The Responsibilities Of a Professional Bartender
Sunday, March 29th, 2009What exactly does it mean to be a bartender? A bartender is someone that serves beverages, and in some cases food behind a licensed bar. Bartenders can be found in any establishment that has a bar, such as bars, restaurants, night clubs, pubs and taverns.
The bartenders main duty is to mix and serves drinks, and the majority of drinks a bartender is making contain alcohol, such as beer, wine, liquor, liqueur, coolers and cocktails. They also serve water, juice, soda and other non-alcoholic beverages for customers who do not wish to drink alcohol such as a designated driver or a non drinker.
As well as make and serve drinks, the bartender is also responsible for taking payment for drinks, in some cases (either from customers, waiters or waitresses), keeping the liquor supplies and glassware stocked, keeping the bar area clean, maintaining enough ice and garnishes on hand and serving food to customers sitting at the bar, if the bar offers food for sale.
Almost anywhere you go the bartender will be expected to dress appropriate, this makes the whole atmosphere of the bar better. There are even some places where the bartender will be expected to be the main entertainment of the bar.
A professional bartender should have in their head hundreds of recipes for drinks and shots. The quicker that you can serve the customer the more likely you are to get a good tip. It is not very professional to go over and look at a recipe book while the customer is waiting on his or her drink, especially if you are working at a busy night club.
All bartenders should be friendly and enjoy having contact and communication with customers. Good bartenders have a way of attracting regular customers. Good bartenders like this will remember the favored drink of regular customers; have drink recommendations on hand or recommendations for other bars, as well as several other unofficial duties.
In the United States, mostly all bartenders are payed minimum wage. So their main source of income will be coming from tips, which is a custom in almost every country. Bartenders must also be strict when it comes to checking if that person is old enough to drink alcohol or not.
So there is much more to being a bartender than just serving alcohol as you can see. The most important thing you must do well is your people skills since the majority of bartenders work for tips. The better people skills you have the more money you will see coming in.