“First month was great, first night was hell.” Dani and Oska Whitehart on opening a bar

When Bar Bellamy opened two years ago, it found quick favour with not just Melbourne bartendery types and hospitality lifers, but with the local neighbourhood more broadly. The Carlton cocktail bar has some of the country’s best drinks on offer, from an ever-changing list, and the food to match. From small beginnings — it was just partners in life and in hospitality, Dani and Oska Whitehart, and a chef at the beginning — the bar has grown, more staff have been hired, and the opportunity for venue number two has arrived. 

Below, lightly edited and condensed for clarity, the couple talks about the rollercoaster of opening a new venue, how the next venue will appeal to a different crowd, and their hopes for Bar Bellamy in the long term.

BOOTHBY: First up, how was the two year birthday party?

OSKA: It was amazing. We had the three events on that week. Simone Rossi, we had Satans Whiskers and then Rude Boy. That was so fun. I felt so nostalgic the whole time — two years ago, we did not think we’d be here. 

Just to see the community come out as well, on those three nights, we had a lot of regulars, a lot of hospo community come through. I think there were some people that were there for all three. So credit to them for pushing through and having that many cocktails.

BOOTHBY: So how did you guys meet?

OSKA: We actually met over the bar at the Carlton Club.

DANI: The most romantic place in the city. 

OSKA: It’s a multi-level pub that is more of a club on the weekends. I was a fresh-faced 19 year old at the time, I was just having a lot of fun learning how to make vodka lime sodas. Dani came in with a mutual friend and I actually pointed her out to the bartender as a young 19 year old bartender does, being like, check out the girl in the knee high socks. Then Dani actually made the first move, I’d say.

Dani accidentally added me on Facebook, she reckons. I got the notification a day or two later, I was like, oh, this chick — hey, what’s up?

DANI: That was a mistake. I thought you were cute though.

BOOTHBY: When did you first start working together? Was it here or was it beforehand?

DANI: I was mainly cafes, front of house. I worked at Archies all day, and I’d go across to The Everleigh when I finished at night where Oska was working.

BOOTHBY: And Oska, you’ve had a much more cocktail bar focus? 

OSKA: Yeah, the Carton Club was the first proper job. And then went to Howler in Brunswick, from Howler to Eau de Vie in the city. It was an amazing team: Jack Sotti, Orlando Marzo, Todd Finlay, Georgie Mann, a super cool team. 

BOOTHBY: World-class stuff, too. 

OSKA: Literally. That was super cool. That showed me more cocktail culture and, then from there I went to The Everleigh. I was there for about three years. Then I went to the Ghost of Alfred Felton at The Espy when they reopened. 

And then from there, had a total change of pace at Bad Frankie. I was there for about a year and a half. 

BOOTHBY: That’s a big change of pace. 

OSKA: Yeah, 1700 capacity at The Espy to close to 50 at Bad Frankie. I was at Bad Frankie working with Seb for a bit until he sold it. 

BOOTHBY: So how did you decide to open this place? Let’s go back to more than two years ago. How did that conversation come about? Was this something you guys had always wanted to do together?

OSKA: It was, but we thought it was like a really, really long way off. We’d sit around and be like, wouldn’t it be fun if we open a space like this? 

BOOTHBY: When did you start looking? 

OSKA: We started looking around 2018.

DANI: I was doing Jam Hands, our jam business, full time by that point and I was really missing service, so sometimes I’d pick up a shift somewhere just to kind of socialise. And then we stopped looking in 2020. I think a lot was happening at the time.

OSKA: We put it off for obvious reasons for a while.

DANI: One of my old bosses, we were going to open something with him. Then we realised it would be closer to his vision, than ours. And by that point we had dreamt of this so much that we were like, I think we just have to stick to it. Then we panicked, we emailed, and said we don’t think it’s going to pan out. And then that day, we panic scrolled on realestate.com.au and found this space — and then we’re like, we just have to do it.

OSKA: As far as spaces go though, it needed a bit of love. It wasn’t unreasonable. And it was a lot of stuff that we could do ourselves.

BOOTHBY: So you saw it, you had a look, and then what did you do? You jumped on it.

DANI: Yeah,we looked at it that day, I think we got in touch with a real estate agent. Oska picked me up on my lunch break, we came in and he was like, be cool — if we like it, be cool, don’t show them. Absolutely. And we walked in and I turned to him with big wide eyes and he was like, okay. That’s all of our bargaining power gone — we'll take it.

BOOTHBY: It does seem that Bar Bellamy did pretty well reasonably quickly. What was the first month like when you opened the doors?

OSKA: First month was great, first night was hell, which I think is pretty normal. On the day people were coming through and we were like, don’t touch the tiles! But we didn’t expect the response we got; we were thinking we’ll get some hospo mates,  family and friends — and then we just got  absolutely slapped and we were blown away. That was by far the tiredest either of us have ever been, we were just running on pure adrenaline.

BOOTHBY: This is the thing, you put so much work in leading up to it, right? And then once you do open the doors, actually now the hard part starts.

OSKA: Yeah, it caught us by surprise, but it was really cool and we floated on that feeling for three months until it got a little bit quieter.

BOOTHBY: Did you have any periods after that initial rush where you thought, it’s a bit quiet tonight, where are the people going?

