Opened a Bar With No Staff and No Experience with Harald Plok

Episode notes

What happens when a regular ends up running the bar? In this episode, I talk with Harald Plok about taking over Turtle House Sports Bar in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He had no real bar experience. He kept his 9-to-5. He renovated the place himself, dealt with the legal side, rebranded the bar, opened it solo, and worked it seven days a week. We get into what it takes to build a bar community from scratch, how he learned cocktails on the fly, why he focuses so hard on making guests feel welcome, and what changed when he finally started hiring help. If you have ever thought, “I could run a bar,” this episode will show you what that actually looks like. It is not cute. It is work.