Despite only opening in 2019, Hey Palu is already one of the most talked about cocktail bars in Scotland. Having won multiple awards, including Best Cocktail Bar at our very own Scottish Bar and Pub Awards, they are now 5th in the UK according to ‘Top 50 Cocktail Bars’ and it’s easy to see why.
The Edinburgh bar is owned by husband-and-wife duo, Alex and Rachel Palumbo, who have an immense passion for the industry. The two met in London. Rachel was from Brighton and Alex was living in London having moved from Italy at the age of 16. Alex was working in hospitality when they met, and Rachel had just qualified as a nutritional therapist. However, she used hospitality to supplement her income.
She explains, “I got my first taste of hospitality when I was only 10 when I helped out at my Aunt and Uncle’s restaurant. I did various hospitality jobs, but when I was 25, I decided to take a break and do something else. However, I couldn’t shake the habit of hospitality. The people I knew kept bringing me back and office work just didn’t have the same energy.”
Alex on the other hand is originally from the Amalfi Coast in Italy and moved to London when he was 16 to work in his Uncle’s restaurant. He shares, “I was bored in Italy and when I came to London, I just fell in love with it. I worked as a waiter and had to learn English fast. The bartenders always looked like they were having so much fun and so I moved onto the bar. It was nice time, I loved the chat, the direct contact with the guests and the appreciation of the alcohol.”
“I started working in bars in London as the modern cocktail revolution took place. At the time cocktail competitions were the only way to see new things, connect to like-minded people and taste new ingredients – so they became a big part of my career. I still love going to competitions now.”
Within two years of meeting the two were married, but by that time the couple were tired of London. Says Rachel, “I had a friend that had lived in the Cayman Islands. So, we went there to work in hospitality for 10 months.”
Alex explains, “We thought worst case scenario we could just come back. London wasn’t going anywhere, and I had always wanted to go to the Caribbean. I worked in a bar called Agua. It was the best bar on the island, and they were doing global cocktail competitions. It was great.”
Rachel adds, “I worked in the Calypso Grill, it’s an institution over there. It was the hardest job I’ve ever done, but the best experience I could have had. I would do four doubles back-to-back and then a morning or evening shift. I worked in every part of the business. I don’t think we would be where we are today if I hadn’t had that experience.”
Brighton, Bloody Mary’s and Pop-ups
The couple then decided to return to Rachels hometown of Brighton, but Alex found the move challenging. He shares, “I couldn’t find the right job for months. Eventually I got a job in The Salt Room when it launched, and we won loads of awards the year we opened. We did things that they weren’t really doing in Brighton at the time such as offering a Bloody Mary prep box where guests could personalise their drinks with different spices, salts and tomato juices.”
They also considered opening their own bar, but they couldn’t find the right premises. Instead, the couple did some pop ups and some big openings
for places.
However, the two were perhaps a bit ahead of trend. Rachel explains, “I think we were just too early for it. People weren’t really going to pop ups yet and it was hard to make money or gain any traction.”
So, the couple decided to make another move to fulfil their dream of having their own place. Alex says, “We first came to Edinburgh in December 2016 for three days. We wanted to visit but also to look at it as a place to live and work. I could see there were a lot of small independent businesses in Edinburgh, and so on the plane back we decided to move! People are really passionate about the industry in Scotland and are constantly pushing the boundaries within the scene. Everything seemed to slot exactly into place.”
“The first job I took was to open and design a wine bar in the unit that is now Hey Palu! I actually designed the bar but before it even opened, but I had a disagreement with the owner. So I took another job with the Compass Group as a drinks development manager.”
The site for Hey Palu becomes vacant
During this time Rachel had taken on a job as an Executive Assistant, which happened to be near the original wine bar. She says, “I kept an eye on it and then I saw that it had closed down.”
It was then Alex decided to spring into action. He says, “The opportunity arose for us to take on the site. The wine bar had been open for a year and half, but it wasn’t busy, so inside it was like new. We were able to open the place on a shoestring budget and only had to make minor changes.”
