Hey All, I'm new here and have read the rules so whilst the Flair I believe is correct I am happy for this to be deleted if in breach of the no advertising rule as it does pertain to my barware business.

That being said, a little intro.. I've been a bartender for over a decade and have recently purchased a business that aligns with my values and in a niche that I relate to... Barware.

Specifically cocktail barware for cocktail lovers and businesses alike.. focusing on the quality standard we all crave but somehow never seem to get.

So I guess what I'm looking for from this post is feedback, offering improvement suggestions and potentially a couple of people in the industry to review the product/s and give unbiased feedback.

Hope that's allowed and if not please accept my apologies.

I'll happily provide the business details in an edit if permitted.

I’m quite sick of it.

Hired at a new place: turns out the manager is crazy

Hired at a new place: managers are stealing tips

Hired at a new place: the tipout for bartenders is super low and we don’t get any tables

Hired at a new place: it’s seasonal and they never told me

Why is this so difficult lol? I want to be a server but whenever restaurants see “bartender” on my resume they go straight to that.

I feel as though servers make more money + have to deal with less shit.

So annoying and how do I stop the cycle

Hello bartenders, i’ve been searching all over for the green smoothie drink that comes with a tequila green. Is it purchasable and does anyone know where i can buy?!

So I'm currently putting together a new menu for the bar I work at, I'm looking for some favourite cocktails by other bartenders and what you'd consider a must have cocktail for your menu. Any style you'd like I'm looking for your favourite to make/drink or something you just love.

Has anybody ever worked at Houston’s Restaurant (Hillstone) I’d love to hear your experience.

I (23M) finished college this past May, and while I was looking for a job I took a part time role as a waiter. A few months later, they asked me if I wanted to bartend. Wanting some more money, I said yes, and have absolutely loved it. I’m starting to think about a serious career as a bartender, but don’t know where to go from bartender at a chain restaurant (as specific as I’m willing to be). Would people recommend keeping at this, or going back to the job search? And if keeping at it, what’re the next steps to my career? EDIT: I know I’m a good bartender, make very good tips and am a very social person. This is probably important to know.

Working on a lump of coal themed cocktail for a winter menu. So far I've got Mezcal (del Maguey Puebla), an amaro like Alta Verde or Braulio, and was brainstorming a spicy/sweet syrup idea. Any ideas from y'all? I was thinking getting some calabrian chilis (which we have in abundance at my place of work) and making a syrup with turbanado sugar. However, I am open to suggestions.

Apologies if the flair isn't right.

So I'm doing my last project in school as Bartender and we've been told to come with our creation to present in school. Help me with some ingredients that I can try before my presentation

Here's a dilemma, and I'm not sure how to think about it.

Our fancy little cocktail bar does not do table service. However, we do have a very small room off to the side that is available for private rentals. It's literally a 10-seat booth with a glass door.

We had a group of lawyers rent it for a co-worker birthday. I've consistently noticed that folks in this room:

• Often can't hear when their drink round is finished, or have to stand at the bar for a long time as their large round is built in the queue. Drinks end up getting warm, or the patrons get frustrated standing around.
• It's hard to get in and out of the booth, so:
  • A couple people have to make several trips to ferry all the drinks back-and-forth for the whole group.
  • They don't hydrate enough.

So I went above-and-beyond. While I didn't take drink orders from the room, I did notify them in-person when rounds were ready and helped them carry them all to the table, and kept the group supplied with water carafes. For my troubles, we got a $200 cash tip on a $500 tab, on top of the 20% autograt, with the specific quote: "We're lawyers, but service workers, too. It's a different industry, but we know what good customer service is like, and you were great." They're not the only ones: my attention to another small rental landed a much-larger $6K rental from them with a $1.2K autograt.

It turns out my manager is not thrilled: "It is super important that the level of service we provide is able to be administered consistently at all times and at all volumes of business. As much as humanly possible, each guest in the space should receive the same level of attention and share an experience in keeping with that of those around them. Because of this, we do not provide table service unless it is absolutely necessary to navigate a situation. Table service creates a promise of attention that even a moderate flow of service can likely make untenable. Please refrain from defaulting to table service. Instead, when guests arrive for a 10-person event, as possible take the time to set clear expectations with them about their time here, how to order and receive service, etc."

