Bartending

[Yamaha R6]

As a poor regional F/O, i have been considering taking a second job as a bartender and was wondering how all you got into it. Is there a "bartending school" or do you just go down to every bar and start begging.

What about other jobs to try my hand at to make a few extra bucks?

R6

 

[urflyingme?!]

CUTCO! Selling kitchen tools and cutlery
16 bucks for every appointment u make, OR commission whichever is greater. I did it one summer and made bank...
If u get good at it u can make 200 bucks a day easy, and thats for like 4 appointments or less.

 

[Swass]

Apply to a restaurant you want to bartend at and you will start on the floor, most bartending slots are seniority based (no crap just like airlines). PM me, in another life I was a regional corporate bar trainer for one of the biggest restaurant chains. The absolute best way to see the country and attend college at the same time, some of the parties we had were un-feakin'-believable.

 

[Airpiraterob]

i was asking the same questions to the barkeeps im friendly with in various spots and get the same answers from all of them. honestly the way to get in is to start low, bussin' tables and what not. being wait staff. and over time you wind up knowing the drinks and start working/helping the bar during slow times. then eventually youre "in". other places put you right in there with another guy for a while and learn as you go but those places more often than not are real dives with a high concentration of fists or bullets in the air.

i'd like to do it personally. looks fun and the tips can be phenominal at the right places, however

if im hurtin for cash as an underpaid F/O, i just pick up open time and make bank that way. 2 days workin the bar would be how much? 2 days on the road at 10 hours block=how much?

gotta weigh it.

 

[Pistonpilot]

I was working as a waiter for banquets when I realized that bartending would make more money and be more fun.

I don't drink much and knew nothing about mixing drinks.
I took a bartending class at a community college for $85. You can take classes through private bartending schools, but it will cost more. That class taught me what I needed to know and I memorized all the various drinks. I told the folks where I was a waiter to keep me in mind if they needed a bartender. A couple weeks later I took over when the other guy wasn't reliable.

Most people don't even go to a class. They usually are working in the restaraunt business already and become familar with the various drinks and techniques the bartender uses.

It's a great way to make money on the side of your primary job and it's fun sometimes.

That's my story.

 

[Smoking Man]

Most places want you to learn there method of count pouring, or using jiggers, there special drinks etc. Often bartending schools just take your money and you learn to mix a few drinks, and noth the methods the chain restaurants want you to use. Apply directly to where you would like to work.

 

[EngineOut]

Identify the place you want to work, apply to a different place and tell them you have gobs of experience. After you get fired, go to the place you really wanted to work in the first place and then you've got your experience.

It's not a hard to learn the basics. Few bartenders I've worked with know much more than that anyway. Impress the barstaff your working with, not the managers. That will get you through many more tight spots than you'd expect.

My best day was UT/OU weekend where I walked out with $1,700 cash for 2 days work. My worst and last day as a bartender was when my other bartender was hauled off in cuffs for serving a minor in a sting. It freaked me out because if it had been me, I don't know If I'd checked ID either. Don't need that on my record.

 

[JB74]

Great advice so far.

Most "corporate" restaurant chains don't hire bartenders off the street. You will need to wait tables while you figure out who to suck up to. Also (I know this will sound bad) lie about your experience. Restaurant managers don't check refs so for all they know, you have waited tables/bartended for the past three years.

DO NOT waste your money on a bartending school, those are a joke. Instead, buy a drink book off amazon, it will have all the information you need. It will seem like a lot of drinks at first, but they are really easy (take away one mixer, add oj and it becomes another drink). All those foo-foo drinks, people don't really know what they are ordering anyways so make something up!

Good Luck, you will make some good money and pick up some decent strange too.

 

[kwb13]

Don't go to the corporate chains! It's so much better to find a mom and pop beach bar or some hole in the wall that has no glass anywhere, plastic cups is the way to go! No food either, just booze! You'll be sooo glad you did because you will probably start out on the door or barback and you have to clean that s**t up!

I worked at both types and taking pour tests before your shift and making sure your shirt is pressed (among other things) just to get it ruined sucks!

Just my $.02

 

[SenorSpielbergo]

Don't go to the corporate chains! It's so much better to find a mom and pop beach bar or some hole in the wall that has no glass anywhere, plastic cups is the way to go! No food either, just booze! You'll be sooo glad you did because you will probably start out on the door or barback and you have to clean that s**t up!

I worked at both types and taking pour tests before your shift and making sure your shirt is pressed (among other things) just to get it ruined sucks!

Just my $.02

And don't forget the minimum 37 pieces of flair.