You can encounter him at the École du Singe, Tempête, or at events with his event management company called Macaques. Some time ago, you could still find him at L'Heure du Singe, his first establishment, actively searching for new venues. We are, of course, talking about Nicolas Blanchard. We wanted to know more about this high-energy personality of the cocktail scene, based in Toulouse.
Among your many hats, you are also a DJ. What music do you recommend to accompany the reading of your interview?
Where does this passion for being behind the decks come from?
When I was young, I wanted to be a rock star. I abandoned music when I became a bartender, until I discovered those who search for vinyls, the so-called diggers, because in all modesty, I am not a good DJ at all. So, I surround myself with good record dealers who know how to guide me in finding vinyls, and now I go with my eyes closed and just have to select tracks. I'm not a DJ, I just play music.
Whether it's a book, a movie, or a song, what is your current favorite?
There is an aesthetic universe that I really like, and that's Cyberpunk 2077. It has incredible music and graphic design, which greatly inspired me, particularly for Tempête.
The person who inspired you the most?
In 2014, I won the Martini Gran Lusso competition, and the prize was a masterclass day with Marian Beke. He was the first person I saw who put meaning into every ingredient, every garnish, and even in his approach to his menu. He was the first, to my knowledge, who went to multiple markets daily and served so many drinks without pre-batching, with extraordinary garnishes... From afar, one might think it was just about style, but after a day, it truly moved me, and I returned very inspired. Upon my return, I wore out my then-bar manager, Romain Krot, because I pestered him to do the same...
If you had followed your childhood dreams, you would have become...?
When I was little, I loved to draw and wanted to make cartoons. I wanted to become a rockstar later, when I learned to play the guitar at 14.
Today, what is your greatest achievement?
Until I was 28, working was a way for me to earn my salary to pay for nice vacations. Today, when I'm on vacation, I want to work. This job has made me hyperactive. On vacation, I think about recipes, I see graphics, I have a concept idea for a new bar...
My success isn't a specific project, but the overall project I'm undertaking
When you're a bartender, you have a lot of desires, most often limited by budget. When you open your own bar, you're limited by time (because you have to do your accounting, your marketing, your repairs... everything!) and even more so by budgets. It's very frustrating. Then, if you can develop, you can truly specialize by surrounding yourself with people who are also strong in their fields... So today, with Corentin, Morgane, and Ugo, who manage the operations, administration, and school respectively (and who have brains), I can focus on the artistic direction of the group... creating playlists, designing decor and concepts, bringing in guests, creating recipes, concept menus, beautiful photos, videos, etc... and that's a great success: I'm doing what I love!
And conversely, your biggest failure?
Schoolwork. I do everything instinctively: but I'm incapable of remembering my appointments, keeping a diary, I'm always looking for something I've lost somewhere. You can ask Ugo, or Morgane, it's hell working with me because I've never been "studious".
What habit most annoys your associates?
I forget everything.
Right now, what's your favorite alcoholic drink or cocktail?
Right now, what I'm really enjoying is shochu. I'm always discovering something, a new brand, a new raw ingredient. I find it really cool. But while I'm starting to know my way around sake because I looked into it for a while, I consider myself a novice with shochu.
What bar experience left a mark on you?
It was my first experience in the bar world. I fell into it without really knowing what I was looking for, it was a small job. I wanted to work in a bar, but without knowing what it was. It was in England, and I didn't speak English, so I got yelled at by guys who needed drinks quickly, for example, and who would lose it because I didn't understand anything and I'd bring them ice (laughs).
How would you describe yourself today?
Today, I describe myself as an entrepreneur in the food industry. But the term entrepreneur can have a negative connotation when it comes to business. Whereas for me, it's the desire to develop projects within the business aspect of the term.
In our association, with Ugo on L'école du singe, or with Corentin on Tempête, I handle everything related to graphics and aesthetics.
I am simply an associate with a preferred area of expertise in aesthetics.
You no longer use the word bartender at all?
I still do events, particularly trade shows and masterclasses, and I also participate in classes with Ugo.
But I'm no longer a bartender. I still create the recipes, but for example, I never sent the latest menu of L'Heure du Singe behind the bar. I handled all the processes with the team, with everyone's participation. For service, I tend to intervene.
Today, L'Heure du Singe has just closed its doors…
L'Heure du Singe is closed, but the company continues to exist. We are currently looking for a new location that appeals to us to do something truly amazing. We are exploring several options right now…
Is there a funny anecdote behind the name “L'heure du singe”?
