David Kerr - The Tavern

APRIL 4, 2020 © Right Here, Right Now.

Josh - How are you doing right now?

Up and down, that depends, there's good and there’s bad. There’s just the case of trying to stay busy because, I don’t know if you guys know this but I’m not from here, so now more than ever I feel pretty far away from family and loved ones. It’s kind of like, I don’t know, like when you have a purpose somewhere when you have something to do or lively hood you can justify why you’re busy or why you’re far away from your family, but when that’s gone you’re just far away from your family.

Josh - Do you mind me asking where you are from?

I’m from Scotland originally, my family lives there and I’m the only one here in the states. I moved here and I opened a small business, so I’m still here.

Josh - Are you able to connect with your family online?

Yeah it’s funny because not much has actually changed in that way, we’ve always used FaceTime, we FaceTime daily, I’m pretty close to my family so we’re used to that, but there’s the option being removed to be next to one another that feels somewhat different. That’s what always makes the distance bearable is that you can always get there if you have too but when that’s removed it feels different.

Josh - What was your experience opening a business here?

It was initially a huge culture shock and adjustment but honestly I think Omaha has been pretty awesome, it’s been kind to me, it’s been good to me, I love my team…my team that are not here…but yeah, it’s been a fine adjustment. It’s been 7 years and it feels like home to me as well. I always joke that I’m going home when I’m going there and then when I’m leaving I say I’m going home and so I’m always going “home” but different places (laughs)

Josh - Tell me a bit about the Tavern and what it means to you.

The Tavern is a downtown neighborhood bar, we like to call it a social leveler where people from all walks of life, different cultures, can come and mingle. Our strapline is “Everyone welcome, Everyone Equal” and we try to live by that in as many ways as we can.

It’s pretty odd coming in every day to a place that’s supposed to be full of energy and life and its dead. It’s pretty odd. But I find myself going through the motions. I still fill the ice bins and I still rotate the stock. I basically open the bar every day because I need it anyway to function for deliveries but just to go through the motions, to just have something to do and stay busy.

Josh - What are some of the ways you have had to change or pivot business?

The biggest change is just that we have lost our whole team. We went from a team of ten to just me. As far as procedural changes…even more hygiene conscious than normal. Everything is taken up another notch so the use of rubber gloves between customers or hand sanitizer or washing your hands more than a bartender typically washes their hands, you know the skin is pretty raw.

Josh - How did the deliveries come about?

It happened very quickly and things kept changing as well, like what we could do, and some of the laws changed as well to allow us to have more freedom. But having to change your business model overnight…you know we went from a team of ten to just me and then everything shifted online so we had to photograph every product that we had, building a website and having a way for customers to now utilize our business from a retail perspective, but having to pivot like that was…honestly…most small business owners will tell you how hard they work and you don’t think you can actually work harder but then you realize you can work twice as hard for about a tenth of the outcome but yeah, it’s uh…yeah, that was odd. So we are offering our products for retail like bottles of vodka, gin, whiskey, you know you’re typical products, mixers, some homemade simple syrup and then we are also doing pre-made cocktails that we are batching and putting in mason jars and then delivering them as well so that people at home can just pour them over ice and enjoy the cocktail they maybe miss from the Tavern.

Josh - What’s it like being able to provide a little comfort for people right now.

It’s actually quite nice hearing the regulars on the other end of the phone. Like sometimes the phone goes and I know exactly who it is and so it’s nice to have a little bit of a conversation and even see their faces briefly at the door even if it’s just for a moment but you kind of connect.

Josh - What was it like in the beginning stages when they began to limit occupation?

When they said 50 or fewer people for public gatherings it wasn’t ideal. We worried about our weekend business but it was doable and we had a plan for that and then it changed again and it was 20, and then 10 and honestly when it got to 10 or fewer people it wasn’t worth it as much, it wasn’t really possible as a business model to have 10 or fewer people including your team at that point. The rule should have just been to close. 10 or fewer people was essentially a closer.

