The high-end coffee chain, which has 11 locations in Manhattan and three in Brooklyn, is in growth mode. “My job is to bring people together.Blue Bottle Coffee is feeling the buzz in New York City. Because we all know the lights have been off for far too long. He’s hoping for a bit of a “ta-da” moment, akin to when the power comes back on after a harrowing, extended blackout. Twomey is orchestrating a grand debut, where all his bars will reopen in poetic synchronicity. He estimates welcoming everyone back in a week or two, pending renovation snags and any unforeseen hiccups. The situation is still somewhat in a state of flux, and while summer is winding down, the bars are still not quite ready to open instantaneously. His clients’ comfort, safety and satisfaction are his utmost concern, and all CDC guidelines, as they unfold, will be strictly adhered and adapted to as the situation evolves. Too many bodies in close quarters is not a good look right now, so it will ensure a civil amount of elbow room between patrons. This has not only to do with maintaining an element of opulence, but also the need to maintain crowd-control. To that end, the Veloces upon their reopening will be reservation-only. He intends for it to offer a touch of exclusivity - but one that is based on nothing more than whether you want to be there or not. Somewhere to go with a little ritz, a hint of glamour, where you can gussy up like a grown up but with a breezy European ease. So he’s sharpening his focus, polishing up the surfaces and raising the figurative bar, based on the perceived needs of his clientele. But at this point, he notices more a lack of decorum, a casual-Friday lassitude that is infiltrating all the rest of the days of the week. He originally aspired, like most, to an “everyman” kind of appeal, but during the pandemic he felt that too many places were casual-ified, dumbing down to relieve the stressors of the pandemic. In fact, in the current tidal wave of inclusivity, diversity and acceptance, Twomey is preferring to hone his audience to a more intimate and sensual aesthetic. His bars have always been an embodiment of his ideals, and while they may not be for everyone, he’s okay with that. Erring on the side of caution seemed the smartest and most responsible course of action. Also, and not unimportantly, Twomey is very aware of how things are perceived, and he didn’t want to be sending the wrong message. He realized the costs of remaining closed, and the difficulties it would present to his employees, but at the same time he had the ability to step back and look at the greater dangers of the bigger picture. “My job is to bring people together,” which is exactly the wrong thing to be doing during a pandemic caused by a virus that thrives by people doing exactly that. “It didn’t feel right to open, even in some weird edification,” he explains. Twomey’s decision to close all locations was multi-fold, but first and foremost, his priority was the safety of his staff. He modeled the Veloces after those idyllic locales, keeping a Mediterranean aesthetic of rakish refinement, bella figura, if you will, without being stuffy or uptight.īut twenty years after the first Veloce opened, all of them shut down. They chose destinations where they could refuel with regional specialties while being able to keep an eye on their bikes parked outside. The original idea for the bar was inspired by a European motorcycle trip Twomey took in his heyday, where he and a companion found respite in small local bars, for quick pit-stop type refortification. Twomey founded the original Bar Veloce in March 2000, so the COVID-motivated closing stultified any glorious twentieth anniversary celebrations. But lucky for us, out of the seven original locations, Chelsea’s own will heroically reopen, along with the original in the East Village, three additional Manhattan addresses in the East Village, Columbus Circle, and Soho, and a brand new iteration that has yet to see light of day in Narrowsberg, NY, a bucolic town about two hours north of the city. They have been out of operation since then, and some will remain forever shuttered, victims of the pandemic. Like most of Manhattan, Bar Veloce Chelsea closed on the ominous Ides of March, 2020, along with its sister locations. But good things are worth waiting for, and owner Frederick Twomey has taken the precious time off afforded by this ongoing pandemic to focus on his priorities, and renovate the Bar Veloce empire into an even better version of its previously excellent self. For a bar named Veloce, they sure have taken their own sweet time reopening.
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