MEET: JARED HUK

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLE

JARED HUK CO-OWNER OF HOSPITALITY GROUP ‘GOOD TIMES ONLY’ CAUGHT THE HOSPITALITY BUG AT THE RIPE OLD AGE OF 18. WORKING AT A NUMBER OF VENUES ALONG THE EAST COAST AND A STINT OVERSEAS, HE IS BACK ON HOME TURF, CALLING WOLLONGONG HOME AGAIN. WE CAUGHT UP WITH JARED TO TALK ABOUT HIS DEDICATION TO SUSTAINABILITY AND HIS LATEST VENUE BIRTHS AND DEATHS, A MINIMUM WASTE GIN BAR IN WOLLONGONG’S CBD.

YOU’VE TRAVELLED AND LIVED IN MANY CITIES FAR AND WIDE, SHARE WITH US YOUR BACKGROUND AND HOW YOU ENDED UP IN WOLLONGONG.

I grew up here on the south coast in a small town called Shellharbour about 20 minutes south of Wollongong. My first hospo job was at the Ocean Beach Hotel in Shellharbour. At 18 I moved to Wollongong, before relocating to the Gold Coast where I worked the nightclub scene. Here I met a great bunch of Canadian guys so when they went home, I followed and spent a year travelling around Canada. Upon return, with a new appreciation for the snow, I moved to Jindabyne for a snow season, working nights in a little cocktail bar at The Perisher Manor where I met another Canadian. After the seasoned finished, we decided to backpack up the east coast for four months, reaching Cairns, where I spent the next nine months working the cocktail section of a Mexican restaurant. Missing the city, I moved to Melbourne where I didn’t do much except drink and eat a lot plus I was able to experience the Fat Duck when it was there. That was amazing and truly inspirational.

In a bit of a lull with hospo work I decided to go to University to study Marine Science (specifically fisheries management). I grew up fishing and had slowly watched fish populations decline, so I wanted to do something about it.

Deciding it was probably too late for fisheries management, I moved to aquaculture because if we culture our own fish then we don’t need to touch the natural fisheries and they can recover. At Uni I started working at a Hatted restaurant, this was really where my cocktail skills developed the most, and was able to work with some extremely talented and inspirational chefs. Here I was able to experiment in the kitchen with all the savvy kitchen equipment. I’ve learnt more about technique and flavour from chefs than I have from any bartender. After three and a half years with Seasoned, I then took a venue manager job for Josh Agostino at Hooch & Fellow. On holiday, passing through Wollongong I decided to stop to see what was new. Starting the night out at Howlin’ Wolf with a few mates, Ben, Scott and Luke, we began workshopping the idea to open a cocktail bar together. That was in November, I moved back in February and we opened Births and Deaths the following November (2018). And now Wollongong is home again.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW VENTURE (WELL...NINE MONTHS OLD) BIRTHS AND DEATHS.

We are a gin cocktail bar with a big focus on sustainability, Australian spirits and native produce. We have just over 100 gins on the backbar of which 90 per cent are Australian. We also have a nice little collection of quality Australian whiskies, vodkas and rums. We offer rotating craft beer and wine options as well as food, including share plates and jaffles with the majority of ingredients all made in-house.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT WOLLONGONG AND THE COMMUNITY THAT YOU LOVE?

Wollongong has always had such a multicultural community, that they all kind of blend into one to become this culture that can’t be found anywhere else.

The bar community is great. There is no pretentiousness and it’s way more chilled than some places, especially the big cities. There are so many young kids keen to learn; it’s exciting to see. That’s why we get great turnouts to industry events because people appreciate it when they get a chance to do stuff they would normally have to travel to Sydney to see.

HOW HAS IT EVOLVED IN THE LAST FEW YEARS?

When I left Wollongong 11 years ago the scene was dominated by big clubs and the same management group that had a monopoly on Wollongong’s nightlife. Now it’s thriving with small bars popping up everywhere as well as a couple of breweries and distilleries. Another gin bar opened the same day we did, and we didn’t even know about it, that’s how much is going on!

