Say Hello to Hey Palu

We asked Rachel, Alex & Andrew of cocktail bar Hey Palu to share their thoughts on life before, during and after lockdown.

So what inspired you to start your business?

The whole team has always worked in hospitality so the natural progression from various management positions was to become an owner. 

The idea of creating an Italian-influenced bar had been kicking around for about 7 years. Hey Palu in its earliest incarnation could be found in various notebooks with partially developed menus, on Pinterest boards and various vintage pieces scattered around the house.

When the opportunity arose last year to take over the premises on Bread Street, we jumped at the chance. The whole process from signing paperwork to opening the doors took a very speedy 2 months. It was a whirlwind experience!

We’re nearly on the other side, but how have you adapted to lockdown?

We were already offering ready-to-drink cocktails before lockdown but they were more as an added extra where we focused on our signature cocktails: Negroni, Rum ‘n’ Raisin Old Fashioned and Gin Martini. 

The team had been mulling over the concept of creating a wider menu of ready-to-drink cocktails for a while, so when lockdown arrived it gave us the push we needed to get ‘Hey Palu at Home’ off the ground.

It’s also given us the opportunity to work with a really brilliant local company, Farr Out Deliveries, to deliver our cocktails around Edinburgh.

It’s great to hear you’ve had such a positive experience of lockdown. What else has helped to get you through?

All the love and support from our regular customers and friends in the industry has been really overwhelming. We definitely never expected the amazing response for our Crowdfunder page when we went live with it. Knowing that people are really looking forward to when Hey Palu can reopen again has been really special.

Edinburgh's small businesses are incredibly supportive of each other too, so that definitely makes the anxiety of an unknown future easier to deal with. We love our friends at Tasty Buns, Kin and The Little Chartroom. In fact, going out for a restaurant meal is the first thing we'll do as soon as we can!