NPP Bar Blog

BAR Staff Observations : Really good work at both bars tonight.  Eliel was able to get out of here after some light batching and covering Miguel for a break, and Darius was able to get out once the initial service push from Clueless was over.  Both Miguel and Tevon closed each bar without issue. Special Events? Drink service for Clueless was very smooth, and settled down after a busy initial service push.  86ed / counts on items : 86'd St. Agrestis Spritz Ordering/Receiving/Shipping : Amazon and US Foods tomorrow.  Maintenance : The coffee maker at Lobby began pouring hot water from both coffee baskets at the top of the third round.  It only lasted a moment, and Miguel was able to turn the machine off, which stopped the leaking.  We turned it back on about twenty minutes later and, while it did pour water from both sides for a moment, it quickly stopped.   Miguel left cambros underneath both sides to catch any water that may leak overnight. ...

Manager Communication:  Pretty quiet day at Prospect Park. Besides the sold out No Budge and the pretty well sold Escape From New York, it was an unremarkable day. Trees did have a late crowd after No Budge, but it wasn't a drinking crowd. EA BAR Staff Observations: We ran with a very light crew today. Miguel put his shift up, but with the sales being as low as they were, we were able to easily get away with running only 3 bartenders. Eliel ran the the lobby while Lee and Tevon split the trees. Lee was good about setting up and supporting throughout No Budge and the rush for Escape from New York as well as the post No Budge crowd at Trees. He was cut after he helped reset and stock. Tevon closed out Trees with ease. EA 86ed / counts on items: Pinto Grigio, St. Agrestis Spritz, Stagg Jr. Whisky, Tequila Ocho Reposado. EA Prep List: Arbol Tequila, Firewalk, and Holy Mountain. EA Ordering/Receiving/Shipping : Stumptown (cold brew) will be arriving tomorrow. US Foods arriving Wednesday...

Manager Communication: Pretty busy start to the day with Strange Love doing good and Never Ending Story doing great. Got a little slower after that but great crowds. EL Steady dinner round, but slowed for the late round. NFL @ Trees wasn't didn't see a lot of action this week, but the lack of NY teams in the playoffs probably had a bit to do with it. EA BAR Staff Observations : Jenna and Tevon had great opens and both left at about 3:30 after Jenna batched and Tevon helped all around. Lee and Ashley are mids. EL I was able to get Ashley out early due to sales and because Lee wanted the hours. I had her stock Trees and do a little house keeping in the liquor storage before she left. Lee stayed behind and was great support for the bar for the last bit of rushes before he was cut.  It was Andrea's first Sunday closing with the lobby frozen machines, but she was able to break them down, clean, and put them back together very quickly as expected. Sean was able to close Trees wi...

Manager Communication : Very busy first round in Th1 & 2, which was a great start to the day.  There was definitely a bit of a lull in the second round, but things ramped back up in time for the dinner rounds. JH Dinner was steady all around with foot traffic in both the lobby and Trees. Both bars ran very tightly and smoothly. EA Customer Comments: We had a second walk in birthday party come in and set up shop, confounding things for a bit as I was trying to figure out where the scheduled event actually was. They hung out in trees eating and drinking for a while too. EA BAR Staff Observations : Andrea and Lee opened both bars without issue this morning, and were ready to dive right into service once doors opened.  Andrea really is great at crushing those well-sold weekend screenings in Th1 & 2, and is really great about communicating any needs she may have during service.   Once both Chelsea and Matthew arrived, I was able to cut Lee, as sales were pretty me...

