When bartenders lean on the bar with a towel draped over their shoulder and a welcoming smile, it’s one of the best bartender tasks. Consider the following situation. You don’t want to pull up a stool, do you? If you’re like most Americans, you most likely do.
Some individuals think a bartender’s work is as simple as pouring a beer, squeezing a lime, or letting Tyler Durden fight in the basement. However, it is a tough profession that necessitates a diverse skill set and a strong ability to make small chats. It turns out that if you’re not Irvin from Fight Club, you’ll need politician-like people skills to work behind the bar. Let’s have a look at the important things that every bartender should know.
Bartending may be a rewarding and enjoyable job. But it’s also a serious endeavor that draws professionals who understand that bartending can be a serious and satisfying career, not merely a summer job or a way to supplement one’s income after graduation.
After researching about bartenders we came up with a list of six most important bartender jobs and duties that you must know if you plan on becoming a bartender.
Focus on these 6 bartender tasks whether you’re developing a bartender job description, considering the bartending school, getting a bartending degree or licence in a bartending school, or studying how to become a bartender on your own.
A successful bartender has a fundamental skill set that advances their careers: drink knowledge, a soft touch with customers, organization, time management, and calm in the face of stress. Let’s have a close look!
Drink Knowledge
Bartenders should be knowledgeable about the products they use. It’s crucial to learn about whiskies, beer styles, wine types, and cocktails. A bartender is frequently approached for advice, requested to create cocktails on the spot, and asked to suggest meal pairings for wine and beer.
Knowing your drinks is crucial, and there are numerous resources available to help you do so. There are practically unlimited resources to be found online or in-person, ranging from cocktail manuals to wine guides, lectures and seminars, and the most fun training of all: tasting drinks.
Customer Service
The comparison of bartenders to therapists is a popular cliché. While almost every bartender has a tale about guiding a patron through an embarrassing life situation or simply listening to a bar guest’s concerns and opinions, bartenders’ most crucial customer service skill is simply ensuring that their visitors have the greatest possible experience at their bar.
Here are some customer service abilities that will come in handy in everyday life:
Ask Questions: Find out what your guests like and don’t like in terms of drinks. If you’re approached for a recommendation, the first thing you should do is ask a question to figure out what they really prefer.
Be Patient: Patience is a trait shared by both bartenders and saints. The tension of the tending bar will be reduced if you have patience with your customers and coworkers. This is especially true for well-educated bartenders who are experts in their field and must communicate their knowledge to less knowledgeable clients about cocktails. Hence if you want to become a perfectly trained bartender to deal with such situations, then attending a bartending class would be a good option.
Be Attentive: This is an excellent skill for new or inexperienced bartenders. Whatever you lack mixology skills or understanding of French wines, you can always make up for it with attentive service that makes customers feel unique.
Time management and organization
These two abilities complement each other. Working in a busy bar necessitates meticulous planning and developing habits that save time while allowing you to perform all of the duties expected of a bartender.
Simple procedures like placing a bottle to its proper shelf after use or keeping your service or bar tools properly organized and clean will save you from wasting your time and that of your coworkers.
Strong Communication
Strong communication is one of the most critical interpersonal skills that any worker, especially a bartender in a hectic job, requires. To become a competent bartender, you must communicate your demands to coworkers, understand your customers’ wants, and provide excellent customer service.
Calm
Bars may be a stressful place to work. Compact spaces, loud music, and angry or impatient inebriated clients are all variables that can lead to stress overload and cratering behind the bar.
Even the most seasoned bartenders will find themselves “in the weeds,” a term used in the profession to describe falling behind on tasks. However, staying calm and working through the tension will help you keep your sanity.
Multitasking
There is never just one thing to do at a time. You should always be doing two to three things at once, and you should always know what to do next. This can be a problem when you’ve got five visitors in front of you, and you have to recall what order they came to the bar.
Let’s imagine you work in a cocktail bar, and you have three expensive cocktails to prepare. You’ll need to gather all of your glassware, ingredients, and tools. You must grasp items and work with two hands.
If you see a bartender operating with only one hand, you know they’re not doing their job properly. You must always be going forward with purpose and multitasking, and this takes time. Moving behind the bar doesn’t happen overnight; there’s a rhythm and a flow to it.
Conclusion
Bartenders should have fun at work. We’re chatting about whiskey, beer, and wine, as well as cocktails and sports. Bartenders get afforded a specific kind of demeanor that other individuals aren’t. They get to curse and tell jokes to guests, among many other things that individuals in other occupations don’t get to do.
It’s a different vibe even in service if you’re working on tables. You don’t get the same sense of community that a bartender and a visitor get at a bar. So if you are interested in achieving all of the skills and becoming a seasoned bartender, then look out for attending a bartending class where you can learn and master the process.