BARTENDING CAREERS – HOSPITALITY CAREER IDEAS FOR BARTENDERS THAT AREN’T WORKING IN A BAR
There is one unique thing about having the knowledge or skills of working as a bartender. You become versatile at a lot of things, and none of them even have to include working as a bartender. Working in the hospitality industry gives you options and a wide range of opportunities where you can leverage your skills. For some people, they may have worked as a bartender for years, and then they decide to move on in another direction outside of working in a bar. Whichever of these two categories that you fall in, you have options. In this article, we are going to go over some really great options.
- Private Event Bartender
Well, technically, as a private event bartender, you still have to work behind the bar, but it is a lot different from being behind a public bar. At a public bar, you have to deal with hundreds of people and things can get really crazy for you on some days but a private event bar is a bit more controlled. You know the number of people you will be catering to and what kind of behavior to expect from them. It is much easier to manage the people as all you need to do is show your people and drink skills as a bartender to ensure that the event goes successfully. You will need your complete bartending skills to practice as a private event bartender. You have never really gone out of business, have you?
- Sales Representative
Who else should be in charge of sales if not someone who knows everything about any drink? It is quite common to see former bartenders becoming a sales representative. If you feel you can do it, this could be a really fulfilling and rewarding job. As a sales representative, you run point with breweries and distilleries and help distribute their drinks to various bars, restaurants, and hotels. You have the contact; you know what sells in a particular geographic location and these companies leverage on your knowledge to help them push the sales of their products.
- Brand Ambassador
Brand Ambassadorship is about the most prestigious role you can take up in the hospitality industry as a bartender not working in a bar. Your job is to represent drink and spirit brands and influence other people to take those drinks. You get to travel a lot, visit different places, serve as the face of the brands you are working with and generally promote their products to as many people as you can. There are lots of perks attached to this job too such as an endless supply of the product you are representing other than the payment you get for your services.
- Mixologist for a local drink distributor
This seems unconventional, but it is quite worth it. See yourself as a mixologist on demand. You help a local distributor create blends of the drinks that they have in stock and recommend these blends to public customers. Your job is to show the brilliant mixes that are possible with different drinks and recommend it too.
- Consultant
As an experienced bartender or bar manager, this is one of the typical career paths that you can tow. Working as a consultant is a great way to put your skills to good use while remaining active in the industry. As a consultant, you work with different bars and drink makers on what blends to distribute to specific locations and what kind of brands they should stock up their bar with. Going from bartender to consultant allows you really show that you have good knowledge about what you do and you are willing to help businesses with your experience as a bartender and someone who knows a lot about the bar and hospitality industry.
- Entrepreneur
You could choose to set up your own bar. It is not a common thing, but it could be the most fulfilling direction you can go if you have the wherewithal to set up your own bar. Not many bartenders have the capital to start their own bar, but if you do, it could turn out really great for you. As a bartender yourself, you have an idea of what works; you get to be in charge of your business and cater to people the way you would like to. You also have the idea of the kind of drinks that will make the best mixes so you can stock your bar with them. Essentially, going the route of an entrepreneur as an experienced bartender will be a breeze for you because you know exactly how the industry works and you can apply your knowledge to provide better services to your customers.
- Software Specialist
This is one career path that we do not get to hear about often. The tech industry keeps booming by the day, and it is gradually accepting software solutions to make service delivery better. The demand for experienced hospitality personnel is also increasing so that they can work with tech companies looking to create products for bars and restaurants. If you are familiar with a tech product focused on the hospitality industry, you could check to see if they are hiring. You might find fulfillment at this job and make a great asset to the team. Your knowledge could be valuable in helping them build unique solutions for the hospitality industry.
These career options are undoubtedly great ones that you could pursue as an experienced bartender who wants to stay out of bartending. Bartending is not all about serving drinks; sometimes the knowledge of knowing how to serve drinks, what drinks to serve, who drinks what could be useful in other aspects of the industry and by knowing where to look, you could excel in these aspects. We hope we have touched some of the aspects that you may not have thought about yourself. We wish you success in your endeavors out of the bar.