Dear bar/nightclub/restaurant owner:
Do you have unexplained losses in liquor or wine, in draught beer… in all three?
If your restaurant is like most hospitality concepts, chances are your current bartender training is based on generations of bartenders who may not have been fully trained themselves.
Most restaurants open with meticulous operational guidelines for how drinks are prepared, with detailed recipe lists that must be strictly adhered to along with opening and closing procedures, weekly checklists for cleanliness and follow up procedures. Does this sound familiar?
Maybe it’s a distant memory…
What usually follows can be likened to a game of broken telephone, where each generation of bartenders passes on an adapted interpretation of your original training message. In the hospitality industry where employee turnover rates are commonly 50%-66% per year, it doesn’t take long before your original training standards are barely recognizable
Perhaps your restaurant is okay and you have a good idea of how you can control the margins in the kitchen. Most managers have a good handle on food cost in the kitchen because many kitchens have portion-controlled menus. Use of a scale to measure consistency in portion size is common especially in prep areas, but there is no parallel on the bar side of the spectrum. Most bartenders freepour, although few have been properly trained to freepour accurately. You ask them to use a shot glass, which is slow and really offers no guarantee of accuracy during busy periods.
In the hospitality industry, there is a fine line between profit and loss. So fine in fact that after tax, profit margins in F&B often average less than 3% according to recent figures.
With margins like that, it’s hard to justify spending money on the business; however, it’s
been said that you have to spend it to make it.
There are a smorgasbord of liquor control systems available… at a price, and keep in mind you get what you pay for. Some bars that choose the ball bearing style pour spouts, which apparently stop automatically, may save money up front but you’ll pay in the long term. Most of these spouts will only pour accurately about 65% of the time. At the opposite end of the spectrum you could spend $100,000 or more on a high-tech liquor control system, however it may take years to see the return on your investment. Both of these systems, no matter how elaborate the programming, will limit your bartenders’ ability to create drinks that will truly satisfy your guests’ unique tastes and preferences.
At the very least you should make sure that all of your pour spouts are the same, and that you don’t have a mishmash of different colours, styles and pour rates. Not only does it look better, but if you find your liquor costs are out of line at least there is one less variable, and you can let your bartenders know that they’re pouring heavy.
The cost of not training your bartenders properly is astronomical.
All licensed establishments have bartenders but few have truly mastered the craft. But when was the last time your bartenders had any real training? Are they accurate and efficient or are they pouring away your profits?
The bottom line is that your ability to manage your costs is directly linked to the degree to which you empower your staff to help you manage those costs. We’ve all heard that the best defense is a good offense… so consider this.
Keep things simple:
Based on $10,000 in sales:
Your current liquor cost is 25% = $2500
Your budget liquor cost is 23% = $2300
Simple math says that you’re running 2% above cost or at a 2% surplus.
Your target liquor cost is 22% = $2200
This could be as a result of carelessness, spillage, spoilage, etc. As an incentive to keep costs in line, share these numbers with your staff regularly, and offer your bar team a quarterly party, or pay out a cash bonus to your bartenders if they hit a target 1% below your targeted liquor cost, in this case 22%. (Goals have to be within reason, and shouldn’t promote short changing the guest.)
Each year, based on these numbers, you are rewarded with $1200 in teambuilding and staff incentives. Your staff retention and job satisfaction goes up, turnover goes down and you empower a team of people to work
So put your hands on this and remember“Practice is the hardest part of learning, and training is the essence of transformation.”  Embrace a culture of continuous perfection and success will come to you.
See you behind the bar
More tips on bar etiquette (a.k.a how not to get on your bartender’s bad side)
Continuing our series about proper manners at the bar, here go a few more tips on how to get your bartender’s heart by not driving him crazy by D. Jennings, one of the top bartenders you will find in TO
… I’ve been bartending for over 10 years now, working at numerous venues and  different concepts along the way. During this time, I’ve been trained in many different steps of service to offer my  guests great service, in a timely fashion.
However, the skill and speed of a bartender is only half of the equation when it comes to getting served promptly at any bar. The actions of the guests have as much to do with the speed of service as the bartender does.
Much like bartending schools teach people how to be a bartender, I think there should be schools on how to be a proper guest.
For example, lesson number 1 would be bring cash to the bar, not plastic. The average cash transaction takes roughly 7 seconds to complete, whereas a credit card or debit transactions takes an average of 45 seconds from start to finish. This extra time can really cause a backlog of guests trying to flag the bartender down wondering why it takes so long to get served a cocktail.
Lesson number 2 would be to make sure you have your drink order ready. If you are at a busy bar, when the bartender comes over to you, you should be ready to order. This is not the opportunity to ask everyone what they want.
A side note would be to give the ENTIRE order all at once. Don’t place an order, then when the bartender comes back with your drinks, you say, “oh and I need one more of these…”. All this does is cause a line up of unhappy guests who are still waiting. If  you were waiting in line for a while, it’s probably because someone in front of you has broken rules 1 and or 2.
There are many other rules that I will get into next time, but the one that will help you get faster service, is to be polite to your bartender. If they greet you by saying “hi how are you today?”, “rum and Coke” is not the correct response.
Maybe I’m old school, please and thank you goes a long way.
Remember, the bartender controls the alcohol.
Until next time,
DJ