Manager Communication : Very smooth night tonight, everyone rolled through service with no issues.  Ordering/Receiving/Shipping : Baldor tomorrow.  Amazon will be delivering more pink sugar and bows during the week, so please remind bartenders to be judicious with the pink sugar we have left in-house until the new one arrives. JH Maintenance : The lowboy that Dio installed the new part on yesterday appears to be in good working order and is no longer freezing anything without alcohol in it. JH

Manager Communication:  Quiet start today with a lot of wind in the neighborhood. Dio was in to work on the lowboy. More of that listed below. EA Evening was a lot. Theater 1 delay, a couple of dropped drink trays for a busy 4/6 round at the same time as the rush which was still going strong when theater 2 started and Trees was filling with Action Jackson folks. The team handled everything wonderfully. Trees stayed busy for a while longer then emptied out and got quiet on the earlier side. EL Customer Comments: Helped clean up vomit in theater 7. Jared handled the guests. EL BAR Staff Observations:  Super slow open for both Chelsea and Ashley. They were up and going pretty quickly and was able to make sure the bar was stocked and clean before the closers were in. EA We got Chelsea out early, Ashley helped through all the rush stuff and was out by 10. Ian closed Trees and Tevon handled Lobby. Great jobs all around. EL FOH Staff Observations: Brendan and Rebecca showed grace und...

Manager Communication: Pretty good evening at Trees lounge. EL BAR Staff Observations : Chelsea and Matthew were great opening both bars, and were able to get cut after both bars were restocked and set for the rest of the night. JH Gabrielle did a great job closing lobby and Ashley slayed karaoke. EL Special Events? Karaoke was a gas. Nice crowd. It's getting bigger and the staff is really into it. EL Prep List: We'll need a real nobody tomorrow EL R&D comp checks: $24 EL Pay Outs: $100 Susan Karaoke. $2.29 goya cream of coconut. (I wanted to try a creamier cream of coconut) EL Ordering/Receiving/Shipping : Baldor tomorrow.  The remaining twelve cases on the Ruby Hibiscus order will be arriving later this week. JH

Manager Communication : Mellow service, with Train to Busan being the biggest pop of the night. JH BAR Staff Observations : Eliel and Lee had opened both bars and were well into service when I arrived.  Once Miguel and Tevon arrived, both bars were restocked, and openers got out of here shortly after Eliel got some batching done. JH Ordering/Receiving/Shipping : Baldor & US Foods tomorrow. JH Maintenance : The hot water for coffee at Trees had to be reset at the start of the third round, but there were no further issues.  Dio cleaned both ice machines yesterday and checked in on the lowboy at Trees that is set to maximum chill.  It needs a new electric temperature control, which should be arriving sometime tomorrow.  Once it arrives, Dio will be in touch to schedule a time to come in and install it. JH

Manager Communication: Really cold and wet day. It set the pace for a quiet service with minimal walk ins. We were able to run with a really lean bar team and effectively made cuts relatively early.  Wyatt and myself sat down with Jenna Brewer to give her review. The FOH Review sheet has been filled out and the review itself was scanned and sent in. EA Vlad was able to deep clean the bar prep area including the walk in, liquor storage, and the main hall. EA BAR Staff Observations:  Super quiet day so I had Sean and Jenna do minimal prep to get us through the day and to start tomorrow. Other than that, I set them on their daily side work tasks since there was not much to do. They were cut after the closers came and settled in for the night. Lee ran the lobby bar with no issue while Miguel served trees. Both bars were manageable by a single bartender due to low sales. EA Hiring/Training: Sent an email out to Lee regarding signing up for orientation on Jan 31st.  Sick Leave/...

Manager Communication: Very slow start to the day. Trees was quiet for most of the first round into the second round. Things picked up after the 2:30p.m. showing of M3GAN and after the first football game started.  Having a porter on walkie made today such a breeze. Vlad zipped around the building and we were able to get problem areas cleared and cleaned a lot faster. EA  Pretty good evening. Trees had a pretty good crowd til after the game. EL Customer Comments: Gave a guest refund for a two tickets minutes after they purchased them during pre-show of the last round of Avatar after the guests complained of a smell.  They were adamant that they wanted a refund and not a credit. EL BAR Staff Observations: Andrea and Natasha once again opened us up for brunch and ran the show without any problem until the mids came in. I was able to cut Andrea right around the time that Lee came in and he took over in the lobby seamlessly. Ian slid right into service as the Trees mid to sup...

