THE MANY THING YOU NEED TO KNOW AS A BARTENDER
Many people believe that bartending is a simple job and all it entails is a simple pouring of beer or squeezing lime into a cup. But this cannot be more wrong; bartending takes more than just serving drinks. It is a serious job that requires expert skills and the ability to establish rapport with customers. If you are considering a career in Bartending or you are about to enroll in a bartending school, there are many things that you should know as a bartender. Knowing these will help you settle into the job more easily and perform excellently at your chosen career.
- See the bar as a stage.
As a bartender you are the star and center of focus at the bar. The moment you step behind the bar, all eyes will be on you as they would want to know who is behind the bar and what you are capable of doing. How you carry yourself matters a lot and you have to know that a lot of people are watching everything you are doing. From your physical carriage to your facial expressions and the kind of vibe around you. Your personality means everything while serving drinks to people. You cannot afford to have any inappropriate behavior about you such as eating or using your cell phone. Understand that you are being watched, and carry yourself rightly so.
- The job is not about you but the customer
The reason why you have a job in the first place is because there are customers who want to come and sit at your bar and have a drink. Your source of livelihood is from the customers who walk into the bar. You have to take the customers important more important than anything else. Knowing this basic fact about bartending will make your job easier and more well-defined. Your guests will also be interested in returning to the bar sometime later in future.
- Taking care of your patrons is a big responsibility.
Serving alcohol is serious business and as a good bartender, you should pay attention to how much alcohol the guests are having, what is in their drinks, are they eating, how strong are the drinks and are they finishing their drinks quickly? Every detail is important and it is your job to pay attention.
- You will always have something doing behind the bar.
While your primary responsibility is taking care of your guests, the time that you are not attending to guests can be spent doing some other things. There will always be something to do at the bar when you are not serving drinks. You have to constantly keep the bar clean, organized and stocked. As you are currently providing bartending services to your customers, you should also be preparing for the next customer even if they have not walked in or up to you yet. A professional bartender who knows their job should not just stand doing nothing. You job is never over until the bar is closed for the day.
- You will have to multitask a lot of times.
You may never get to do just one thing at a time. Doing two or three things at the same time is a norm at a bartending job. You could have about five guests right in front of you at the same time and you have to remember all of their orders. Picture a scenario where you have three cocktail orders to put together. You have to get your ingredients, necessary tools and glassware at the ready and work with your two hands to make things faster. A bartender working with one hand cannot be as efficient as they are supposed to be. There has to be a sort of rhythm and flow about how you do the job and that comes with a level of expertise.
- The pouring process
When pouring spirit from a bottle into a glass, you have to do this at a particular pour speed and this depends on the kind of spirit you are pouring and the pour sprout that you have. You have to master how to count so that your pour can be consistent.
- Handling cash payments
Your math has to be on point when it comes to pricing and receiving payments. Taking orders and fulfilling them can get you incredibly busy and unable to crosscheck prices. You have to be on your feet with your math and counting for you to be an effective bartender.
- The drinks
You should be able to monitor the drinks that customers have. When you see a man seated alone who has had five or six bottles of beer, you might have to assist them in slowing down the pace.
- You will have to relate to different customers differently.
Some customers just want to have a drink and get out of the bar while some may be interested in talking you to death trying to know more about you and why you work as a bartender. You will also attend to girls who just want to have fun and flirt while there are the more laid-back guys who want to watch a game and discuss sports. Basically, you must be able to adapt your style to suit the different people that walk into the bar.
- Bartending is the best job in the world
As a bartender, you should enjoy your job. You have to deal with bear, spirits, cocktails, liquor and sports. Bartenders have the luxury of talking about just anything on the job which is one thing that people in other jobs cannot do. A bartender can curse, throw dirty jokes around, talk about sex and still get away with these without the customers taking offence. There is a rapport and shared communal feeling between a bartender and a guest at a bar which is not obtainable in other fields. If you ever start working as a bartender, you should find a way to connect with people, especially your customers.