's pretty much like, okay, then I will be there, you know, it's like, it's almostgetting to the point where it's like, you need to have that as well.
Yeah, Alex and I often say, you you go to a barber sometimes and you look at the pricelist and there's like a direct price list, you know, if you want like the premium person
to cut your hair and yeah, we always say, oh, maybe we need to start charging more, youknow, if they want Alex or I to be at their wedding, but no, we're, yeah, we will always
(29:02):
be at
at an event every weekend, you know.
Yeah.
So we always look at, you know, what is the, we're always at the bigger ones as well.
You know, we always make sure that, you know, if there's ones that are a little bit morecomplex in terms of, you know, having cocktails in different areas and all those bits and
pieces that we can kind of be there to oversee that.
(29:24):
But yeah, we have an incredible team who definitely match the vibe that we bring to awedding.
I guess that's whole business, it?
Like that is a brand, like, yes, it is both of you, but like, but we've created this brandand we oversee everyone, we hire everyone, we train them in this way.
So that's what you're getting.
think a lot of people are scared as well.
Like lot of people will say to us, you know, are they your staff or are they agency staff,for example?
(29:50):
And that they're always our staff.
Like our core business is always our staff.
You know, I am like a helicopter dad when my team are at their own event and I need tomake sure that they got there on time.
I need to make sure that, you know, that they've set up the bar correctly and all thoselittle bits and pieces that I stress every weekend to make sure that it's perfect.
(30:14):
So, yeah, we all of our events are our staff that work them.
You know, all any new staff work alongside Alex and I for weeks before they would go outto work.
you know, an event themselves.
And we make sure that our supervisors that, you know, are looking after event, that theyall know what Alex and I expect from them when they go, and they go over and above that.
(30:39):
most of them have been in the bartender role for a while as well and they're kind ofstepping into that supervisor role.
Yeah, like, we've got one supervisor that's actually in the Air Force.
Tish was in, was in hospitality for a long time.
She's now an aviation mechanic in the Air Force, working Monday to Friday.
So, yeah, she's been with us since we first moved down here and she literally just worksSaturdays for us and like loves it.
(31:04):
I think that the big thing is
Like our staff, a lot of our staff are just so excited to come and work at the venues andwork at the houses that we get to go to for events.
And it is so different to working behind a bar where it's literally just a wave ofcustomers and you're just serving a serving, like you've got time to chat.
You've got time to engage with customers.
(31:25):
You know, there's fun, there's banter.
yeah.
That's almost having like that higher staff level as well is like that someone is probablygoing to be free to do that.
And that's what's going to make other like clients remember you as well.
Cause like they, don't want just like, yeah, I a cocktail.
He's a cocktail.
And that's it.
Like they're looking for that experience.
100 and like, you we often say that bartenders also can be counselors as well.
(31:50):
Because, you know, everyone just wants to have a chat at the bar, you know, and it'sreally, really lovely.
A lot of people will, you know, want to engage with the staff and like, what do you do?
And are you a uni?
What are you studying?
And, you know, there's kind of the conversation just flows.
We always say to the staff, it's really important to remember what people drink as well.
so, you know, if engage in a conversation with someone, just remember what they'redrinking for the remainder of the night.
(32:15):
You know, when they're walking up to the bar or that they're drinking espresso martinis,I've already gotten espresso martini.
That makes people so happy.
really does.
It's like, it me feel so special.
Like they, they see me.
Do you have any hints or tips for like a couple?
Um, they probably like, they don't drink all that much, but they, they definitely wantyour services because they, they love the bars and everything like that.
(32:36):
Any hints or tips for them?
Look, we we've actually done quite a few weddings, which has been no alcohol weddings aswell.
But I think our advice to bride and grooms or couples in general is not to try and pleaseeveryone.
You know, we'll see it a lot where only Cheryl only drink Chardonnay and this one onlydrinks Rose.
(32:57):
And we always say to them like, don't stress about that, you know, focus on
on the drink list that you would want part of your day, you know?
And if that means that they're not big drinkers and they want to see mocktails on themenu, but they're worried, but you know, such and such life's cocktails, well, it's your
day, you know, focus on what it is that you want on your menu and your day.
