Bartender Best Practices

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1: When the customer pays with a $20, place his change face-up so that if he decides to leave, there's less of a chance he'll notice or remember the $10 at the bottom

2: to maintain a regular customer's anonymity upon greeting, refrain from using familiar phases like "nice to see you again" and instead prefer generalities like "how's it going"

3. http://i.imgur.com/uyM4phJ.gif

4. Welcome children into bars with loving arms.

I like this thread, I want more

5. http://images.firstwefeast.com/complex/image/upload/m3rcgh3fwjd4gn5vdehc.gif

Always a classic: http://www.sbnation.com/2015/4/3/8291561/best-music-video-bartender

6. if you're shaking up a drink make everyone and everything around stop moving so that your motions will form a seamless loop

http://i.imgur.com/L8MAe1g.gif

dude

i posted that one already

i was trying to make a joke about making it seamless by fixing the person in the background and the moving computer screen logo

but you're right, as soon as i posted it i thought 'god i'm dumb'

7. Know a little bit about the beers on tap

xp

oh dude

props

i just saw that you fixed it tho

A martini is made with gin AND vermouth

9. We're gonna need a bigger cocaine

3. Be somewhat inconsistent regarding when buy backs are initiated. This will keep the willful customer buying, searching for that elusive goal.

4. when you're sliding into first, and you feel something burst....

10. The hours advertised as "Happy" as listed on the placard outside the bar are subject to change depending on when a certain number of customers come in.

NYTimes article "how to get and keep a bartender's attention" contains this nugget :
"In the event of a free drink, tip for its full price"

Never ask a customer’s name. But be ready to provide yours.

that's....weird.

like...why shouldn't they ask

Horniness on the part of the customer (tinder/AM?)

the bartender is going to learn your name anyway when you give them your credit card. and your last name.

More accurately: never ask a customer’s name unless they ask yours.

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/01/new-frontiers-post-employment-economy

Yeah, that is creepy if a bartender asks/uses your name. I feel like some super heavy touristy places do that to milk tips from tourists assuming all of NYC is rude.

The names thing works differently in different places. Big/busy/heavily staffed bars may have different reasons to give and ask for names than a cozy local does.

Bartender to patron: "My name's Kate if you need anything." Okay, maybe this is a management directive intended to make things more personable.

I don't relish it but I also don't mind it, and can see situations where it sometimes makes things easier for when you want something. One can now say "Kate" instead of "Excuse me" or "Miss" (which, ugh) or "Hey Barkeep," or maybe helps avoid "Yo, sugar tits!" And using words is preferable to waiting to catch the eye of a busy bartender, or doing the pathetic raised finger thing.

Also can be handy to know which person is "your" bartender in case checks/tips are being handled separately in that establishment. Sometimes there are non-bartenders behind the bar, and you might be asking a waitron, or a kid who's just refilling the ice.

"My name's Trevor, what's yours?" is a different vibe. Again, it's not necessarily ideal but it's probably not the bartender's fault; they are instructed to ask. I can see why it would be helpful in some places. Some people are running a tab, some people are paying as they go, some are using cash, some are using cards. Some people are sitting still on a stool and others are moving around the bar. Easiest to just get a first name to keep track of each patron.

Maybe their computer requires a name for each order. I have sometimes looked at my check and seen something like "glasses guy."

In some places having my name allows them to ostentatiously show that they remember it, and the associated drink. "Another Maker's Mark, Patrick?" I don't usually mind, unless I am in a grumpy "leave me alone and keep the booze coming" mode. And when in that mode I generally choose a bar conducive to it.

Another wrinkle is if one intends to become a regular. Names come in handy then.

i want to give my opinion on this, having worked as a bartender
if there is some connection or the person probably wants you to use their name in the future 99% of the time, they will at some point say: "hey, i'm katie" or something similar.
definitely never ask.

not really required and i stopped doing this at some point when my memory for regulars got better but i would make a note in my notebook with a few details about katie (drink notes, GLASSES, AUSTRALIAN, JW ANDERSON JACKET) (without her name, i would still add the notes with description) and when she comes in again and orders her drink, i can if necessary discreetly flip open to my notebook. 2ND time she comes back: "it was katie, right?" + maybe some followup on our last conversation: "how did that work trip go, to... boston?" if no pushback, next times: use name. if they never gave their name, do not attempt to do callbacks to earlier conversations as they probably aren't into that, unless they follow up on previous conversations themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7U3lo80YrQ

I only go to bars where everyone wears name tags.

