For this weekend’s long read, we’re dipping into winter issue of Boothby magazine, released a few months back, for this in-depth interview with Mucho Group’s general manager, Daisy Tulley.
And the summer 2026 issue of Boothby magazine is nearly here; it lands on December 1st, and is jam-packed with in-depth interviews, thought-provoking reads (why, exactly, do we seem reluctant to embrace Chinese wine?), and inspiring bars and drinks from here and overseas. I reckon it’s our best issue yet. To make sure you get the next magazine direct to your home, you can subscribe here.
Boothby Staff
Okay, let’s get into our chat with Daisy Tulley.
DAISY TULLEY DOESN’T COME from a hospitality background, and was the marketing director for Mucho for six years before becoming the group general manager. She moved around a lot as a kid, and moved to Sydney from Townsville when she was 15, studying at Newtown’s performing arts high school, and getting into music; she was in a band that signed two record deals. She became pregnant at 22, and had two kids, before joining the Mucho Group business at 25.
“The Cliff Dive was really struggling at that point,” she says in this month’s interview. “And I said to Alex and Jeremy, just give me a go — I’ve got this entertainment background. I understand.”
Over the past 10 years with Mucho, she’s asked a lot of questions, brought in outside help, and isn’t burdened by a history as a bartender — all of which helps to make Mucho the idiosyncratic bar group it is. Below, lightly edited and condensed for clarity, Daisy talks about what her role entails, why humility is essential in running better bars, and how she decides to open a bar.
Sam Bygrave: What’s your job involve? You’re gonna say everything, right?
Daisy Tulley: What’s my job? No, we would be here all day. Yes, I’m the group general manager of Mucho. But basically my job is to create some sense of strategy for the company, so obviously future strategy, but day to day keeping the company safe and happy and operating the best it can be.
What do you mean when you say safe?
Safe, I mean that obviously all the people are safe, the company’s compliant as well, in terms of everyone’s getting paid properly and in a HR sense.
And this has been a big thing over recent years, some companies have messed up that thing and some have just neglected to do it.
So I’m not originally from hospitality. I came into hospitality about seven years ago. When I came into hospitality, I was surprised that quite a few things weren’t getting done. And it seemed to me like a lot of people were ex-bartenders now getting thrown into being business owners, and didn’t understand and all have the training or support for that gap.
When I was in bartending, you never really got that training. You might learn how to cost a cocktail. That was probably about it. And it’s a lot more involved.
There is so much more involved, yeah. I suppose that has been something I’ve been focusing on and some people have missed, but there’s been plenty of other stuff that people have missed too.
You just opened Herbs Negroni Taverne. How’s it going?
It’s going really well. It’s been the smoothest opening we’ve ever done.
Is it venue number six for Mucho?
Number six. The build was as smooth as we’ve ever encountered. Marketing has been seamless and we’ve gotten a lot of press, and then operationally-wise and building the team. I’ve had a head of people recruiting and building a new team so I just feel like everyone pulled their weight, and it’s just been a really successful opening.
Yeah, that’s great.
I know, it’s really nice.
Do you trust that feeling?
I do trust that feeling because the last few years have been so much fucking work. I’ve aged like 10 years.
So what’s your background before hospitality? You were in a band, right?
Yep, so I moved to Sydney when I was 15 from Townsville. My dad was in the army for 30 years. So I’m an army brat. And then my mother’s quite artistic and creative. So quite a different, yeah, I’m a product of that and an army officer. So I moved 10 times, got to Sydney at 15. Yes, was in a band for six years. Studied a Bachelor of Health Science.
All right.
And then fell pregnant working at 22, had two kids and then came into the [Mucho] business when I was about 25, 26. I had two kids, doing marketing and entertainment for The Cliff Dive. So The Cliff Dive was really struggling at that point. And I said to Alex and Jeremy, just give me a go — I’ve got this entertainment background. I understand.
It’s a familiar world.
Yeah, but I also understood what a brand was and how to sell a brand because I was a brand myself for six years, signed two record deals. I knew that people had to sell us as a band, as a product. Everything is a product and you have to sell it — if you want to be commercially successful, obviously.
