Turning The Tables: This Bartending Collective Is Empowering Women And The Queer Community

Bars today are no longer the domain of just men and have, thankfully, evolved with the times. However, the story behind the bar table is still a work in progress. The bartending industry remains predominantly male-centric, although a few women have secured a place at the table. For the queer community, the number is even smaller.

Fay Antoin Barretto, in his over a decade-long career as a bartender, has not been oblivious to this reality. As a trans man, Barretto was perturbed by the industry’s long-standing preference for employing only men. While he had yearned to make a difference for a long time, it was during the pandemic that he finally devised a concrete plan to ensure adequate representation of women and queer individuals in the profession he loved.

Mr Bartender & The Crew

“(With Mr Bartender & The Crew) The idea is to ensure that other queer folks don't experience the bullying and stress that I have gone through and still face. The aim is to protect them from it, as well as to support women, and to give them a chance in this male-dominated blue-collar industry,” Barretto says. Mr Bartender & The Crew was formed during the pandemic, when bars were shut and many individuals found themselves without a job.

The unique initiative, which started in 2020, trains women and LGBTQAI individuals in the art of bartending, with a focus on changing the face of the industry through equitable representation of all genders. “The collective is training people on a pan-India level, but we want to go down to the grassroots level and reach every village in the country to bring more women into bars than men. We also want to understand the perception of LGBTQ communities in these areas,” Barretto adds.

But Fay, also known as Mr Bartender, wanted to go beyond the ordinary and started a special training programme for victims of human trafficking and transgender individuals to help them secure work. They are currently also holding sensitisation workshops around LGBTQ inclusion. Ipsita Chakroborty, a vagabond bartender from Tripura, is one of the people working with Fay to train individuals; they are currently teaching basic and advanced classes in mixology to their fifth batch online. “While we teach people from across the country, physical lessons for bartending take place in Bombay and Goa. The guest lectures we organise with industry experts are some of the most enjoyable experiences. The whole idea of these classes is to empower people; we want to promote inclusivity and open up conversations around women and queer individuals working in the hospitality industry,” she adds.

Giving It Forward

With support from local bars and peers, and with the pandemic on the wane, there is a sense of normalcy returning, allowing things to finally fall into place for many whom Fay has taught. For Suman Subramani, one of the first individuals to be trained at the centre and now part of the crew, the journey has been incredible. She is currently in Jammu and Kashmir, awaiting the construction of her own bar. Lakshmi and Soniya, two street vendors from Mumbai, were also trained by the crew in the craft of mixology and can now use their skills to find their footing in the world.

Similarly, for Wanda Hendricks, a photographer by profession, the pandemic meant a lack of work. It was last year that she heard of Fay and the crew through a mutual friend and pursued him for bartending classes at the virtual academy. A year later, she now takes over bars for cocktail nights and has learned the art of making all the syrups herself. “For me, it was a joy to see Mr Bartender & The Crew create a safe space for people of all genders and make us feel welcome. The kind of exposure I received, whether through bartending at weddings in Udaipur or bar takeovers, is a privilege that I know not many people get,” she says.

While most classes at Mr Bartender’s training centre were virtual, they are now looking for a physical space in Mumbai, Goa, and even Delhi, if everything falls into place. The plan is to impart bartending skills in person and also teach crowd work and conversational skills to women, the LGBTQAI community, and those from underprivileged backgrounds. However, Fay, who recently tied the knot with his partner, says he wants things to settle a little before putting everything into motion again. With multiple brand collaborations and bar takeovers to look forward to, the collective needs just one thing now: a mean cocktail.