I definitely see the risk of creating confusion and perceptions of unequal treatment when servicing a private rental in the side room. And I definitely see the problem with providing service that may not be sustainable (shortly after that group arrived a nearby theater let out and we got crushed). But I don't think our private room rental customers get the same quality of experience, and I want my premium customers to be happy, get those tips, and generate high-margin future rentals.

It seems like a customer service lose-lose. Any tips on how to navigate this?

I work 4 nights a week at my bar. It’s a pretty casual independently owned place but we are a restaurant that serves steak, lobster etc. so sometimes people order something nicer than a beer or basic mixed drink. My biggest pet peeve is the fact that we get ordered the cheapest cherries ever. I don’t even like touching them, they’re tiny milky bright red clumps that smell like straight cleaning products and syrup. I don’t mind tossing them on a mountain of pina coladas but when garnishing an old fashioned or something similar I feel like I’m committing a crime. It seriously bothered me so much I considered just bringing in my own jar to my shifts, my manager wouldn’t care. I’d hate to dish out twenty bucks on a handful of luxardo cherries although I’d love to for the sake of my customers. Any good alternatives?

Guys, i worked in a bar for 2 months now, finished my barback + Bartender training.

There is a winter drinks competition at our bar, and 1st place will get 300€.

I need your help to craft the best winter cocktail and win this thing. Any suggestions + recipies?

Please! And thank you 🫡

Hey guys, I work in a bar with 6 other people. I’m one of 3 people with my managers license here, the other 2 don’t close at all, I’m often being left with 3-5 closing shifts a week.

Our venue closes at midnight so it’s not like I’m here all night, but I find the shift itself unfair. The main person that does our roster (one of the 3 that has their manager license) has issues with me because I’ve called them out before on their laziness and abuse of the roster/playing favourite and cutting hours if she has a personal problem with you. Overall the person is vindictive and manipulative with the way they do the roster. I believe the was the roster is being done is used to isolate me and make me quit. (Please note I’m leaving out A LOT of details, I’m just trying to get this out asap)

I’m looking for advice I can take to the operations manager but as he tends to avoid confrontation as much as possible I don’t think it’ll go over well. I have no problems doing any shifts, I’ve even scrubbed toilets and done housekeeping, but how do I iterate I don’t believe I should be stuck doing 5 closes a week when other senior staff don’t even do 1.

I can go into more gossipy, petty, dramatic details but I’ll spare it. Overall the roster manager is a ****.

I’m a pretty new bartender (abt 6 months) and I never know what to say when someone asks for my number or to take me on a date and I want to reject them, but not be rude and jeopardize my tip. I’m also a pretty socially awkward person so I have a hard time just coming up with things on the spot. Is there anything yall usually say to deal with this?

Edit: I do have a boyfriend and that’s what I’ve been saying so far but it usually just makes them ask even more or try to come up with a loophole

Hi guys. I have some background in events, and I received this request from one of my customers:

“Hey! Are you available for a small birthday party at a private residence? It’s a low-key event with about 11-25 guests. We’ll need liquor, mixed drinks, and wine, plus help with setup, cleanup, and ice. The bar is already there, but no tip jars are allowed. The budget is around $200-$300, and we’d need everything ready by 4 p.m. Let me know if you’re free and how long setup would take!”

The only issue is: I’ve never done bartending in my life. What should I expect? Do I have to buy the drinks? I have no idea where to start, and I don’t want to turn down the job since I need the money. Any tips on where should I start with? Thanks in advance 🤝

I feel so stupid for having to ask, but I realized that in my entire life I've never worked a restaurant based event with drink tickets. I have an event I'm in charge of putting on soon though and the host requested drink tickets.

Anyone else, we'd probably tell them no because it goes against our SOPs, but it's for a fundraising event that's already on a tight budget, but we're being accommodating for the cause.

So I always assumed drink tickets worked by all being a base price (like $7) and I'd provide product based on said price, but my coworkers have argued that it means we'd still sell individual requested drinks to guests, keeping track of the sales, and charge the host accordingly at the end of the event (whether it was $7 or $16).

I don't care if I'm right or wrong, I just really want to make sure I do this event right and charge the hosts properly. The hosts of the event don't drink either, so they have been looking to me for guidance on the whole situation, so I'm embarrassed I'm not even sure myself.