Yeah if you want a roof over your head?
And I came in and did a really good job of turning The Cliff Dive around. So that’s how I came into the business. And then I got folded in across the rest of the bars in a marketing sense.
I spent about six years doing all the marketing. Obviously Cantina OK! landed on The World’s 50 Best during that time. I was part of the Bar Planet opening. And then a business consultant came in two and a half years ago because I was like, I’m not opening another venue until we figure out the structure of this whole business. And I felt, at the time, quite resentful, because I knew that I was doing so much more in the business, but my title was marketing director. I was not getting paid the same amount as Alex and Jeremy, and I had a seat at the table but it wasn’t a fair seat, so I was like something needs to change here if we go any further.
And this business consultant came in and helped us restructure the business. She recognised that I was basically an undercover GM, and then promoted me to be a general manager at that time. I was really underskilled though, I didn’t know what I was really doing, but she stayed with me for about a year, a couple hours a week to two days a week. So that’s how.
As in a mentor feedback way, was it?
No, was more we did a whole restructure on finance and our accounts and bookkeeping. We changed bookkeepers, software, invoicing, every procedure. We did a huge HR program.
That’s big change too. Once you’ve had businesses running for a while they sort of get their own lives.
I basically came in and everything that Alex and Jeremy had done, I just threw out and started again. That’s what I’ve done in the last two years. They’re originally two bartenders and they’re amazing.
Well, no one taught them how to do business, either.
No, no, no, but you can also ask for help. I didn’t know what I was doing to an extent as well, but this is what I’m good at understanding, is where my limitations are, and then hiring that help. I’m very humble — like, these are my strengths, these are my weaknesses. I think for Alex and Jeremy, maybe they didn’t have that humility years ago to be like, this is what we’re good at, this is what we need help in. I think that that it makes you successful if you’re an extremely humble person. So you don’t know everything. They didn’t know everything.
But they know a lot about service and about creating bars and about beverages and they’re amazing. So with the new structure from that business consultant, we are now a really dynamic trio and we all have really amazing strengths and we really play into them now.
I guess complimenting strengths as well.
100 percent. I couldn’t do what they do. They can’t do what I do. So that’s why we’re the perfect trio. Alex builds the bars. He deals with all the tradies. He does all the maintenance. Jeremy’s the creative concept. So the concepts start with Jeremy. He spits them at me and goes, should we do this? Should we do that? I’ve got a bit of a marketing brain and I’m quite good at making decisions, gathering data points and making the right decision. People are telling me that seems to be my superpower.
And then I’m gonna take that concept. We’re gonna build it with Alex and now I’m gonna operate it. That’s the funnel, it’s working really well.
What kind of information do you take in to make decisions, say, to do something like Herbs? Why did you decide to do a Negroni bar on Clarence Street?
I’ve taken a lot of data points that are even probably subconscious, so I’m obviously absorbing a lot of media, cultural things, fashion, style. I understand what’s current, and that comes from my mother who’s quite creative. And then I’m really good at asking people a shitload of questions, and that comes from my dad.
It’s really weird to say nice things about myself.
It’s strange having to talk about yourself, this is why I ask the questions.
Yeah, I don’t like it. Dad’s really good at researching something thoroughly and then analyzing the risk and that was his job as a colonel in the army. I’ve learnt a lot from him in terms of gathering data points.
But the data points are, we have mystery shoppers, Google reviews, feedback on socials, talking to guests. I spent years and years going to the venues when I was trying to turn around The Cliff Dive. I just spent every weekend at The Cliff Dive talking to every single guest, DJs, anyone I could — asking them a million questions. I am always so shocked of how little questions people ask. Every opportunity is an opportunity to learn something.
Do you think that’s because sometimes people want to protect their idea of what the bar should be? Because you have to have a vision for what it is, right? But then when you interact with guests, it can change a bit.
Why don’t people ask questions, why aren’t they interested, why don’t they want to learn and learn from someone else’s mistake and not their own? The feedback I’ve gotten is that people don’t want to be perceived as ignorant and they want to be perceived as potentially more powerful or in control because they’re not coming across as dumb.
