NPP Bar Blog

Manager Communication : Mellow Monday, with both special screenings bringing a great dinner and late round crowd.  BAR Staff Observations : Ashley and Ryan did a great job opening, and Jenna came in ready for a surprisingly busy Trees dinner crowd.  As mentioned above, both special events brought in a full crowd to streets between about seven and nine, which Ryan and Jenna handled well.  Ryan and Ashley both brought to my attention that Jenna came in with a lot of good questions about the new cocktails, as it was her first Trees shift this week. She was able to make a few cocktails during the busier moments, and seemed to settle into it quickly.  Special Events? You’re Watching Video Music Box brought in a really lovely crowd, as did Near Dark. Near Dark was our final vampire movie of this month’s series, so we made sure to send out fangs with each Blood Simple, which guests loved.  Staff Meeting Agenda notes : It would be great if bar managers could touch base...

Manager Communication :  Pretty chill morning. Nothing too busy. EL Busy dinner round for a Sunday, but a laidback evening overall. Trees had a crowd until about eight, and then some people lingering until close. JH Customer Comments :  Gave a couple of credits. Otherwise all good. EL Got a call from Viktoriya at the door about someone who was coming to see the Animated Shorts with a young child. I spoke to the woman and said that the programming was very much not kid-friendly. She was very nice and not at all upset about me being called to speak with her, but she did not seem to believe me on the adult nature of some of the shorts.  Once I got into some specifics about the programming, she expressed some alarm as none of the synopses she had looked up got into those details.  I offered to either exchange her tickets for another show that evening or to give her an e-credit. She ended up taking the e-credit and was very thankful that both Viktoriya, at the door, and m...

Manager Communication : Pretty spaced out first round, with each bar trading off busy services. Trees definitely had a small crowd by one, and then was really busy right before the seatings of the third round. JH What a night. Well paced and consistently busy shows for the dinner and late rounds on all floors. Steady service tickets well timed and handled by a very organized bar team. The real story bar wise tonight was Trees Lounge. We had a full bar and tables through the dinner and up to the seating of the late round, with strong crowds and high energy for nearly 3 hours of service. It was excellent. Three bartenders deftly handled the continued service tickets, cocktail well and coming out from behind the bar. I only had to hop back or bus tables a few times when volume was at its highest. Humbled by how well versed in the drinks Ryan, Ashley and Tevon were and how well they balanced service tonight. Great, great night. Looking forward to this same volume plus sold out big thea...

Manager Communication: Great night tonight at the bar. Trees was steady to busy all night. Cocktail service was smooth. It already feels pretty integrated.  Customer Comments: Did not have a single customer issue all night.  BAR Staff Observations: Solid crew tonight, everyone did a great job.  Prep List: Jenn and Chelsea did some batching on their way out. We should be solid going in to tomorrow, except we don't have a back-up paloma keg. 

 Manager Communication: Pretty good night. Started a bit slow but we had a few good pops and Foxfire had great numbers. Great Trees presence.  Customer Comments: Had a few great customer interactions at Trees while bussing tables. The after crowd for Foxfire was just full of joy.  BAR Staff Observations: Very sad to see Natasha go as it was her last shift at NHPP.  Williamsburg just got really lucky (once a week).  Natasha opened Lobby and Gabrielle opened Trees.  Ian closed Trees and Jenna closed down lobby. Everyone did a great job.  Jenna accidentally took home bar keys. She has an early procedure tomorrow but she said she'll try to drop them off, but if she can't she's back Saturday morning for brunch. She apologized profusely.   FOH Staff Observations: Sarah needed some help at 4/6.  I helped her process checks for a few minutes while she serviced the other theater.  Special Events? FOXFIRE!!!  The director Annette Ha...

Manager Communication: Pretty great night. Theater's had a few good pops, Trivia was great, and BAPS was well attended.  BAR Staff Observations: Tevon and Gabrielle opened, then after Jenna and Ryan came we moved Gabrielle upstairs to work with Ryan at the bar and with Tevon serving his first Trivia.  Jenna held down the lobby.  Right after Trivia was over Tevon and Gabrielle helped stock and reset the room and both were cut.  Special Events?  Trivia was very well attended and BAPS was great.  Shay Filmore who is one of the Trivia hosts, introduced BAPS at 7:30 then ran up to host trivia. It felt pretty epic.  Staff Meeting Agenda notes: 86ed / counts on items: Jack's Abbey Blood Orange Wheat is 86ed Prep List: Made a half Careful what you ask for.  Nick and Jesse prepped a bunch of stuff for Trees Grand Opening.  Over/Short on Banks: After the Lobby money was handed in, Jeanette found a fake 50. We found out Gabrielle accepted it and she us...

