Bartending

[Farmer42]

I'm strongly debating going to bar tending school over the summer, and I was wondering if anyone around is/was/knows a bartender and if they had any insight into it. My real, ultimate goal in life is to own my own bar, and getting a job tending bar would be a great first step. I was just curious if attending a school was worth it, or if I should just get my cert and start working.

[Ranna]

i think shadow on the boards is one

i might be getting a bar job in the summer but i reckon id be rubbish

[Hoggy]

I mainly do food prep in the kitchen, but occasionally my uncle lets me do a few hours behind the bar. It'd be a more permament job if tourists actually bothered turning up this year. Can't live with them, can't live without them...

I, personally, love it. But I haven't been to bar tending school; it's only a backwater pub in a backwater town :smalltongue: Would you be working in a city bar where a bit more professionalism is needed?

[sktarq]

Is a school necessary? Not at all. Actually I'd recommend getting a job as a barback first. It's the kind of experience that most bars prefer to a little diploma. Then again ask around the local bars you'd like to work in what sort of things THEY prefer to see on an resume might be the best course of action.

[Hazkali]

As a disclaimer, my only experience of bartending is purely on the customer side, but I would suggest that experience trumps a piece of paper nine times out of ten. Especially for bartending, where I presume (and feel free to scathingly correct my ignorance) there is no one standard qualification. Work experience is always handy for getting other jobs, too.

As you want to run your own bar, if you must get a diploma of some sort a business-type qualification may be better- it would be more widely recognised, and of more use if this plan goes pear-shaped.

[rollfrenzy]

I have bartended for several years in various US restaraunts. I know that the places I worked, which were sit down restaraunts and not like full time bars or clubs, Hired experience first and didn't really care too much about the bartending schools.

Go to a few places you think you would like to work at and ask the manager.

A few things to keep in mind though.

1) bartending is great money, but not easy work. the hours are terrible, locally bartenders work till 3-4 AM on the weekends.
2) bartending is MUCH more about talking to people and being friendly than it is about mixing drinks.
3) knowing how to mix a drink or be a bartender DOES NOTHING to help you own your own Bar. Running a business is it's own monster and if your ultimate goal is to own a bar, Go to a school for business ownership and work in a restaraunt/bar while attending school.

Good luck with whatever you do though. The world needs good bartenders.

[Crispy Dave]

my dad was a bartender and he never went to school for it. He is asked all the time to do it again to.

[Sneak]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure bartending school is a requirement for getting a bartending job because you need to know how to mix all the drinks, etc. I have a friend who goes/went to bartending school (I think she's done now, but I haven't spoken to her in a while). According to her, it's actually pretty hard.

But yeah, as Rollfrenzy said, being a bartender doesn't really give you the same skillset necessary for owning a bar, in the same way that owning a restaurant is a lot different from being a cook. To own something, you really have to know about business.

[Farmer42]

Yeah, I know the difference between the business side and everything, that's what my day-time school is for. That's pretty standard.

[Sensate]

Common sense tells me a few things:
If that's what you intend to do for the rest of your life, investing one summer in a bartending school would be a wise choice. Regardless of what % of a good bartender does that diploma hold, it can only be considered a plus, especially if you have no previous experience. That doesn't have to mean you should expect to have an easy time with that school behind you.
Oh and, if that artistic bartending is what you had in mind, and by that I mean joggling glasses and stuff (I think it's considered somewhat of a sport), field learning might not be the best idea.

[skywalker]

I find that most of the bartending schools I see around my area(Knoxville TN, go figure) are of the type that teach how to spin the liquor bottles around. IE Cocktail(the movie). Wikipedia has taught me(in the minutes since I started this post) that this is called "flair bartending." When I think of bartending school, this is what I think of.

As for the actually important side of bartending, the mixing of drinks, I think the more experience, the better. I'm sure school could help, IE sour vs. sweet, what goes with what, etc, but experience is definitely key.

[Jagg]

*Gets all big nosed*

I appreciate that owning a bar is the ultimate aim and I merely ask these questions to make sure that you have thought about these issues yourself.


1) Where is your start-up capital coming from?
2) What sort of income are you expecting from your bartending job? (Income will differ wildly depending upon location)
3) Will the disposable portion of this income be needed as a deposit for a business loan? Do you have a budget plan to figure out how long it will take to accumulate your deposit/start-up?
4) Remember to take copious notes on where you are working to discover what works and what doesn't. Take the best of what works and try to improve upon it.
5) Will it be just a bar? (Nightclub, pub, food, caberet, DJ's, foam parties, exotic dancing? etc etc)
6) location,location,location
7) Trendy, non trendy, niche, non niche
8) local competition
9) demographics, market research

The earlier you do/think all of the previous the better.

Have fun bar owners for some reason tend to pick up like olympic weighlifters.

[Trog]

Trog's Tavern requires a Comeliness with a positive bonus, no forms of ID, and the ability to work long hours for sacks of gold and gems. Oh, and you have to sleep with the bar owner. Unless you are male. In which case we get into height restrictions.

*ahem*

As far as bartending school goes, Trog recommends Dram Highball's School for the Inebriated. They have the best frat parties.

