The Athens Bar Show: Thirsty for an experience

In 2009, Athens had a handful of cocktail bars. Today, it has over 100. We speak to Babis Kaidalidis, who took the step a decade ago to put Athens on the map, cocktail-wise. The Athens Bar show is set to go on as scheduled on November 9 & 10, 2021.

My interview with Babis

Hello Babis and thank you for speaking to us. Can you take us back to 2010 and tell us how the Athens Bar Show was first conceived?

The idea for the show in Greece came from my visits to London and Berlin. We are a training company. We were looking for a way to educate people on a massive scale. If you need to teach people, you have to bring in great professionals, from your country, from your city, and from around the world, to speak about their profession to speak about the job, about their ideas. So when I visited the Bar Show in London and BCB in Berlin, in 2009, I hit on the idea. I really understood the idea behind the two events, especially BCB at that time. At BCB I became obsessed with creating an exhibition that was the perfect combination: the products and the best professionals of the of the world to follow, to listen to, to speak with, as well as networking with all my colleagues. People come to a bar event for many different reasons. I wanted to recreate that feeling I had back in 2009. I wanted people to find all the products they love, or new products that they will use professionally; to meet the people they want, and of course to educate themselves by way of masterclasses and seminars. So this was my vision for the show. So, I would say that my idea was inspired by BCB but not only; it came from a variety of experiences.

And you did your own kind of spin on it. Has the location always been Technopolis?

At first our first location was inside another fair. It was the biggest hospitality fair at the time. The fair organizer (Xenia) asked us to help create an event for bars and bartenders. We accepted and invested a lot of time and resources to set up our first show. We did it in that location for two years. Then we moved to another location in the center of Athens, which was called the hub events for two years, and after that we moved to Technopolis in 2014.

Why was that location chosen?

It's in the center of Athens. It's very beautiful as a venue. And I think it’s the biggest available venue in Athens. So, if we wanted to be in the center of Athens it was the logical choice. It's very central, also for Athenians. Athens is very big. When you say, I'm going to the center, you are always referring to the historic center that means Syntagma square. Technopolis is just on the limit of the historical center.

You also seem to be one of the first in Greece that are repurposing spaces. This was the old gasworks. A lot of people are doing that now in fairs, as BCB had done in the past.

Yeah, that is a trend now, but our reason is simply the lack of available venues. Also the economic crisis didn’t help. We are going to see a lot more repurposed venues in the future for this reason.

Greece has experienced so much financial crisis even before the pandemic, and I can only imagine how it is now. Yet I see the most vibrant bar scene in Athens. It seems that there's no expense spared in fitting out the most amazing bars. How does this work out that the country's in a financial crisis, but these bars are so over-the-top?

I have thought about this and I think it has to do with the Greek mentality. I believe that the guests started to choose value and not volume. So, when you're in an economic crisis, you are still you and you cannot stop going out. This is in our DNA, just like the Italians. People want to go outside; we want to socialize. Even the younger people are starting to spend their money on a better product.

Go big or go home?

Yes, something like that. If you have, let's say 20 euros to spend per day, you're going to spend it on two great cocktails, not on three cheap ones. The other thing I saw is that the bar scene is very competitive. You always have to have to come up with something different. Back in 2010, we didn’t really have a cocktail culture at all in Greece. When the crisis started in 2010, we had two or three cocktail bars in Athens. In 2012, we had at least 50.

Wow.

In 2014, we had about 100 and it has been growing exponentially. Now you can go to some small villages in Greece with a population of 3 to 5000 and find a great bar.

Babis, a lot is owed to you because you did so much to raise the awareness about cocktail bars in Athens and, and then from Athens to all of Greece and even to Eastern Europe. What do you think the Athens bar show has that sets it sets it apart from the other bar shows?

I believe it’s our educational program. Since we are a bar academy, we place great importance on education and training; those are the things that that matter. Because when you're going to an exhibition, there are a few things that you can do: one thing is to make business agreements with other professionals; to see the available products, and another is to network with your friends and colleagues. We also want the visitor’s experience to be as seamless as possible. So we are trying to avoid too many checks at the entrance. We're asking guests to register at home, so when they come they have everything on their phone—they just need to scan it at the entrance. We give them a wristband that lets them go in and out easily. We also consult with the exhibitors to brainstorm how we can all make the visitor experience a smooth one.

We want to make sure we meet expectations and make your life easy. We're putting a music just at the right volume so that you can still speak with everybody without yelling. We are encouraging exhibitors not to turn their stand into a club. We created a rule: you are not permitted to have your own music. If an exhibitor has a whole area to themselves, then yes, but otherwise, a loud mix of different music can be stressing. It’s a mess.

