Kurtis Bosley, a mixologist, ex-hospitality consultant and bar owner is combining all his past experiences and expanding his passion for the industry, opening a second bar later this year.
Currently the Corretto Dee Why owner, Bosley has seen action in the industry for more than 12 years. In his early days he worked as a bartender while studying an architecture degree. After graduating he continued the progression of his career with Public House Management Group as its on-premise group operations manager. In 2018, he moved to full-time consulting with CBK Hospitality Solutions.
During his time as a consultant his experience vastly grew after working with the opening of Kokomo Island, creating a gin with Manly Spirits, launching a cocktail book with Roxy Jacenko and working with venues around Australia with drinks listings and staff training.
An opportunity presented itself for Bosley to take on the ownership of Corretto Dee Why, formally a restaurant called Aubergine, and has used his life experiences to mold his new venue into a successful beachside bar.
He told Bars and Clubs: “The industry is unlike any other, the support and general well being of everyone within it is so paramount to everyone’s daily lives and the way we look to bring everyone up is incredible to watch.
“I was able to buy the business and give it a full make over including new branding and direction and turn it into what we know it as today. We trade from 7am right through until late with our ‘coffeetilcocktails’ branding allowing guests to join at all times of the day.”
Bosley takes pride in his history within the hospitality industry and draws upon this when creating his cocktails. With international travel not currently on the cards for Australians, the Corretto cocktail list gives a taste of abroad thanks to Bosley’s imagination.
“As a bartender I travelled the world, experienced some incredible work opportunities and have built all my businesses on the back of the ability to create cocktails. With my experience overseas nothing beats New Orleans for a fun time, with Tales of the Cocktail a must for all cocktail lovers, London for the most forward-thinking venues in terms of technique and flavour, Barcelona and Greece for some of the best bars in the world, shout out Clumsies and Two Schmucks. And more recently Indonesia for the most incredibly fitted out venues with some true hospitality,” he said.
“Creating cocktails based on these experiences takes me back to some very fond memories. This experiential drinking is what I love most about creating new drinks.”
On the back of his recent success and passion for the industry, Bosley is in the process of developing his second venue to be opened in Manly. However, it has not been smooth sailing along the way.
“The second venue has been the most difficult six months of my life. We’ve had every bit of red tape thrown at us, had our progress pushed back two months because of COVID and Christmas holiday period from our team working on the space. Not to mention every other small issue we’ve encountered along the way.
“It’s currently sitting with the council awaiting DA approval so that we can green light everyone in the project. It made sense at the time as the opportunity was too hard to pass up. Now we just need to get the thing open to capitalise on the opportunity.”
With more than a decade in the industry, Bosley has seen consumer behaviour develop. Most recently, he has seen the biggest shift in consumer behaviour towards the non-alcoholic market, experiencing an “incredible increase” with their non-alcoholic cocktails and beers in 2021.
Having made it as a bar owner but knowing the journey of building a reputation and skill base himself, Bosley passed on key advice for those wishing to have a successful career in the industry.
“For those bartenders out there looking at honing their craft, enter as many competitions as you can, talk to as many older bartenders and you can, and learn as much as you can through reading cooking books, cocktails books and online. Most importantly don’t rush, life is long and you can do so much if you don’t burn out, look after yourself.”
