The owners of Newtown’s new self-service bar have clapped back at critics and haters who claim their business model is just a way to “reduce labour costs”.
Owners of Buddy’s Bar, Jimmy Roe and Duncan McGeoch, have defended their business after cult Sydney Instagram page @newtown.affirmations dragged them through the coals.
The page called out the bar via a story saying it was “pretty ridiculous” they didn’t “hire bartenders” and claimed it was “not the kind of business I will attend.”
The page also claimed the owners “do not like paying labour costs” in a since-deleted IG post.
“People are open to their views but I just wish they had come into the venue as I can only assume they haven’t been here,” Jimmy Roe told the Daily Mail.
“We do have bartenders on – it’s not a totally bartender-less bar, as the headlines would lead you to believe.
“Maybe they saw the whole self-serve thing and thought ‘fuck this’, which I kind of get but you think that they’d at least come in or ask some questions about it first.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if heaps of people naturally assumed a self-serve bar had nobody working there TBH.
Per the Daily Mail, Buddy’s Bar has roughly 10 bartenders on the premise during busy days and around four to five on others.
“The self-serve for us is actually about freeing up our staff and giving them more chance to engage with customers, to make sure they are feeling welcome and having a good time rather than saying ‘there’s the tap wall, sort yourself out’. It’s not that at all.”
Roe also claimed that the business had been blocked by Newtown Affirmations. Not very affirming if you ask me.
“It was pretty brutal,” Roe continued.
“We had a few local businesses down the road flag it to us. They said: ‘Have you guys seen this? We know you have staff and that you pay them so we don’t know where this is coming from’.
“They just really latched on to this idea that we are this bar that is money-hungry, automates services and is not hiring any staff which is not the case at all.
“If you go against the grain you are probably going to get a few splinters.”
So inspiring, king. Gonna get that quote tatted on my thigh…
