Twenty years ago, a handful of roommates and Dale DeGroff disciples bound together to turn their hospitality-forward house parties into their life’s work. Employees Only (EO) came into the world on Nov. 15, 2004 (though Repeal Day, Dec, 5, marked its official grand opening), and it’s no exaggeration to say that the then nascent cocktail world would never be the same.
When Igor Hadzismajlovic, Jason Kosmas, and Dushan Zaric joined forces with the late Henry LaFargue, who passed in January, and then brought in the bar business acumen of BillGilroy, a new era of cocktail bars came into existence.
Here in one place was everything the early aughts bar-goer used to need three or four different venues to experience. Excellent craft drinks, yes, but ones that were free-poured, doled out with haste, and in high volume. Guests could socialize, be loud, enjoy a few tasty bites to pair with the booze, and let loose while doing so. And they could do it all from after work until the early morning, or in what would come to be an unofficial motto for all-night EO revelers, from “six to soup.”
Now two decades strong and counting, EO remains ahead of its time for many of the cocktail world’s biggest trends, from expanding into a global enterprise to putting an emphasis first and foremost on fun rather than rules and regulations. The industry has yo-yoed in the past two decades, but as Employees Only has stayed true to itself, its ideology has become more relevant and universally loved than ever before.
With the original New York location of Employees Only celebrating its 20th anniversary this December, the founders gathered around for a chat about its history, with a cadre of movers and shakers from the era chiming in to share their own thoughts and impressions as well.
The Place We’d Love to Go After a Shift
Credit: Employees Only
Hadzismajlovic, Kosmas, LaFargue, and Zaric met at Pravda, a Keith McNally-owned Russian bar and restaurant with an emphasis on all things vodka, Martinis, and caviar. It was there that they soaked up the cocktail history and hospitality ethos of Dale DeGroff, regarded today as the godfather of the cocktail renaissance, as well as one of the main branches in the New York bartender family tree, with an expansive lineage of mentees and protegees. A common bond and background soon blossomed into the idea of opening up a new space without much prior precedent.
Jason Kosmas (founding partner of Employees Only): Dale DeGroff had set up Pravda initially and we had trained with him over the years leading up to that. I was there with Igor — I think he came in ’98 or so — and we were thinking about how we could get some of these old ideas back into the forefront.
Dushan Zaric (founding partner of Employees Only): Igor, Jay, and I used to live together, and I think that those were the best times in my life when the three of us shared an apartment. We were off on Sundays and we started doing these parties and inviting people to come, and before you know it the place was packed. We would barbecue on the terrace and I would make drinks and it was just so fun. We realized that we had something, that people liked our hospitality.
Kosmas: The idea was really for us. We were like, nobody’s going to be into this, but we knew the industry was into it. Employees Only always thought of ourselves as an industry bar, and that was kind of the seed.
Igor Hadzismajlovic (founding partner of Employees Only): We always kind of modeled it on this imaginary place where we would love to go after we finish our shift. If you wanted to have a great cocktail, you would go to Milk & Honey, and it’s superb, but you can’t really meet anybody. If you’re hungry and it was a really good night, you’d go to Blue Ribbon, or if you just want to meet people and mingle, you go to a club. But there was never an excess of all these things in a single place.
Kosmas: Igor, Dushan, and I kind of talked about having a fourth partner. We’re like who’s going to be the fourth one and Henry was just somebody that we worked with at Pravda back in the day and we really looked up to him. He was kind of our mentor. He was the MC of the bar, the life of the party, and we couldn’t think of anyone who’d be a better partner and really sort of fill out the roster.
Zaric: We didn’t really know how to open bars but we knew how to operate them in a sense. And so we met Billy [Gilroy] in 2003 when Keith McNally asked us to come over to Schiller’s and help him set up that whole bar program there. And there was Billy and slowly, slowly we liked him, he had knowledge.
Bill Gilroy (founding partner of Employees Only): I think the income was projected at $4,000 per week, and I very quickly told them they had to put another zero on that. It was kind of crazy, but having prior experience and knowing what the overhead is in New York and what it takes to make it worthwhile to the investors and everything like that. But very early on we met that projection.
Zaric: He had what we didn’t have. He knew how to talk to investors. He knew how to negotiate a lease, which obviously we didn’t. But we knew how to work hard. We were creative.