I wear a name tag whenever I go to a bar

I have a couple places where my wife and I are regulars, I know all the bartenders' named and they know ours, but none of us ever use them.

Just in case there’s a customer enamored with you (yeah but no), never invite your SO to the bar

When an old regular comes in after a hiatus, buy the first round. Or the third.

- Establish a first name basis ASAP
- emphasize in conversation what you have in common with the barfly
- give equal facetime to everyone at the bar

- Establish a first name basis ASAP

erm...

Never ask a customer’s name. But be ready to provide yours.

― calstars, Saturday, January 6, 2018 10:47 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there are ways to solicit information without asking

providing your own name, or making enough small talk that someone gives their name works well

if you've made enough small talk, you can give your name again like "hey, I'm Travis, I work here wednesdays and saturdays, it's been nice talking to you"

if they don't introduce themselves at that point you've failed rapport

never visibly react negatively to something the customer says in a neutral or positive way, unless you have a good rapport and it's part of a real conversation

for instance, if you see someone who was a longtime regular and he says "hey, I'm gonna have a kid!" do not mumble "jesus christ" and wander off disgustedly

"my wife just died"

"oh, congratulations!!!"

I have a lot of "don'ts" from a longtime bartender around town but I won't do them all at once

the best part was that he had (has?) a blog where he recounted stories and in half of them he seems horrible. and it's not a shtick, he really does act like that

I personally don't love it when bartender asks for my name.

Some qualifiers, though. I might make an exception when it's done _instead_ of swiping or keeping a credit card. That seems kind of homey and nice and trusting.

In most places, they have to put _something_ in the system to keep tabs separate. I'd rather have the check say "Patrick" than "weird guy at end of bar."

Yeah sometimes it’s a good idea to ask (from the bartender’s POV) and sometimes not. Wrote that yesterday though when I was getting along well with a new bartender and her giving her name and asking mine probably swayed toward having another round there

I hasten to note that in a lot of places it's probably not the bartender's choice, but rather his or her manager.

I don't think my local barkeep is personally thinking "Wow, that enigmatic yet weirdly handsome guy with the glasses who does advanced crossword puzzles while getting sloshed alone is extremely compelling. How I wish I knew his name!"

More likely the decree comes down from management or corporate, saying "EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, ALL BAR STAFF WILL INTRODUCE THEMSELVES, SHAKE HANDS, AND ASK THE PATRON'S NAME."

Like Barbershop

If there’s a group sitting at a table, instead of waiting for them to order rounds at bar, clear their empties and take the next orders. Keep them drinking.

So these vertical IDs for minors these days, c or d

makes sense

When you run out of music to play, put on Mothership Connection

Serve a group before a single

A cig is the perfect break

When serving, if possible, set the glass down on the bar with an audible “pop.” This augments the overall auditory experience of the customer and is a reminder of the impending rush of pleasure, potentially leading to a larger tip

calma starstra

"What's your name?" should only follow "Wanna start a tab?"

If you sense a new patron is impatient or irritable, take his payment when you take his order. That will dissuade him from bolting while you’re pouring or otherwise engaged, leaving you one down on the count.

How garrulous to be ? Pluses and minuses on both sides. I think overall if you’re talkative and boisterous it’s to the benefit of the bottom line

When you run out of music to play, put on Mothership Connection

Well alright!

according to this thread, bars in the US are so far removed from the UK the experience is unrecognisable

American drinking culture is pretty shit

How so?

calstars is a sui generis bar-room oddball

I never go to the clubbier/packed bars in my area but ended up in one for a friend's birthday. I couldn't quite hear what the upgrade was when I ordered a round (two beers, two mixed drinks) but for $1 per drink, I figured whatever it was would be fine, so I nodded.

It turned out it was "your second drink is a dollar" and I was presented with eight drinks. I tipped $4, which seems... fine?

I also quickly figured out why I've seen so many people incoherently stumbling out of that place at relatively early hours

wow

wow x2

in Oregon they have a rule about how much actual alcohol you can order at once, e.g. you can't get a 2 oz bourbon sampler plus a full pint of beer, gotta dial that beer down to a beer back order.

the owner of said bar used to have a place that would charge cover and then have a "penny pitchers" special in the early evening

the bar was surprisingly less objectionable than I expected, but very much in the "slap a new coat of paint on and change the place's name when business dies down" vein

In a market system bars will both respond to customers' wishes _and_ shape their expectations. I am not defending this system, but merely observing it phenomenologically.