Yeah.
Well, I don’t really give a fuck. I just don’t. I don’t care. I need to know for me to make the best decision possible. I need to ask you all these questions and I need to get all these data points together. And it’s not about you. It’s about making the best decision and the task at hand. But that’s why I’m quite active.
Herbs, I could tell culturally that people were into Negronis from shitloads of data points.
It feels self-evident.
You’ve to go back a year. So Jeremy and I were on the train coming back from the site. Yes, a lot of bars were doing Negronis and a lot of bars are doing Negronis, you can get a Negroni nearly everywhere. Like Bar Planet has really taken the Martini and casualised it and made it its own and celebrated it. I didn’t feel like a bar had done that with the Negroni yet. I felt there was a bit of a hole in the market. Everyone was loving Negronis. And I also think that people are doing really interesting stuff with bitters. There’s a lot of cool Australian bitters, and overseas and people are drinking more bitters. Bitters seemed to be a thing at the time, there’s a lot to say and a lot to explore. There’s a whole nother category here that Mucho can make its own.
And that’s really exciting for us. So they were all the different points that I went, let’s do it.
You said you’re starting from a year out there. Are you worried that trends are going to change, or taste going to change in that time?
I think we’re good at adapting when we have to. And yes, there is a concern about people drinking Negronis forever. And same with the Martini. I don’t like to be in the trend. I think we’re naturally trendsetters. I don’t know how and why. Yes, it’s a consideration, but I don’t really care what the trends are to an extent.
Gotcha. Did this approach where you take a cocktail that’s familiar to people and then build a bar concept with that at its kind of core, did that really start with Bar Planet?
Well it was after I arrived at Cantina OK! really, when I started taking over socials. I was like, that’s great that you’re a micro mezcal bar but as you can see everyone’s drinking fucking Margaritas so let’s celebrate that a bit, and that’s what they wanted to lead with.
For me, from a marketing perspective, mezcal people don’t even know what mezcal is so that’s not going to get them in. But it is something for them to have a journey with once they’re there; the Margarita is going to get them in. We say at Mucho, you can scuba or snorkel at our venues, and you always want to be able to do both. The Margarita is like snorkeling. Everyone knows it. It’s accessible. Everyone can snorkel to an extent. Scuba diving not as accessible, but that’s for those that want to go deeper. And the mezcal is to take them on a journey and to give them a long lasting experience or a new experience that they wouldn’t have somewhere else. So we always factor that in. And yes, it kind of started with me trying to make the venues more accessible six, seven years ago and having more of a marketing lens on it. Okay, what do people actually want? What are they consuming? What is that data saying? And let’s celebrate that more. If they’re already consuming 90 percent Margaritas, then let’s talk about Margaritas more.
Do you think many people who run and own bars, you know small independent bars, think this way?
It doesn’t seem to be.
Why do you think that is? Why do you think they’re almost allergic to marketing and making money sometimes?
This is one of the things when I came into the industry that I couldn’t understand. I don’t get it — everyone’s got such amazing stories and products but they’re not celebrating them. I think there’s a few factors. I think that people do what they want to do when they open a bar and they’re a bartender — and it’s not about the market or what do the people actually want? You have to be humble to be like, well, I don’t want to go to a R&B and hip hop club on a Friday night at midnight. But that’s what all the kids want. Like The Cliff Dive, for instance: it’s not about what we want. It’s about giving people what they want and seeing that joy come through.
And then I think that people find that this branding, marketing thing is a really overwhelming concept and they almost want to be anti brand or marketing. They’re like, who gives a fuck about branding and marketing? But that in itself is actually your brand. So you need to lean into that further if that’s going to be your strategy. That’s what Alex and Jeremy were like seven years ago. They’re like, fuck brands, fuck marketing, Swillhouse don’t do any of it. And I was like, I don’t care what Swillhouse or whoever is doing. Look at Swillhouse now. They actually had to catch up.
I can’t say that people would have said that what Newtown needs is an esoteric Martini bar that democratises the drink. It’s not like the market was crying out for that. How did you go about finding that?
