Today we’d like to introduce you to Elise Capers.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
The idea of Axelrad came about when Monte Large, Jeff Kaplan, and Adam Brackman became inspired by a rooftop beer garden in New York. They were enchanted by the fun, cheerful environment and by the groups of all kinds of people enjoying the same space while drinking amazing beers or innovative cocktails. It’s funny because I don’t think the owners even know this fun fact (I do because I am a super beer nerd!), but a traditional beer garden is everything they felt in that moment when being inspired and what they aimed to create in Houston – a sense of belonging and happiness, which is summed up by the German word, “Gemütlichkeit”. This is a word that is used to describe the vibe, feeling, or culture that a beer garden represents or embodies.
Way back when, the building we know now as Axelrad was once a dry goods grocery store, apartment building, and the home in which David and Gertrude Axelrad lived and worked. From what I have been told, during the time that this house was built, houses were not identified as a number and a street name but by the last name of the family. Above the front door that leads to the staircase there is still the original cement brick that proudly says “AXELRAD”.
Around the time that plans to turn the space into a beer garden were made public, the Axelrad family caught the wind and contacted the owners out of concern that the building would be torn down. The ownership team quickly flew them out to Houston to comfort and assure that their family home would never be torn down but would act as a gathering space to enrich and unite the Houston community. After meeting the ownership team and learning all about the vision for the beer garden, several Axelrad family members fell in love and wanted to support the concept by becoming investors!
“In an effort to embrace the history and culture of the neighborhood, the location, the building, and the city in which we live, the owners painstakingly restored a building that has stood at the intersection of Alabama and Almeda for almost one hundred years. The building symbolizes our passion to help create a city that is more inclusive, more tolerant, and more beautiful and lovely than any other. Axelrad is a manifestation of this mission and we intend for everyone to feel welcome all the time.
Axelrad is fueled by a love of art, music, people, and the diversity that makes our hometown, Houston, wonderful. We set out to create a venue where everyone is welcome and feels safe, and where no one is judged for being whoever they are or want to be. We are each advocate for equality in different aspects of our lives and that passion helped motivate us to open a place of our own… for everyone.
Axelrad is simply about celebrating Houston, being outdoors, and relaxing.” (This is one of my favorite descriptions of Axelrad which was written by Adam Brackman)
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The journey to where we are now was anything but smooth!! Fortunately though, what made it easier and fun was having a strong foundation and a great team.
When I was brought on to the team, it was just the owners and me. I had never experienced a job or responsibility of this caliber which made me somewhat naive. We had imagined having no more than maybe 6-10 bartenders, not needing misc support staff, etc. Some of the major changes were the increase from 9 employees to over 50, having just one full-time manager to four, the addition of two bars, adding two parking lots in addition to the one we had already, creating at least 4 new job codes, going from 3 POSs to 10, extending the hammock grove the full length of the garden, adding a stage, building two storage sheds, curating a music program five days a week vs two, expanding the garden into the parking lot to accommodate a new bar and a food truck, tripling the amount of tables and chairs, and oh my gosh, so much more! Things quickly changed and we experienced curve ball after curve ball.
Initially, our biggest struggle as a business was the ability to provide speedy service. We only had one bar that can hold, at the max, 4 people, and 5 if we’re pushing it. Eventually, we added a caveman-esque style bar that we had to completely take apart every night – it was a couple of jockey boxes and the tap wall was the exterior wall of a trailer cooler that was rented out for cookouts and tailgating. We all hated this thing, but whew did it save our butts!
During this time, we began planning for two outdoor bars and six months to a year later, we added an air-stream bar (which we have named the “Beerstream” or “Lola”) and a bar that is attached the the side of the main building by a storage shed (we have named this bar “Shed Bar” because we’re so creative… there has been talk of naming it “The Dog House”). The addition of these bars created tons of shifts to fill and new job codes to create SOPs and agendas for. These bars saved us! We can pump out drinks to large crowds with ease and make all of our guests’ experiences positive ones which we are tremendously grateful for. Taking the time to design these bars was so worth the wait and we’re very pleased with the results.
The toughest road for me personally was running the business while trying to create a structure for the team and promote retention consistently. Often times we could not create checklists or implement standards because it was go-go-go and so busy all of the time. Eventually, we figured things out and created the perfect management team. Seriously, if the Asst. GM, Whitney, was not on this team, it wouldn’t be the same at all and I may have gone crazy! She’s the yin to my yang and is such a focal part of Axelrad’s success. We have added two other full-time managers, Julia and Lindsey, who have been here basically since we opened and they’re amazing as well.
One of the most critical decisions for a business is building the perfect team and I’m so glad that we promoted within and waited for the right time or scenario to come along for these positions to be filled. The reason I say that I am glad to have promoted within is because there are so many quirks to learn about Axelrad or a business that is still growing, so I wanted people who were already passionate about this family and business that deserved a chance to pursue something they were interested in. I think that for certain companies and situations, this creates a better work ethic and that it was the right move for us.
All in all, it has been quite a life-changing road! The road has been filled with challenges and stress, of course, but that’s a given for any new business. What made this journey so unique is that while it was at times super crazy, the owners have always been supportive, eager to help, have become increasingly more passionate about the business and work-family which is inspiring, and have never hesitated to do whatever they could to make any and everything better. I am so grateful for the owners, Adam and Monte, for giving me this opportunity.
There are no other people that I’ve ever been more proud to work for. These are the kind of guys that are effortlessly humble, wouldn’t think twice about helping during a pop of business, have helped bartend (ahem… tried to help bartend. hehe.) when we were short staffed, bussed tables, washed glasses, stomped the trash bags into the dumpsters, that has earned the respect of the team, are people that we all look up to and want to make proud, and that are always here for us and everyone around them. Without bosses like them, Axelrad would not be what it is and this road would have been so different. Our team as a whole is legitimately the best I have ever worked with. After fifteen years in the service/hospitality industry, I’ve experienced all kinds of work families. This group is cohesive, ambitious, hardworking, respectful, funny, and enthusiastic about being involved or a part of the fam-bam. Sorry to get all mushy, I’ll stop now! 🙂
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Oh dear! The only things that I would have changed would have been the layout behind the main bar, the size of the main walk in, having at least one other bar to start off with, and having another set of restrooms (we are in the process of adding more restrooms, yay!). Even with those issues, I am glad that we learned through trial and error. Everything else that may have been a hurdle is actually a blessing. You learn so much more and have a deeper appreciation and understanding for things when you get the chance to sink or swim or experience a situation imperfectly. Being a part of opening this beast of a business has been the most rewarding experience and I’m glad to have learned and grown so much.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1517 Alabama St
Houston, TX 77004 - Website: axelradbeergarden.com
- Phone: 7135978800
- Email: drink@axelradbeergarden.com
- Instagram: axelradhouston
- Facebook: facebook.com/axelradhouston
- Twitter: axelradhouston
Image Credit:
Jacob Castillo
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