For the first time in its 128-year history, The Savoy Hotel has appointed an American to run its flagship American Bar. Shannon Tebay, formerly of New York City’s Death & Co., is also only the second woman to take up the role. Prior to the bar’s reopening in September, Tebay tells 50 Best what she’s hoping to achieve, recounts how she got to this point in her career, and explains why her background as a pastry-chef has helped make her an excellent bartender
“I might have to see if The Savoy’s resident pianist knows any Black Sabbath,” muses Shannon Tebay, only half joking when asked if she’s aiming to recreate the ambience of her recently-departed job at East Village bar, Death & Co. – currently No.89 in the extended 50 Best Bars list – in the hallowed, historic surrounds of the one of the most famous hotel bars on the planet. Still very much absorbing the news of her appointment – “my head is still spinning,” she confesses – Tebay is making history in more ways than one.
For one, she is the first actual American to oversee the running of American Bar, which was named The World’s Best Bar in 2017, then under the stewardship of Declan McGurk and Erik Lorincz. “I think that having an American’s perspective here is simply going to add to the history, the repertoire and overall skill set of the group at large,” says Tebay. “Moving to Europe, where I’ve never lived before, I’ve already seen that there are specific cultural differences; in hospitality, there’s a lot of nuance and idiosyncrasies that are alternatives from what I’m used to in the US.”
American Bar at The Savoy, winner of The World's Best Bar 2017
The second important factor is that the New Mexico native is only the second woman in the bar’s 128-year history to take on the role. Since American Bar first started serving its Stateside-style cocktails in 1893, there have only been 12 head bartenders, and only one has been female. Ada ‘Coley’ Coleman, a protégé of the son of The Savoy Hotel’s founder, Richard d’Oyly Carte, ran it from 1903 until 1924, impressing titled guests such as the Earl of Lonsdale who described her as “so nice and so kind and so full of life and energy.”
Tebay knows she has big shoes to fill but is excited to follow in Coleman’s footsteps. “I knew a fair amount about her already,” she says, “but I’ve since done a deep dive into her life; she’s a very interesting person.” During her tenure, Coleman invented the now world-renowned Hanky Panky for comedic actor Charles Hawtrey. A combination of gin, vermouth and amaro, it’s been on American Bar’s menu ever since, something Tebay intends to honour. “I am absolutely going to pay tribute to Ada on my new menu with a Hanky Panky variation, as well as keeping the classic version.”
Fine art meets fine drinking
When it comes to acknowledging her status as a woman in such a prominent role in the industry, Tebay is circumspect. “I am always excited to see women and minorities behind the bar, and I think, yes, we’re finally getting some much-deserved recognition. You can never see too many women in bartending roles.” She joins another recent high-profile appointment in London, that of Giulia Cuccurullo to the position of head bartender at Artesian – a four-time winner of The World’s Best Bar title. Tebay adds: “the bar teams I’ve worked with which are female-led are always extremely strong. I think we have a lot to offer the hospitality industry, and I’m delighted to finally see a number of women in positions of leadership.”
Tebay’s route to the top, however, has been what might best be described as circuitous. Growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, her first job was as a wedding photographer, something she did for six years. “My interests have always been in creative fields,” she affirms. “I moved to New York City 12 years ago to study for a masters in painting, drawing and art history, which I also studied at school.” NYC’s buzzing, burgeoning food and drink scene proved the lure to take her onto a different path; it led to her quitting grad school to enroll at the prestigious French Culinary Institute to study pastry. “Food, eating, cooking – all this has always brought me great joy and, similarly, as a creative energy output, it’s something I’ve always loved.”
Shannon Tebay behind the stick at Death & Co.
While these days she may not have quite the same knack for knocking up a choux bun or a morning’s viennoiserie, Tebay acknowledges that she uses some of the same skills she learned at the Institute to inform her bartending and cocktail recipes, in terms of the balance of flavours and the organisation and precision which go into crafting the perfect drink.
It was her search for a part-time job to help support her in her studies which led her to the place which, almost literally, moulded her for her new role: Death & Co, a small, intimate bar on East Sixth Street, where she started out as a hostess before progressing to waitressing. “I was simultaneously learning about pastry while also learning everything I could about craft cocktails,” explains Tebay. “The parallels between both were extremely apparent to me. I thought I could use my ‘pastry brain’ in this world, which I also found to be a very compelling industry.”
