bartending jobs (2)

Becoming a Great Bartender–An essential tip

June 1st, 2009

We recently finished interviewing a bartender who reached the top of his industry.  This is a guy who attended one of our bartending schools, later taught there, took a number of bartending gigs, worked his way up…and landed two of the best bartending spots at two of the hottest clubs in America. 

How hot?  He held down one of the busiest bar spots in a club rated among the top 20 clubs in the nation. From that position he moved to bar manager of a sleeker higher volume per person club, where he again handled one of the busiest bars in the venue. This guy knows how to ring up huge sales. With that, he generates enormous tips.

He gave us a list of the most important tips in becoming a great club bartender. We aren’t going to list them all here–but we will emphasize one of them.

BE FAST-AND EFFICIENT

This may seem like common sense, but in bartending there is a lot to being fast.  Nobody gets there automatically.  It takes time and practise.

Even more importantly than moving fast is moving efficiently.  Always use two hands.  That means pouring all drinks on the drip mat in front of you.  That allows using two hands for two different pours all the time.  Grab everything in front of you at one time and pour.  When you move to the back bar, grab two or more bottles at a time.  When setting up drinks grab as many glasses at one time as you can.  If you are pouring two drinks with the same vodka, set them up next to one another, so you can move the pour from one to the second in an instant.  Ice all your glasses at one time.  If your standard garnishes are set up next to one another, garnish everything at one time.  Above all don’t waste motion.

Working efficiently sets up bartenders to pour many many more drinks over the course of an evening than they could have otherwise.  Each action shaves milliseconds and they add up over the night.  Once you have this down, it becomes easy to pour an extra 50-100 drinks an hour, and easy to dramatically ring up additional sales and make dramatically more in tips.

Getting to that point is the hard part.  It does take practise.  Stop grabbing a glass in one hand, holding it up for show, and pouring from the other hand.  Get those glasses on the drip mat and pour pour pour.  Break every habit that slows you down.

There are three ways to get these habits down.

1.  Attend a bartending school that emphasizes these habits and practise, practise, practise.

2.  Pay attention to the fastest most efficient bartenders in your bar.  Watch what they do, ask them questions, and then practise, practise, practise.

3.  Some bartenders are smart enough and lucky enough to figure out how to be efficient.  They are very few and far between.  We strongly suggest you get training from someone who has already figured this out and knows exactly how to do this.

 

Good luck….and ring up big big money!!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

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Networking in Pittsburgh–try a bartending job

April 21st, 2009

Okay, the Pittsburgh Bartender School is part of the great big blogosphere and the wide world of web networking.  Our school is a part of social media.  We network.  No kidding. 

Do you guys realize how great and easy it is to network while bartending?  It is one of the hidden benefits.  It works incredibly well.  If you are trying to expand contacts, meet new people, find new opportunities…you simply can’t believe how great bartending can be to open doors.

Here is the secret.  (shhhh…don’t tell everyone else)–and you have to be a good bartender to pull this off…you have to get customers to like you…(Its not hard at all)

Bartenders can find so many contacts in so many lines of work….its rediculous.  We have seen this happen hundreds of times.  In fact, I picked up business while bartending part time and holding down a consulting/sales job.  Its amazingly easy.

Here goes.  Customers really get to like their bartenders.  Its astonishing.  Do a good job of pouring beer, making gin and tonics, chilling martinis and treating your customers with respect…and they just think you are the greatest.  In fact they’ll love you.  (I’ve said for a long time–bartending makes you cooler)

Say you are a young professional, trying to find more opportunities.  Get work in a sort of upscale bar/restaurant.  In the Burgh try and get work in or near downtown where the after work crowd goes for happy hour.  Land work in other heavy employment centers.  Alterternatively get a  bartending gig at a medium to upscale restaurant.  During the hours when the bar isn’t packed and your not slammed you will have plenty of time to speak with your customers;  that is the critical time when you secure relationships and develop your network.  Its the ideal time to make contacts, learn about opportunities, get your resume spread around, get introductions, and find out where to make your next move.  Its simply astonishing.  The likeability factor increases 100 fold with the ability to consistently make a good drink, make your customers feel comfortable and build a level of trust that isn’t that available anywhere else.