Any help is appreciated, thanks 🤦🏻‍♀️

Hi folks!

I’ve recently taken over a beverage program. I’m looking for an Excel/ google sheet that makes pricing out cocktails easy peast! Please link!!!

Many thanks

My friend is applying for a new position as bar manager and her potential boss told her to brush up on mixed drinks and proper usage of steamwear. Uhhh what is steamwear?

Trying to find the right one to study with

Hi all! My stepson is currently a host at a fancy Italian restaurant, but will hopefully be training to bartend in the near future. For Christmas, I bought him a kit to start practicing with, it has a mixer, jigger, muddler, etc. I’m also going to buy a recipe book.

I want to buy some other basics he’ll need, add ins such as grenadine, etc. I’m hoping to get some suggestions.

Thank you in advance!

I'm F20, located in Toronto Canada, and just got hired for my first bartending job. I previously worked 2 years at a bubble tea chain so I guess the owners at my new restaurant thought that was good enough.

I'm pretty solid at customer service and once I'm in my flow state I work well under pressure. I was just hoping to get some advice to make sure I don't disappoint my hiring manager and boss. All of my experience comes from my previous bubble tea job and whatever I learned on my SmartServe certification.

Thank you!

I hope this is allowed. I'm not a beer or wine drinker despite having been to Sonoma and Napa and tried hundreds of wines and growing up with beer drinkers. I'm left with fruity cocktails but the only 2 I like, nobody seems to get right or have the right ingredients. I've been ordering amaretto sours for years. I also discovered Monin brand cocktail syrup in the strawberry ginger lemonade flavor but that has to be ordered online so if I'm out, I'm out till they deliver.

I'm looking for a fruity or sweet cocktail that does NOT have coconut in it. I like, sweet, sour, strawberry, apple, lemon and chocolate. I don't like coconut, martini's or coffee. I like vodka, rum and tequila and that's about all I've tried.

A bartender once made me a sweet strawberry and vodka drink that was amazing. It had sugar on the rim but I don't know what else she put in it. It was clear liquid, smashed up strawberries, sugar and maybe some mint leaves? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Y'all would be helping me so much if you could recommend some easy drinks . We go out MAYBE once a month and when we do, I love to get a good buzz on. But without knowing what to ask for, I'm stuck ordering amaretto sours over and over and that gets expensive when you want to get a good buzz. Thank you for any and all suggestions!!

One of my bartenders is being, well a five year old. I am a 22(M) barback and he is a 30 or 32(M) Bartender. I don't even know what I did wrong but he absolutely hates me. Personally I could care less what he thinks but its getting in the way of me being able to do my job. It started on my birthday a couple weeks ago when I came in because I was having a horrible birthday. So I figured I'd head over to cheer myself up get myself some dinner before I started my shift. Now mind you I was at a point where I was not going to take sh*** from anyone else that day. So I head into work early to cheer myself up and I'm sitting there about to eat and my friend and coworker pete and I are talking to this particular bartender and I say something to him asking a question and he looks at me and goes, "D, this is the most you've talked to me in the last two days so don't fu**ing talk to me. Pete if you want to talk we are good we can talk but D I don't wanna Fu**ing talk to you." I'm sitting there flabbergasted as I don't know what he is talking about. So I as what did I do and he responds, "Nothing. Thats exactly what you did you did nothing. You didn't do a fu**ing thing for me last night. I shouldn't have to tell you!" I didn't know what he was talking about and I'm like "dude what are you talking about so he goes off on me again putting his fingers in my face so I slap his hand away and say "i dont take shit from people for no reason so you can go fuck yourself." and he gets all up close so our manager gets between us and says its a conversation for behind closed doors.

I later explain what happened from my end and the next thing I know i go change into my uniform and come to the main office to get a headset/mic and I hear some commotion in the office. My manager opens the door and the bartender is in the middle of the room between him and another manager and both managers faces were red from yelling at him. The manager tells me to come back in 30 and relax for a bit. He closes the door and the yelling starts up again. I come back and my manager tells me he was mad because he thought i wasnt working hard enough the previous night. Now this came as a surprise because the previous night we were super busy so busy that the bar outside, where he was working got overrun and I was told by managers and our other barback to stay inside and help the other two bars while the other barback (who is 100% the better barback as he can make all the drinks and is pretty much a bartender himself that just floats between all three of the bars) stays in tiki as support. I was also told not to go back to our floating routine until otherwise told to over the mic when things calmed down, which they never did. The bartenders, all of them had told me I killed it and worked my ass off and that they couldn't have done it without me. They even each gave me extra money because of how hard I worked that night.

