The Business of Bars: A Q&A with Jason Williams
Ritual, margins and the reality of running bars right now
Holly Formosa: For people who might not know you, can you explain your role at House Made Hospitality and how you came up through the bar world?
Jason Williams (House Made Hospitality): I’m one of the co-founders, directors and beverage director at House Made Hospitality. We’re a Sydney-based group with restaurants, bars, cafés and a pub. We founded the company about six years ago and opened our first venues roughly five years ago.
Before that, I was very much a bartender. Straight out of school, straight into hospitality. I worked across Brisbane, Melbourne and later spent about eight years in Singapore running a bar consultancy, opening award-winning venues and working across different markets. That chapter gave me a lot of exposure before coming back to Australia and building House Made.
Holly Formosa: When everything from drinks to design is readily available now, what actually makes a venue memorable?
Jason Williams: Ultimately, it’s the feeling people walk away with. Guests can get a great cocktail at five other bars within walking distance. They can get great food and great design almost anywhere. What they remember is how the experience made them feel.
That’s why we think so much about experience design. Not just the food or beverage direction, but the social experience. Everything from glassware and uniforms to music, scent and ritual.
At Apollonia, one of our cocktail bars, we have what we call the Thunderbolt ritual. The team gets everyone’s attention, serves a half-serve cocktail, recites a short poem and thanks everyone for being there. A bell rings. For a brief moment, everyone in that room feels connected.
That moment is the experience.
Holly Formosa: How do you make sure those moments don’t feel gimmicky?
Jason Williams: There’s a fine line. I’ve been guilty of doing things that feel forced and not natural, and when that happens the team doesn’t emotionally own it. If the team doesn’t believe in it, guests won’t either.
The best rituals come directly from the concept. With the Thunderbolt, it’s tied to Apollonia’s inspiration. If someone asks about it, there’s a story there. If they don’t, it still works as a shared moment.
Sometimes cheesy can be fun because hospitality is meant to be frivolous at times. But we’ve definitely crossed the line before and it can come off naff.
Holly Formosa: Cost pressure is relentless. How do you decide what the business absorbs versus what gets passed on to guests?
Jason Williams: Costs just keep going up. Wages, CPI, cost of goods. There’s only so much you can charge for a cocktail or a glass of wine.
For us, $25 has become a very common cocktail price in the CBD and it’s been that way for about two years now. Costs have gone up in that time, but we can’t just keep lifting prices.
So we protect margin in other ways. One is buying in larger format. Because we’re at scale and have a central production kitchen, we can buy five, ten or twenty-litre formats, batch cocktails and keg where it makes sense. It reduces packaging waste and brings the cost down.
We also work very closely with suppliers. Collaboration is critical because continually passing costs on to guests isn’t sustainable.
Holly Formosa: What’s been one of the harder trade-offs you’ve had to make recently?
Jason Williams: Labour, for sure. I’d love to put on extra team members to provide higher-touch service and create those memorable experiences, but labour has to sit within a certain percentage.
Another trade-off is range. Once upon a time I loved massive back bars full of rare spirits. Now we keep that tighter. We still support small Australian producers, but we also need to work with bigger brands that can support the business model through marketing and spend.
We make small micro decisions every day. Glassware choices. Ingredient substitutions. Pulling back cocktails that creep into 30 or 35 percent cost of goods. It’s constant.
Holly Formosa: Let’s do some quicker ones. What’s a hospitality habit that no longer serves the guest or the business?
Jason Williams: Very aggressive shots as the default. I love a cheeky shot, I’m guilty, but there are times when you’re having a great experience and suddenly mezcal shots appear uninvited. It’s generous, but not always needed.
Surprise and delight is great. Maybe make it something lower alcohol instead.
Holly Formosa: What’s your pick for the next cocktail moment?
Jason Williams: I think Australian rum is going to have a moment, similar to what’s happened with Australian whisky over the last 15 years. Off the back of that, maybe the Daiquiri becomes the next Margarita.
Gin isn’t dead either. Consumption is still huge compared to ten years ago. It’s more of a correction than a collapse.
Holly Formosa: Favourite bar in Australia right now?
Jason Williams: Caretaker’s Cottage and Apollo Inn in Melbourne. In Sydney, Old Mates and Old Love’s.
Holly Formosa: Before we wrap up, tell us about the new venue.
Jason Williams: It’s called Vitelli’s Upstairs. We flipped a bar into a restaurant because we just weren’t getting mid-week spend. We went Italian-American, New York-style comfort food. Red sauce pasta, meatballs, Milanese, deep-fried lasagna bites.
Big martinis, a strong Italian wine list, DJs on weekends. We’re going for an American cool-kids red sauce joint.
About Jason Williams & Vitelli’s Upstairs
Jason Williams is co-founder and beverage director at House Made Hospitality (Sydney). His latest opening, Vitelli’s Upstairs, is an Italian-American restaurant focussed on red-sauce classics, big martinis and late-night energy. Vitelli’s Upstairs is now open in Sydney.
About Holly Formosa Consulting
Holly Formosa is a strategic marketing consultant working with food, wine and hospitality operators across Australia. Her work focuses on growth strategy, positioning and practical execution for venues navigating rising costs, changing consumer behaviour and long-term sustainability. Book a complimentary growth conversation right here.