As hospitality groups grow, their venues can begin to resemble one another: the same visual language, menu logic or proven formula carried from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. The Goodies Hospitality, one of Sydney’s best-loved restaurant groups and LEIF partner, has taken a different approach. Across Bar Copains, Bessie’s & Alma’s, Vin-Cenzo’s and its latest opening, La Buvette, there is a shared spirit but no prescribed house style. Each venue has its own rhythm, history and reason for being.
Founded by Sali and Nathan Sasi and Morgan McGlone, The Goodies has grown from a single wine bar into a small, deliberately assembled collection of inner-city venues — distinct in character, yet unmistakably related. We spoke with founder Sali Sasi about meaningful names, table choices and Ottolenghi’s favourite Comté Custard Tart.
The Goodies story began, fittingly, with friendship. Bar Copains opened in Surry Hills as a compact, European-style wine bar whose name simply translates to ‘friends’ in French. “The name really did come from the friendship between Nathan, Morgan and myself,” says Sali. Copains is celebrated as a perfect neighbourhood wine bar, with snacks that pack a punch, such as Pigs Head Fritti with Sauce Gribiche or their signature George Whiting Sandwich on pillow-soft bread, alongside a generous list of wine and memorable Grapefruit Paloma. Even the famed Yotam Ottolenghi has weighed in, calling their Comté Custard Tart one of his favourite things to eat in Sydney.
“We love little suburban spots. For us, it’s either a corner venue or a building with history that we want to preserve in some way through the storytelling of our venues. ”
Bar Copains established a principle that continues to shape the group: names, buildings and ideas that carry meaning. Nothing is chosen simply because it looks good on a sign. Their collective instinct, in favour of storytelling, is evident at Bessie’s & Alma’s. The adjoining restaurant-and-bar occupies the former Chefs’ Warehouse on Albion Street, where food, fire and friendship shape much of the experience. For years, the building served as an unofficial industry meeting place where Sydney chefs would buy pots, pans and equipment, inevitably running into someone they knew. Rather than erase that history, The Goodies found a way to carry it forward. The venues were named after Nathan and Morgan’s grandmothers, whose cooking first drew them towards the kitchen. It is a personal tribute, but also an apt continuation of the building’s culinary life.
That same respect for what came before informs Vin-Cenzo’s, the group’s romantic, old-school Italian restaurant in Darlinghurst. Its name plays on Bar Vincent, the much-loved restaurant that previously occupied the site: a nod to its past, altered just enough to signal a new chapter, with a Melanzana Norma that would make any grandmother proud.
“At Vin-Cenzo’s, I always recommend our Chicken and Mortadella Agnolotti. There’s a little round booth at the entrance of the restaurant – Table 14 to us – that’s the best seat in the house: romantic, cozy and with a great view of the room and passerbys.”
The group’s latest opening, La Buvette, revives the original name of the tiny French wine bar that once inhabited its pocket-sized Challis Avenue address. “It really did seem right to bring it back to life,” says Sali. The Goodies, delightfully, look for what is already embedded in the spirit of a restaurant: an architectural detail, an old sign or a neighbourhood habit worth preserving and celebrating.
Before hospitality, the group’s founders built careers in fashion and technology — a history that might look like a detour on paper, but in practice reads more like an apprenticeship.
“At their foundation, they’re all people businesses,” Sali says. “Fashion, tech and hospitality look very different on the surface, but success in each comes down to understanding what customers need, building strong teams and adapting as things change.”
Sasi’s experience reaches further back than any career path. “My parents always taught my siblings and me about being hospitable. We’d have friends or family over, and you’d always make sure the table was full of food and drink. As hosts, it was your job to see that your guests were entertained and enjoying themselves.”
For Sasi, perfect service is not defined by flawless choreography or turned tables. It is the moment a venue begins to generate its own energy. “I love when the room is buzzing, and my team are laughing and enjoying working together, while also being hospitable to our guests,” she says. “Seeing the room full of people eating, drinking and laughing — and yes, sometimes even getting up and dancing because our tunes are pretty good.”
“There is no better moment than when I see tables that started as strangers enjoying a bottle of wine together at the end of the night. That is what really makes me feel like we have created something special.”
With four venues now carrying The Goodies name, Sali is quick to correct an assumption that often accompanies expansion. “People start to assume that as we grow, we’re no longer as involved, that it’s become some big, impersonal group — but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The three of us still run this business and each of these venues day to day, and we’re still very much on the floor.” A larger team has come on board to help manage the workload, she notes, “but our feet are still firmly on the ground, in every sense.”
The Goodies may now encompass multiple dining rooms, kitchens and identities, but its central ambition remains the same: to create places where people feel held, welcome and generously taken care of. To order the tart. Take the seat by the bar. Pour another glass. Talk to the table beside them. And, should the moment call for it, get up and dance.
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