[Telonius]

Advice from Don, a bartender friend of mine. (No, he didn't get me my drinks for free. :smallannoyed: )

To be a bartender, you need to be able to do two things. Add, and deal with drunken idiots.

[sapphail]

I work in hospitality (though admittedly not in the bar), and generally speaking experience is vastly preferred over school. As long as you have your responsible serving of alcohol cert (or the US equivalent) you're better off getting work experience.

[Ranna]

school?

bartending school?

What the monkey??? - I got a bar tending job the other summer (i turned it down in the end) just based on what I look like! No school for me!

[Brickwall]

=I got a bar tending job the other summer based on what I look like!

Are you sure they didn't say barwenching? :smalltongue:

[Ranna]

ho ho ho, probably true to be honest... I think id make a good wench maybe theres a wenchschool? Heard of any :P

[The Valiant Turtle]

I just had to google "wench school"

Apparently your best bet is your local renaissance fair. I'm guessing any SCA event might be an option as well.

[lumberofdabeast]

Hope you've got a lot of money, for all the fights adventuring parties will be getting into.

[Syka]

I'd love to bartend and my friends say I'd be great. Admittedly I don't drink, but I can learn to mix them easily enough. But I'm a huge people person- I'm always talking to people. And I'm a pretty attractive female, that probably helps. :)

I would do it up here but I don't trust my lack of transport. I might do it when I go back home if I can work it out with my mom and boyfriend for rides. The only problem is the hours I'd have to keep would be the exact opposite of the ones they would be most likely, unless my boy works the night shift at work more.

Heck, I even know a couple places I'd like to apply, mainly a local music/bar venue that I got kicked out of once since I wasn't 21 yet...Great music. Classic rock and the like. Caters to an older crowd, but my friends and I love it there.

Cheers,
Syka

[Rykaj]

I've done a lot of bartending in a lot of different locations (festivals, nightclubs, small local pubs, pretty much any genre). If you're still in college, just apply for a job at a bar and get some experience there. The thought of bar work may seem romantic but it can be a pretty harsh life, not to mention devastating on your social life. Especially if you're working every night. Pretty much means you can't see your friends and family during the day because your rhythm is switched. And when they come to visit you, you can barely talk with them cause you're working.

My suggestion is to just try it out for a while to see if it really is what you want. Get a job in a bar and get your first experience there. If you still like I'd suggest you take up bartending school, because it will be plus if you end up owning your own bar. When working in someone else's bar experience is the key. When owning your own you need the knowledge of business school and bar tending school, so it'll do you good if you want to persue that.

[Vuzzmop]

If you plan to open a bar later in life, then yes, definately get some training.

Also, make sure you know what you are aiming at. Do you want to work in cocktail bars, or wineries, sports bar style establishments or flairing bars? If you know what you want to specialise in, finding a school will be way easier.

[Oeryn]

I'll second what Rollfrenzy said. Great money, but definitely not easy work.

One of the places I worked closed at 1 am every night, and I'd be lucky if I got home by 5. Hours like that are tough, but you also have to consider the effect it can have on the rest of your life. The days are pretty much shot, which makes it hard to go to school, or have a decent social life.

As someone else also mentioned, bartending is just as much about dealing with drunks as it is making drinks. It looks easy in the movies (most things do), and a LOT of the job is fun. But you're gonna have to be prepared to deal with the less-pleasant side, too. Fights are a lot more common than you'd think, and -once a person gets drunk enough to start throwing punches- it's not always easy to talk 'em down.

Another issue to think about is the actual physical work. You're on your feet, a LOT. Get comfortable shoes. And if you're starting with no experience, chances are you're gonna be the one hauling kegs, buckets of ice, and carrying pitchers back to be washed (some places have bar backs to handle that stuff, but you should think about it).

As far as "school" goes, it shouldn't be necessary unless your specific bar is concerned with "flair bartending". You may be required to take a state course to get licensed (I've had to do that everywhere I've worked), but a lot of times the bar will pay for it. It lessens their liability, so they usually don't have a problem ponying up the cash. And it's usually a four-hour deal in some hotel ballroom, not really "school".

The last piece of advice I'd give you is to be careful. It's a fun job, don't get me wrong, but there are some definite pitfalls. Lots of states have laws concerning the liability of bartenders in DUIs and drunk-driving fatalities. If you serve someone that goes out and kills someone, you're at risk. I 'tended with a guy back in college who was just doin' it for fun (and beer money). One of his customers got tanked and tried (unsuccessfully) to beat a train to a crossing, the family sues, and the guy's still payin' for it ten years later. Spent some time in jail, too, but I can't remember how much.

Same goes for serving minors. That's a $500 dollar fine (or used to be, at least), every time it happens. Not to mention the bar gets socked for 10 times that, and not many bosses will be too happy about that.

All in all, it's a fun job, and you'll rake in the cash if you're any good at it. Just bartending won't really prepare you to own your own place, but keep your eyes open, and watch what works and doesn't. That'll help you out, down the line.

Good luck!

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

my cousin once removed or something is a bartender...