7 Tips For Being An Awesome Bartender

As you may know, I’ve been a Bartender for some 20 years now…

I have dedicated my life to it. A few weeks ago, I read somewhere that the industry average is just 30 months…2 and a half years!!  Wow.  But do you know what, I get it. I do. There’s a massive combination of factors contribute to people jacking it in after such a short period of time.  The biggest one, being the unsociable hours and that can put a huge strain on family life.

The other excuse I hear quite often, is money. Well yeah, being an employee will never make you a millionaire. But the same can be said for a whole host of other careers. So I won’t take that one.

My theory is that it actually takes a rare breed to make it behind the stick.  Whenever I have to fill in a form to say which sector I personally fall in, I always put Skilled.  (There is never a perfect fit for Catering).  This gets greeted with all kinds of laughs and derogatory comments. Even this weekend, on 2 separate occasions I was on the receiving end of “So what do you do through the week?” As in, a Bartender is just a part time weekend gig! This used to rile me up, but now I just laugh at them. The way I look at it, I can retrain to do what you’re doing…but to do what I’m doing, yeah 97% of you just couldn’t cut it.

So below are my 7 Big Tips for being an Awesome Bartender and making a career out of it…and getting paid pretty well for it!

Steve the Barman in action

 

1 – Personality

This is vital to being successful. If you don’t smile. If you huff and puff at 10:55pm when a group of 7 come in. If you don’t engage with the customer. If you just suck the life out of the customer when all they want to see is a smile and a friendly face. Then you might as well jack it in now.

Enjoy what you do. Take pride in what you do. Put guests needs before your own.   You can’t learn this. Either you have a personality, or you don’t. This is the biggest crucial factor in a Bartending Career.

 

2 – Looking the Part

No one wants a scruffy Bartender.  Good grooming is essential.  Doesn’t matter what your look is, but you need to have ‘a look’.  Mine now has developed into my Brand. I’m known for my collection of colourful shirts. Not quite Hawaiian, but loud none the less.

Other essentials are washing your hair, having a shave unless your look is the beard…there is a difference between unshaven and rugged though. Washing your hands and cut your nails! And a decent aftershave. No one wants to be served by a sweaty, smelly mess with dirty finger nails.

 

3 – A Great Memory

This is something you can learn. It can develop over time, however speaking to a lot of the old timers, its something we’ve always been good at, right from the early days. The pros, can serve 2 different rounds at the same time. We can spot the regular guest and make their drink while serving someone else so they feel special. But also, more importantly know the prices so you don’t spend 5 minutes at the till. Think about want your customers want; swift, friendly service!

 

4 – Good Knowledge

A customer comes up to the Bar and asks; “What’s that? What does that taste like? What would you mix that with?” You can go from hero to zero in seconds if you fluff your lines here. Know your products. Have suggestions for new drinks. And know what you stock! The amount of Bartenders I meet, that haven’t got the foggiest what they actually stock. Also keep up to date with trade websites and reading magazines, always be keen to learn.

 

5 – Speed

It takes 5 minutes to pour a Gin and Tonic, a Pint and “sorry, what was the last drink?!” Seriously…A Bartenders sole remit is to make the guest feel happy and comfortable and give them a drink as quick as you can! Develop methods and routines. If a customer is trying to find that elusive £20 note to pay for their drink, instead of being all huffy, turn to the next person and get their order. Instead of waiting for another a Bartender to finish with the Peroni Tap, go off and make the Vodka & Tonic.  Speed is king.

 

6 – Good Mental Arithmetic

So, its a busy shift what if the boss says you must ring everything through the till. You’ve got 3 bartenders fighting over one till! What are you gonna do?! Simple, do your maths. Know your prices add it up in your head. As long as the money goes in the till, who cares if it goes in then, or 5 minutes later. Again your first priority is the customer, not making sure that Long Island Iced Tea gets logged at 9:37pm.

 

7 – Being Unique

If you truly want a career in Bartending, you need to bring something else to the party. You need to find your identity and what makes you tick. Mines always been about the party and about the fun.  Now I’ve added to that with my shirts. You obviously need the skills otherwise you’re going nowhere, but having that uniqueness, it just sets you apart.

 

 

Steve the Barman owns and runs Thirst First Ltd, a Mobile Cocktail Bar company that provides the WOW effect for your events. If you have an event coming up, Business or Pleasure, give us a shout and we’ll do our damnedest to help out. Check out; thirstfirst.co.uk

 

 

Wrapping up the Limes

Helloooo there! Replacing the Cocktail Recipe on Friday for the next few weeks is just a ‘normal’ blog.

In my last Blog, I said that after reading Dee Blick’s Marketing book, I was going to concentrate on a few things.  One of those things is Email Marketing and I’m booked into a course where I can learn more about it, courtesy of the lovely ladies at Smart Messenger. I’m hoping to pick up loads of hints and tricks to really get those Cocktail Recipes and my Mailshots rocking.  So in the meantime, I’m just going to bore you with my random musings.

I thought as it’s Friday, I’d share a another funny.  Another Barman wind up!  Although this one is not exclusive to me – I’ve heard this go down many a time – I certainly do enjoy dishing it out.

