Bellboy Berlin: A Theme Park for Grown-ups

A place where grown-ups can be children again

A hotel bar? Not really, more a bar at a hotel, completely self-sufficient, incidentally also in commercial terms (there is no charging the bar bill to your room). “We are a theme park for grown-ups,” says Omer Gazit-Shalev, Director of International Development at the Bellboy Group, in a nutshell. “Adults want to behave like kids, too, sometimes,” he adds with a smile. And this is certainly what they can do here: the “Bellboy” is a complete contrast to a minimalist bar concept focused on drinks and their ingredients. It is a customer journey, it is about fun and escapism, a journey into a vague past for the duration of some drinks.

Escapism objectified through trend vessels

Instead of customary glasses you’ll find all sorts of obscure vessels behind the bar and on the tables, shaped like grimaces, ball gowns turned into goblets or molar teeth you would otherwise only see in doctor’s waiting rooms. There are also tiny bathtubs and chunky boxing gloves with small inserts for narrow glasses.  

Drinks take up to a year to end up on the menu

After all, each drink here is not just a drink but a whole story – from the recipe and the matching story to its custom presentation form. Plenty of work goes into this, explains Gazit-Shalev, and adds that sometimes up to a year passes between the initial idea and the production of the drinking vessel.

Beverages turn into real eye-catchers

Guests love it, on Instagram you can marvel at photos featuring these obscure as well as artfully arranged beverages. The said bathtub, for example, is filled with “Keep Clean” – vodka, flower and elderflower cordial with a flowery “soap” and as a topping the drink comes with an (admittedly drinkable) foam bath complete with rubber duck. Blowing the horn is “Viking Club” with aquavit, Amaretto, rooibos-caramel as well as eucalyptus syrup, a red-berry mash with birch water. This drink is topped with a cracker – to create the idea of crumbs like in Hansel and Gretel.

Fun and ambition go hand in hand

The choice of ingredients and the arrangement of these drinks alone may reveal: the “backend” (i.e. what goes on behind the scenes) is high-end. The Bellboy has nothing in common with party bars of the popular category – where the quality of liquid ingredients is often of secondary importance. Fun, yes – but aspirational too. Which is also underlined by the fact that the minimum age to enter the bar is a high 25 years. 

“Like a time capsule in a movie”

The bar in Berlin in managed by Peggy Knuth. She is known from her days at “Pauly Saal” in the “Salut!” and recently at “Fragrances” in the Ritz Carlton on Potsdamer Platz. Peggy in turn knows “Bellboy” from Tel Aviv. While on holiday in 2018 she fell in love with the concept, she reports: “I was really inspired. You enter, it is lively, a buzz, like a time capsule in a movie. 

All of these wonderful details, I loved it,” she raves. In her new position she does not work so much at the bar herself but coordinates the seven strong team. “We ensure the team is well trained, that the timing and quantities are right.” In doing so, many management tools are used for staff scheduling, sourcing or internal communication, for example. No more e-mail or WhatsApp chaos: “Everything is properly organised, well thought-out and calculated,” says Knuth. “This makes the work so much easier.”

“Learning management at a higher level”

“We want to allow bartenders to learn management at a higher level,” adds Omer Gazit-Shalev who spent a long time working behind the bar himself and gave birth to the “Tel Aviv Cocktail Week”. If people proceed from bartending to management he says, they are often not prepared for the tasks awaiting them there – from tax matters to payroll accounting. What you learn at the “Bellboy Group” can be used to manage an outlet or open up your own business, he explains. And they can also put managers to good use in house because the group that currently runs six bars in Israel continues on course for expansion: the next step is a hotel opening in April 2022 with three integral bars; two other bars are being designed at the new “Kempinski” Hotel, slotted for opening in November. And at least three or four more bar concepts are envisaged for Germany within the next 18 months.  

Also a restaurant

And since we started with (what used to be) a restaurant, it is important to point out in closing: yes, the “Bellboy” is also a restaurant. Alongside the 30 cocktails this concept has to offer, they also serve a varied range of delicatessen – ranging from Gillardeau oysters, fish tartar, foie gras and roasted courgette to fillet of beef with Kimchi gratiné. So should anyone head for this place expecting to find a restaurant like in the past (which does still occasionally happen, we are told) – they will not be disappointed. Quite on the contrary – there are plenty of experiences to be had here.