Do I sometimes wish there were introvert bars with privacy shields on either side and cunningly selective speaker systems that could pipe specific music or infotainment to each patron? Sure.

In the meantime I go to bars when I am okay with being in a bar. (This is true both in the US and the UK.) When I want to curate the experience to my taste, I stay home and fuckin curate the experience.

according to this thread, bars in the US are so far removed from the UK the experience is unrecognisable

otm

I sometimes wonder what Americans make of service in bars in (for example) Dublin where it’s unremarkable for barmen to appear resentful at having to interact with patrons in any way.

Right. I'm not used to bartenders talking to me beyond 'Can I help you?' and 'That's £10.40 please' unless I actually know them as a friend.

Flavourful 6%+ craft beer is easier to come by in North America therefore North American bars are inarguably superior.

The worst pubs piss all over the worst bars though.

I can’t put my finger on why it seems wrong to turn bar tending into an arm of the customer service industry. I’ve been buying pints off lads for 15 years and it wouldn’t cross my mind to ask them their name.

way to ruin getting pissed, The US ;-)

If getting pissed is the goal, one can just buy a fifth of bourbon and nurse it all morning in one's own armchair while reading the collected stories of Somerset Maugham.

Going to a pub or bar is different, and should be.

I’m a regular at a handful of cocktail bars in my area of the U.S. and they tend to take customer service very seriously—their goal isn’t just to make you drinks, but to groom your whole experience. I actually love it, and can always count on them to read whether I’m trying to shoot the shit or just have them leave me alone so I can dick around on my phone and have something boozy.

If the bar serves pints in multiple sizes, don’t give the customer the option for the smallest size. Pour the medium or large by default when they order without specifying.

pints in multiple sizes

FFS USA

adorable

like most people, I think of this panel three out of four times I get a pint in the US. but calling multiple sizes in the same bar by the one name is frankly a macroaggression.

https://i.imgur.com/W6G767A.jpg


not sorry for hueg, it's imperial tbf

If I am your first customer at midday on a Saturday, please do me the honour of pulling through, so i get a pint from the cellar, rather than one that has been sitting in the pipes overnight.

A pint is a pint!

Grant you, there aren't any schooners or tea cups or whatever.

Most of the time, your choices are draught (maybe even a draft) or a bottle anyway

If I am your first customer at midday on a Saturday, please do me the honour of pulling through, so i get a pint from the cellar, rather than one that has been sitting in the pipes overnight.

If a suspected lush lays a big bill on the bar for a cheap drink, let it sit. It’ll cause the barfly anxiety and implies the purchase of a second drink.

Ime people paying in cash are mostly having one drink, or intending to use the pay-as-you-go model. People who will be staying a while are either providing a card to run a tab, or operating on a "trust me, I'm good for it" model. which one may be dependent on bar policy, crowdedness, etc.

The "leave bills on the bar" model is increasingly rare these days, at least in the places I hang out. Perhaps it is regional?

I mean, I understand calstars's logic but I am not sure I would classify "make your customers anxious on purpose to get them to drink more" as a "best practice," you know?

I almost always go vodka if I'm having a mixed drink at a bar. And if it's a nice bar or special occasion, I'll go with a premium vodka, be it a vodkatini or vodka-soda. But after hearing a few times from ppl in the service industry how often grey goose bottle are filled with McCormick or whatever, I'm now too suspicious that i'll get swindled to order call drinks.

What say you, calstars?

Not calstars but for most mixed drinks I am fine with cheap booze or rail. Call me a heathen but I I don't really care if a bourbon & ginger is made with Jim Beam or Maker's or Bulleit or whatever. Once it's mixed with a sugary soda it's hard to notice or care about the difference between bourbons.

In a Martini I might care. On vodka I have basically no opinion, so might as well go with rail (or cheap) vodka in a vodka tonic or whatever

oh i am very much a vodka truther, but in more upscale settings it just seems appropriate to splurge, but i don't bother anymore

Hard to research this without an inside source ‘cause every server will deny it or say yes at a past job, but not THIS one wink wink. This job is someone else’s past job five years from now though, so probably. But servers may not even know, it’s to the owner’s advantage that they don’t, so they can honestly claim ignorance. From the bartender’s perspective, yes, that’s top shelf shit, and thanks for the tip.