Josh - What were you feeling like at that time?

Kind of defeated to be honest…yeah…Um…Like you think you have a plan for each of those scenarios and then it’s sort of like a rug is pulled out from underneath your feet and then you don’t have a plan. One of the things, one of my biggest fears and I’ve actually had nightmares about it in the past, but opening your doors and nobody comes and as a small business owner I feel like that’s my worst nightmare that one day you open up and nobody ever comes back again. But it’s strange to be put in that position where nobody is coming. But yeah you’re finding ways to dig a little deeper and push a little harder. I feel like I’m working probably ten times as much for the fraction of the output but at least I’m busy so there's that.

I hope that the consumers appreciate the service industry more, and I think a lot of them do, we are still getting a lot of support, a lot of people that are still loyal to the brand and can’t wait to come back on the other side. So I just hope in general people will have more of an appreciation for hospitality workers and how hard they work and how uncertain this industry is. And I also hope that a lot of business owners come out of this a little bit differently as well, like I feel an immense responsibility towards my team like as a business owner I’m supposed to provide for them and right now I’m unable to so I hope a lot of business owners come out of the other sides and become better versions of who they were. Every business does it but I’ve paid tens of thousands of dollars into insurance policies over the years that are worth zero, they’re worth absolutely nothing. We need to be smarter, we need to scrutinize policies or make sure we do things better, we have more safety nets. We just have to learn from this.

Josh - What are you hopeful for in the future?

Honestly I don’t have any big plans or big dreams off the top of my head…I would just like things to go back to normal, that would just be wonderful. For any time you thought it wasn’t enough or you needed more and now all of a sudden if you could just have that back or even 75 percent of it back that would be more than enough.

Josh - What are some things you are currently doing to give you strength during this time?

I think as long as I can get out, breathe fresh air. I get up in the mornings, I go through the motions, I press a shirt, I polish my shoes, I do ridiculous things but I do it because it makes me feel like I have a purpose or a place to go and a sense of pride. I’m also trying to exercise as much as I can in between deliveries or going on bike rides if at all possible. I think the more we keep moving the better, or easier this feels. I think the worst thing certainly for me is to just stop, I have a really hard time sitting still so just being busy or cleaning something or doing something is enough to keep me sane a little bit.

Josh - Has this time allowed you to learn a little bit more about yourself or maybe finding yourself shifting your time to things you hadn’t been able to do before?

You know, when this first started I joked that maybe I would have time to learn the guitar finally or go back to learning French but honestly I haven’t done any extracurricular activities besides exercise. The one thing, I guess I’ve learned about myself and I guess its somewhat reassuring. Like I doubt myself a lot, like I’m sure many people do but the one nice piece of reassurance is that it might not be much but I’m doing something and I have the ability to pivot and change direction and overhaul this business model overnight and I’ve been doing everything from photography to the website, to the deliveries. I’m the delivery driver, I’m the cleaner, I’m the cocktail maker. But when you dig in and find that inner strength you can believe in yourself a little bit again.

I went to art school, I studied graphic design and thought out all of University I worked in restaurants and bars, pretty typical, I worked my way up to restaurant management. When I graduated I realized that though I did have a passion for art and design, and I still do, I missed hospitality and somehow this might be more of a career option. I like the idea, of opening a place in the day and at the end of the day you close up shop, you turn the lights off, you go home and that's the end of that chapter. It’s not like another job where you take the project over days or weeks, there is a nice closure to hospitality. But then actually that doesn’t really pan out when you’re a small business owner (laughs), that’s maybe the sense when I was a waiter or restaurant manager but it’s a little bit different when it’s your own, you do actually take it home and sleep thinking about it and waking up thinking about it.

Josh - Have you and your staff kept in contact?

The staff and I are still in touch, we have our group chats and we’ve actually been playing games on apps together and trying to stay connected in some way. I’m also in touch with them because as we continue the delivery service any of the gratuity that comes in we’re gifting it back to the team that is out of work obviously.

