“Bartending for Dummies”
Bartending
is as old a profession, as is the history of alcohol consumption in the
world. As long as there have been
establishments that serve wine and spirits to help you increase yours, the
bartender has had a job. Like
waitressing and other gratuity-based positions, one of the reasons people are
attracted to bartending is the daily possibility of making an unusually large
amount of money, from tips. Bartenders
can make anywhere from $80 for an eight-hour shift, to $600, depending on the
area, clientele, the establishment, and the holiday/day of the week.
Hourly, this amounts to $10/hour to $75/hour of usually unreported and
untaxed money, not bad for a job considered to be un-skilled labor.
The problem and the trap that many bartenders fall into, is depending too
much upon making the higher end of that income.
The truth of the matter is that you might have a horrible night and make
only $50 or hit the jack pot and make $600, but you really never know which way
the night will go. As a result, it may not be advisable for most people to
depend upon their bartending money, for this month’s car payment.
Being a
good bartender requires a self-assessment even
before going on interviews to seek a job. Different
personalities are suited to different types of establishments that serve alcohol
and therefore require a “bartender”. There
are three general types of establishments where a bartender can work. They are a
tavern, a nightclub, or a restaurant.
A tavern usually attracts a very “regular” crowd of local people. The
décor is usually very “bar basic” with a lot of wood trim, a wooden bar
top, memorabilia on the walls, and neon advertisements for popular beers. Bartending at these types of establishments requires very
good interpersonal skills. The
bartender must remember customer names, usual drinks, and seem interested in
whatever conversation the customers are engaging them in. If we are reminded that the bartender’s main purpose
of working there is to make as much money in tips as possible, we can understand
why. This clientele tends to be
older and more mature and they tip based upon the relationship that they have
with the bartender. This type of
bar job tends to be the subject of many cartoons, where the bartender plays
therapist to the lonely patron.
A nightclub requires a totally different special set of skills. In this type of business the music is too loud to carry on conversations, past short witty comments. Here customers appreciate speed and special attention. Nightclubs tend to be over crowded, and the average age of the clientele is 21 to 25 years of age. These are the “just out of college” years, where heavy drinking is still a norm. Bartenders must be able to take more than one order at a time, and accurately and quickly add up orders in their head. On days where there are many people waiting to be served, this type of bartender must have a good memory and remember who the exceptional tippers are, so that they may be given priority. This is an example of the special attention that was mentioned before. Appearance is also a key factor in this type of establishment. The décor and entertainment tends to be trendy, and bartenders are considered to be part of the ambiance. Nightclub bartenders are usually model like, or considered to be very attractive by the average person. This is usually a prerequisite to being hired in this type of position, which becomes obvious at interviews where a Polaroid photo is taken and stapled to the resume.
Restaurant
bartenders on the other hand, have to be more knowledgeable than the
already mentioned. In these types
of establishments, the market is very varied, ranging from the young to the old,
and the average income to the exceptional income. In this case the bartender must be familiar with the
following among the usual accepted practices.
·
Recipes for cocktails and
shooters popular with younger adults
·
The proper way to serve,
and the origin of different types of wines. (I.e. Red wine is not chilled, a
small amount and the cork is served to the head of the table, that person tests
the aroma and the consistency first, upon approval everyone else at the table is
served. A full glass is considered
to be 1/3 of the way full.)
·
The proper glasses to
serve, and the origin of beer (i.e. Guinness Beer must be left to settle before
being served to the customer, and Red Stripe is a popular beer that originates
from Jamaica.)
·
Cocktails
popular with the 40 and over clientele, (i.e. Grasshoppers, Old fashions,
Manhattans)
·
The flavor of different
liqueurs in order to recommend drinks to patrons, (i.e. Black Haus is a licorice
flavored cordial, Malibu is coconut flavored rum, vodka is almost tasteless with
more expensive brands like Grey Goose, truly approaching that status.)
On
the contrary, in a nightclub most patrons tend to order the same 10-15 most
popular drinks consistently, and settle for the 4-5 beer brands that the club
decides to provide. In a typical tavern people are
mostly beer drinkers, and trendy pink cocktails like the Cosmopolitan are not
the norm.
Bartending in recent years has also become an art
form, if you will. With the
release of the movie “Cocktail” which starred Tom Cruise in the 1980’s,
“flaring” and flipping bottles has become another skill set that a serious
bartender can strive to acquire. Flaring
is the manipulation of bottles while making drinks, in a way that entertains the
customer. Bottles can be flipped and caught behind the back, picked up
off the rack with one hand and flipped upside down for the pour, or flipped to
another bartender. A flaring bartender can also
simultaneously open multiple beers, and serve shooters in such a fashion where
the glasses are stacked, and the pour overflows from the top glasses to the
bottom. This skill set
though is very rare, and bartenders that have mastered it can usually be found
in resort areas like Las Vegas hotels, Cruise ships or Cancun, Mexico, where
dancing and drinking is a main focus for people who vacation there.
These are very well paid positions, where it would be feasible to figure
in a bartending salary for daily living expenses and even for a lifetime
purchase like a house.
The movie Coyote Ugly that starred model
Tyra Banks in the 1990’s glorified the profession for women.
In this case women also flared bottles, poured more than one bottle at
time, (which can be difficult for women because they are not as strong as men
and their hands are not as big), and became part the entertainment by dancing on
the bars to choreographed routines. Coyote Ugly is actually based on a real bar
in lower Manhattan called Hogs and Heffers.
Also based on the popularity of the movie and the all-female bartenders
concept, the New York Hotel in Las Vegas has a bar called Coyote Ugly, one of
their main attractions.
Bartending can be a part-time job to help make ends meet, or it can be a quite lucrative profession on which a person can financially sustain him or herself. These keys to remember here are that there is very little job security, the possible tax implications due to non-reporting, and the lack of consistency in the amount of money made from one night to the next. If you still want to get into bartending, first attend bartending school, (preferably one that has a simulated bar atmosphere as a practical classroom), in order to accelerate the learning curve. Then, upon graduation, evaluate your personality, your look, and the amount of money that you intend to make. This will help you narrow down a list of places to which you should apply. Lastly, go out on interviews, well dressed and with lots of confidence, and remember, there is only one true pre-requisite for every good bartender… smile!