While pursuing pastry could have been a viable option, Tebay had fallen in love with the art of cocktail making, and was fiercely passionate about working with the team at Death & Co. Another opportunity presented itself when one of its original bartenders, Joaquín Simó, opened his own bar, Pouring Ribbons, nearby, and asked Tebay whether she would be interested in learning the bartending ropes. Seizing the opportunity to improve her knowledge and skills, she left to join him and swiftly moved up to become head bartender, then general manager.
There followed a period where both Tebay and Simó also did consulting work for other bars and restaurants in the city, while in addition, she helped on new product development for a large liquor company. Eventually seeking to become more again, she moved to West Village bar Slowly Shirley, run by Jim Kearns, another Death & Co alum. In terms of any challenges she’s faced in her career, she is nothing but full of praise for the people she’s tended bar alongside. “I’ve been incredibly lucky, and have had the privilege of working with people who were very inclusive, and very kind and willing to mentor me, and I think that really helped with my career arc and my growth in the industry. Of course, it can be tough sometimes: job leading is hard, teaching is hard, but I’ve always been fortunate to work with an incredible team.”
New York's subterranean, beautifully styled Death & Co.
Crossing the pond in a cocktail shaker
In March, 2017, Tebay’s old colleagues contacted her to find out whether she’d be interested in returning to Death & Co. and she jumped at the opportunity. By the time she left, she’d been appointed head bartender and was instrumental in shaping the bar’s current cocktail list. “I’m very proud of what I achieved here,” she says. “It felt like I was standing on the shoulders of giants; to get the feedback and approval of the guys I was working with, and hear them say they really liked certain things, felt great.” Her favourite creation during her time there was The Faultline: a Negroni variation comprising aquavit, sweet vermouth, amaro and carrot eau de vie, which she loves because of its simplicity, savouriness and the fact it’s made exclusively with ingredients straight out of the bottle.
Death & Co., it’s safe to say, has a very different vibe to American Bar. It seats no more than 60, with 12 bar-side stools; the lights are turned down low, and the music is turned up loud. “The staff have a good time here, blasting out their favourite tunes,” Tebay smiles. “It’s a very transportive experience; when you walk into that room, you’re instantly somewhere totally foreign.” How that might translate to the more genteel, white-jacketed environs of The Savoy’s best-known bar, only Tebay can say. “I only visited once before I got the job,” she says. “It was in the summer of 2019 and it did feel like stepping back in time in the best way. Other than that, I knew about Ada Coleman and Harry Craddock and had a copy of the Savoy Hotel Cocktail Book; so many classics have come from that bar that I would make on a daily basis on a completely different continent. So the importance of legacy of the American Bar was something that had already deeply touched my bartending career before I ever even stepped inside.”
In terms of what she wants to achieve here, Tebay has been very open with The Savoy that she would like to hire more women. “I’m delighted that The Savoy and the American Bar has decided to give this position to a female for the first time in a very long time, and I want to honour that by giving important hospitality opportunities to people who have historically not had a voice, or certainly not as loud a voice as they should have; it’s part of what I want my legacy to be.”
Other than that, she wants the experience to be fun. “Craft cocktails can be very intimidating to some people, or get over-intellectualised, which for better or worse can perhaps add an additional layer of perceived pretentiousness, or be off-putting to some people, so I really want everyone to feel good in that space. No one should ever feel unwelcome at a bar, and I want American Bar to be a destination not just for delicious cocktails, but for conviviality, and hospitality – and fun.”
London's legendary Savoy Hotel, which Tebay now calls home
Tebay is currently in full flow of getting ready for reopening, as American Bar closed when the pandemic took hold but will reappear with a refreshed look and, of course, a new menu and with a new team. What advice would she give to any young women hoping to emulate her success? “I’d say, just stick with it, and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do it, whether it’s because you’re a woman or for any other reason. Be patient, put in the work, and find the joy in it – because if you can always find the joy, you’ll never get tired of it.”
‘50/50 is the new 50’ is a content series created by 50 Best and supported by S.Pellegrino with the shared aim of promoting equality, inclusivity and balance in the hospitality sector and beyond.
