The news of the Branch bar’s reopening hit me so well that I left sharing the news without bothering to read the terms of the deal. I even wrote a congratulatory message to Ronen Altman, the father of a former colleague of my son’s and the former owner of the pub.
It was Ronen who told me that he and the brothers will not be running the bar in their new incarnation. The point in Vila Madalena and the brand were transferred to Fábrica de Bars, the group that owns Bar Brahma, Bar Léo and Riviera, among other houses.
I didn’t know if I was still happy or if I regretted the end of this cycle. Under the leadership of the four Altman brothers, the Branch was a bar with a unique personality – something that seems impossible to recover in impersonal management and multiple consultancies for the food and beverage menus.
The Branch was my favorite bar for a good ten years. That’s where my gang – journalists, obviously – went after work two, three, four times a week. I left the liver and a respectable sum of money at the Branch.
I changed, Vila Madalena changed, only the Branch did not change much. I stopped going to it, but I kept the affection and the good memories. Can they resist a visit to the bar under new management? I’m afraid of this reunion.
The transfer of decaying bars to more competent managers is not necessarily a bad thing. I myself visited and wrote about traditional spots in Rio that were saved in this way: Adonis (in Benfica), Nova Capela (in Lapa) and Adega da Velha (in Botafogo).
But two reasons make me suspicious of professional intervention in the old Branch.
First, he did not go through the excruciating process of decay and decrepitude. It had lost some of its charm and vigor, but it was still going strong when the pandemic-forced closure broke the Altman brothers’ business legs.
Second, Fábrica de Bars’ history of acquisitions does not make me see a bright future for the Branch. Léo, Brahma and Riviera are all bars I went to in my youth with thirst and enthusiasm. They were very traditional places in São Paulo; in the anonymous management of the Factory, they survive in a nondescript and uninteresting way.
Riviera, Léo and Brahma would be legends of São Paulo bohemia if they had let them die with dignity. They were reincarnated as tourist traps. I’m afraid the Branch legacy would also be better off without the resurrection.
I hope I’m wrong in my hunch. I will give the new Branch a chance. But I’m going to wait a few weeks, until the deal gets back on track, so I don’t jump to judgment.
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