Manager Communication: Pretty quiet morning. The weather was pretty chilly and didn't see a lot of foot traffic outside at open, but the ground floors ended up getting a lot of bodies in seats. Dinner round picked up once again. EA Steady throughout dinner and well into the final round.  Great crowd at Trees, with plenty of people sticking around to watch the game after seeing their movie. JH Customer Comments : We had a guest who was very upset that she was told she could not charge her phone behind the bar.  One bartender told her no, and then another bartender told her yes, so she then wanted to lodge a complaint against the first bartender who told her no, as she though they were being discriminatory.   Across the board, we should not have guest's electronic items behind the bar, charging or otherwise.  Bartenders can direct guests to the outlets on the floor, but it is the guest's responsibility to keep an eye on their stuff.  Just a note for this week...

Manager Communication : Slow opening round, and then plenty of well-sold showings in the dinner round to keep both bars very busy. JH Dinner round and last round were strong. Great crowds at Trees. Wonderful evening. EL BAR Staff Observations: Pretty great Friday night crew. The teamwork is strong.  EL Prep List: Regular stuff tomorrow but definitely load up on extra simple syrup. We're at 8qts right now so good to open. EL R&D comp checks: Over/Short on Banks: Wyatt told me Filmbot was over by $80 EL Maintenance : Dio will be in Monday morning to clean both ice machines and to check on the lowboy at Trees that is absurdly cold. The paper towel dispenser above the air dryer in the ladies' room at Trees is jammed again, added to the Maintenance Doc . JH

Manager Communication:  Pretty good night. Nice M3GAN pops and th3 solid Skknamarink showing. I started turning down the music at Lobby for that movie since it almost has no sound.  Trees lounge looked great throughout the night.  BAR Staff Observations:  great job all around. Everyone worked great together and helped each other out whenever needed. Darius is strong in the batch. Ashley was a great lead at Trees and bar prep aka The Batch Cave. Special Events? Shouting at the screen had a great pre show at Trees, and a strong showing in the theater. Decent crowd after as well.  Prep List: more Firewalk tomorrow but we’re strong to start.  Pay Outs: $100 DJ Don Will  Ordering/Receiving/Shipping : Baldor & US Foods tomorrow. JH

Manager Communication: Hot water was back and feels hotter than before (obviously a good sign for our dishwashers). Slower start to the day which was great because it allowed me to catch up and run all the glassware through the washer before/at open to get them sanitized.  The maintenance on the elevator was done around 3pm today and they just wanted to emphasize to not leave stacks of glassware in front of the doors by the elevator since their tools are in there. They will be back tomorrow. EA Pretty good evening. Got some great pops and Trees had some dips but overall had a great crowd. EL BAR Staff Observations: Chelsea was able to help me run the rest of the glassware that I couldn't get to before open and was great about unpacking and putting it back. Matthew was great about helping do some prep for himself in the lobby while committing to the weekly side work sheet to keep himself busy. EA Chelsea batched and helped with the theater pops and the beginning of the Time Square p...

Manager Communication:  Pretty slow start to the day at both bars with minimal amounts of walk in traffic for the first round. Lee did notice a problem with the hot water while he was opening. More on that in the maintenance  portion of the blog. EA Trees was packed from a little bit before seven, all the way through eleven.  Trivia had a bunch of new faces and ordered a ton throughout, and the same can be said for the dinner round M3GAN crowd in Th2 and the late round The Shining in Th1. JH BAR Staff Observations:  Slow open for both Eliel and Lee so they were able to get prep done for the trivia and dinner. Trivia filled out completely with a bunch of new faces/teams. Eliel was a champ on the floor while Lee and Tevon held it down behind the bar. EA Service at Trees was pretty much non-stop from 7:30 until the first service push from The Shining was through, so about 9:45/10:00.  With Eliel on the floor for Trivia, they were able to run back and grab any back ...

Manager Communication : Very busy morning and afternoon, with service being nonstop once we opened doors.  We definitely could have used an extra pair of hands behind the bar today, and I have some notes about that in Staff Meeting Agenda .  However, service did not suffer and both openers were in good spirits throughout the shift. JH Customer Comments:  I handled a guest call today regarding yellow passes that were given to guests from the Babylon showing on Tuesday Jan 10 in TH7 when the projector went out. They were told that they could use the passes at anytime because of the incident. After confirming with Nathaniel that this was the case, I issued the guests two passes for the TH5 showing of Babylon. I know we're not supposed to issues passes on Holidays and weekends, but because they were told this I honored it. This was the single instance of that. EA BAR Staff Observations : Eliel was a champ at Lobby today, which had plenty of sold out screenings and a lot of fi...