YOU’VE MENTIONED SUSTAINABILITY IS IMPORTANT, HOW DO YOU INCORPORATE THIS INTO YOUR VENUE?

Absolutely, my passion for sustainable practices comes from my years at Uni. It was a significant focus of my degree to develop sustainable farming methods. Our first menu was all about the Births and Deaths of ingredients; every ingredient was reused into another drink or made using the waste from our food menu. For example, we had a beetroot relish on the food menu. I used the leftover beet skins to make a syrup for what became my favourite drink on the menu called The Good Root, good for the environment and made of beetroot. We use metal straws; we make our own washable reusable coasters; we use all the leftover citrus husk and pineapple skins from all three venues to make oleos and shrubs that go into our drinks. We are also conscious of where our produce comes from. Our current menu uses all native ingredients that have been ethically sourced by aboriginal communities throughout Australia, helping to give money back to these regional areas. We also look at our packaging, for example, we stopped our dry cleaners unnecessarily wrapping all our stuff in plastic, same goes with our main fruit supplier. We are constantly developing new methods to reduce our waste to an absolute minimum.

We also look at our packaging, for example, we stopped our dry cleaners unnecessarily wrapping all our stuff in plastic, same goes with our main fruit supplier.

HOW DO YOU CREATE OR CONCEPTUALISE NEW COCKTAILS ON YOUR MENU? IS IT A COLLABORATIVE PROCESS, OR DOES YOUR TEAM LEAD THIS?

At first, it was me, but now we have a couple of menus under the belt it has become a collaborative process between all the staff. Some drinks we have worked on together; some are straight-up staff member drinks. Now with our new menu dropping in two weeks, I can’t say any of the drinks were created by myself. Tom Opie has been killing it, he has a banging palate and so much passion for trying new stuff; he will be a future star.

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR TEAM ENGAGED AND MOTIVATED, DRIVING THEM TO CHALLENGE THEMSELVES?

I always like to encourage my staff and regularly set them challenges in the venue to come up with ideas. We have a specials board that matches our bartenders head to head each week with a secret ingredient. Basically, in the tradition of sustainability anytime we have something different or unusual leftover I will give it to the team to use for a special that week and watch them compete for the most sales. There is no prize, just a wheelbarrow full of respect.

WHERE DO YOU DRAW INSPIRATION FROM OR WHO INSPIRES YOU?

Inspiration can come from anywhere, some days I want to get my chef game on and make the most outrageous technical thing I can, then the next I want to make a simple, easy, fresh cocktail inspired by good ingredients. I like to think that Births and Deaths is a happy middle ground to both of those concepts but all with a backbone of sustainable practices. If there were one person in the industry over the years, it would be Tim Philips. I admire his outlook on cocktail making and bartending in general and everything they do at Bulletin Place.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE INDUSTRY NEEDS MORE OF?

More support from the government. Trying to open a venue these days is costly and requires so much red tape between that and the non-stop changes to liquor laws, especially in NSW and QLD. It’s becoming a bit of a farce. I am loving the rise of the speciality bars over the last ten years, especially small bars. I don’t know if Cantina OK! would have made it ten years ago, but it’s killed it since opening and deservedly so. It’s just passionate people sharing what they love, and that’s what it’s all about.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR JARED HUK?

I’d love to get into distilling, to be honest. The dream is to combine my Uni skills with my hospitality life and have my own restaurant, where I grow all my own produce and do a degustation menu with mini cocktail pairings rather than wine. Until then maybe Wollongong’s first Tiki bar? I just want to set shit on fire!

YOU’RE UP FOR SEVERAL AWARDS AT THIS YEAR’S BAR AWARDS. WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU AND THE TEAM IF YOU WON?

We would be stoked to win anything. Just to get a nomination for Operators of the Year up against literally the biggest names in the industry is amazing. We couldn’t be prouder. We were obviously hoping Howlin’ Wolf would be up again for Regional Bar and really believe they deserve to take the crown this year, but to get the addition nod for live music venue was a very pleasant surprise.