After guiding us to discover the project Giacosa 1815 – which in recent days has been classified 252nd in the Top 500 Bars– we interviewed Luca Manni, for all Lo Sceriffo. Experienced bar manager, born in '83, who over the years has become a true institution of mixology in Florence. We started from his beginnings, helping him dig into his memories; arriving at talking about the future and advice to the new generations.
Like any self-respecting story, I would start from the beginning. What pushed you to get in touch with this world and when did you understand that your future could be in mixology?
I'll start by telling you that I've always liked it, I couldn't even tell you why. I've always dreamed of having my own bar. I liked this idea, I was studying law and I did small jobs to support myself but in my heart I wanted to open a bar. I repeat it, maybe for the three hundredth time to my mother and she says to me: "How do you think you'll open your own bar if you've never worked a day inside one", she was right. And there was the enlightenment, I quit my job, I quit university and I start my new life. I approached it unconsciously thinking that in a bar there are only two roles, one is at the counter and one is in the dining room, I only knew that I liked drinking and so I took a bar course, the only one I found in Florence that wasn't AIBES, I went out and looked for a job. Luckily my cousin's ex-boyfriend, a bartender in a nightclub, gave me a contact to work in a club and I started.
So you're entering the world of discos?
I spent a few years between clubs, spot events and discos. After a while I realized that there is a bar behind the bar, I understand that there is a bar made to do and a bar made well. I started to meet some professionals in the Florentine sector and to ask myself questions that I had never asked myself before, but let's talk about basics. Why is something cold better than hot, why do I cool the glass, why do I iron this and shake this. Once I understood this I realized that my first years had been wasted doing another job. I wasn't focused, I didn't ask myself questions. I worked like a robot. So I started to ask myself questions, can I create this product myself? Let's try blending strawberries rather than using a syrup, let's try ironing this drink? And from there the questions never ended. This is an invitation for anyone, asking yourself questions changes your life and the way you approach your job. You will find yourself doing a completely different job.
Today you are the Bar Manager of the Valenza group, what was the path that brought you here?
I was working at La Ménagère and to this we must add the project Florence Out Of Ordinary that of the group Student Hotel. The perfect environment, we both benefited from each other, they from my know-how, I from their image and the project grew in a positive way. At a certain point I started to ask myself questions, have I reached the limit of what I can give in Ménagère? Are there prospects for change? I felt like I was at a crossroads, I had reached the maximum of what the property could offer me at that time, and not on an economic level, and then an idea opened up inside me. Do I settle and relax or do I look for a new stimulus that will make me throw myself back into the game? I didn't feel, and I don't feel, so old as to decide to rest on my laurels.
Very casually, through a mutual contact, I meet Mark Valenza whom I had met at the awards ceremony Red Shrimp, When the Ménagère won the award for best aperitif in Italy and I was called to represent the company, at the same time there was the award ceremony three beans and three cups and there is the Valenza group for Gilli. Later, Marco proposed an operation that was incredibly important for me: reopening Giacosa – as we have already said in the dedicated article–
That's the project that convinced me, but at the same time I had to work before opening. I had never looked at the group with an interested expression. Gilli and Paszkowski also because there was Luke Peaks, remained the Move On that I didn't know, even though it was so central. And in the meantime, while the works were starting and finishing Giacosa, in order not to stay still for a year or working on another address thinking about another project I started working on the Move On, and it was like starting over. I was alone again, done the loads, the cleaning, the preparations, a lot great challenge.
You start from Move On, and when do you take the whole group under your wing?
From that moment on, the group began to grow due to a series of factors that were linked together. After my arrival, Move On entered the top 500 best cocktail bars in the world. At the same time, there were problems at Paszkowski, and then I was offered the opportunity to deal with this too and for me it was an even bigger challenge than Move On. I was fascinated by the possibility of changing something, even for a series of private sentimental reasons. Initially it was seen as strange, you had to cast off, break the moorings and win people back, questioning yourself first, demonstrating the people we are, how we do it by managing to transmit our game. The 99% are personal values, the 1% are technical values. Skill is learned, if we are prepared to learn, human value is not.
Gilli comes back, because at that point you start to enter a limbo. The owners found in me values that match well with theirs, and I have always gotten along well with them. The idea of reaching the same level with more bars, in a different way, has brought the management of the entire group into my hands and that of my collaborators. Looking for a common idea, differentiating it by brand but arriving at the same point. Even trivially for agreements with suppliers, as well as common preparations made in one go to save time. We start to talk about circular economy, recycling and zero waste, it is all easier to work for more brands and it makes you more powerful. By collaborating between bars you can make the leap in quality, centralizing and trying to be stronger productively.
Paszkowski Gilli, Move On and for a year Giacosa, realities of the same group but each with a distinct and separate soul. How did you do it, from the same pen to release three different novels.
Look, I think it was even easier than expected because they are already different novels. The cover is the same but they are three different stories, one is a fantasy, one is a classic, one is a children's story and the other is the house of Negroni. –laughs- Paszkowsky and Gilli, for example, even though they are very close, even in the same building, they are two very different realities experienced by different customers and with very different staff and different products. And all this is made possible not by me, but by the splendid group that we have created, and continue to create over the years. Alone I could do very little, it is the awareness that I have of my guys that makes me feel at peace.
What advice would you give to those who dream of entering this world? And what was the most precious for you?
Working in the public sector, and especially in a bar, is not for everyone. You approach it as a joke because it seems like a fun job and then in two or three years it has eaten you up. It takes a lot, a lot of empathy. I recommend thinking about it a lot, understanding if this is really the job you want to do, because it is not a job for everyone. This deprives you of a lot, you cannot do it because you do not know what to do, or because it seems cool, in fact you will end up hating it. It takes perseverance, self-denial, dedication. Aren't you the most imaginative person in the world? Aren't you the most fascinating? Aren't you the best? It doesn't matter, droplet by droplet you become the best. Obsession beats talent.
Last question, now a ritual. Let's say the world ended tomorrow. Save a spirit and a cocktail recipe for future generations.
Well, I'm going against the grain and I won't tell you about the Negroni - he laughs - but the Old Fashionn for just one difference. I can drink the Old Fashioned even in the morning, in certain situations obviously – he laughs – the Negroni is difficult for me. As a distillate I'll tell you the Vodka.
