What do Cocktail Bars and Diversity have in Common?

My latest ‘thing’ is clarified cocktails.

For those of you who don’t yet share my obsession, it’s where you separate the thickly-sickly-syrupy juice and leave behind the crystal clear essence of the drink. The result is a lighter, less sweet flavour hit. The best bit? It allows bartenders to introduce more experimental food flavours into drinks. I’ve experienced crystal clear cocktail creations infused with everything from tomato to parmesan to Mexican mole.

A friend told me about a new bar that goes big on clarified cocktails made from sustainable food. I booked a table at the earliest opportunity, and off we went.

A Fresh Experience

I’ve been to a lot of cocktail bars (can I call this a hobby?) and you always expect the same thing: dim, sepia lighting, leather chairs, dark, heavy furnishings, quirky pineapple lamps and a large, mirrored bar display, packed to the ceiling with spirit bottles.

As I opened the door to Fura, up a narrow staircase on Singapore’s central Amoy Street, I was struck by natural light streaming through the windows. The decor, too, didn’t absorb light. It was stainless steel and blue with hints of peach, reminiscent of a high-end home kitchen in a penthouse apartment.

We soon learned that the bar was made from recycled glass, the coasters were up-cycled oyster shells and outside there was a little garden, growing ingredients we drank. Refreshing, I thought.

My first drink was entirely clear but tomato-based and tasted like a smooth, delicate Bloody Mary. The lady who served me behind the bar explained that the drink was her favourite, and had been born of a mistake in the kitchen which had left her with 40kg of tomatoes they needed to use up.

The cocktails were enough, not large, not as strong as most cocktails and I came out 4 drinks later feeling a level of tipsy that meant I could enjoy the rest of the night without a hangover tomorrow.

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Feeling Diversity

Something felt different about the place: the lighter atmosphere, the lighter drinks and the use of waste food to make a considerate tipple that doesn’t cost the earth.

It reminded me of a woman-owned restaurant I’d been to years ago in Siem Reap. Its smaller portions, lighter food and emphasis on herbal teas between courses meant it remains the only tasting menu ever where I didn’t leave full-to-bursting and needing a lie-down.

Fura must be designed and owned by women, I thought.

Curious, I googled. Sure enough, Fura is owned by chef Christina Rasmussen and mixologist Sasha Wijidessa, the former is ex-head forager of three-Michelin-starred Noma and the latter is Asia-Pacific Commercial Director of Danish distillery Empirical.

No question, they are world-leading experts in food and drink, and they’re bringing something different to the table in an industry crying out for diversity.

Female bar tenders are paid ~$1.50 less per hour than their male counterparts and just 25% of entrants to bartending competitions (crucial for reputation-building) are female. Black bar employees in the US make up just 6.8% of the industry and according to a study of New York fine dining restaurants, applicants identifying as Black, Asian, or Hispanic were only 54% as likely as white applicants to receive a job offer, despite equal qualifications for the job.

Given how hard it is for people who don’t fit the mould to break into the industry, it’s no wonder that high-end cocktail bars offer strikingly similar experiences to their guests.

We feel the lack of diversity.

Help People Feel Your Efforts

Even within large companies flying the flag for diversity, you see it in their annual report, but you rarely feel the impact of a more diverse organisation before you’re told about it via statistics.

Granted, for a big company, this ‘feeling of diversity’ is hard to achieve on a large scale. But what about for startups? How can we seize the opportunity to do differently in the early days?

Embrace rejectors of your value proposition

Plenty of people will find Fura’s drinks too light for their liking. But those people have a lot of other options open to them – the odds of them returning after a single visit were always low because so much else out there appeals to them.

In a crowded market, if no one rejects what you do, you’re likely offering something mainstream that’s too similar to everyone else. Starting with a sector who are underrepresented and have fewer options tailored to them is a recipe for sustained success. In Fura’s case, there’s a promising market despite rejectors: a recent study showed women are 30% more likely to spend more on alcoholic drinks in bars.

Test with extreme customers

When we recruit customers to test our proposition, we often stick with the mainstream and avoid the fringes so as not to ‘bias’ our results. But these customers are actually the more fertile learning ground. They can more accurately articulate why they want what they want (because they’re so passionate about it) and they are more engaged in the topic.

Finding these customers ensures you get to the heart of what it is your sector of the mainstream wants, but can’t yet articulate for themselves. The extreme customer’s ‘early adopter’ openness to new things means they’re often ahead of their time, seeing trends before anyone else in a way that can shape and guide your strategy.

Weave diversity into the fabric of your customer journey

The moment you start crafting the experience you offer your customers, there’s an opportunity to embed diversity at every touchpoint now, rather than retro-fitting later.

From hiring to product sourcing to customer interactions, you can be innovative about how you incorporate your values.

For hiring, how will you create a job description and application process that attracts diverse talent? How will you screen that talent to minimise bias?

For product sourcing, how will you ensure the providers in your supply chain uphold the same ethical practices?

And for customer interactions, how will you train staff to help people from diverse backgrounds feel welcome? What about the copy on your website?

Agree to disagree

If everyone is in agreement, diversity of thought is not present.

Sometimes, effort needs to be made to bring contrasting perspectives to the table. This puts pressure on individuals who don’t agree with the majority to find their voice.

Former General Motors CEO, Alfred Pritchard Sloan famously wrapped up a crucial meeting by asking if everyone was in agreement on the decision. After receiving unanimous nods, he followed: “let’s postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting. This will give us time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain a better understanding of what this decision is about.”

We all have a responsibility to voice our opinions especially if we think differently. Leaders have equal responsibility to tease out contrasting perspectives from team members and, like Sloan, to refuse to accept passive agreement from a pack of nodding dogs.

In many organisations satisfied with the status quo, it can sometimes be hard to imagine the benefits fresh perspective can bring.

Fura provides a great “ah-ha!” moment for diversity in action because the creator’s vision is laid bare. From the decor you see and the music you hear to the smells and tastes you enjoy, guests are invited to experience the benefits of diversity of thought and approach.

How might we bring a refreshingly different experience to all types of business, so customers feel the benefits of diversity before they see it?

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