Go Off Shore

Looking for a place for  post-Valentine get-together with friends, colleagues or kin?

Check out this place with steel-plated flooring, railings and decks that you can confuse when, perhaps, tipsy, you’re in a boat.

Welcome aboard Off Shore Bar.

When Bacoleña Michele Gasataya and husband Grant Purvis, an Englishman,  went home from Thailand in 2002, they learned that the owner of their favorite hangout place, Executive Inn, was thinking of selling the place. Michele immediately wondered “where would Grant enjoy his time now when he returns to the Bacolod?” Grant works as pilot for remotely-operated vehicles, and when he comes home, Michele accompanies him to load off stress at parties and small gatherings.

The eventual closure of Executive Inn triggered Michele to invest in a business where she and her husband can spend quality time together —  a bar.

After a series of meetings and plans with friends, she decided to open a pub, but she later changed her mind, thinking that the idea may not click with the Bacolod night-life crowd.

As a frequent partygoer, Michelle established, instead a cocktail set-up for her new venture, saying it is not a typical business and the “set-up can’t be found elsewhere in Bacolod”. 

After scouting for locations, among others, at East Block, she saw what she considered as her her bar’s perfect site – Metrodome, which  opened for leasing in the summer of 2007.

With the help of interior designer Raymund Fuentes, Michele imported dispensers from the United Kingdom and hired her team composed of  four young men and four women who serve as waiters, cleaners and cook.

With her designer’s expertise not only in interiors but also in Chinese astrology, Raymund encouraged Michelle to open on the first full moon of November – on the 24th of 2007. The schedule, to Raymund, would  bring good luck and fortune.

Michelle takes care of the management, including the financial operations,  of the bar.

Open daily from 3 p.m to 3 a.m., Off Shore serves a wide variety of alcoholic drinks, and offers  the widest variety of branded bottles and mixed shots. The place can accommodate as many as 60 persons at one time.

For her, Off Shore is a place where one can  relax after a long day’s work,  meet friends and clienteles. And yes, she adds,  it’s a decent place with a wholesome ambience that wives of customers do come along.

With the economic crunch forcing most business establishments to close, Michele and Grant are optimistic that Off Shore will continue to cruise as a business “with friends and loyal customers around.”

The owners consider 2008 as a good business year and they are ready to meet the challenges of the new year by further improving the business and serving customers better.

Off Shore, for the last year, has been productive and profitable, disclosed the couple who also sees 2009 as a challenge to further improve and their business  and  serve  the  customers  better by making the place ‘more relaxing and inviting,” Grant said.      Adrian Bobe

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