How this 28-year-old built up his mobile bar business from his bedroom
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How this 28-twelvemonth-erstwhile built up his mobile bar business from his bedchamber
Co-founder of mobile bartending startup Mixes from Mars, Roger Yip shares how he turned his bedroom bar business into a custom mixology and events direction offering.
Roger Yip. (Photograph: Mark Lee)
17 Nov 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 21 May 2022 05:03PM)
Are you a fan of bespoke or unique cocktails? Once upon a fourth dimension, old bartender Roger Yip, might've been the human being to milkshake or stir ane upwards for you. At present, Yip, 28, spends his days developing his mobile bartending and mixology services business organization, Mixes from Mars.
In an industry that sees many bar concepts open up and shut every year, Mixes from Mars is continuing the test of time – seven years to exist precise – capitalising on the love for personalised cocktails and themed parties.
"Our drinkable services have e'er been of an extensive, customised nature," said Yip. "Nosotros break them down into more than specific types of services and drink types, such as our 'molecular cocktails service', 'bespoke bar' or 'themed menus'. We have and will ever provide customised solutions."
While its mobile bars proceed to pop up at some of the land's glitziest events – the Singapore Grand Prix is an almanac affair for the business concern – Mixes' beginnings couldn't be humbler.
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In 2013, when Yip was working at bespoke bar, Bar Stories at Haji Lane, he was asked by his director to help mix cocktails at an external outcome. What was initially considered a old gig very quickly grew into a business opportunity every bit guests started asking for name cards, wanting to find out how they too tin can hire bartenders for private parties.
"All of this happened in my showtime year of academy," said Yip. By solar day, Yip was undertaking a Bachelor of Accountancy course at Singapore Direction University, and by night he was running a pop-upward bar service out of his habitation "for a good year till my mother chased me out," he said, laughing.
The business started with a small capital letter of S$2,000, as Yip nerveless lots of liquor, bar tools and glassware at home to serve friends.
"[Back then] my co-founder Mike Lim and I didn't have a vehicle. We just took two cabs – one to hold all the glasses, one to concur all the ingredients. It started out really messy, and nosotros didn't have our mobile bars back so. It was very ugly – it was a table with a blackness cloth on top of information technology."
The firm goes by the mantra, "Drinks for every occasion" and has everything a host might demand – whether it's an intimate matter for xv guests at home, a raving party with a guest list of 5,000, or a corporate team-building session with a brand-your-own-mocktails workshop.
"For every customer, we design the carte du jour according to the theme," said Yip. "If they're launching a production, we'll do a drink based on that. We are, in a sense, artists. We similar to experiment, to do things that are a bit funky or wacky – specially in molecular mixology. At F1 [this year], we froze the cocktail into a lollipop. Every twelvemonth they challenge usa to rack our brains and come up up with something different – we have washed so for the by three to four years at F1."
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Beyond BARS
While Mixes continues to succeed in the mobile bar business, it has since diversified its portfolio of services. "Our vision has always been about bringing people closer through drinks, and at present we bring people together at events through drinks and likewise at the bar through drinks."
The Mixes services includes events management, food catering, equipment rental and live amusement. The house besides runs Hopscotch at Gillman Barracks, a bar that has built a name for itself serving cocktails with a local twist.
Yip said luck was on their side when they were looking to build their business – at to the lowest degree initially. "I think nosotros were very lucky. As we were starting Mixes in 2013, by the end of that year someone offered us a place at Duxton Hotel. [We ready] former popular-up, Mars Bar," said Yip. "And then by mid-2014 someone offered me a place at Red Dot [Traffic Building]. That's when we first idea about opening Hopscotch, and the 2 bars were running concurrently."
Simply information technology wasn't e'er smooth sailing for the team. As young entrepreneurs barely out of school, Yip said one of their earliest challenges was lack of experience. "Equally bartenders, we were all operations people, so we knew zilch about other aspects of the business organisation – like marketing," he said.
"When nosotros showtime opened Mars Bar, we idea nosotros had something good going on. Merely we only didn't think about having to bring people into the bar until the money nosotros had to pay out started to wait very glaring in our faces. That's where nosotros made the switch to do more than marketing. We were cash strapped. And so, when nosotros were looking to photograph our drinks for our menu, instead of spending Due south$150 per photo, I went to purchase a photographic camera instead. Nosotros picked upward new skills from in that location, and nosotros are all the same doing things on our own today."
"When we outset opened Mars Bar, we thought we had something adept going on. Merely we just didn't recall virtually having to bring people into the bar until the money we had to pay out started to look very glaring in our faces." – Roger Yip
When Duxton Hotel underwent renovation in 2015, Mars Bar had to shut its doors. However, when Red Dot Traffic Building was redeveloped into Maxwell Chambers Suites, Hopscotch airtight temporarily in 2022 and re-opened in 2022 at Gillman Billet.
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"To be honest with you lot, at the start it was quite horrible," said Yip. "I call back our previous customers came here a few times and decided [Gillman Barracks] was too far away. But I guess we slowly started attracting a unlike clientele. In that location'due south the whole Mapletree [Business Urban center]. And now, we have a full-fledged kitchen also. For the first time I see kids at Hopscotch, and people similar to bring their pets hither."
A little-known fact about Mixes is that, thanks to the DIY mindset of this lean team of five, they now also offer website edifice services, social media management, photography and videography. "Information technology came out of the experience of doing it for ourselves start," said Yip. "The photography attribute stemmed from the photographic camera that we starting time bought."
But every bit bartenders first and foremost, is at that place ever the pressure to win awards or go far to the 50 Best Bars list?
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"We started out thinking a lot about that," Yip recalled. "When I was very obsessed with potable-making and joining competitions, my manager dorsum at Bar Stories told me, at the end of the day your competition is with the client.
"What he said and so still resonates with me today. A good bar is a bar that emphasises a lot on customer satisfaction. There are many bars that made it into the top l, just at that place are too many that don't exist anymore."
Then, what'southward adjacent for the squad at Mixes?
"I want to do something towards the eye of next twelvemonth, but probably not some other Hopscotch. In fact, nosotros wanted to do something overseas, like in Bali or Jakarta, but information technology got challenging," Yip said candidly.
"But I guess nosotros won't be so cocktail-centric anymore," he added, which is no surprise given his dear for diversification.
"I desire to open something to diversify. The whole mission is however the same. Nosotros want to provide customer satisfaction to bring people together."
"A good bar is a bar that emphasises a lot on customer satisfaction. There are many confined that fabricated it into the top 50, but there are as well many that don't be anymore." – Roger Yip
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/people/roger-yip-mixes-from-mars-176681
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