Rachel adds, “The small changes made a huge difference as we made it more comfortable, relaxing and fun. We had kept a notebook from when we first met about what we wanted our bar to be like, the colours, the cocktails, the Aperitivo style, a modern take on an Italian bar – so the concept wasn’t new.”
Hey Palu is renowned for its inventive menu with some twists on classic cocktails. This includes a Negroni flight and a Paper Plane, which comes with a side of DIY origami. Alex says, “I saw a few other bars had garnished this cocktail with a mini paper plane. So I decided to do a spin on this where guests can make their own plane with the help of a video via a QR code. We were already using a QR code for our menu, so we knew people would respond well to it.”
As for the name, Alex explains, “My old friends in Italy called me ‘Palu’, that’s how they would greet me. Plus, in the past Italian bars were always named after the guy that owned them. So, it’s a modern take on an old Italian tradition.” He laughs, “It was Rachels idea though, it’s not because I’m egotistical!”
“Our focus was to make sure people had a good time. It’s our great staff and all of our regulars that make the place special. It’s also nice to have a drink with something to nibble on, that’s very much the Aperitivo style, so we gave people nuts. It was funny because at first people would say ‘but we didn’t order this’…”
Rachel chimes in, “and now people say, ‘where are the peanuts?’”. Alex confirms, “Yes. Now we are the bar with the peanuts! Which is fine!”
Hey Palu opens in time for COVID
Hey Palu officially opened in September 2019 and even COVID wasn’t going to deter them from their goal. Although they couldn’t open, Alex started doing takeaway drinks and they came up with more ways to generate business. Alex says, “Rachel was still working full-time in her job. I would just come here in the morning with our dog, Declan – now he hates the place because he found it so boring!
“We started approaching big corporate companies that were doing events for their staff. I also contacted Razzo Pizza’s and gave them 100 pre-made cocktails to sell, two weeks later they called and said they needed 200 more!”
Rachel says, “I think we are one of the few businesses that can honestly say Covid actually made a huge difference to us in a really positive way – it boosted our profile.
“We are decisive when it comes to business, and we knew we had to find a way to make it work as all of our money was in the business. So, learning Italian got shelved and I had to learn things like how to build an eCommerce website instead! By the time we reopened we had a huge number of fans that we didn’t have previously. People now knew our name, even though they had never been in the venue.”
“We also used the time to make some changes. Previously we had been so focused on launching that we hadn’t considered things like uniforms and table decorations. It was the classic thing of working in the business and not on the business. When we reopened, we were initially only open 5 days, but we were so busy that we had to find more staff and started opening 7 days. It just gathered more and more momentum. We have seen great growth and profit year on year which gives us more opportunity to invest back into the business and our staff.”
New Bar for Leith with Glasgow on the horizon
Talking of investing back into the business, Hey Palu will soon be getting a sister bar in Leith called Chancho – a Mexican spirits bar focused on agave. Rachels says, “I’ve been full-time in the business for 12 months now as the company I worked for was offering redundancies last year. It was the perfect exit strategy for me to move full time into the business. Plus, we’ve now just taken on a second site. We’ve known for a year we wanted another unit but hadn’t been able to find the right thing. It needed to feel right. It’s exciting but also terrifying.”
Alex adds “We have always loved agave spirits. Rachel spent six months travelling through Mexico, so it has always had a place in her heart. We just felt now was the right time. We want to settle in Edinburgh with the two units first and then the next step for us will be to look at Glasgow.”
The pair make a formidable team so it seemed only right that my last question should be about how they make this relationship work. Rachels says, “Working together can be challenging. We both have strong personalities, and our brains work very differently, Alex is very much a creative and I take his ideas and forge into a single idea. We have a similar work ethic and core values though. There’s a lot of fire between us but we usually get to the same decision.”
Alex adds, “If we agreed on everything it would be boring! We are still working on finding more time for ourselves but we both love the industry and seeing what is new out there. It’s our passion!”
The interview ends with hysterical laughter, and I can see why they make such a great team. Neither of them takes life too seriously but they are incredibly hardworking and steely eyed when it comes to their business interests. I’m already looking forward to seeing their new venue come to life!