So now every Sunday after friday and saturdays where he is nice and we laugh and joke he refuses my help. He legit body covers the glass racks wont let me do the juices or anything. The manager just tells me he is a big baby and just not to work with him and just stay up stairs on sundays when he comes in. See thing is I want to be cool and I've even apologized though i was told I didn't have to and he should really apologize not me. So now every sunday I go up to upbar at around 3:30 and restock them and make sure the next bartender is ready up there and then go to downbar as that bartender is finishing her checkout to start the tasks for getting the bartender that hates me ready. As soon as he sees me there is a problem. It started with some eye rolls or head shakes. But this past sunday he threatens me saying this is his bar I have no place crossing the plane of the bar and he never wants help from me ever again and if I do cross the plain of his bar he will get our manager to remove me from the bar. I just stood there flabbergasted and only said "I thought we were good? I'm just trying to do my job." then he says, "do your job somewhere else." I didnt know what to say and kinda just stared at him in shock and he continues on with his words of hate and then says, "do i need to get a manager, i can get one, here i'll go get him." The manager comes out takes me aside and just tells me "Look you don't have to work down here after 4 o'clock just go to upbar hang out for an hour if everything is good up there since sundays are slow. You are just going to have to learn that there are some people in life that need something to complain about in order to be happy and right now your just that. Try not to acknowledge his existence. He has had problems like this in the last few places he tended bar and thats why he doesnt work there anymore. You will be fine and you are in the right just know that much."

my question is first off: WTF? and secondly why can't he just move on. We got in a spat I moved on from it or at least am trying to but if he keeps acting the way he does it makes it kinda hard to move on. I don't want to be this way and none of the other bartenders have a problem with me and tell me I do a great job but there is just no pleasing this guy. I heard from a few other coworkers that they have had identical interactions with him and can no longer talk to him either and so they just decided to take up a server position when the opportunity arose to get away from him. Its a great place to work and we all make good money and everyone is like family but this bartender creates a tension with some of us for no reason. What to do?

Hi! I’m (23 F) a new bartender at my neighborhood pub. It’s my first time on this thread, so sorry if I’m getting anything wrong with the formatting here. This is my first bartending job and I absolutely love it! We have awesome regulars and I’ve known some of them since I was a kid, which can be a bit weird sometimes but overall is nice. The crowd has been super welcoming and are mostly older men. My boss is an older guy who’s pretty traditional and has a reputation for being somewhat fickle and easy to piss off, but he seems to like me so far.

Recently, one of our regulars has been getting the wrong idea with me. He’s going through a divorce and has been at the bar for pretty much every one of my shifts. One of the regulars leaned forward the other night and said “do you know anything about him? I get a sinister vibe from him. I don’t think I like him very much.” He seems to have a lot of friends there though, otherwise, and has been coming for years.

He’s asked me if I have a boyfriend over and over, and I keep telling him no. He’s asked me out a couple of times, and the only policy I’ve been told by my boss is to say “BLANK doesn’t let us date customers.” Eventually, last night, one of the other regulars finally said to him “hey, you can’t do that.” He kept going “what why I don’t understand,” and the other one seemed to have a more serious talk with him about it, which I’m thankful for. He still kept winking at me alllll night though and I basically had to kick him out at closing time.

I’m new to all this and have a tendency to be overly friendly with people, which I know will be a growing process that I’ll get better at, being more firm.

I’m wondering if you all think I should talk to my boss about this guy, and if so, how I should go about it. He’s really starting to bother me and creep me out, but since I’m new I’m nervous about causing an issue or my boss telling me to toughen up and get over it, which I wouldn’t put past him.

Thank you for reading my long post!! Any advice appreciated.

I don’t know if I made the post clear their is a separate bar section in the venue which always checks for Id I’m more or less asking about being able to walk in because the place ask for id at the door but always ask for it at the bar as well- at least that’s what my friends told me.