Manager Communication: Once again, a busier second half of the day with M3gan selling really well everywhere except for the 10pm screening. Super chilly day. Trees saw great numbers in between movies and we had tables full for the NFL games. I want to start doing this on slower days to fill up space and make Trees a bit more livelier.  Going forward, I'd like to see if it's possible to have the projector down and playing movies from our Plex server on slower days. It might help keep guests around longer or bring in guests who don't necessarily want to come watch a movie, but will come to catch snippets of something we're showing at Trees while eating and drinking. Do we need specific licensing for this type of thing?   BAR Staff Observations:  Bar team worked really well together today and Tevon was a champ for running between floors to back up wherever the rush was. I have Matthew Soler his first taste of a sold out theater on the service bar and he is starting to f...

Manager Communication: Pretty busy second half of the day. Pretty much everything from 2:30 onward sold out, if not pretty darn close too. The weather was super windy and cold, but that didn't deter guests from coming in and staying at Trees in between rounds. Very healthy turn out of guests at Trees to get an initial round or two before going into the theaters.  Jean St. Jean was no where to be found between the hours of 7pm and 10pm. Several areas of the building required checking in and ultimately the bathrooms were either a mess or produced slipping hazards. I tried to keep the Trees bathrooms as clean as possible, but I could only do so much to mediate the problem when we had masses of drinks on the service bar. EA I didn't get the chance the chance to do this today, but we should have all the playoff games screening on the projector at Trees. The first game is 1pm, is there a way we could send an instagram post for Trees Lounge? I figure this would keep a lot guests enter...

FOH Staff Observations: It seems many servers are using a sharpie to write table numbers on the drink tickets when running. It is difficult for them to see the table numbers in the dark once they are in the theater. It is not ideal in the bar pass as it creates an extra step and a bunch of moving around of drinks with the potential for mix ups and spills. Is it possible to just have the table number printed bold and much larger on the food and drink tickets? - ND More info in the FOH blog, but RM had some difficult customers tonight, they were very unhappy with the way she interacted with them in the theater. I spoke to them in the lobby and refunded them for their tickets and their food which had not not yet come. I was able to deescalate but they still left pretty upset. They were certainly difficult people and were breaking some rules, but it seems RM took it upon herself to police their behavior and was immediately confrontational with them. She does not seem equipped to handle di...

Manager Communication: Pretty good evening. Dinner round was jumping a bit and Trees had a pretty good crowd. EL BAR Staff Observations: Everyone did a great job. Ashley opened Trees and Tevon opened lobby. Chelsea closed lobby and Ian closed Trees. Pretty smooth service.  Special Events? The Mamma Mia! birthday party had a great Trees crowd. Staff Meeting Agenda notes : Fresh juice should be immediately put into service cheaters, and the old juice dumped.  Our fresh juice needs, coupled with its short shelf life, are not enough that we need to wait to go through the older juice in the cheaters.  I know this has already been addressed in bartender service emails, but I think it is an important enough note to be reiterated this weekend. JH Prep List: A Negroni keg when prudent. EL Ordering/Receiving/Shipping : Baldor & US Foods tomorrow.  Harney & Sons either tomorrow or Monday. JH

Manager Communication: Pretty good night. Great dinner round Megan and Menace to Society. Karaoke was pretty great.  BAR Staff Observations: Chelsea opened Trees, Ashley closed, and Gabrielle did the long lobby. Everyone did a great job. Chelsea was able to get out shortly after Menace to Society began. Special Events? Karaoke was pretty good today. Nice crowd. We got some Trivia folk coming and excited to bring more people.  Pay Outs: $100 Susan Karaoke

