Co-Founder Of Short Stories, Pir Granoff On Hospitality
WITH PIR GRANOFF
Pir Granoff’s Short Stories has captured the heart of the fashion crowd as well as those looking for a classic cocktail along with a few surprises in a chic (we’re not going to say “Instagrammable”, but…) space.
Photography, Frederic Georges
Words, Benjamin Schmidt In Conversation with Pir Granoff
VIEW GALLERY
Born out of Granoff’s ingrained passion for hospitality, Short Stories comes from his inherent understanding of what people want: “I decided to dedicate a lot of my time towards building out a place I think that New York needed.
”Of course, it wasn’t done in a silo, Short Stories has been the work of friends, partners, and the general public, all offering their own kinds of feedback to craft Short Stories into the varied and constantly-changing space that it is today.
if what makes your customers happy is a complete dive bar where there's almost no hands-on service, that's still hospitality.
THE LOOK
Alloy Leather Jacket, Three Forty Five AM; Chelsea Boots, Givenchy; Jeans, Uniqlo
Read our intimate conversation with Pir as we explore the lasting impact of Short Stories, his passion for hospitality, and what it takes to satisfy customers.
THE LOOK
Valor Merino Wool Sweater | Cream Button Down, Three Forty Five AM
BO: Let’s start with how Short Stories came to be.
PG: Yeah, absolutely.
A friend mentioned a space is available on the Bowery and showed photos of the interior. From there, I assembled a meet and greet with some friends who I thought could help make this happen. From that melding of the minds, it was sort of an obvious team to put together, and so we started conceptualizing the birth of Short Stories.
As the space was being developed, we encountered some building department delays that put us behind schedule. Importantly, we didn't waste that time in just sort of sitting on our hands and saying "okay, we have a concept, we have a delay. We're just gonna open when we're ready." We took that time to bring friends through, see the space, ask for advice, ask for direction of what people wanted. What did people want in a space on the Bowery; what was missing in the neighborhood? We ended up actually using that time to adjust our offering which we think is a big part of what made it such an immediate hit.
BO: Is this your first bar?
PG: It is my first bar and it won’t be my last. Though, I’ll likely take a more passive role on future hospitality projects. I have my hands full!
BO: What has surprised you or rather, what is the difference between bar & restaurant ?
PG: You can dig into the differences around how the margins work, how inventory is planned, etc. But, at the end of the day, they're both hospitality businesses and the core of hospitality is making sure that you're providing a wonderful place and a wonderful product for your guests to enjoy. In both, you need to make sure that your customers are happy and receive good product as well as service. The key is the context. So, if what makes your customers happy is a complete dive bar where there's almost no hands-on service, that's still hospitality. You're still providing them with what they're looking for and making sure they're comfortable in the space. And it's just a different type of clientele.
If you're doing a high-end restaurant with beautifully chef-driven plates of food, you know, it's the same. You're providing the same service just with a different vehicle.
Short Stories is my first bar and it won’t be my last.
BO: Had you always been involved in the restaurant or “hospitality business” as you prefer to say?
PG: My career currently spans a few different sectors to be honest. But hospitality has always been a passion. I mean, I come from a family of extreme food lovers. Every single waking moment of our family's time is spent talking about it, cooking and thinking about food and hospitality, all the way back to my grandfather who used to manage at the Copacabana in the 1940s. When I was in high school, I had an eye opening internship for a then somewhat local restaurant group in Philadelphia called Starr Restaurants. In other words, it has sort of always been something I've been interested in doing. It just took some time to jump in the deep end. It's been a big part of my life and it will continue to be.
BO: I see. Is it the hospitality part that interests you or the food?
PG: Oh, I mean both of those things and they go hand in hand. My personal tastes certainly skew towards product oriented than service oriented if I had to pick. However, for anything I help build, I am committed to checking both boxes. While I spoke on my family'‘s utter obsession with food and restaurants, I was also raised in a household that hosted. That's sort of what drove me towards being interested in hospitality. I'm someone that likes to host at my apartment. I have people over for drinks and dinner all the time. It's just part of my DNA. And it's all from an early age. My family home was the kind of house with people in and out, we were always hosting and feeding people. There was always the energy of guests that were around and so, it's just what I'm used to.
When we opened Short Stories, for the first few months it was a lot of our friends coming in and supporting and just being a part of the space helping us shape it into exactly what it has become. Thank God, it eventually evolved into actual independent customers who are not just our friends and friends of friends. But from the beginning, it has always been about that energy in providing a place where we can host people that we know and love.
BO: Nice. I totally understand your perspective regarding the merging of food, drinks, and hospitality being one thing. I appreciate that you’re approaching it that way. Do you sense that, I mean obviously there are new restaurants opening in New York everyday, right? Can you speculate what the idea of hospitality is in the future? Is what people want super hands off, “leave me alone” or do people prefer the alternative? What have people been telling you?
PG: I don't think it's fair to generalize. The world needs a wide range of venues. You can look at what I've been a part of and see. We're talking about a place like Short Stories, which is a beautiful pink bar on the Bowery, to a place that literally has the phrase "dive bar" in the name. There's a wide range of consumers and the same person might, on a Monday, want to go grab a beer at a beat up dive bar. Then that Thursday, they want to go get a beautiful cocktail at a marble top pink bar on the Bowery.
BO: Do you have a favorite drink served at Short Stories?
PG: My favorite drink we make is the Pineapple Paradise, it’s so good. We make it with mezcal, which provides a really nice smoky flavor, with pineapple, yellow chartreuse and fresh lime. It actually has a lot of depth and it's just so much more interesting to me than your run of the mill tropical, fruity cocktail. It feels okay to drink on cold days, despite the fact that we have pineapple as the leading flavor, and I expect it to be a hit this Spring and Summer.