Spending the bulk of my working career around Cocktails and Spirits, you can imagine that I’ve always used a lot of fresh fruit.  At the moment at Thirsty get through a good box of Limes and punnet’s and punnet’s of Raspberries and Strawberries each week.  Well what happens to all the left overs at the end of the night?  You know, you can never wedge up exactly the right number of Limes can you? So what happens with the leftovers?  Well we can’t waste them…can we?! 😉

I’ve only managed…or even thought to pull this off a couple of times, but it does provide many hours of ridicule after the event. This only really works in the first few shifts of a newbies career behind the stick. You have to get in there quick otherwise you lose the opportunity…

Wrapping up the Limes…

So…

The end of the night comes around and you have plenty of Lime Wedges left over that will naturally just go in the Bin. Well no, not tonight they don’t. Arm your newbie with a nice roll of Cling Film and get them to individually wrap each Lime Wedge to preserve it for use the next shift. “They have to be individually wrapped because if you just cover them in a bowl, the air will get to them and turn them brown”. You can amuse yourself for at least 20 minutes!

For extra value…make sure the Newbie is on the following morning, so they have the pleasure of unwrapping teach Lime Wedge…right before you bin them and get them to chop up fresh limes…

Cruel, but oh so funny!

 

Steve the Barman owns and runs Thirst First Ltd, a Mobile Cocktail Bar company that provides the WOW effect for your events. If you have an event coming up, Business or Pleasure, give us a shout and we’ll do our damnedest to help out. Check out; thirstfirst.co.uk

 

 

What is a Passion Fruit?!

Passion fruits are one of life’s mysteries. The simplest of fruit causes so much intrigue. Just recently, I’ve genuinely seen it referred to as a Baby Pomegranate!!

Those that know me…even only slightly, know that I’m a wicked wind up merchant. When my laugh doesn’t get the better of me, I’m the best of the best. I’ve perfected the skill over 20 odd years of working behind a Bar.

This story stems back from my Restaurant days…

One day, one of my ever so innocent, blonde (Stereotypical I know) waitresses came up to me behind the Bar and asked me the following question. I would like to point out that at the time, it wasn’t the quietest of shifts which makes this story even better.

“Stevie, what goes into an Orange and Passion Fruit J2O?”

My initial reaction was just going to be “Ice”, but my nose smelt out a deeper routed question. So instead I asked what she meant.

“Well you know, Apple and Mango J2O obviously has Apple and Mango in it. So what does Orange and Passion Fruit have in it?! What goes into to making Passion Fruit?”

So, in front of a Bar full of people and Staff, as cool as you like I replied with “it’s a mixture of Mango, Pineapple and Peach, but they can never fit that on the Labels, so it’s universally known as Passion Fruit”

How I kept a straight face, I will never know.  How the customers were instantly so in tune with the wind up, I will never know.  It was just one of those magical moments where everyone was on the same page.

Nearly 2 whole weeks I got away with that until one day Chef brought a dessert out for us to try…which had a Passion Fruit Wedge as a garnish. Well you can imagine the question that followed. Let’s just say my quick thinking and a 5ft Bar saved me that day!

Just to let you in to another quick story.  The same Waitress “lost” the Bottle Chiller doors one day.  The slidy ones come out with ease.  So after she cleaned them too well then set them aside, it took her 3 whole minutes to see that they were right beside her left leg, the exact same place she put them…

Clean Barrels

This is a story about a wind up that I’ve actually managed to pull of 3 times now and it will never get old…

As well as Cocktails, I’ve always had a heavy passion for Real Ale. Cocktails and Real Ales has a nice ring to it don’t you think!? Well, anyway. Every Bar I’ve run, I’ve always managed to have 5+ Real Ale lines in and been fortunate to have a high throughput through them. My empty barrels a week would range between 10/12 up to 30. That’s a lot of cellar work.

At one particular Bar I ran had a cellar that was outside and down some steps. We had to bring all the empties up the night before delivery day as they’d just be in the way otherwise. The first time I ever managed to pull this wind up off was the week after Fresher Week in Cambridge Uni many years ago. It was a very busy week and we had about 20 barrels to bring up. At that time of year as well, I also had a few new guys just starting out behind the Bar. I always preferred to hire inexperienced people as I could train them up to what I wanted, as opposed to inheriting Bad traits from poor Chain Pubs.

One fresh faced youngster I employed was always super keen to impress. He’d read up on Cocktail recipes. He’d be the first one in and the last one out. He’d be the first one to jump in front of guests as they came up to the Bar. To be fair, he was a legend. One of my finest protégés. But like all super keen people, they tend to be the most gullible.

One night while it was quiet he offered to help me bring up all the barrels. So we set about getting all the empties out of the Cellar and carrying them around to where the Deliveries got dropped off. Brilliant. A 15/20 minute job cut down to 5. However, after we’d finished, he innocently asked if he could help with anything else, to which my eyes lit up like Christmas trees…

Yeah I replied, they all need washing out.
Really?! He asked.
Yeah, of course. They won’t take them back dirty, they have to refill them with Beer!!

Well, never in a million years did I expect him to believe me, but he did!! Hook, line, sinker!! There he was 45 minutes later with a bucket of Hot soapy water, a deck scrubber and a hose pipe to rinse them out afterwards. I have never seen Barrels so clean before! I never did have the heart to tell him, I just made sure that he never worked a Wednesday night again…