Scott Stroemer started his relationship with Galit as a loyal customer, visiting frequently in the months before COVID hit, when he was working for Donnie Madia and Paul Kahan’s restaurant group One Off Hospitality.
As things opened up, he ended up reluctantly taking a job as beverage director of Zach Engel and Andrés Claveros’ restaurants, Galit and Café Yaya — reluctantly, because he was such a fan of Galit that he didn’t want to mix business with pleasure.
But he liked his new bosses’ approach to building career paths for their employees, and rose to the challenge of becoming acquainted with the Middle Eastern wines that make up the entire revamped wine list at Galit (Café Yaya’s is more varied).
He soon found that the restaurants’ new, post-lockdown customers were curious and adventuresome, eager to go on an educational journey with Stroemer to learn about lesser-known grape varietals as well as more experimental cocktails, spirit-free beverages, and so on.
In this conversation Stroemer discusses how younger customers’ priorities are different, and why they want more transparency and better stories about what they’re drinking.
Menu Talk is a collaboration between Restaurant Business Senior Menu Editor Pat Cobe and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality. You can subscribe to it wherever you listen to podcasts.
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