Josh - What can the community do to help support you?

Just keep doing what you're doing. Keep supporting small businesses when you can obviously, everyone’s in a difficult spot but if you can support a local restaurant or bar or send a bottle of wine to a friend when it’s their birthday and we can deliver that for them. Thinking of different ways to support small businesses and maybe ways you wouldn’t normally do in your day to day life.

Josh - Is there anything you would like to say or get off your chest?

No, not without getting political (laughs) You know I mean, People talk about small businesses. Like the SBA loans being available or these types of safety nets in place but they’re not happening. Nothings moving, you can call everyday…there’s no contingency plan for this and it’s quite upsetting and you think, “Why wasn’t there a plan to roll out in an event like this”, I guess it’s just never been done before so everybody is left floundering until the governing bodies can pick up the pieces I guess.

The only other thing and I mentioned it already, but I miss my team and I hope I’ve never taken them for granted. I miss seeing their faces when I come in. I miss their energy. Some of our team have been here for years so they’re as much part of this brand as our events, or me, or the music, or anything else that goes into our cocktails, you know some of the team members here are just as much part of the fabric.

Josh - Is there anything that you would like to say to your team?

Honestly, I’m just a bit, um. I would actually apologize to them, to be honest…I don’t have more power or more capability to fix their problems. That’s probably the heaviest thing on my shoulders that I have a responsibility to them. So I would probably apologize for not having a better plan.

Josh - What do you think they would say back to you if they heard you say that?

I know they would try to reassure me but there's a sense of responsibility that nobody can reassure, it's just something I wish I had done differently or could change in the future, but maybe that’s just part of growth or becoming a better version of yourself, or better business owner or team leader.

Josh - I did want to say that I have been to your establishment before and I recognized quickly that the culture here was inclusive and it was nice to be able to come here with my partner and also feel comfortable and safe within these walls when other establishments have not been so friendly where we have gone…

It’s important to have a place where you know when you come here that we are very open-minded and very welcoming to everyone. Our customers are a huge part of that but then you also know that when you’re in here the staff also upholds that.

Josh - What is something you might say to a young business owner like yourself that might be going through a difficult time right now?

Keep moving, get up, get out, get dressed, get in the shower. Just move, just don’t stop moving because I think if we stop moving that's like the scary point. You just have to keep at it I think. That's my ethos.

You take being busy for granted, you think it's just another weekend, just another Saturday night at The Tavern and then it’s me in here on a Saturday night echoing in this space putting together a handful of deliveries which is nothing like the hundreds of people that normally circulate through on a Saturday night with a D.J. and a team of people…it’s odd, it’s so odd.

Josh - Do you ever put your mind in that space like, once you can re-open this is what we have planned, and what you want to do?

I’ve already been thinking about what type of re-opening can we have and how many people from various pockets of the communities can we involve so we can support them whether it’s a live artist, singer, a d.j. How many different people whose livelihoods have been affected how can we support them in different ways. So I don’t have a solid plan by any means but it’s been going in my head you know. Because a lot of artists, singers, DJs, they rely on social spaces and venues for their livelihood so when we’re closed there livelihood is gone as well.

I think that's one thing we have in common right now is we are all very vulnerable right now. Everyone is in the same boat. There is so much uncertainty so maybe people will start to let their guard down and they will be more honest, more real, more true. You’re seeing people dig in further and reinvent themselves and come up with clever ways to put another buck in the bank.

Josh - Are there any positive changes to your business that have come out of this pandemic for you as a business owner?

I never considered delivering alcohol or there being a retail element to my business then all of a sudden it’s the only way I can make an income, make a living. So the idea of that maybe being possible in the future, there might be a way to expand the business, which I had never thought about that before. Maybe there can be a retail element to this, maybe there can be a delivery service? Maybe the Nebraska Liquor Commission will still allow us to do cocktails to go or cocktail delivery or something. Could be fun.