Currently leased through Greene King by Sophia Idjer and her business partner Blake (Mark Blake), The Bohemian Cocktail Bar is a music hub that takes inclusivity seriously. BII’s Eleanor Kirby joined Sophia on a video call to talk about working to welcome all and making their commercial kitchen do some hard graft.
Opening her first venue in August 2020, mid-pandemic, seems not to have phased Sophia Idjer who has a background in hospitality technology. Joining BII Trusted Partners, Kbox, as their European Sales Managing Director (a post Idjer has now left to focus on developing The Bohemian), Sophia says “it felt like I came home.”
Speaking over Google Meets in early August, The Bohemian Cocktail bar has newly reopened free from all restrictions (after only being open for three months prior to the winter lockdown) and Sophia can only but sing pub company Greene King’s praises. “We’ve been heavily restricted. I’ve had an awful lot of support from Greene King. Our Business Development Manager is Asa Charlton, and although I think we’ve got quite a different venue to one he’s used to, he has been so supportive. All Greene King have done is try and learn and be supportive.”
With no other financial support available in terms of local authority grants or Bounce back loans, Sophia is thankful for the brewery’s support on rent relief. “Greene King have also been really helpful when we were first setting up our commercial kitchen, they helped me bring in equipment, replace older equipment, and they’ve shared some of the costs too.” Describing The Bohemian Cocktail bar as being a music venue with a focus on old school R&B, old school Garage, Reggae and Bashment music, Sophia says, “we’ve got a very different offering to anyone else in Moseley which has a very bohemian feel.
“The beauty of bringing in customers to our venue from all sides of Birmingham, and even London, is that other local businesses – the chip shop, the convenience store, local eateries and the taxis, get a completely new set of customers too.” Setting up the kitchen, with the help of her knowledge of Kbox brands meant that the venue could enter into the food delivery space during lockdowns and find a use for their kitchen space while the venue is closed (The Bohemian Cocktail Bar concentrates its opening hours on a Friday-Sunday schedule centred around music promoters).
“Kbox is an absolute no brainer for a hospitality venue that has a kitchen that isn’t at full capacity. We traditionally think of bums on seats: we think of people coming in and purchasing our core business, but there’s revenue that sits within a three mile radius to your location.
“Kbox is an absolute no brainer for a hospitality venue that has a kitchen that isn’t at full capacity. We traditionally think of bums on seats: we think of people coming in and purchasing our core business, but there’s revenue that sits within a three mile radius to your location.
The most popular brands that The Bohemian Cocktail Bar uses are The Absurd Bird and The Absurd Vird (the vegan option), which Sophia says also work really well alongside sit down brunch offerings on Sundays. Currently, it makes up around 30-40% of their revenue. Quickly adapting to changing restrictions, Sophia recognised that she needed to build a package of events to boost trading on a Sunday and cater to the customers who perhaps didn’t want to finish the weekend quite so soon.
“We’re very lucky that Bohemian has a loyal set of party goers as a late night venue. Fridays and Saturdays just weren’t enough for us while we were working at a third of our capacity, so we started the Sunday Sessions which were events where you could go with a little bit of a hangover, but still dress up and party.
“Sundays actually became our strongest days because we were working with our promoters, DJ Dayday (recently featured on BBC 1Extra), DJ Mexy, Supper Club Sundays (our main support throughout lockdown), and our two resident DJs: DJ Gzee on a Friday night and DJ Surgery on a Saturday Night.“
Working with promoters and DJs, Sophia has found, really helps bring in followers of the DJs themselves, but also means they have an affinity with the venue and want to push it to a new set of customers too (with many boasting upwards of 30,000 followers on social media and music platforms). Greene King have really helped pivot the venue in this way, as Sophia notes that the trends in drinks aren’t your usual draught beer or ale. Shots are their most popular order at the bar, yielding 73% at a time, but the venue also hosts a mixologist called Saller Yero who creates new cocktails to suit each event (often using favourite rum brands, Hennessey and Wray & Nephew).
“We have a really good agreement with Greene King, we were tied until about a week ago, but even before then, if we wanted something they didn’t stock, we were free to shop around.”
Inclusivity is important to Sophia, and recent feedback from customers shed a light on just how dear that is to the people who enjoy themselves at The Bohemian.
Inclusivity is important to Sophia, and recent feedback from customers shed a light on just how dear that is to the people who enjoy themselves at The Bohemian.
“We recently had some guys come in from a famous grime collective from London– a famous garage/grime group. They came up to me at the end of the night, held my hands and said ‘Thank you for your customer service, people like us don’t go anywhere and get treated the way you guys have treated us. People don’t want us in their venue because of how we look’.”
With the majority of their customers hailing from Asian, Black or Mixed Race backgrounds, Sophia is keen to note that inclusivity runs beyond greetings and standard customer service as she and her team of 15 staff work hard to include every gender, race, sexual orientation and ability.
“We have disabled and special needs customers, and so it was really important to make this a fun space for them too. Disabled toilets are usually quite clinical, so we’ve made ours swish to match the venue, adding nice flooring, mirrors, plants, toiletries.” With all staff, including security staff, being female (aside from Blake and Saller), the venue is also very focused on female safety.
“We’ve recently launched ‘Ask for Angela’ and we’ve been known to pay for taxis home. I’ve tied handbags and heels to peoples’ wrists, ordered Ubers for them, taken the taxi driver’s phone number for updates. We’re really careful with our customers.” A thriving venue that consistently operates to capacity, Sophia’s ideas for the future span creating a London-style rooftop bar and setting up a festival that sees The Bohemian Cocktail Bar collaborate with Moseley Private Park.
Sophia’s top tips for recovery
- Customer service – “One thing I’ve learned recently is that everyone is at a different stage in their pandemic journey. Some are comfortable, some are uncomfortable, some are uncomfortable but want to be out. It’s all about understanding the new range of needs for each individual.”
- Collaboration – “Work with great entertainers locally, and support them in what they’re doing – even if it isn’t something they’re doing in your venue, support them inside and out your venue. Push their work and they’ll push their work with you.”
- Thinking outside the box – “Having Kbox in our venue was a great way to assess how to boost revenue. Think outside the box and make the effort to understand what’s happening in your local area!”
- Share best practice – “Approach people in our industry, pick their brains, ask them the questions on your mind – ‘How do you deal with this? Is this normal?’ – It’s my first venue, I wasn’t shy about contacting people for their advice.”