Here is a prime example.  Years ago, while I was a professional in sales, one of my prime clients headed the regional offices of an investment firm.  He had been a semi-star football player at a local college.  He became a bartender after school.  He made friends easily.  One of those friends got him into the stock brokerage business because he had lots of personality and was reasonably intelligent.  Better yet…he already had this huge network of potential clients from bartending.  He advanced through the ranks.  He had a ready stock of clients, in part through the many friends through tending bar and pouring beers.  He rose through the ranks becoming manager of an office than regional manager by the time I met him.

Walk into a bar with him….and everyone knew him and loved him.  He easily parlayed bartending into an excellent high paying career.  He admitted to scarcely knowing a drink recipe…but he kept his bar customers happy. 

We have written about this earlier, specifically for real estate brokers.  Gee, I can’t count the times former students mentioned how they sold homes through customers from their bar (talk about a super TIP)…but it works for anyone looking to network into almost any field.  Its simply easy…being behind that bar is an invitation to get folks to like and trust you more easily….

Now get out there and land a bartending job….and if you want our help with the job leads we have at the Pittsburgh Bartender School–call us at (412) 921-9227. 

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Bartending Jobs in Pittsburgh–Spring Hiring is kicking off

April 15th, 2009

Spring has sprung….and that is great news for bartenders, aspiring bartenders, people looking for full-time and part-time work.  Spring is normally the number one season around the nation for new bartending hires.  For many reasons, the season coincides with many existing bartenders changing their schedules.  The industry sees significant turnover….and there are more bartender jobs than at virtually any other time.

Pennsylvania is one of those states that definitely experiences this more than others.  The minimum age to bartend is 18.  Lots of bartenders are also in school.  At the end of spring their schedules change….they make changes….and all of a sudden opportunities for new bartenders explode.  We are prepared to help our students.

Already we’ve seen a couple of recent grads of the Pittsburgh Bartender School take advantage of these opportunities.  Laura landed a bartending job at Jimmy T’sang’s, one of Pittsburgh’s largest and best known Asian restaurant.  Have you been to Jimmy T’sangs?  Its got two huge bars with lots of activity.  Of course it serves some of the best Chinese and Korean food in the region.

Lierin landed a bartending job at  Olive or Twist in Downtown Pittsburgh on 6th Street. Olive or Twist is popular both for after work happy hour and as offering the best martinis in town as noted by Pittsburgh City Paper and by BarSmart.

Check these places out. If you run into Lierin or Laura, be sure to tip them.

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Economists Think Bartenders Stink. That is Great News Pittsburgh Bartenders

October 29th, 2008

About two weeks ago an amazing blog piece from a totally unexpected source entitled Why Are Bartenders so Rude? drew a huge response from its readers.

Why is this so surprising and why is it good news for Pittsburgh bartenders?

The blog is a serious economic commentary written by PHD’s (in this case a Professor of Economics). The post drove dramatically more comments than any other piece in this serious blog for weeks before or after. It seems people who like to read and comment on complex economic issues would rather speak about drinking and bartenders.

The comments were startling. The writer described how he recently spent a fair amount of time bar hopping with friends. Again and again the bartenders were rude and the bar service was lousy. He couldn’t understand it.

37 comments followed. A lot of these economic readers and commentators agreed. They discussed bartending customer service in the language of economics. Some suggested, like good economists, that the writer should “vote with his feet” and leave the places with poor customer service.

A former club owner and bartender added comments. (Who would think that club owners and bartenders are well versed in complex economic concepts?).

So what could be the good news?

Lets face it. Most bartenders forget about good customer service. They go about their business and often ignore customers, especially new customers. So many of the writers above suggested that the only time good customer service occurs is when the customers become regulars.

Hey guys, make it your business to make all new customers feel welcome. You couldn’t do anything smarter. So many customers feel the exact same thing as the unhappy commentators in the blog piece above. They want ONE nice place in which to hang out. Make sure your bar is it.

Become the one nice place. Build your customer base. Increase your regulars. Make customers feel comfortable.

