Bar Tonique Information

Tonique opened 08/08/08 as the first free-standing craft cocktail bar in New Orleans, with the straightforward goal of serving great cocktails, carefully curated wines, and craft beers in a friendly, unpretentious, neighborhood bar. Over the years, while the communityand the cocktail industryhave changed quite a bit, weve stuck to those roots. Ice machines might break, but the goal and the way we go about delivering it rarely has... so why change it? We still have pretty much the same menu, only having expanded it twice since 2008. We have pretty much the same appearance, the same vibe, the same approach to just humbly provide a space for New Orleans to come together and connect. We strive to ensure Tonique is a safe, comfortable, welcoming space for all. As such, we think its important that we reflect the community that were a part of, and that we model its best qualities in our policies and practices. For many years, Tonique has centered equity in all we do, from ensuring our staff is representationally diverse, to ensuring their labor is fairly compensated, to breaking down traditional hierarchies and unfortunately normalized (de-)valuing systems in our industry. While weve been content to go about this work quietly for many years, we are glad to see now that our communityand industryare eager to ask questions about the culture at the businesses they support. Bar Tonique is a minority owned business, and we tend to have a majority BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ identifying staff (as is currently the case). Our longtime GM is a recognized service industry advocate, and the co-founder and executive director of a local sexual violence prevention and industry advocacy organization. All of our employees receive health insurance, a 401k, paid time off, and a set schedule with no doubles or clopens permitted. Our bar was among the first to host Turning Tables mentees, and we tend to hire from outside craft cocktail bars, providing opportunities that traditional gatekeepers may lock folks out of. Were proud of our training ...