It’s hilarious, because when we were opening Bar Planet, so many people said to me you’re another cocktail bar on Enmore road — there’s already shitloads. What are you doing? I knew that there were lots of generalised cocktail bars, but not a Mucho cocktail bar. And I don’t mean that we give a better product than other bars on this road, but I felt we could celebrate something and bring a little bit of joy to the Inner West, and do it in our own Mucho way. There’s lots of other cocktail bars. What’s our point of difference?
Every bar is a cocktail bar, right?
Exactly and Bar Planet is a cocktail bar. Not all we do is Martinis. But by leading with, well we’re a Martini bar, I felt like it had enough legs and we could bring something different and interesting enough to the Inner West that would work. But yeah, we were nervous.
What are the parts of the job that you love the most?
The part that I love and brings me the most joy is staff coming to me and saying thank you so much for having such a nice time at Mucho. And they are the moments that this is all worth it because there are a lot of days that I don’t feel good enough to do the job. It’s just a hard job.
You get pretty jaded. But there’s this guy at Tio’s at the beginning of the year, who went to be a baggage handler at Sydney airport because he wanted to go down that career, and we’re very supportive and we knew about it and he sent me a big email and said, hey, I’ve never worked somewhere and felt so happy. I wish I didn’t have to leave. Thank you so much for creating such a happy and safe environment.
That gave me a lot of joy. That is just gold, isn’t it? That’s that’s my goal: to create a company that can do things a bit differently and also have fun together. Life’s too short to fuck around and not have fun. Obviously we do work hard, but have fun — what we do is bringing us joy, it’s not a drain, and we’re doing it all together — it’s a collective effort.
I think if you’ve got a team who feels that way as well, it rubs off on the guests, right? You can tell when people don’t want to be at work. What have you done to get that kind of ethos through the company?
It’s the same concept of the fish rots from the top but how do you say it in a positive way? But I deeply care about everyone. My direct reports, I care deeply about them as a whole person and their life beyond Mucho.
I’m inspired by our staff. I can’t believe the job they do and how hard it is and how amazing they are.
I’m happy to fit in with them, not expect things of them that are unrealistic. We’re very considered about their hours — no one works much over 38 hours. We have coverage, we have two people in our operations team that can cover people when they need a break
It’s very much about that flexibility — you’re a whole person, you’re not just the person at work. There’s other things that are going on in people’s lives.
But that’s what brings me to the job, it is the people and not just the job. And the community, looking after each other.
How would you describe the Mucho approach?
I think a Mucho person is kind. Humble. Enthusiasts, not experts. Here to create space and for people to have joy in Sydney. So it’s not about me, it’s not about the bartender, it’s not your time to perform, it’s your time to create a positive experience for someone.
As I said, like we’re all dealing with enough stuff. But I don’t have much time or tolerance for someone that walks in with an ego or with other motives that aren’t kind. And that has happened over the last years and it’s really complicated.
You’re gonna have you know all walks of life coming to your bar, right?
But if you’re not there for a true motive of giving people a good time or building a positive team, whether it’s in a manager or bar back support, if you’re not there for a positive motivation, I sniff it out pretty quickly and you’re not welcome at Mucho.
That’s great. How big can Mucho get? Do you guys set big goals?
I’d say 10 [venues] by 40 years old — I’m 35. I’ve got another five years to 40. We’ve got six. It’s pretty optimistic. We already have another venue on the boil.
I think about that all the time, I thought about it this morning — I have to catch myself and ask why? Because it’s giving more people more opportunities in the company and we need to grow for that and to keep people interested.
You want to keep that good talent, right?
They want to move into management and learn more. With more venues, there’s more opportunities for them. And it’s what Jeremy and Alex love doing the most, is creating new venues and building them. And that keeps them happy. So I’m happy to keep growing. But it’s more risk and more issues. And some days you are like, why, why, why? It’s also really hard to deny Sydney a little a nugget of joy when you can see you could deliver one like Herbs; seeing that space and, well, why wouldn’t we? When we know we could do something really interesting.
I love that.
Yeah, welcome to my brain.
Boothby Staff