Manager Communication : M3GAN continues to buoy dinner rounds by doing really well in a larger theater.  She is everything we could have hoped for in a murderous robot doll. BAR Staff Observations : Great job behind both bars tonight.  Eliel made some Trees cocktail backups and restocked wines in the walk in before they got out of here, and Lee handled Lobby solo the rest of the evening.  Lee was very good about enforcing our age policy for the later showings of M3GAN, which is incredibly helpful to have that conversation with a guest before they have purchased tickets.   Darius and Tevon were great up at Trees, handling a busy dinner round M3GAN, as well as the nearly sold out screening of Paris is Burning.  Once Trees had a chance to reset after the Paris seating, Darius was cut and Tevon closed Trees without issue. Staff Meeting Agenda notes : Just a note for the bartender email this week: Lobby Bar is routed fifteen minutes after the last showtime poste...

Manager Communication: Pretty slow day as the weather dipped down into the 30s again. Quiet at both bars with one sold out showing of M3GAN during the dinner round.  BAR Staff Observations: Very quiet day for the staff all around. Eliel opened the lobby and was able to batch a bit after Lee came in and then got out early. Jenna stuck around for the dinner rush at Trees and was able to stock and get out afterward. Tevon handled the rest of the night with ease. EA Sick Leave/ Call outs: Jenn Hickey was out today. Hours added to the sick calendar.  Staff Meeting Agenda notes: 86ed / counts on items: 86 Athletic NA IPA, Phony Negroni, Dorothy Parker.  Prep List: Coffee and Cigarettes and a small batch of A Real Nobody. The batch in the lobby tasted really off today and I had to toss about 1.5qts of it. The date was labeled from back around the menu flip and it tasted like the citrus in it had gone off. Going to stick to making small batches of it as Trees goes through a lot ...

Manager Communication: Looks like it was a spicy morning and the evening was pretty steady as well. M3GAN pretty much sold out in every theater it was in. We had some good pushes from Avatar and out special brunch screenings too. Solid Sunday all around from the entire team. EA BAR Staff Observations: Tevon and Ashley opened us up today and were great about communicating about prep. By the time I was in they had gotten through their initial rush and prepped us for the evening. Tevon stocked us on roll ups and Ashley got us on garnishes.  Lee was a great swing today and rolled with the punches since we had to move Darius to NWB. Ashley commented on how the vibe was great and he was super easy to work with while being helpful and receptive to direction.  Sean and Jenna were the closers and did their usual duties. Sean took extra care with the frozen machines in Trees to make sure he didn't repeat last weeks mistake and water tested them to make sure they held. Jenna as always wa...

Manager Communication : Busy from the moment we opened doors.  Both special screenings, as well as Avatar and M3GAN really kept service going, with Trees having small crowds both before and after showtimes. JH Dinner round kept the pace and was sold out all around with TH1/2/4/6 following suit for the late round. Tickets were flying for at least 2 hrs without stop. EA Sean's review was also done today. EA BAR Staff Observations : Another great brunch open from both Andrea and Natasha, which had us ready to slide right into a fairly busy morning service.  Both are great about communicating with each other about divvying up garnish and juicing tasks, and are quick to anticipate rushes and requesting help when needed. Chelsea and Tevon got both bars reset for the second round when they arrived, and then Chelsea was able to catch us up on batching while Tevon stayed up at a steadily busy Trees with Andrea. JH It was pretty much nonstop after everyone got a second for family meal. ...

Manager Communication: Really solid night tonight. The M3GAN crowd was drinking and service felt pretty busy.  BAR Staff Observations: Really great crew tonight, everybody killed it.  FOH Staff Observations: Everyone was supporting each other running drinks. They all did really well.  Prep List: We will need a keg of negroni and a double batch of sugar and spice at some point tomorrow. Everything else looks good.  Ordering/Receiving/Shipping: Black bottle scotch came in a couple days ago, but was still on the 86 list. Please make sure we are all paying attention to that. 

