The Alchemist in Berlin: British Cocktail Bar-Restaurant makes its debut in Germany's capital city
© White Kitchen
Bar ohne Namen
Entschlossen verweigert sich Savage, der Bar einen Namen zu geben. Stattdessen sind drei klassische Design-Symbole das Logo der Trinkstätte in Dalston: ein gelbes Quadrat, ein rotes Viereck, ein blauer Kreis. Am meisten wurmt den sympathischen Franzosen dabei, dass es kein Gelbes-Dreieck-Emoji gibt. Das erschwert auf komische Weise die Kommunikation. Der Instagram Account lautet: a_bar_with_shapes-for_a_name und anderenorts tauchen die Begriffe ‘Savage Bar’ oder eben ‚Bauhaus Bar‘ auf.
Für den BCB bringt Savage nun sein Barkonzept mit und mixt für uns mit Unterstützung von Russian Standard Vodka an der perfekten Bar dazu.
Impressively staged cocktails and a party vibe by night, brunch and coffee by day: with its all-day concept, “The Alchemist” has established itself in many cities across the UK. And now the chain has opened its first branch on the European mainland in Berlin. How did the brand come about, what makes it “tick” and what can customers expect here? Jan-Peter Wulf paid a visit to the brand-new location on Potsdamer Platz.
Loud thumping dance music blares out at us as we walk in. At the bar we see sparks fly and steam rising from flasks that are set on trays to be carried through the large venue to the tables. The bar team is already up to speed by early evening: there’s a lot of shaking, stirring and mixing going on all along the long bar. We’ve landed at “The Alchemist” – or rather: The Alchemist has landed here, in Berlin at Potsdamer Platz. But why here? The square isn’t really the kind of place people come to for drinks and partying. In general, this area built in the years following German reunification – the largest construction site in Europe at the time – is still a bit out of place in the city, despite its impressive buildings.
From a non-place to the “place to be”?
Clearly this is the aim – and Food & Beverage are set to play a major role in this shift. The same building complex housing “The Alchemist” is also host to the recently opened “Manifesto” – a hip hybrid blending a classic shopping mall food court and street food market with two dozen concept locations. On the basement level which leads through to the train station, numerous snack bars and restaurants are located at “The Playce”. In 2024, just across the street, another large-scale project will join the fray care of London’s “Kerb” food market. And then there’s Germany’s largest food court in the “Mall of Berlin” that’s also very close by. On top of this, there are numerous independents, like the casual dining venue “Frederick’s” with its own bar that opened in 2022. From hot dog snack bars to two-star restaurants, you’ll find everything here today – including this young bar concept.
Science-based choice
When project developer “Brookfield Properties”, a major driving force behind the redevelopment of Potsdamer Platz, approached “The Alchemist”, they decided not just to take the step to Berlin, but also base it on science, explains Jenny McPhee, Brand Director at “The Alchemist”. Beforehand, students from Manchester Business School were asked to conduct a socio-economic and cultural survey to identify the best country for the hospitality brand to expand into. The verdict: Germany. And they’re already thinking about other cities, like Munich, Düsseldorf or Frankfurt, we hear.
22 branches with some 1,200 employees
“The Alchemist” has been around since 2010. Its first branch was opened in Manchester by the hospitality group “Living Ventures”, also responsible for multiplying food concepts like “Gusto” and “Australasia”. In the meantime, large investors got involved, and today the brand boasts 22 branches employing some 1,200 people in the UK, from Portsmouth to Glasgow. These are dimensions quite foreign to the German barscape, which is characterised by independents. Apart from names like “Sausalitos” or “Enchilada”, both starting in the 1990s, there are practically no chains where cocktails are a core competence. What “The Alchemist” has in common with these two brands is food – one serving Mexican, the other international “comfort food”, from Korean burgers to fish and chips to rib-eye steak with prawns. They also offer brunch. This is why, we learn, “The Alchemist Embassy Gardens” by the US Embassy in London is primarily a lunch restaurant and very popular for afternoon coffee (or tea, of course). While the Edinburgh branch generates over 90% of its turnover from cocktails and evening trade. This versatility could come in handy at the Berlin location, where there are many offices. Indeed, space is plentiful with around 150 seats inside and 50 outside.
Cocktails with a wow factor
The chain’s unique selling point though is its “immersive cocktail experience”, as brand director McPhee puts it: almost every drink here is staged in a special way. For example, the sweet “Cherry Poppins” with fruity gin, amaretto, cherry, strawberry and its special “smoke bubble” ingredient: a wobbly milky bubble with a surprisingly stable skin is blown onto the Nick & Nora glass at the table using a handheld bubble blower which can then be popped by patrons with their noses, for instance, to release the smoke. A first date drink? The “Colour Changing One” with vodka, apple liqueur and soda changes colour thanks to its special “pure magic” ingredient. Dry ice in the glasses makes Alchemist drinks smoke and bubble like the potions in chemistry lessons at school. An edible sunny side egg yolk made of sugar tops the glass on a “Breaking & Eggs” which can be cracked open with the whack of a spoon; with “The Edible One”, punters can even eat the actual cup the drink comes in. All this is very Instagram or TikTok-friendly. Indeed, you hardly see a table where people don’t first pull out their smartphones before taking their first sip. It’s a bit reminiscent of what Bellboy does at Gendarmenmarkt – attract attention, entertain and have fun with unusual forms of presentation.
© The Alchemist
Speed and efficiency
A great deal of work goes into all this. Both for the bar, which has to keep up even at busy times – and clearly the concept here in Berlin is geared to just this – and for the serving staff, who, on top of taking orders and serving drinks, also has to perform or coordinate the numerous show effects. Aiden Lindsay, Head Bartender at the new Alchemist in Berlin, backs this up: It only works with training, training and more training. In Berlin, he says, they made “loads of drinks for no one” for a fortnight before doors opened so they could practise the elaborate processes together. In existing establishments, new staff are always supervised over the first few weeks. A group of experienced bartenders to and fro between branches to train the teams on site, explains the Bartender from Birmingham, who has already trained staff in all “The Alchemist” branches himself.
Aim to be ambidextrous
“We are very much about speed and efficiency,” says Lindsay, summing it up. “Becoming ambidextrous” is the goal: shake on the left, tap beer on the right, pour spirits into four glasses at the same time while chatting and rattle through a large bottle order with speed openers as swiftly as possible (a skill that’s even put to a practical test at the end of the training phase). The work is intense, but it’s also great fun: “It’s a fun environment,” says Lindsay.
It now remains to be seen whether the fun and buzz from “The Alchemist” will also spread to Berliners and Berlin visitors coming to Potsdamer Platz. It’ll certainly help if the business quickly develops its own individual profile and localises itself in the truest sense of the word. And the first signs of this are already evident in the menu that’s otherwise centrally pitched: their draught beer comes from local Friedrichshain brewery “Hops & Barley” while the bitter lemonades come care of Berlin’s Thomas Henry, whose namesake, coming full circle, was once a pharmacist in Manchester.
© The Alchemist
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