Manager Communication : Steady day, punctuated by the HBO event which brought a large crowd to Trees, both before and after the screening.  BAR Staff Observations : Jo and Ryan held it down during brunch, and I was able to get Jo out of here after she did some batching once Ashley arrived. Ashley, Jenna, and Ryan all did great at the event tonight, and I was able to get Ryan out once the initial service push of the HBO screening was finished.  Again, everyone was great working the event but Ryan deserves a shoutout. Ryan was a massive help today, working a clopen that turned into an eleven-hour day because of the HBO event. I spoke with him around five to check in and make sure he was okay with staying for the initial push of the event, and he assured me he was. I was able to give him a break in the time between Family Meal and the event starting, which he was thankful for.  Special Events? The HBO event went well, and kept both bars busy during the later rounds.  I...

Manager Communication :  Pretty steady day. Not busy but not slow either. Lost Boys did okay today and Your Neighbor Totoro was well attended. EL Great evening, busy in the theaters and a great crowd at Trees all night.  Dinner round at both bars was busy and steady, with ticket sales climbing both third and fourth round downstairs. A lot hustle from everyone in-house really helped service run smoothly throughout. JH Customer Comments :  Got called down to lobby for a vax issue. When I got there I was told that a man with kids didn't have the full vax card for one of the kids. When I got to the man he said it wouldn't be a problem because his wife was texting him a picture of the card. I said that was fine, and to just show the picture to the door person when he got it.  Later on, maybe 30 minutes later I was told that after I communicated with the man, he went to show Darya (Dasha) the missing Vax card, then began to question her nationality, and berate her for not ...

Manager Communication :  Great start to the day with strong showings in My Neighbor Totoro, Lost Boys, Spider-Man, and Death on the Nile at open. Numbers slowly climbed throughout the day, even with the sporadic weather advisory updates. JH Great day continued, with tons of walk in sales and day of ticket sales into the dinner and select shows of the late round. Spiderman just won't stop, and Worst Person in the World and Death on the Nile also drove in really, really great crowds. Overall we had a busy bar from midday through 10 pm before and after shows and really substantial drink services. No issues executing. JM Customer Comments : Refunded a guest for two tickets to Death on the Nile, as her child’s vaccination records were not correctly filled out (only the first dose of Pfizer was recorded). She was very rude and combative throughout my interaction with her, so I processed her refund quickly as she made it clear she had no intention to return. JH One notable interaction in ...

Manager Communication: Quiet in the theaters tonight, but a good bar crowd.  BAR Staff Observations: Ashley and Gabbrielle did a great job holding down a pretty busy bar upstairs.  Sick Leave/ Call outs: Eliel was not feeling well today and numbers were pretty low, so we cut him from the day.  86ed / counts on items: Manhattan has still not delivered high life that was ordered last week. They say it is coming tomorrow, but if it does not, we will likely 86 at some point this weekend.  Prep List: Aztec chocolate bitters and pineapple juice are both coming tomorrow. We will need winter daquiri and nut punch when they do. 

Manager Communication: Pretty slow day. The rain didn't help.                           BAR Staff Observations: Chelsea opened lobby and Natasha opened trees.  When Ian came in close Trees and everyone ate we gave Natasha a break, then she took over lobby and Chelsea was cut.   Customer comments: Two customers came in with yellow passes, with expired codes, who wanted to watch Uncharted.  I informed them they couldn't use them because it was the first day of the movie.  They chose to watch another movie and I gave them passes.  Hiring/Training: Not really training but the first day having Dwight as security felt great. I spoke with him a little, let him know he could get a beverage at the bar or if he needed to use the bathroom or take ten he could ask us. He was pretty cool and seemed to be self sufficient at the door.  He called once for a ticket issue which was resolved ...