I know so many bartenders at so many unassuming bars around the country that make so much money!!!! These are not the “coolest” “hottest” clubs by any stretch of the imagination. They don’t gain press, and they aren’t the slickest places in any city. Meanwhile the good/smart bartenders in all those places with big loyal followings make more money than the cool club bartenders.

Why? They have tons of happy comfortable regulars that tip them like crazy. The bartenders were just a little bit friendlier, a little bit nicer and converted a lot of customers into regulars.

Its actually easy, as the economists explained to us earlier. Most bartenders are rude.   Make sure you turn your bartending shifts into the ones that make new customers feel comfortable.

4/18/09.  Update.  had to turn off comments due to a spammer.  sorry :D 

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Tiffany the experienced Bartender knows more than French scientists!!

October 17th, 2008

This one is for all the bartenders and bar managers and owners that want to increase sales.

Back in July, a published study by French Scientists found that increasing the volume and speed of music in a bar increased the rate of alcohol consumption. Customers were drinking more and faster.

Hundreds of news articles and blogs around the world reported on this

We have known this for years. Its industry lore. But we were curious. When did bar owners and managers first learn this and when did they first start putting it in practice?

We talked to experienced bartenders and owner/managers all over.  Most of them knew about this. Nobody could tell us when he or she learned it. Then we ran into Tiffany.

Tiffany works at an Irish sports bar in Arlington, Va. She has twenty years of experience. She told us exactly when she first learned and experienced how loud music makes customers drink faster.

In 1993 as a beginning bartender at TGIF’s in Philadelphia, Tiffany saw Friday’s suddenly make huge changes to the bar and bar lounge.  They removed some stools from the bar forcing more customers to stand.  They removed tables with seating and replaced them with stand-up small bar tables just big enough to hold a couple of drinks and appetizers. Starting around 4 PM they began to dim the lights and continued it through the night.

Then they started to work on the music.  Again at 4 in the late afternoon  they changed the music from mellower easy listening to louder faster top 40 songs. Over the night the music would get progressively louder and faster.

What happened? Tiffany and the rest of the bartenders started ringing up more sales and much better tips. She laughed when she told me this story. She said none of her co-workers changed a thing with regard to customer service. They simply benefited from the changes instituted by experienced restaurateurs.

Now, if it comes to increasing sales whom are you going to listen to; famous French academic social scientists or Tiffany the experienced bartender. I’d go with Tiffany any day of the week.

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Get a career in two weeks of training

October 10th, 2008

There was a great article this week about a grad from one of our sister schools.  The article is called Pour Me Another and it describes how it takes two weeks to acquire a skill you can use forever.

That is exactly what Brett, the Spring 2008 grad from our sister bartending school in Northern Virginia said.

We follow a very similar program in Pittsburgh. You’ll see how the April 2008 grad tried a number of initial jobs before he found one that worked for him. Not unusual. In fact he is already a bar manager. Fast work. You’ll also note he received a lot of job leads directly from the school.

That is how we work. Both schools constantly contact a couple of thousand regional bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants, etc. in their market regions. We make more effort to turn up more leads than most other sources combined.

To get back to what Brett said….”If you’re outgoing, friendly and have a genuine smile, conversational skills and openness to a variety of people, take a look at bar school.”

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Pittsburgh Realtors and Mortgage Brokers–Have you tried bartending?

October 7th, 2008

For over two decades every time we see the real estate markets crash our schools see a lot of realtors and mortgage brokers.  It makes a lot of sense.  Bartending enables you to make daily money.  It takes the place of commission income when that dries up.

Once they have taken the course and gotten bartending jobs, we invariably hear this feedback;  I sold a house (to/for) a customer at my bar.

One of the neat tricks about being a bartender is that you very quickly become “best friends” with your customers.  Okay, not necessarily BFF’s texting and talking all the time, but customers and especially regulars get to like and “trust” their bartenders very quickly.  Serve up a couple of beers, a gin and tonic, or a well aged scotch to a customer across the bar….and suddenly they like you.

Realtors know that one of the biggest hurdles is winning the trust factor from customers, whether it is buyers or sellers.  Realtors compete for this in the professional environment and look for all sorts of different ways to network and connect with potential customers.

Bartending is an easy way to do that, and “here is the kicker”…you are making money while you are networking; earning tips while getting to know your regulars.