OSKA: We did, but I think it’s when we started getting more so regulars because we’re like, cool, we can actually talk to the people that are in, and build up that community and that neighbourhood around here. It was scary as hell, but it also just felt good. This is what we wanted the space to feel like. 

Yeah, in terms of downturn, definitely last winter was our quietest period. After a year in that initial rush of hey, you’re open, I want to come check it out — it’s not summertime where everyone’s getting loose but that was definitely the news all around town. Everyone was down across the board, and winter was really bad in Melbourne last year.

DANI: We also doubled down in that time. We were like, it’s quieter, things are tighter, and we wanted to see how we could get people from not just in Melbourne to come in more. So we did our first pop-up in Singapore at our quietest period, which kind of looking back probably wasn’t smart financially, but we’re like, we need to start getting us more out there.

BOOTHBY: So what gives you the crazy idea to then go look at doing another space, Melitta Next Door?

DANI: It’s funny, we literally just were at a point where we had hired a couple more people here. We were getting comfortable.

OSKA: Yeah, that was a golden time. And then we were like, let’s open something else. The team’s awesome. We’ve seen them go from strength to strength and we really trust them, they know how to run the bar without us if need be. Josh Pahl is the bar manager, he’s been with us for a year and a half now. Alex Gondzioulis, he’s been here for a year.

BOOTHBY: Alright, so you had a crazy idea. How did the idea come up that you want to do a second place? Or are you doing it because the space next door became available?

OSKA: We were looking at one actually a few doors down, a much bigger space and it was just opportunistic. We’re like, it’s there. It makes sense. We’re getting comfortable. And it was just too big. So we said no to that. And then, this one next door came up at the same time. The person who was leasing it had been dropping hints for months and we just weren’t picking up on it. He just kept saying, I hate it in there. And we would just be like, oh man, that sucks. Do you want a beer?

DANI: I’m pretty sure he asked us to buy it off him the first time we moved in but he set a price that was ridiculous. I think because it’s right next door,  that’s a bit more manageable for us. It’s a similar size, and are always talking about maybe a different venue or what would this or that concept  look like. So we started just spitballing what we could do and then we got a little too into it and next thing I know, I blacked out and was signing a lease.

BOOTHBY: So what’s the idea?

OSKA: It’s called Melitta Next Door, it’s going to be more of a casual eatery, with Mediterranean vibes, the bar is going to be really different to Bar Bellamy; it’s not going to be classics, it’s going to be pre-batch cocktails. The aim is to have a small list and offering that is a little bit tighter. The food program is bringing together Mediterranean cuisine and Australian barbecue culture as well. So it’s quite casual.

DANI: The whole aim of it is to be a bit more affordable. We often get people under 25 coming in here and you can tell they’re excited, maybe a bit dressed up, and then they look at the menu and they’re like, whoa, what’s your house wine? 

OSKA: We are by no means an expensive venue if you consider some of the places that are in Melbourne and the rest of Australia. We price for what we can.

Here at Bar Bellamy, service, the hiring of staff is one of the most expensive parts and it should be, you should be paying people well. So we’re trying to look at it from the service side for Melitta Next Door, because we don’t want to serve shit food and cheap shitty drinks. We still want it to be good quality, but just cut back on everything else so that it can be a bit cheaper. Pre-batch cocktails are definitely going to be cheaper for a 20 year old than coming in here and getting a Martini. There’s not as much labour involved as having to shake a drink. We’re not having shakers over there as well. No shakers, no mixing vessels. Come next door to Bar Bellamy if you want a Margarita.

BOOTHBY: You seem to be successful, you’re doing this working together thing. What’s the thing that pisses you off about each other the most?

DANI: That’s not where I thought you were going with that. I thought you were going to ask what do love about him?

BOOTHBY: Nah.

DANI: I think we distract each other terribly. 

BOOTHBY: Is it hard not to take work home? I feel like it could be difficult.

DANI: Honestly, if you asked me before Melitta Next Door was becoming a thing, I would have said we’re in a pretty good place with it. And now with Melitta, everything’s gone out the window because when we’re here, we’re talking about Bar Bellamy. And then, when we’re there, we are talking about this other thing with Melitta. So honestly, we don’t have a great system with it right now. But we just try not to let it irk us. 

And we’ve also gotten pretty good at being like, if you don’t have the capacity to talk about it at the minute, vocalising that without it being like, I’m annoyed. It’s hey, can we just put a pin in it for a second? Cool, sweet, no problem.

I think we’ve just learned to lean into the chaos.

BOOTHBY: Are you naturally predisposed to working in the chaos? Are you good with that? Some people like more structure, some people are more adaptable to things coming at them.

OSKA: I don’t mind the chaos honestly, I’m pretty adaptable and I don’t mind figuring it out as you go a little bit, which can definitely frustrate some of the team. Dani’s pretty chill with it, everyone’s pretty chill with it, but I think I would like it to be more structured for other people’s sake, not just for me.

BOOTHBY: What are your big hopes for Bellamy long term? How long do you want the place to last?

DANI: A really, really long time.

OSKA: The entirety of its lease.

BOOTHBY: So that’s a realistic goal.

OSKA: Yeah, until it becomes unsustainable,  I wouldn’t want this to end up being something that really becomes a thorn in your side after too long if it’s not a model that works long term. We always looked at it like, is this a keep or a sell?

And it was always made to keep.