Bartender Spotlight: Bert Chavez, Bar Manager at The Little Grand Market
Plus, a preview of Little Grand's new spring/summer cocktail menu and local food news
Meet Bartender Bert Chavez of Xolo Mixto and The Little Grand Market
By Erin Edwards
Forget about which politician you’d like to have a beer with. How about bartender? For me, Alberto Chavez, who goes by Bert, is way up there.
The charismatic and handlebar-mustachioed Chavez, who represented Columbus in the finals of the 2025 Don Julio Starback Competition in March, recently took over the reins as bar manager at The Little Grand Market in Grandview. You might know Chavez from his pop-up bar Xolo Mixto, specializing in carefully crafted Micheladas.
I love food hall and market bars, but I don’t always expect to see loads of creativity or storytelling through their offerings. In general, people visiting food halls are there to eat or quickly grab some ingredients for dinner, perhaps over a lunch break. Only over the last few years are we seeing local food halls and city markets become happy hour—and even nightlife—destinations.
So I was curious about Chavez’s move to the Little Grand and wanted to learn more about the bar’s forthcoming spring/summer menu.
Born in Tijuana, Mexico, and raised in Los Angeles, Chavez says hospitality is in his blood. When he was growing up in LA, his dad was director of hospitality for Marriott on the West Coast and would also work private events like birthdays and quinceaneras on the side. Chavez started learning the ropes as early as age 14 when he’d help his dad at his events, sometimes as bar back and other times with clearing tables. He learned early to be “hyperaware of everything.”
“Ever since I was really young, I remember anytime I went to a steakhouse my dad being like, ‘You see, this is where that server is neglecting this table, or they’re not doing this.’ ”
Chavez moved with his partner, Alissa Marshall, from LA to Columbus amid the pandemic and has since become a hospitality industry journeyman.
He worked in the kitchen at Gemut Biergarten (Gemut’s owners convinced the couple to move to Columbus), was on the opening team at Budd Dairy, worked behind the bar at Chapman’s Eat Market with Seth Laufman, slung cocktails at Cobra and even found himself building a bar with Local Cantina.
“If it has to do with alcohol and a bar, I could probably figure it out,” he says.
When Thrive Cos. was opening Little Grand last year, Chavez applied to be a janitor because, being the father of a toddler, he liked the benefits package. Someone at Little Grand quickly realized his skillset and outgoing personality were better suited for hospitality. By December 2024 he was the bar’s manager.
On May 1, Little Grand will unveil a new cocktail menu under Chavez’s tutelage. The painstaking R&D process involved each bar team member interviewing all 10 of Little Grand’s food vendors. Chavez reviewed the notes, looked for patterns and revisited the vendors to create cocktails inspired by each of them.
“There [are] little touches that you would only know if you talk to the owner, if you talk to the families behind these businesses,” he says about this new crop of cocktails. “I really wanted that to be the heart and soul of the [cocktail] menu.”
For example, the menu’s charred pineapple mango mezcal cocktail was inspired by Little Grand vendor Los Agavez Taqueria and the vertical rotisserie (known as a trompo) used in making tacos al pastor.
“It's gonna be a little bit sweet, a little bit smoky, exactly like how one of those tacos would taste,” he says. “I know what it would taste like to be on the beach in Tijuana … and have that smell of al pastor and have one of those cocktails in a plastic cup right on the beach.”
Meanwhile, the Sweet Caroline cocktail was inspired by Taesty’s owners Tae and Alyssa Spell—particularly Tae’s North Carolina roots and his family's sweet tea.
“We got Watershed bourbon, infused it with an enormous amount of black tea bags that gave it this really nice tannic flavor, while having that little bit of sweetness from the bourbon barrels that Watershed uses. [We] did a peach cordial using peach nectar and fortifying it with a little bit more sugar … and added some dehydrated peaches over the top.”
While the overall Little Grand bar program will be approachable—it is a food hall, after all—Chavez says he aims to let team members really flex their craft through rotating featured cocktails. He also plans to continue monthly educational opportunities for the staff, such as distillery field trips and wine tastings.
“We are going to start really making it a monthly thing where every bartender on our team has the ability to show their talent,” he says, noting recent hires from bars like Parable and Law Bird.
“There is a lot of talent behind this bar.”
You can catch Chavez at Little Grand or, on Cinco de Mayo, you can find Chavez’s pop-up Xolo Mixto along with Casa Karmelitas at the Village Idiot (1439 N. High St.) starting at 3 p.m.
Find It:
The Little Grand Market
710 Grandview Xing Way, Unit 112
(614) 453-6018
Notes
Around the Columbus Food & Drink Scene
Uptown Westerville is home to an attractive new coffee shop. Begin Cafe, located at 8 E. Main St., will hold its soft opening April 24-26 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cafe will feature local roasters like Florin and Royal Flamingo, while offering a menu of drip coffee, cold brew, espresso and matcha drinks. They’ll also have baked goods, granola bowls and toasts on hand.
Restaurant industry veterans Kevin and Lori Ames, who most recently ran Downtown Tavern and Lola's, have opened The Cafe on East 5th at 260 E. Fifth Ave. in Weinland Park. The 99-seat restaurant and bar is on the ground floor of the Crossline apartments complex. Expect a casual American menu with hot dogs, grilled cheeses, ciabatta sandwiches, pizza and much more. The Dispatch has more details here.
Love this story, interesting life journey. Congrats on your first anniversary btw E. Love the writing