Once realtors get comfortable behind the bar, sooner or later the conversation might turn to real estate, homes, the neighborhood or community, work, etc…..and a bartender with his realtor card available can quickly make a customer aware of your real estate expertise.

We usually suggest realtors get bartending jobs in either upscale restaurants or bars, bars frequented by young working professionals, or upscale to medium restaurants in your target communities or neighborhoods.

When push comes to shove, the best tips I ever made came from serving up a few tall cool ones to customers that later became my real estate customers.   

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Part time Night Jobs–They help you get ahead

October 3rd, 2008

We just got this call from Eddie.  Eddie took our bartending classes in 2006.  Shortly afterwards he picked up first one and then a second bartending job.  His first was in a restaurant that was more restaurant than bar.  Lot of service bartending with just a little bartending at the bar.  The second was in a long time very active bar/restaurant/sports bar.  He got some excellent gigs there.

But its been two years.  Eddie is 28 and just bought his first house.  Congrats Eddie.  He wants to bartend again to make that extra money to get him over the hump of higher house payments.  He has  steady job.  He has gotten promotions.  He is definitely moving ahead.

Eddie is scheduling to come in and take a free refresher class.  Hey, anyone can pour beer.  Eddie wants to get his mixed drinks down again.  A couple of sessions in our realistic bar set-up, a refresher with regard to our methods that help him remember the recipes, and some practise again at being an effective two handed bartender, and Eddie can be out there making that good night and weekend extra money.

Its a coup.  Eddie took our program once.  He can come back for free refresher classes and get up dated job leads.  We have over 25 hard active job leads in the Pittsburgh region right now.

Oh….and by the way….Eddie got a good deal on the house.  Its below 2005  prices. 

Good work Eddie.  We look forward to seeing you again. 

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Can Bartenders Contribute to Pittsburgh

September 29th, 2008

In small and larger ways bartenders contribute to the fabric of a community.  Pittsburgh bartenders are like all others.  We have our part in making Pittsburgh a better city.  This blog is an effort to (okay–we gotta be transparent)  promote our school;  describe the job of bartending, focus on bars, restaurants, clubs, etc. within the region, and reveal job opportunities for grads and potential students.  Beyond that there is a rich world in which bartenders make their contributions. 

In terms of doing this we are going to mention some of the blogs that enrich the Burgh scene.  They describe uniquely Pittsburgh activities, Burgh folks, quirks and funny aspects of our way of life, and neat events around town.  Some of them are very personal and could be written from anywhere but intertwine their perspectives with life here, and others focus on Pittsburgh.  We’ll be adding some of these and others to a blog roll that will include local blogs of interest, bartending sites, restaurant/food beverage/club/and alcohol sites, and finally an eclectic mix of other interesting sites.

So here are some of the local blogs that have caught our eye:

Have a good sandwichby one of the co founders of the Pittsburgh bloggers (of which we are members). If you want to find out about different perspectives in Pittsburgh you should start here, and you might as well include the founder’s blog.

I’m not sure what a the perspective of a a Pittsburgh mom and her baby have to do with bartending….but we think its fun to read!

A must read for locals is The burgh blog by Pittgirl. She and her blog have been around for a while and they get around. Its good reading.

If you want to get a feel from some people engrossed in the business of promoting Pittsburgh and its businesses spend time at I heart Pgh. Great reading.

It appears we will be losing a lot of activity from Pittsblog. This writer will be winding down activity on this blog while busy elsewhere…but for a review of several years from Burgh perspectives, it can’t be beat.

Hopefully we will be enriching the scene with comments by and about local and other bartenders.

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Nude Bartender Gets Arrested–She didn’t learn that here!!

September 26th, 2008

Earlier this week, Janet Brannon was arrested at the Cabin Tavern in Delhi, Illinois.  She was serving stiff drinks in the buff in this small bar in Southern Illinois.  Police walked in for a standard check…..and bingo….they were pretty surprised to say the least.  Check out the story here.

She got out of jail on $8,000 bail. A few days later the bar was shut down for 30 days, fined $500, and lost its liquor license. Duhhh!!!!!!

We definitely don’t teach that in our customer service classes.

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