In the 1930s, my great-grandmother had a bar on Avenue de la République in the St Cyprien district of Toulouse called the Boby Bar, which was very popular, and I found a photo of it. It owed its name to Boby, the monkey that lived there and was the attraction of the neighborhood. People would come into the bar and ask for Boby. When my grandmother told me the story, I wanted to imagine that the monkey had left and gone on its way. That it had gone abroad, learned cocktails, and had its coming-of-age journey. And that it had become personified by me again. It's time for the monkey's return, but that was too long for a bar name, so we chose "L'Heure du Singe!" (The Monkey's Hour!).
You also chose to set up a bar school...
It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, even when I was in Paris. I've always enjoyed passing on knowledge. It makes you want to do the best possible job.
But setting up a school is an enormous amount of work: creating the curriculum, teaching the classes, anticipating funding...
Is it also a way for you to ensure you have competent staff for your establishments later on?
I didn't do it for that reason. Long before we had the staff shortage we are experiencing now, I really wanted to do it for the fun of it. Eventually, if it works, it could bring us staff, but completely independently because that is really not the primary goal.
What is more difficult: setting up a bar or setting up a bar school?
What is complicated with a bar is that there is a much larger financial stake: you bought a license, a business, you did major renovations because you are receiving the public…
But the school is more of an office-type organization. In terms of purchases: it's workstations. So clearly, the school is easier. We did buy a rotovap which is an investment, but it wasn't mandatory. It was a bonus.
However, for the school, what took the most time was the administrative work. Fortunately for me, Morgane took care of it!
What is your approach to training?
The bias is to train professionals ready to work in any establishment. That is, easily hireable and who will save their recruiters time with 360-degree training on service and technique. Every day, students taste different spirits so they don't make any mistakes on a scotch, a bourbon, a madeira, an agricultural rum... Every day, they shake because the goal is for them not to come out looking like a goat with a shaker in hand. And really, that they know the basics of hospitality because that's truly the key to our work.
In 2024, how would you describe the cocktail scene in Toulouse?
Today, there are all styles of cocktails in Toulouse: the small independent, the speakeasy, the rock'n'roll place, the DJ one.
And bars that don't specialize in cocktails also make decent cocktails. So, we see that there are bar chefs coming from all over.
At one point, you advocated strongly to explain that Toulouse was not valued enough on a national scale. Is that still the case?
I'm not complaining because geographically, we remain more difficult to access than other cities. You can go from Paris to Bordeaux or Lyon in two hours, Marseille in three hours. And Toulouse, it still takes four or five hours. This means that brands prioritize us less.
Now, all the brands have ambassadors, either who pass by or who bring us to Bordeaux, so I'm not complaining because that has largely improved and we feel that the brands really want to work with the province.
You were also among the pioneers in advocating for bulk delivery of spirits to bars...
Today, I am rational in my demands. I'm not asking Jack Daniel's to scale down to my level to supply me with a bottle.
For everything we can, we get it from Maison Victors, which is an organic distillery near us that supplies us with exceptional products in bulk at unbeatable prices. It's craft, small batch, it's almost irrational to put that on tap but since we work on large volumes, we manage to have this kind of win-win partnership.
And with larger brands, we also do great projects, but we can't ask them for our delivery requirements when we're only doing about 20 bottles a week. For example, we went to Bordeaux a few weeks ago to make cannelés with St-Germain. Afterwards, we imagine a campaign around that. And it's these kinds of alternative projects that we couldn't do with a small brand. I try to practice local sourcing as much as possible, but without being closed off to the majors.
What is your view on the French bar scene?
She has nothing to envy others. She must continue to cultivate a true uniqueness because, alas, wherever you go in the world, the brands/drinks/garnishes and playlists are very/too similar... we are lucky to have something to stand out and we must take advantage of it! Otherwise, customers will get bored and move on to another trend as soon as it appears. It's a bit like what Gainsbourg said about French yéyé music in the early 70s (laughs).
TEMPÊTE
22 rue des polinaires
31000 TOULOUSE.
Tuesday - Friday: 12pm-3pm / 7pm-2am
Saturday: 12pm-3pm / 7pm-3am
L’ÉCOLE DU SINGE
https://www.ecoledusinge.com/
MACAQUES
Ephemeral cocktail bar, caterer, consulting
https://www.macaques.fr/