Manager Communication: Pretty steady day. Megan brought out good numbers and Spoons saw around 70 people. First floor saw good numbers for dinner and the late round as well. It was my first Spoons and it ran pretty smoothly and started on time. Small crowd at Trees afterwards.  EA Customer Comments: BAR Staff Observations: Solid day for the bar today. Megan did pretty well upstairs and kept Ashley and Tevon going. Ashley stayed through the seating for spoons and was a champ about resetting before she got out. Chelsea batched a bit and was out a little earlier, while Andrea ran the lobby until close. Both Andrea and Tevon brought the remaining Mint Julep batch to the walk in. EA Special Events? STB After Dark. Staff Meeting Agenda notes : Now that the winter holiday decorations have been taken down, could we put the string lights we had down in the front window in Lobby on the railing going up the stairs to the Mezz?  With the popcorn light still out of commission, those stair...

Manager Communication:  Slow day all around except for a sold out Th1. I was able to finish the New Hire Reviews for both Sean and Matthew. Sean's review is scheduled for Saturday @ 4:45pm.  BAR Staff Observations: Pretty smooth day. Chelsea opened lobby, batched a little and was out early. Darius stayed behind,  helped clean and get Sean through the 830 sold out seating of Phantom Thread. Gabrielle took over lobby and ran it from there. Sean held down Trees with ease.  Sick Leave/ Call outs: Eliel out today with the injury from yesterday. 8hrs added to the sick calendar.  Prep List:   One keg of Old Fashioned.  Bar Tools: Not pressing, but the handle on one of the big hat strainers at bar prep has a broken handle. We could use a couple fine mesh strainers for the bars as well.  Ordering/Receiving/Shipping: US foods - 2 boxes labeled Coke bibs were sent with chipotle sauce inside. I called Mark over at US Foods and he was able to credit us an...

Manager Communication: Quiet day in the building, but Trivia brought out all the regulars. It looks good so far with all our non-theater event days. Here's hoping to keep the steam going for the rest of winter.  I changed the water filters for both Trees and Lobby Bar. Went through with Nick to order more for next season.  -EA BAR Staff Observations:  Eliel and Ian had the bar rolling by the time all of us closers came through. Eliel had an incident with someone who was here to trail a while back in which they was injured. There are more specifics in the incident report that was filed. As such, they left early. Ian and Tevon held down trees for Trivia. Both Lee and Tevon were able to close down their bars without any problems. -EA Special Events? Trivia @ Trees. Great crowd. EA 86ed / counts on items:  86 Chai Espresso Martini for the Mystery Cocktail. We're moving on to Dylar.  Prep List: Looks like we'll just need some Firewalk to round us out. EA Ordering/Rec...

Manager Communication: A nice busy Monday today. A lot of bodies in the building, with the great weather continuing to bring people out. A lot of the smaller theaters either sold out or were close to doing so. Great early showings as well as a solid dinner rush on all floors. EA Customer Comments: Had a couple of guests sneak in a few nips. They didn't have a check open and Miguel caught them shooting them at the bar. They were promptly asked to leave. EA BAR Staff Observations:  Solid work from the bar staff tonight. Despite being a long day, everyone was able to put their best foot forward and rock the bar. Eliel and Jenna opened us up today and ran the bars until Lee came in as our mid. After they were cut, Natasha ran the lobby while Lee ran point on Service through all the dinner rushes with Miguel as his back up. Not a single hiccup in service today. Great work all around! - EA FOH Staff Observations: Solid support from all the servers today. Despite being in 4/6, Raekwon hel...

Manager Communication: Pretty meaty day today. Came into a pretty sold Avatar at 5 and we were pretty steady at Trees with tickets and bar guests all day until the last seating.  Brunch looks like it was on cruise control and the openers were already cut by the time I came through the doors at 430.  Customer Comments: As mentioned above, good amount of guests at Trees today which kept everyone busy throughout their shifts. A lot of new faces visiting Nitehawk for the first time and happy to see a full lounge area to go along with the bar. It felt a lot more warm and full today. Great way to start the year.  BAR Staff Observations: Everyone was in great spirits today! I didn't get a chance to see Tevon or Natasha today, but Eliel told me it was was a stellar opening. Though confessing that she was a little tuckered out today, Ashley was great about doing the restocks and backing up the cheater bottles for Trees. We got her out a bit early since Ian was in and more than wil...