Manager Communication: Steady dinner round, slow open and late round surrounding the party, which dominated the day. Decent Trees Bar crowd before and after the buyout. No issues putting out drinks for service or the party. BAR Staff Observations: Great opens by Chelsea and Eliel to set us up for the day. Gabrielle came in to work the party and then supported both bars to allow them to stock and break. Good team, no issues. Special Events? The Remax group was very difficult throughout today. From the jump they were resistant at the door when asked to wear masks even just to get into the theater. Not just the event guests, but coordinators were very difficult to manage. They gave Kaya and Chelsea attitude in the lobby even after just one polite request to mask up, and then some guests that were consistently going in and out of the building made a point to continue to resist. They also kept using the staff hallways despite me asking repeatedly for them to use the alternate side, gett...

Manager Communication: Pretty slow day... But Not Film Feast! That was LIVE AF!  Felt so great to work a film feast for the first time.  Jesse Nick, Gerard Gil and Ryan Wilson handled it along with the amazing servers Miguel, John, Lauren, Kelsey, Sarah B, Keala, Carli and everyone in the kitchen and every runner and wow, was that impressive. I was in total awe. (EL!) Customer Comments: Helped some guest find their way to and around film feast from the lobby.  BAR Staff Observations:  Jenn and Ryan opened. They both helped prep for film feast and Jenn handled the epicenter as our fearless bar and bev managers slayed the mystic Film Feast.  Ashley closed Trees and did a great job with the afterparty.  Everyone worked really well today, each doing their job for a common purpose.  At the end of the night Ashley found a bottle of Titos with a whole at the bend. It was almost full. We dumped it.  FOH Staff Observations: Everyone who didn't work the eve...

Manager Communication : Very busy night once the second round kicked off, and it stayed that way all night. Decent crowd at Trees from 6pm onwards.  Near the end of the second round, Darya came up to me at Lobby Bar and alerted me to a group of four guests seated in the booth in the ticketing window. She explained that they were not seeing a movie and one of them did not have any proof vaccination. She had told them they would be unable to enter, but in the busyness of lobby, they ended up sneaking in and settling in at the window.  When she had told them they would need to leave they told her they would in five minutes, and were waiting for a car. They had been there ten minutes when Darya approached me because she said one of the men was leering at her in a way that made her very uncomfortable and she did not feel safe sitting at the door. I immediately went over to them, while Darya stayed at Lobby Bar, and let them know they needed to leave.  There was some mild pushb...

Manager Communication :  Very busy opening round today in Th1 and Th2. Both specialty screenings sold very well AND picked up a ton of walk in ticketing at the door. Energy in the theaters was great. Spirited Away was definitely mostly a soda and coffee crew; lots of families but the Hong Kong series crowd drank early and often. Lots of Bloody Marys. In the future, any brunch with well sold screenings like this we need to remember to brew 3 pots and have back up filters with grounds ready to go, as we did run out of coffee once at the height of service. JM Chill Sunday vibes in the building tonight. Once the Super Bowl started, the Trees crowd happily moved to Th1. A few couples hung around Trees during the game, but it was overall a quiet evening. Some folks popped back to the bar for one last round after the game, but they didn’t linger. JH BAR Staff Observations :  Jo was excellent holding down a small but nice bar crowd alongside the two busy theaters. I only had to hop ba...

Manager Communication:  Mellow morning, with Spirited Away being the biggest screening of the early rounds. (JH) Pretty great evening! Both bars had constant movement. Trees enjoyed a great rotating crowd today.  Customer Comments:  Had a guest and her grandchild come for a Spider-Man screening, but the child was unable to get vaccinated due to medical reasons. I checked in with Emily before speaking to them, and Emily said so long as they had a doctor’s note signed by a doctor saying that the child could not be vaccinated, we could let them in.  Unfortunately, they did not have such a document. I explained the situation to them, the grandmother was very understanding. I gave them a refund and was clear that if they returned with a signed doctor’s note when visiting in the future, we would have no issue accommodating them. JH Pretty great crowd in the evening.   BAR Staff Observations:  Both Jo and Jenna did a great job preparing both bars for opening ...

Manager Communication: Slow night at the bar, but The WOrst Person opened pretty big which was nice to see.  BAR Staff Observations: Everyone did great. Was able to get Jenn and Jo out earlyish.  FOH Staff Observations: Solid crew tonight, no issues on my end.  86ed / counts on items: Tecate Prep List : Should be all prepped up going in to tomorrow. We will probably need hot toddy at some point, but no urgency.  Over/Short on Banks: Lobby bar was $10 short.  Ordering/Receiving/Shipping: Manhattan did not come in this week, so we did not get tecate or high life. Our rep is following up. 

