Cover Beckaly Franks has announced her departure as the creative director of The Pontiac (Photo: Handout)
Beckaly Franks has announced her departure as the creative director of The Pontiac (Photo: Handout)
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This move marks the end of Franks' nine years at the helm of the award-winning dive bar
Known for her brash style of hospitality, booming voice and towering stature, bar veteran Beckaly Franks' image is inseparable from her first Hong Kong venture, The Pontiac—which makes it all the more surprising that the 39-year-old, who was last year given the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender award at Asia's 50 Best Bars 2023, has announced the end of her tenure as its creative director and co-owner.
Franks' departure from The Pontiac might come as a shock to many, as she has been instrumental in shaping the bar's identity and contributing to its success. However, speaking exclusively to Tatler Dining, Franks underlined her decision to step back from her role at The Pontiac as an effort to "create space".
"In a way, it makes it sound like I'm like leaving [the bar], and that's just not the case because I built it with my bare hands. It is my DNA so like I could never, but it's come time to let [The Pontiac] take on its own creative chapters."
Franks founded The Pontiac in 2015 to bring a slice of the dive bar life from Portland, Oregon, where she spent her early career, to Hong Kong. With its rainbow flag hanging outside the entrance, blasting jukebox, bras hanging off the ceiling, and staff with a little attitude, The Pontiac quickly established itself as an inclusive gathering place for people of all colours and stripes, in the process earning a regular spot on Asia's 50 Best Bars.
All in all, Franks' involvement with The Pontiac comes to just shy of nine years; and she views her departure as an inflection point for both herself and the team to take stock of their achievements thus far. "We were so busy with the hustle of things that we usually don't prioritise time for reflection. We've done so much work and it's important to look at this not as the closing of a chapter, but as an opportunity to see what we've done."
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The decision came about in the lead-up to Asia's 50 Best Bars 2023, she recalls. "I hadn't physically bartended at The Pontiac for a long time and [the organisers] wanted to do a lot of the filming [for Franks' award video] at The Pontiac. Then during Asia's 50 Best, I put a lot of work into The Pontiac, which was all behind the scenes, but I felt like I was taking up space. It's just time for me to create room for somebody else to have a little piece of that pie."
This, along with Franks day-to-day reality as more a creative director than a bartender in the traditional sense of the word, spurred her transition. "My day-to-day looks a lot more like running companies and running bars and my focus is the creative direction. I look forward to learning more in that space for myself in the future as well, because I have a lot of innate abilities that I don't have formal training for."
As for the immediate future, Franks will be focusing on creating inclusive environments for women and the LGBT community.
"If those children are reflections of parts of me," says Franks in reference to her other venues like Artifact and Call Me Al, "then they're also different parts of me that I need to focus on. And if I spent the last nine years focusing on the part of me that is The Pontiac, I am also potentially neglecting other parts of myself. It's exciting to see what I might learn about myself."
A trip to Vietnam to meet female distillers with The Pontiac's general manager Jen Queen is also on the books.
Even without her at the helm, Franks is optimistic about The Pontiac's future. "We opened the doors with no concept, only culture. We were also told that we were going to fail to my face. And nine years later, we're as strong as we've been."
"The relationships are established, the people that are helping The Pontiac are committed and love her. She's set up for success and there's no sunset that she hasn't seen before."
The Pontiac
13 Old Bailey Street, Central, Hong Kong
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Gavin Yeung is a Hong Kong-based writer and was the editor at Tatler Dining. He has written across the realms of F&B, design, fashion and travel, with a focus on in-depth profiles and experiential features. Previously, he held editorial positions at Hypebeast, Soho House and Vogue Hong Kong. He’s also a keen photographer and aspiring home bartender, and is constantly thinking of original, Cantonese-inflected (and occasionally questionable) cocktails to shake up. Follow him on Instagram at @gaviny.
