MY STORY
Back in 1989, I was bartending at The New Orleans Café in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood. I insisted on serving only freshly prepared Bloody Marys, but this one drink proved to be a straight-up nightmare. Nobody would follow the recipe, the bottled mixes were expensive, and they sucked, but making them fresh was a far more difficult than anyone wanted it to be.
In the interest of consistency, I was dubbed “the Bloody Mary guy” by my staff, and I was the person that made the batches of Bloody Mary mix in advance. Problem was, either I’d make too much and it would spoil, or I didn’t make enough and we’d run out. Which is exactly what happened the day my life changed.
The New Orleans was close to the Seahawks stadium, and on this particular game day morning, we were jam packed with football fans when we ran out of Bloody Mary mix. I was too busy to make another batch, and as a result, went from selling $9 Bloody Marys to $2 longnecks. Very upsetting. For everyone. After all the 12’s went to the game, I decided I was never going to run out of our famous Bloody Mary mix again. I mixed all my spices and seasonings in advance, so anyone could simply add everything to tomato juice in one step. Easy, consistent, fast but best of all, it was still my secret, customer-proven recipe. Perfect every time, in no time™.