New York City Bartenders & Patrons

Erica Lancelotti, head of Bar Candy

I have been hearing for months about this company called Bar Candy, which I suspected was a group of models moonlighting as bartenders for private parties. I checked out their web site, and yes, it is one beautiful woman after another. This intrigued me so much, I called up the owner of the business, bartender Erica Lancelotti, for a quick interview. (Other bloggers are so damn lazy they are run by cut and paste maestros; not NYCBP).

Erica has been tending bar at the W Hotel bar in Murray Hill (Lex and 39th Street location) for seven years. The 28-year-old native of Fairview, N.J. has also been a drink slinger at Soho House, Mad River, Dune in Southampton, and several other places. The idea for Bar Candy came to her while behind the bar one night, she said.

“People would ask me at The W to bartend their parties,” Erica explained, as she recounted how she launched Bar Candy two years ago with five girlfriends. Now there are 150 “independent contractors” working for her. “It got to the point where I had so many appointments, particularly around the holidays, that I had to delegate to my girlfriends.” She came up with the name of the company at work, after watching how much the customers looked at her and her fellow bartenders. “We’re just bar candy,” she said, and that was the name. If you have never been to The W, the bartenders and waitresses are all knockouts -- you can’t be a 6 and work there.

Erica soon expanded from bartending at private parties to event marketing and hiring out promotional models. The business plays on her love of why she got into bartending in the first place. “I love to meet people, and being a bartender you meet so many, from celebrities to Average Joes.”

She said the usual going price is $50 an hour per bartender. I thought this was incredibly cheap to get a model to your house to pour beer for you, especially when you see the gallery of women who work for the company (Bar Candy also has male bartenders, if you need them). Bar Candy has expanded to Los Angeles which, typically, gets everything after Manhattan does.

Erica also takes the time to train her bartenders in new developments in bartending, whether it is new flavored vodkas, new products, or new cocktail recipes.

I really thought the company was just pretty faces who don’t know a muddler from a strainer. However, Erica assured me they are all highly competent bartenders. “That is what separates Bar Candy, from the others,” she said. "Our motto is ‘Because we’re hot and they’re not.' "

“Most of the others have beautiful girls with no talent, or else bartenders with no personality,” she opined. “I take pride in that ours are fast, knowledgeable, and know how to make the drinks.”

Beauty, brains, and bartenders? Erica sold me.

You can contact Erica via Bar Candy’s web site. Tell her NYCBP sent you.

Labels: bartenders, Interviews