Raising the Bar

With more than 30 restaurants and bars, Armory Square is known for its vibrant nightlife. But crowded spaces with endless liquor can lead to dangerous nights out.

To combat violence in restaurants and bars, Vera House has partnered with five Armory Square establishments for Raise the Bar, a training program for employees. The Blue Tusk, Kitty Hoynes, Pastabilities, The Stoop Kitchen and Funk ‘N Waffles all participated in the training last fall. This spring, the initiative earned a 2019 Nonprofit Collaboration Award from Biz Events.

“One of the goals of the program is to help employees identify aggressive behavior before it escalates,” said Brittany Pryor, healthy environment project coordinator for Vera House. She said an important part of learning how to intervene in these kinds of situations is learning what body language can reveal.

The Raise the Bar curriculum was modeled after ideas curated by the Arizona Safer Bars Alliance. Dependent on the restaurant or bar, the training varies in style to tailor to the needs of the establishment. Through the training, Pryor worked with each restaurant to teach tactics for preventing and handling violent situations. She said there are ways to identify body language that can help bystanders intervene in more ways beyond simply asking someone how their night is going.

For Adam Gold, owner of Funk ‘N Waffles, this training was extremely beneficial for the whole staff. Due to the nature of the restaurant, most of the waffle joint’s employees are front-facing, engaging with customers first.

"This training is really important to me because I want my customers to feel more comfortable, as well as my staff,” he said.

Gold believes that if more Armory Square businesses participate in Raise the Bar training, then it can help prevent someone who’s thrown out of one restaurant from going down the street and causing the same issues at another place. Funk ‘N Waffles sometimes charges a cover fee, which Gold said usually prevents people who are trying to cause trouble from coming in.

Like Funk ‘N Waffles, The Stoop Kitchen’s staff learned beneficial techniques throughout the Raise the Bar training. Owner and former adjunct professor in the Whitman School of Management, Eric Alderman, said it’s helped The Stoop Kitchen’s staff gain confidence when handling difficult situations.

While only 70 percent of employees are required to go through the training in order for a restaurants to be Raise the Bar certified, Alderman made it mandatory for his entire staff. This wasn’t an issue, he said — the whole team was on board.

The training itself is free, but restaurants must pay their staff for the hours they participate. Paying an entire staff to undergo training can be difficult for some businesses to afford; however, for Alderman, it was worth the investment.

"People aren't working to produce income, now people are working to make themselves better and to help make your restaurant better,” he said.

Alderman, being a former adjunct professor, discussed the prevalence of sexual harassment cases not only in bars and nightclubs, but on college campuses too. "It's hard for me to even talk about it because it's so ugly,” he said. “But the best way that you can do something about it is to shine a light on it."

"It's hard for me to even talk about it because it's so ugly, but the best way that you can do something about it is to shine a light on it.

Alderman believes this program made participants better advocates not only at work, but in everyday life. The next steps for Raise the Bar in Syracuse is to expand to other restaurants in the downtown area, Pryor said.

Vera House continues to connect with the participating restaurants, checking in on their progress and offering help when needed. This initiative is one step toward an overall healthier and safer Syracuse nightlife.

BY HALEY ROBERTSON