Bartender

[KarmaPolice]

How hard is it to become a bartender. I want to work at a bar when I get back to the US.

 

[miri]

If its just a bar, you probably have to start out as a busser or barback

If its a restaurant, you probably have to start out as a waiter

Even if you have bartending experience, its hard to start out right away as a bartender

You have to realize that a average restaurant will have 2-8 bartenders and about 10-50 servers wanting to be the next bartender


More than likely a restaurant will not hire a bartender off the street, it doesnt work that way in the restaurant business, you have to work your way up

 

[TheChort]

Just a bartender will get me to 75% by default. If she's hot, 95%

ohhh, thaaat's what your thread is about...nevermind.
I think it differs for each state, but in Cali, there is a bartender's license you can get. It's not required by law to have one, but most normal to high end bars expect that you have one. But AFAIK, the best thing is experience. Start in some crappy dive bar and work your way up.

 

[miri]

Originally posted by: TheChort
I think it differs for each state, but in Cali, there is a bartender's license you can get. It's not required by law to have one, but most normal to high end bars expect that you have one. But AFAIK, the best thing is experience. Start in some crappy dive bar and work your way up.

You didnt need a license in Virginia, I still work part time at a restaurant in California and I dont think you need a license here either

 

[miri]

If you goto a bartending school and expect to get a job with no bartending experience, expect to be dissapointed. I bartended for years and never met anyone that went to a bartending school

 

[waggy]

my cousin did it while in college. he took a 1 semester course and got his license etc.

 

[eakers]

if you are good looking you'll get the job

 

[puffff]

Originally posted by: miri
If you goto a bartending school and expect to get a job with no bartending experience, expect to be dissapointed. I bartended for years and never met anyone that went to a bartending school

so how do you get that experience?

 

[miri]

well actually I have a friend that went to bartending school, but he never got a job as a bartender, but he is a producer at a computer game company now and makes way more money than a bartender would

 

[miri]

Originally posted by: puffff

Originally posted by: miri
If you goto a bartending school and expect to get a job with no bartending experience, expect to be dissapointed. I bartended for years and never met anyone that went to a bartending school

so how do you get that experience?

Started as a waiter, then worked way up to bartending

Actually my first shift as a bartender was on the fly, the bartender didnt show up so they just put me behind the bar

 

[miri]

bartending is not hard, its all about counting. It doesnt take very long to count liquor pours so you can make a drink without jiggers. On a martini, I do a 8 or 9 count on the gin and a 1 or 2 count on the vermouth

 

[sash1]

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: puffff

Originally posted by: miri
If you goto a bartending school and expect to get a job with no bartending experience, expect to be dissapointed. I bartended for years and never met anyone that went to a bartending school

so how do you get that experience?

Started as a waiter, then worked way up to bartending

Actually my first shift as a bartender was on the fly, the bartender didnt show up so they just put me behind the bar

That's typically how it works in the restaraunt business

We only have two real bartenders at my Applebee's. The rest are just servers who they schedule to work bar.

When the bartender is out (calls out, or, more recently, he broke his finger), they pick the only person over 21 to work the bar.

I can bartend when the bartender goes on a smoke break because I'm one of the only people who knows the drinks and how to make them. I'm 19, so I can't do this often, but I can watch the bar in special cases.

 

[miri]

The hardest part about bartending is when the bar gets extremely busy and you have to remember whose check goes to who. A lot of people will try and walk out on their check, so its important to remember who has payed and who hasnt. Sounds easy right? Well imagine about 50 people at the bar and then you have to make drinks for all the servers who ring up drinks as well from the dining area.

 

[miri]

Now that i have a day job, I dont really need to work in the restaurant business anymore, but I cant quit, I enjoy it to much

 

[KarmaPolice]

Yeah I have no experience...Really the only way to get a job is to be a waiter first?

 

[miri]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
Yeah I have no experience...Really the only way to get a job is to be a waiter first?

think about it

if you were a manager at a restaurant you want to keep your staff happy right?

how happy would they be hiring some person off the street with no bartending experience bypassing the people that have worked at that restaurant a long time wanting to be bartenders?

 

[KarmaPolice]

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
Yeah I have no experience...Really the only way to get a job is to be a waiter first?

think about it

if you were a manager at a restaurant you want to keep your staff happy right?

how happy would they be hiring some person off the street with no bartending experience bypassing the people that have worked at that restaurant a long time wanting to be bartenders?

I have a lot of friends that are waiters.....none of them seem to want to be bartenders...none of them took the job in hope of one daying being one either.

 

[miri]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
Yeah I have no experience...Really the only way to get a job is to be a waiter first?

think about it

if you were a manager at a restaurant you want to keep your staff happy right?

how happy would they be hiring some person off the street with no bartending experience bypassing the people that have worked at that restaurant a long time wanting to be bartenders?

I have a lot of friends that are waiters.....none of them seem to want to be bartenders...none of them took the job in hope of one daying being one either.

well, should be easy for you to get a job then

edit: I see your from North Carolina, its pretty backwards down there, I lived there for 2 years