Manager Communication: Chill Thursday with some decent pops.  Some good crowds for The Worst Person.  Customer Comments: Some nice Trees clientele. I refilled one groups waters as I bussed their table and they ordered another round from me.   BAR Staff Observations:  Natasha did wonderful all day at Lobby bar. Chelsea opened Trees and Gabrielle closed up there.  Ian was cut before he came in because it was slow.  FOH Staff Observations:  Maria was great at communicating when she needed help in 4/6. I ran a couple of trays up there when it got busy. 86ed / counts on items: Tecate/Michelada and Stillwater Saison on a count.  Prep List: Chelsea batched Lemonade and Be careful what you wish for.  We'll need a big batch of nut punch tomorrow.  Lost & Found?: Someone turned in an ID to trees lounge. I gave it to Jeanette.  Ordering/Receiving/Shipping:   Serene, Union, Empire, Skurnik, 12% came in today. Manhattan expect...

Manager Communication: Slow day today, with a slight pick up of walk in ticketing for the dinner round but otherwise, a trickle of business throughout. We did get a nice bar crowd at Trees from 8:00 pm through 10:00 pm before and after the Jackass and Spiderman dinner rounds.  BAR Staff Observations: Eliel and Chelsea did great opens and were productive during the slow parts of the day. Eliel did some batching and covering of the bars for breaks before leaving. Prep List: Eliel made a Negroni keg, we are otherwise well batched for tomorrow. Hello Sidney is on the Do Not Batch list. Ordering/Receiving/Shipping: Union, T Ed and Interboro came today. Film Feast NA bev en route for Friday arrival.

Manager Communication:  Pretty chill Tuesday. Not very busy at all.  Customer Comments:  Helped someone up the stairs with a stroller.  BAR Staff Observations:  Tevon and Jenn did a great job opening and Ryan came in to close Trees.  After everyone ate Family Jenn gave Tevon a break and left right after.  Staff Meeting Agenda notes: 86ed / counts on items:  Tecate and Stillwater Saison are on a count Prep List: Prepped Grapefruit syrup. We'll need a Negroni keg which kicked late tonight.  Pay Outs: $6 payout for Grapefruit.  There was another $300 payout for "loan" which doesn't look to have been taken from the register.   Ordering/Receiving/Shipping: Southern Order Maintenance: Lightbulb out in the women's bathroom behind trees lounge and the men's room too. 

Manager Communication : Quiet Monday night, with The Man Who Fell to Earth bringing in a nice crowd to Trees around eight.  BAR Staff Observations : Ryan and Ashley had no problems opening, and Ryan grabbed knives from the kitchen when he came in for both bars. Ryan was able to get out of here shortly before seven, after helping out with batching. Ashley was great down in Lobby, and Jenna handled Trees guests and service well all evening.  Since we are making Nut Punch tomorrow, and it leaves such stubborn residue in the bubbler, I had both Ashley and Jenna clean the bubblers that held it over the weekend.  Staff Meeting Agenda notes : The Coke at Lobby Bar tasted off today, and we eventually just hooked up a new bag. The initial box was just under two weeks away from its best buy date, and we realized a few of our sodas are relatively near their own best buy dates.  Will work on reorganizing the soda so that we are more on top of FIFO’ing them in the future. ...

Manager Communication : Pretty busy opening round with Studio Ghibli.    Lobby had steady traffic throughout the afternoon. (EL)  Mellow evening, with a couple pops when the third and fourth round Jackass screenings were seated. Had a decent crowd at Trees, at both the bar and tables, from about 5-9, which was a welcome addition. A lot of couples coming in just for drinks and food at Trees. JH Customer Comments : Heard of a customer who rolled their ankle going from Trees to the lobby, when I arrived Tevon was with the customer and had given them an iced towel. Emily quickly joined and offered to fill out an incident report and I left her with them. (EL) BAR Staff Observations : Jo and Jenna were great opening again and have really gotten Sunday Brunch down. Tevon came in at 2 as a mid and did a great job. Jo batched a bit and was cut around 3:15.    Ryan was an hour late because he thought he started at 5. I called him at 4:15 and he was already en route. (EL) ...