Gilroy: You’ll hear people say failure is not an option, because it sounds nice, but failure is always an option! But for us, you didn’t even think about anything other than the next thing you had to do to get the place open and everything like that. And it was such an energy and such a draw, it was magical. It really is like a recipe that if you have all the ingredients and you execute them properly, it’s going to come out great. But if you miss an ingredient or you miss one of the techniques, it doesn’t. And it was just fully formed. It was amazing.
The Worst Name for a New Bar
Employees Only opened in 2004 and was met with quick acclaim — including a newspaper feature before it even debuted — while carving out its unique position in New York’s bar scene.
Kosmas: We had found a space that was 6,000 square feet and it was in Tribeca and we thought maybe we could carve out just 900 square feet and put a faux cafe in the front and just have some swinging doors that say, I don’t know, something like “employees only.” And Henry just goes, “That’s the name!”
Hadzismajlovic: We had struggled with the name, nothing would really resonate.
Gilroy: But this was perfect for a speakeasy and also the different meanings: It was Employees Only because we were attracting people in the industry. It was Employees Only because we all worked it so we’re all employees. And then the idea that it was a side entrance because it’s a speakeasy and when you came in you saw a little sign above the doorway as a lot of places will have that said “employees only.”
Zaric: I’m sure you guys remember, too; I think “New York Magazine” voted us the worst name for a new bar that year.
Hadzismajlovic: It was “Time Out.”
Gilroy: “Time Out,” yeah.
Kosmas: Worst name for a bar!
Zaric: But then there was the thing with “The New York Times.”
Kosmas: We had a few things written about us before we even opened, which was kind of wild. We opened up the “New York Times” dining section and Dushan and I were on the cover of it, and it was all about the bar scene of the era and Audrey Sanders; Dale was there; Julie Reiner. It was talking about how this is going to become a thing, and it was a couple months before we opened (the article was published on Sept. 29). Then I think it was Ben Leventhal who wrote an article for “DailyCandy,” along the lines of “searching for the perfect bar,” about what we did and how we put it together. And the next day, it was like the bar was just flooded and it would be every day when we opened up at 6 p.m.
Simon Ford (Fords Gin): Bars were doing good drinks and making headlines, but it wasn’t the drinks that were making the headlines. It was usually the scene and how “hot” the spot was that drove traffic. There were some cocktails that were being seen all over the city such as the Appletini and the Cosmopolitan. Of course, there was a really great underground scene of cocktail culture. We had Angel’s Share, Milk & Honey, Lot 61, and The Flatiron Lounge. Audrey Saunders was behind the bar at Bemelmans and Eben Freeman was dabbling with molecular mixology at WD50. The scene was really creative and exciting but it was yet to be recognized and appreciated by a wider audience. Keeping a business open on the back of quality drinks was really tough back then.
David Kaplan (Owner and founder, Death & Co.): When I first stepped into the cocktail space during that era, it was clear there was immense potential for new levels of creativity and expression. Every bar that was open at the time was serving as a direct reflection of the passion and vision of its owners. It felt like the cocktail industry was on the verge of something transformative.
Robert Simonson (Journalist and author, “The Mix With Robert Simonson”; VinePair contributor): Flatirion Lounge opened in 2003, bringing craft cocktails to the masses as opposed to being a tiny speakeasy; Pegu Club, in 2005, opened by the same Flatiron team, with the critical addition of Audrey Saunders, kicked that craft up a notch. In between it was Employees Only, which was its own thing. It looked more to European traditions for its inspirations, like Charles Schumann’s cocktail bar in Germany, than New York. That could be seen in the crisp white jackets, the hierarchical employee structure, and the all-male bartending staff. Of course, when it came to personality, it was a total New York party bar, eschewing the buttoned-down seriousness of the Milk & Honey and Pegu Club set.
Hadzismajlovic: I believe in pushing boundaries, to be honest, and we pushed our boundaries 20 years ago. Our first menu, at least if I remember it right, was 60 percent gin, which was unheard of at that time. We didn’t have Jägermeister, we didn’t have Captain Morgan, we didn’t have Grey Goose. No Apple Martini, no Lychee Martini, which in 2004 were reigning in the market.
Ford: It was a pivotal moment as it was the cocktail scene’s first overnight success. It appeared that the bars that had come before had laid the groundwork of getting the scene recognized and Employees Only opened at the perfect moment to capitalize on the scene’s momentum. Of course, they delivered and the rest is history.