I've never heard of a bar swapping out call or premium for cheap shit. It wouldn't make sense - bars are generally open, you can watch them open up a new one and scratch the tax sticker (in Texas).
Liquor margins are very high, there's no real reason for them to risk it anyway - even a strong rumor of it happening would kill business and you don't think a disgruntled employee would narc them out to the state/social media?

You shouldn't bother with premium vodka because it's vodka - anything past Tito's and you're setting money on fire.

i don't know how popular Tito's is outside of TX but they have a lock on the market here, must be rolling in it

good bars don't do that. it's a thing that a bar on Bar Rescue might do but liquor-heads would often know the difference between what they were being served and what it was supposed to be.

like one of my besties is a whiskey expert to even knowing the well whiskeys by taste and which ones are good, if all the bars were doing this shit, she'd Karen it up with the manager

any “disgruntled employee” would be committing career suicide by “narcing out” their employer to “the state.”

yeah but fuck, sure the average people who just drink to be Brick from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, there are a ton of customers who can taste the diff between well and premium liquor. I am not one of those people, but if anybody sold out the owners, it wouldn't be an employee.

though there was this: https://www.nj.com/politics/2013/05/rubbing_alcohol_as_scotch_nj_o.html

A bartender who gets shitcanned or fucked over isn't worried about "career suicide." If you're a competent bartender, you can get work after being fired for theft, much less an anonymous call to the state.

lol at "Karen it up"

Invest the time to create a mental Rolodex of the little things you can do to send a subtle acknowledgment to a regular who under tips. This can include failing to top off a sloppily poured pint

Dad of a friend was a pub landlord and was found by the authorities (cant remember how) to be watering down his spirits and beer. Received a fine

If you have a regular who’s established himself as someone who will come to your bar no matter how he’s treated, you can safely take some of your aggression resultant from other dumb customers out on him safely in a plausibly deniable, passively aggressive way

if you own a bar, close it. right now.

If you have a customer you know the name of that is about to pass out or is otherwise excessively self-engaged, and that has finished their current drink, discern whether they want another by maintaining your distance and waking them from their reveries by shouting their name at them

When taking an initial order for which the customer pays with a credit card, say “keep it open?” (instead of “close it out?”). It’s easy for the customer to just say “yes,” and puts the burden them to affirm that they are leaving after one drink. Bummer

If you’d like to engage with a customer but don’t want to disrupt them if they’re on a solo mish, approach slowly and put it in neutral just incrementally within their range of spatial awareness.

If you have a customer who’s alone but you think might not want to give that impression, serve a glass of water next to them at the bar or across from them at their table.

Lol what

"Bartender duty #2: make sure yet customers don't appear to be saddos"

much obliged. my friend stepped out to take a call, but I just received a text (after talking to someone wanting to take that seat) that they had to head home after an emergency popped up at home.

I am sure they will be fine. How you doing?

This more a tip for bar owners, but if your establishment brands its own glasses with its name or logo, instruct the servers to serve the customers with the name on the glass facing them. This will augment brand / establishment exposure in case the customer takes a photo and posts it on their MyFace

Never tell customers the tip is included

In the summer, set up a water station on the side, so patrons can serve themselves

When you have a customer that leaves borromean condensation rings in their wake, assume they’re a pro

Diarrhea

Aim for an inch of foam on draft beer orders. Assuming you own the place

File under bar owner best practices:
Regarding the selection of an initial seating arrangement during construction or renovation, eschew chairs with backs. Instead, choose benches or bar stools to prevent the customer from getting too comfortable — an uncomfortable customer is one eager for a drink. An adjunct benefit to this arrangement is that it discourages extended lingering.

When it’s time for another round for the group, be direct and ask the alpha first. They are the most likely to order another, and chances are the others will follow suit. In any case, do not ask the group as a unit (“can I get anyone here another?”) which makes it easier for all to decline and not be identified singularly as the buzzkill.

