The bartender who can stand chatting to customers while he or she polishes a glass is a bartender who has got a well organized bar and is on top of the business of bartending. So if you plan to go into bartending take the thing seriously and learn how to do it properly.
You may be able to study bartending at college or take an online course. This should give the beginning bartender a lot of valuable know how. If you want to make a career out of bartending and especially if you want to open your own bar then you should think about taking a course. A good course in bartending will steer you round a lot of pitfalls.
Your first step is to know your drinks. If you are serving wines then learn where they come from. Get to know your beers. If you need to serve beers from the cask then learn to draw them properly. If your bar serves cocktails then learn their names and the recipes of the most popular ones.
The customer does not want to see the bartender reading the ingredients as they mix the drink. A good bartender knows these off by heart. As your experience develops you must be constantly expanding your repertoire. The bigger the bartender’s repertoire the classier the bar they can work in and the better the pay will be.
Knowing your drinks is more important that the juggling tricks that some bartenders go in for. These are all very well in some bars but they are as irritating as waiters that dance on the tables. A customer might find it amusing once but after a hard day’s work no one wants to see a bartender juggle with the bottles. A well mixed drink and some conversation is preferable.
The champagne swilling hedge fund managers will entertain themselves when business is good. When it’s bad they just want a shoulder to cry on. Being a cross between a psychiatrist and a mother is the role of the bartender.
The bartender who has every cork screw, shaker and bottle in its place and knows the drinks is a profitable bartender. An efficient bartender can serve the customers quickly and politely even when the bar is busy. What is more they have an eye on profit margins. There is no wastage. A couple of smashed bottles of spirits will make a serious dent in the establishment’s profits.
The mark up on drinks may be high but so are the rents on prime real estate in a good business area. The bartender must be aware of best business practice. There is always an element of theatre in a bar but that should never override the primary aim which is to make a profit.
A good bartender will increase the profitability of a bar. This is important whether you are setting up your own place and hiring bartenders or you are a bartender looking for a job. As a skilled bartender you are a marketable commodity.
Some people start out in bartending as a way to pay their way through college and then find that it becomes their career. They get to like the work and as a graduate they have the intellectual ability to make a go of what is a very competitive business. One last word to the beginning bartender: never drink. That has been the downfall of many a bartender.
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