Steve Schneider (Partner, Employees Only Singapore, partner, Sip & Guzzle): As a young bartender, I remember the cool factor. I was hooked. It was the dim lighting, rope lights, and eclectic music that got me. It was the bartenders in the white coats that got me. It was a turning point in my professional life. As a fellow free-pouring bartender, I wanted to be these guys.
Gilroy: There was not a bad comment about Employees Only the entire year that we opened. Nothing. I’ve never seen anything like it. The quality of the clientele, the energy, the support, the goodwill. It was amazing.
Schneider: For the industry at the time, it was pretty simple: EO was the big leagues. There was overwhelming positivity around it, as bars catered towards the hospitality industry were different at the time. It felt like it was for us and being served by the owners was something you didn’t see much of. It was cool. It was sexy. It was weird. It had a feeling of danger. It was New York.
From Six to Soup
Credit: Employees Only
True to its original intentions, Employees Only thrived as the industry bar du jour and a favored late-night spot. Its last call ritual would soon come to take on a life of its own.
Zaric: I was living in Belgrade in the early ’90s, where I’m from, and the war was going on. The country was falling apart. I didn’t want to take part in any of that. It felt so off for me. And so when I had summer break from college I would go to Greece and spend the whole summer “bartending,” which was opening beers and pouring some cheap tequila shots. And I noticed that in the early morning when you would go home after work, the small tavernas on the islands would open up for breakfast and they would serve this little clear soup and it was very rejuvenating going home after all night of drinking. And it felt like a great idea to send people home with something that is actually a really nice gesture: “Thank you for hanging out with us. Here’s a cup of soup and get home safe.” And we didn’t really know that it was going to be chicken soup, but it kind of turned out to be that.
Gilroy: It was also a badge of honor because it meant you made it to the end, it only came out in the last half hour. And then another badge of honor was something that more people than I could ever imagine did, they had a thing called “six to soup.”
Kosmas: Yeah, there was!
Gilroy: It means people arriving at 6 p.m. and not leaving until the soup comes out. And there were actually people — I’d be there working like eight hours, I look over at the bar, the person’s still standing there. The next thing you know, they’re having the chicken soup. It’s just the way the place is.
Zaric: Everybody likes chicken. Henry used to say, “Some people don’t eat pork. Some people don’t eat beef, but everybody eats chicken.” So, yeah, we had that chicken soup idea and people loved it and we loved it, too. It was great because, after all night of working till 4 in the morning, getting that cup of chicken soup really helped us, too. So, that’s kind of the ritual. And then we realized if we played Purple Rain at 3:30 when the last call was going on, that was kind of the sign for the food runner to bring out the soup.
Ford: Employees Only showed the bar world that giving attention to the small touches of hospitality can have a big and lasting impact. The chicken soup that they serve at the end of the night is one of the most genius marketing moves I have ever seen a bar implement. It was created to make sure guests who have been out all night have some sustenance. It’s an unforgettable symbol of hospitality, especially the first time you experience it, and it’s a great example of what Employees Only is about.
Hadzismajlovic: And after the chicken soup comes out, it’s always 3:30 to 4 or 4:15, we will play Tom Waits. Dushan, me, and Jay were the biggest lovers of Tom Waits, and OK, we’re gonna play this for our souls. It’s like, if it resonates with anybody else, that’s fine but, but this is just for us.
It Was OK to be a Professional Bartender
The idea of bartending was shifting from waystation or dead end to viable career path, and along the way, Employees Only shifted from a New York staple to a global linchpin.
Kosmas: From the beginning there was always the idea of expanding, to be honest with you. It wasn’t the vision of the bar necessarily, but because of the attention that we got.
Gilroy: When you have five partners and then you have to have investors, it’s a challenge obviously. And nobody wanted to leave anybody else behind or break up the partnership, or say I’m going to go do something separately. The reality is that having a space with five owners on the floor every night created such a strong identity. Because you go to these restaurants where the chef is never there, especially if they have more than one place. That’s really what resulted in us being able to have a really strong brand, and it meant that if we opened a new place, one of us would need to go and do it.
Hadzismajlovic: Singapore was always kind of the hub in southeast Asia, and I had some connections there that helped, and I felt EO would land well there. Singapore was not the cocktail scene it is now but it was on the cusp of getting there, and it was a great market. And once I found the right space, things happened very quickly. I spent four years there. It’s been busy from the get-go. and eight years later, it’s still the busiest bar in Singapore. It was a great experience for me. And both my kids were born there.