(33:20):
And don't worry about trying to please so many people.
There's always going to be another option for them to drink on the menu.
Yeah, exactly.
Nani Shera can bring a bottle of rose if she really wants to.
What's next for the vintage Barco?
Yeah, so further growth.
So we need to expand our team a lot more.
We actually franchised our business as well and kept Vintage Barco in Townsville.
(33:47):
So really crazy, we had announced that we were leaving North Queensland.
Everyone was like, what are we going to do?
And Ben and Ash, which are actually wedding singers in Townsville, who we just did lots ofevents with, like, obviously the vendor community is much smaller in Townsville.
(34:08):
And they reached out to us one day and we said, can we franchise Vintage Barco and keep itin Townsville?
And we were like, what?
What do you mean?
And yeah, we were kind of in the middle of finishing up in Townsville and then also tryingto create this franchise, which we didn't have any experience with.
So yeah, so we ended up long story short franchising.
(34:30):
So Vintage Barco is still in Townsville as well.
And Ben and Ash and Adam do an incredible job up there.
They've got a vintage caravan.
They've got the same bars that we've got up there.
So I think the future goal is looking at, you know, how do we expand?
Vintage Barco, we've got the brand, we've got every other little bit and piece to helpmake it successful for a couple.
(34:57):
And I think if I can do it and Alex can do it, anyone could do it.
So yeah, that's probably the future goal is to see where else can we bring Vintage Barcoto life.
right.
Sydney and Melbourne watching out.
All of a sudden you have to be moving down to Melbourne.
Well, that's, big.
Like, yeah, to be that excited and being able to move like that.
(35:17):
Yeah, so it was great because, you know, it was important.
You know, we, we, we loved Townsville.
loved the community in Townsville, but we needed to take that next step.
And we thought that meant at the time finishing up in Townsville, we never consideredthat, you know, that there'd be someone that wanted to buy our business.
(35:38):
We're like, what, really?
So yeah, we, it's, it's up there.
You know, those guys do, you know, over 50 weddings a year.
up there with it and obviously being North Queensland, it's the wedding season is muchsmaller because of the heat and those bits and pieces.
So yeah, it's, it's, you know, we'll go back to Townsland and visit and it'll be crazy.
(36:01):
We'll be like driving somewhere and we'll see like the vintage barco van driving and we'relike, that's ours.
Like we created that.
Yeah.
It's kind of cool and surreal.
Does expansion look like franchising out or does it look like building your act like thebusiness to further out?
Probably franchising, know, Alex and I can't do it all.
(36:22):
You know, we seriously, as much as I would love to be in a hundred places at once, Iseriously can't.
you know, we, you know, I think two years into the vintage barco in North Queensland, Alexand I, you know, we were both very busy in our full-time roles and we thought, do you know
what?
I think it's time to sell.
(36:43):
And I put it on the market and I got tie kickers.
come and look at it.
And I was like, I said, I remember saying to Alex, like, I don't want these people to ownmy business.
And, you know, I guess we cared a lot about the bride and the groom and the couples we hadcoming up that we were like, you know, I couldn't see those people taking care of it.
(37:05):
And I thought to myself, I obviously don't want to sell it because if I did, I wouldn'tcare so much, I don't think so.
Yeah, I think, yeah, long term is expanding that brand.
Whether that be Sydney, Melbourne, we'll see where it takes us.
That's amazing, mate.
Thank you.
All right.
And then any parting words for couples at all?
(37:28):
No, I think, you know, just take the time, ask questions.
There is, you know, a lot of different mobile bar vendors out there as well.
You know, quite often we will, you know, again, we can't do it all.
And we have so many good relationships with other different mobile bar vendors inSoutheast Queensland.
And we're always very, you know, we want to make sure that they've got someone incrediblefor their day if it's not going to be us.
(37:54):
So, you know, we always are keen to recommend other mobile bar vendors.
So I think it's important just to, you know, look around and ask questions.
Perfect.
All right, where can people find you?
Instagram, Facebook website, the Vintage Bar Co.
But yeah, very, very active across all the social channels.
Thank you for having me.
(38:18):
in to the Wedco Podcast.
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