If a barfly asks your name it’s a fair bet to assume they want to be remembered by theirs

If a customer says “thank you so much” or is otherwise overly verbally gratuitous, you can probably safely tack on a couple extra bills to the bill

If your establishment doesn’t serve food but is takeout-friendly, keep a leather- or otherwise nicely bound book of delivery menus handy to keep the customers in-house

A friendly bartender showed me this beautiful old book - Bartender’s Guide by Trader Vic — which they keep for reference (4/5 of the book is recipes), but the first section is comprised of salty best practices.

https://i.imgur.com/Gez9xRo.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ykcFhfd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/loqM0gL.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/A12JkJ0.jpg

I was just looking up used prices for that book this afternoon; out of my range. I would like to find a PDF of it until I'm rich enough to buy one.

https://bookos-z1.org/book/5308150/5dd96d

I don't know if this link will work for you, but hey ho!

Also here, but this is revised version from ‘72. Original was published in ‘46 iirc. From what I can tell it looks like the recipes were “updated” but the short essays in the front are the same. The writing is dated in a humorous way … “ Later on, we had a guy who could mix drinks like hallelujah holy toledo. This fellow was hot and a good friend of mine before I went into the saloon business. His name was Frank Pult.”

https://www.scribd.com/document/467774673/1972-TRADER-VICS-BARTENDERS-GUIDE-REVISED-US-pdf

Nice, thanks!

When a customer orders a subsequent drink, take care to place it in the exact spot where their last was

A lot of my customers carefully get a cocktail napkin ready while I'm working on their drink and slide it forward for me to finish the operation.

Bar pros

i went to a bar by myself yesterday, first time in forever. i was killing an hour and a half waiting for my car to be inspected down the street. i went to an irish sportsbar, and was definitely the most awkward weirdo in the room. my instincts are horrible. in this giant sportsbar, there were about 8 customers. 4 were sitting at the bar, and the remaining 4 were sitting at a pair of tables a few feet away. but this room was huge, and i had a headache, so i thought i'd just go sit at a table by myself about 100 feet away. but i had to order a drink first. 3 of the 4 people sitting at the bar were old guys, and they were all staring at me. i made eye contact with one of them and he immediately looked away, and then the bartender asked me what i wanted. she called me honey and then turned away and her jean shorts exposed like half of her ass-cheek, and then i made eye contact with another old guy and he immediately looked away. i realized i didn't know what kind of draft beers they had, so i marched around to the other side of the horseshoe-shaped bar to take a look at the little knobs. i ordered a shocktop and was immediately disappointed with what i had done, and then i asked if it was ok to sit in the other, completely empty, part of the room. it looked like it might be closed off due to no customers entering it for the past 5 years. she said you got it to my beer request and of course to my question about sitting alone. i walked back around to the other side of the bar, waiting for my beer, and then realized i needed to sit down at the bar instead of walking 100 feet away. so i sat down. it got worse from there, i assume when i left they were like wtf

i’m sure it was fine, if there are just old dudes at a bar mid-day they’re either locked in to their own thing or desperate for conversation. probably with their own kind, but you sit three seats away and they start making small comments at the tv or grunting noises to try to lure you in

Also don't smoke pot just before you go to an Irish bar. Just sayin'.

Karl Malone cruisin’ old guys at a dive.

they will talk about this day for months to come

If the bar is loud and a customer has a bill of $50 or less, express the total with your fingers. Round 6 up to the next ten.

End every description of a drink with “it’s very distinctive”

When pouring a pitcher, let the brew fall on the lip to break its fall, thereby preventing half a pitcher of foam

Buy back calculation: customer must have ordered at least two rounds and have tipped half the price of their drinks

I prefer sellbacks, where I drink as much of the beer I want, and give the rest back for a prorated refund

This is all very intimidating and confusing to me.

Are you a bartender?

When there are customers in hearing range, and the bar is quiet, and the customer tells you that they should be at work, don’t ask about the details of their employment

i mean

If business is slow and you need every check to justify your shift, feel free to forego all buybacks, even to those who were there on your first day

When a group of new people arrive and are trying to decide between the fancy expensive drafts, and a regular comes in who always gets the cheapest can, acknowledge the latter and confirm his usual with a nod, but don’t say the brand name out loud, lest the group be swayed via indecision.

Why would you go to a bar to pay a markup for a can you can buy cheaper at the package store don’t tell me it’s because of the company

Not “you” you, a generic you

I’m

Is this a real question

Rhetorical

lol

if you can’t remember this regular, or maybe especially if you can, if they pay via credit, note their first name from the card, and give it back to them with a smile and a “thanks x”