Zaric: There were a lot of people who came out of that Dale DeGroff school, which we were privileged to be a part of. I remember the day I had this epiphany, and it was that Dale communicated to us that it was OK to be a professional bartender because up to that point bartending was something you were doing until something else kicks off in your life, right? All of a sudden there’s this man who we really respected and really revered in a sense and we just loved that idea that we have a chance to kind of do this professionally for the rest of our lives. Obviously that then evolved because I realized that people go to see the bartender not the bar.
Schneider: As the cocktail world was burgeoning, a lot of bartenders were overly serious and the bars were sit-down only. In many ways, I feel like that had to happen. Bartenders took a stand and said, “This is high quality and this profession is a legitimate trade.” EO, while sharing the sentiment, remained a place where fun and energy were placed at the forefront of their hospitality style. We were swashbucklers.
Simonson: EO was more casual, an approach that became more common in the 2010s. EO kept its own council. It didn’t care how other bars did things. And why should it? It was phenomenally successful. It was packed every night.
(Read Simonson’s “A Proper Drink” for a longer breakdown on the subject.)
Kaplan: EO embodies contagious joy better than any bar I know. The team’s energy behind the bar is magnetic — they’re having fun, and that energy ripples out, creating an atmosphere where everyone in the room is swept up in it. It’s a lasting superpower that sets them apart. EO is proof that joy and playfulness, when executed with skill and intention, have a timeless appeal in the cocktail world.
Zaric: What is really memorable about a hospitality experience? It’s the hospitality itself, because the quality of cocktails now is basically universal. Is my Negroni better than yours? Chances are not. But how we go about it is the crucial thing. And so we realized that our guests are looking for a human experience, for an emotional experience. That secret sauce is something that the five of us brought to the table, and we all kind of connected there. It was all about the guests.
The Only People That Could Screw This Up Is Us
Credit: Employees Only
Decades down the road, the cocktail world has taken a circuitous route forward. EO has largely stayed the same — and the bar world has come back to its concept, the idea that great service and hospitality are the truest essentials.
Zaric: I think, especially these days when human beings feel more lonely than ever, a bar that provides a refuge in that sense where you are approved of as long as you are not violent and you have money to pay for your drink, it’s kind of a crucial place for the society in general to have. My favorite bars are dive bars, I don’t go to “cocktail bars.” Not because I don’t like cocktails. Quite the opposite. I feel that in a dive bar, I’m a member of the community. That’s where I connect with people and I like that, I really do.
Kosmas: The one thing that we always talked about was that we were going to create a world-class neighborhood joint.
Kaplan: Today, it’s amazing to see the industry come full circle, with a return to cocktail bars that embrace a sense of fun and spontaneity. That ethos has always been at the heart of EO, proving there has always been — and, in my view, always will be — a place for that kind of energy in the cocktail world.
Zaric: Hospitality became a great part of our kind of training and when we worked with our staff, influencing these young men and women who were there with us, I felt that we are passing on something that was passed on to us from time immemorial because there was always a bartender somewhere holding court, even if it was in a medieval tavern. It is the experience that is memorable and so I think that’s what differentiates our lineage from most people.
Hadzismajlovic: I have no idea how the industry is going to change but I’m pretty sure what we’ll do forever is free pouring. As of now I think we’re the last standing, like, ancient Velociraptor, that does that. Everybody else is doing jiggers.
Zaric: When we opened 20 years ago the world was quite a different place. New York was coming out of the Sept. 11 tragedy and the energy was quite different. Now, 20 years later we have robots making cocktails and we have AI everywhere. Where are we going to be in the next 20 years? I don’t know. What I know is that my partners are also my friends, there are people who will always call me out and also be open for me to call them out and there’s a deep trust between us. Like Igor and I where we’re from have always said, “The fish rots from the head down.” So, as long as we maintain this energy and this dynamic between us, and this friendship and trust, I’m confident that we will make the right decisions.
Simonson: Their staying power itself is the most impressive aspect of the EO legacy. Flatiron is gone. Milk & Honey is gone. Pegu is gone. EO is still there. It’s a window into how things were back in 2004 because, quite frankly, not much has changed at EO since then. Their vibe is remarkably consistent. It ain’t broke, so they never fixed it.
Gilroy: I wish Henry was here. He’d be the first person to say the thing that made us successful in the beginning and the thing that’ll keep it going forever: the only people that could screw this up is us. And the only way we could do that, really, is by changing what we’re doing.
The article Employees Only Turns 20: An Oral History of the Iconic NYC Speakeasy appeared first on VinePair.