In late June, Platform 18, one of the three cocktail concepts located within Century Grand, debuted its new menu called “Midnight in Harlem,” inspired by the jazz clubs of the Roaring ‘20s.
AZ Big Media sat down with Mat Snapp, executive vice president of operations for Barter & Shake, to learn more about the new offerings and the decision to roll out an updated menu during the summer. The following responses have been edited for clarity and length.
AZ Big Media: Mat, can you tell us about your background in the restaurant business?
Mat Snapp: I’ve been in industry for a long time, doing everything from sweeping peanuts off the bar floor when I was 19 to working in New York while trying to go to screenwriting school. I spent 17 years with Fox Restaurant Concepts, where I opened something like 95 locations and ran the beverage program for a decade. But in December 2021, the opportunity to work with Jason [Asher] and Rich [Funari], the founders of Barter & Shake, presented itself. I joined as a small equity partner and the executive vice president of operations.
ABM: Many of the cocktails on the new menu have a signature line under them. Why is that the case?
MS: Historically, most of the burden of genius fell on Jason as the cocktail superstar of the company, but when he left, I wanted to make sure we were paying more attention to the ideas coming from the staff. We spend a lot of time training them, and they have great palettes and imaginations.
With “Midnight in Harlem,” we have five or six contributors with their names right there on the menu. So far, it’s made each of them giggle and wiggle when their cocktail does well, and that comes from the joy of authorship.
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ABM: Why go with this jazzy, New York City theme for Platform 18?
MS: The name Century Grand, which houses two other concepts along with Platform 18, is in honor of the last 100 years of cocktail excellence — a grand century, if you will. Now that it’s 2025, we’re going back to 1925 for inspiration. We’re taking some creative liberties, but 1925 is indicative of culture where there was both decadence and struggle — and we’re trying to celebrate the best parts of that period. If you knew the right people, you could enjoy a night out in Harlem. That would involve taking a train there and probably rubbing elbows with gangsters, whether you knew it or not. Then you would head off to dinner and dance, before getting a night cap or something sweet.
If you’re willing to suspend your disbelief that it’s not 110 degrees outside, it feels like you’re starting your evening on that train to Harlem. You look out the windows and see a drizzly night and the 1920s Duesenberg convertibles driving around. The whole goal is for you to slip free from reality, even if it’s only for five minutes. When that happens, we win.
ABM: You brought up the word decadence, which makes me think of ice cream. Why serve ice cream at a cocktail bar?
MS: We’ve had ice cream at Platform 18 before, but we’re taking a different approach this time. In the past, we’ve tried to create a version of a cocktail as expressed through ice cream. That comes with challenges with getting the actual chemistry right, making it taste good and not be so boozy it feels like a dare to eat. When we rebuilt that portion of the menu, we decided it would be better to take great ice cream and touch it up with booze where the flavors bridge and blend.
Ice cream also has a connection to Prohibition. The part of your brain that enjoys alcohol is right next to the part that enjoys sugar. When people had to put the beer down, they picked up ice cream and it became more available to the masses. It was a golden age of ice cream.
ABM: This isn’t the first time the menu at Platform 18 has been updated, but why choose to roll out a new program in late June when most people avoid visiting the Valley?
MS: Our guests are a cross section of locals and tourists — people who are not involved in the industry. They’re the majority of our traffic.
But in the restaurant and bar scene, there’s a cocktail community who contributes most of the information regarding trends and popularity. Those people are in town during Arizona Cocktail Weekend, which is why we’ve often released new menus around that time.
We didn’t change the menu in February for two reasons, one being that UnderTow’s menu needed to flip first. Platform 18 is also the most popular concept, so not giving them a brand-new menu to work with mid-season was a strategic choice.
Secondarily, I wanted to release it in June so folks in town can come in a few times before reservations get slammed in the winter. There are only 36 seats on the train, so it can be hard for local fans to get in. I ran into one of our regulars who has already tried the menu multiple times. I asked him if he’s tasted all the offerings yet and told me no — but he’ll be back. When you create a space like this and people appreciate it, everything feels like it turned out as I hoped it would. We enjoy the work we do, and we want a bit of that passion to trickle down into the guest’s ears, eyes and glasses in front of them.
