Luke Whearty on five years of Byrdi, and why there are too many average guest shifts

On this episode, I’m talking to Luke Whearty, the bartender and owner of Byrdi in Melbourne. In this conversation with Luke, we talk about Byrdi and the five year milestone — theirs is part of the 2019 class of openings that had to contend with the pandemic in 2020 — he talks about what makes a good takeover or guest shift; and he walks us through the thinking and processes involved in bringing their current menu, titled Sonder, to life, and what comes next.