And you you left out something very important, Babis… it's the fun. This fair is so much fun.

Having fun. Yeah. The other thing that I think that you saw in our show is that we Greeks are very, very hospitable. We want you to have fun. That's true. Same as the Italians. This is why I'm very confident that the Rome Bar show will be a success.

(Editor’s note: The word on the street is that Rome might have to wait until 2022, but stay tuned)

As you said, Athens is a very big city. But if you compare it to Berlin, to go to the different bars at night, it's easy to get around in Athens, you can literally walk everywhere, from one bar to the next. There are a few that are a little bit further out, but most of them are right in the center. And you can hit so many in one evening.

Yeah. This is the after the Athens Bar Show experience. It’s geographical, because most but not all of the best bars are in the center. I would say that the best bars in all of Greece are here and we are fortunate because they are all more or less near near Syntagma square.

Your show is planned for November 9 and 10th, as in 2019, after a one-year suspension. What will be different in this edition compared to the previous years?

I believe the show could be the same as it was two years ago, but we will have to follow the rules. I think the pandemic rules will be lifted by then.

No masks?

No masks, I believe. Because you can already see it in the news, saying that if you are vaccinated, you will not have to wear a mask. I believe that will happen in September or October. And as you know, in Athens, even in November, the weather is still nice. About 70% of the show is outdoors. And that is naturally safer.

Now I’m going to ask you to tell me a secret. Your speakers have not been announced yet. Can you give me a hint of one speaker that is confirmed?

We're not inviting people yet. We don’t usually invite them a long time before the show. Okay. We usually start inviting people during the summer. So for now, I would say to think of a person you would like to see at the show and we will invite them, okay?

Are there any new topics you're going to be talking about this edition, something different than you usually talk about?

I think this year, we're going to speak about recruitment. That's really hurting the industry now. We will start the conversation about how we can bring more young people to our industry, and bring the best young people. Because I think you know that there's a very big problem in the recruiting process. Everybody is looking for waiters and bartenders, and I believe that the working conditions and salaries were not the best around the world. This is an important topic to focus on this year.

What do you see in the future for 2021 and 2022, as far as new trends are concerned?

What we need to change in the future is the way we view the profession. I believe that in the next two or three years, professionals in our industry who have reached success will be in a position to help the people that are getting in the business now to gain respect for the category. Because now, being in hospitality has traditionally been a job for young people.

The common mentality was that you are going to work in the hospitality sector for 20 years, and then you have to do something else. I disagree. You can have a full, healthy career. You can have a family and be in the hospitality business. If you say that you are an IT developer, you gain respect. And if you say that you are working in hospitality, you are not. This needs to change. And this WILL change in the next four or so years, because I believe that hospitality industry is going to be bigger and bigger in the next 10 or 15 years.

What do you think about this summer in Greece? What kind of summer do you think you're going to have for the bar scene?

From what I see at the moment, I believe it's going be great. Not the best summer that we ever had, but it will be a great summer because, first, our guests are really thirsty, to have a good time and to have experiences, and second, our guests have started to understand the importance of hospitality. Because they were forced to stay at home. For many months, they couldn’t go out and socialize. So I believe that this will make them appreciate everything more.

“ People are thirsty. They are thirsty not only to drink but for experiences.”

During the lockdown, people could always get a drink or food and take it home. The thing missing was the experience. I believe that everybody is out there for the experience. This is why I believe in I'm very optimistic about the industry. I believe that this is the best time to be in the industry. Well not now, but in a few months. I say: have a little patience, the best is yet to come.

What spirits are on the crest of the wave for this year. Next year? What new spirits do you think we're going to get more attention?

I think that all the low ABV, and I believe that vermouth is going to be big in the next few years. Drinks like Aperol and Campari will continue on top in the next few years. I’m not so sure about the hard seltzers, though. I think whisky and rum will continue to grow.

Do you think there's going to be a roaring 20s as some people are predicting, that after the pandemic, people are going to go crazy with their spending and go wild?

I believe so. I can see it for myself.

Okay, that was my next question. How have you changed after the pandemic?

First of all, I had time to think about many things, and really appreciate the valuable things now. I believe that everybody has spent a lot of time thinking about their true passions. I started reading philosophy. I believe that the pandemic helped me with that. And psychology. So it's, kind of combination. I can see for myself: we have been open for 15 days now, and I have already eaten in restaurants more than 20 times. Virtually every day. And the other thing that changed me is that I really appreciate experiences. I have spent most of my “fun money” on experiences.