Manager Communication : Mellow Saturday brunch vibes this morning. Howl’s Moving Castle sold just about half of Th2, and Spider-Man, Licorice Pizza (in Th2), and West Side Story sold very well. Not too much of a bar crowd early on, but Trees began to pick up around five. JH Great dinner round tonight on all floors. Licorice and West Side Story selling out some smaller theaters with good Jackass crowds and all around solid sales made for a busy service bar on both floors. No issues with drink service, a really good night.  Also, a GREAT bar crowd tonight. We had all tables, the bar seats and the mezzanine seated after the dinner round movies. Lots of tabs started, lots of folks hanging around and even a few guests that just came to go to the bar. A very positive and upbeat night at Trees with great guests and good vibes. It was great. Kept Tevon through 9:45 pm to see if the late round Jackass crowd brought the same, but not a lot of drinkers after that so I cut him. Routed Jo tonig...

Manager Communication: Steady crowd at the bar all night Service went well.  We made a triple batch of nut punch tonight at the end of the night. We are now out of L'Orgeat, so we will not be able to batch again until our next Southern delivery on Monday. We should be able to make it through the weekend with what we made, but it was selling like crazy today.  Customer Comments: No issues in the bar tonight. I had to ask a couple to put food away in theater 2. They brought a whole Chinese buffet in. They did not continue eating after i spoke to them though. Also I had to ask a couple young teenagers to leave scream for the 9pm show. They tried to lie and say the people sitting in front of them were their guardians but I didn't fall for it. I told them I would refund their tickets in the lobby, but when we got out there they just left.  BAR Staff Observations: Ashley was kind enough to come in early to open for Jenn and stay for a pretty long shift. She and Dylan did a g...

Manager Communication:  A slow start to the day, with limited walk in traffic and an empty bar for most of the first round. Dinner round was strong at Trees, however, with Jackass doing good numbers and a decent crowd forming before Spoons. (JM). Jackass' crowd came back to Trees after the movie and got a couple more rounds.  Customer Comments: Gave a couple a refund because one of the two was not fully vaxed.  Helped another couple convert Williamsburg tickets into Prospect Park Tickets.  Also gave a partial credit for an extra seat purchased by mistake. It's great that filmbot now allows partial credits. (EL)  BAR Staff Observations: Lots of cleaning and organizing by Chelsea and Gabrielle. Strong opens from both and pleasantly proactive cleaning as well. Chelsea hit all shelves and dry decks and Gabrielle cleaned the tracks of the low boys. Dylan Young was nearly 2 hours late for his shift. He misread his schedule and by the time I noticed (he was in at 5 pm,...

Manager Communication: Slow day with Groundhog Day being the only show with substantial ticket growth. Otherwise, little walk in traffic here and there kept things moving but pretty slow overall. Nice little bar push prior to Groundhog Day and then a tapered drink rush during the movie, with guests arriving evenly spaced out.  BAR Staff Observations: Nice opens by Chelsea and Eliel, made for an easy PM service by Gab and Ian. Cut Chelsea after family meal/short break for Gabrielle/stocking was done. Cut Eliel shortly after when Groundhog Day was holding at around 75 tickets.  Though not on the bar today, I would like to call out Natasha for seeking out a ton of training during her down times today. I walked her through some cocktailing questions, Chelsea trained her further on some of the classic sours and then Natasha kept asking about Bourbon/Whiskey with Gabrielle who gave her a really awesome primer. She is really pushing to learn and it shows and is very appreciated. Prep...

Manager Communication: Wonderful evening at NH.  Decent theater crowd for a Tuesday. Trees was buzzing with Trivia.  Customer Comments: Trivia regulars expressed their love of the bar and said they were so happy to return.  BAR Staff Observations:  Tevon and Jenn rocked opening, and getting ready for Trivia. Ashley held down Lobby bar while Jenn served and Tevon and Jenna worked the bar for a pretty busy trivia. Everyone did a great job.  Special Events?: Again Trivia was great. I was able to reset the room with help from Tevon and Jenna.  Prep List: Jenn made Winter Daiquiri, and Lemonade  Pay Outs: $7 coco lopez Ordering/Receiving/Shipping: Baldor came today.