I’ve been thinking about trying to get a job bartending, since my current job has some gaps time-wise. I don’t have any experience bartending, so I was looking into bartending courses. But, I’ve heard from a few people that getting a certificate doesn’t help, or could even hurt your chances of getting a job - basically, the logic is that learning how to pour a ‘proper’ drink doesn’t help you deal with drunk customers. That sounds reasonable to me, but I’m hoping that the course is at least useful. The alternative seems to be trying to get a job as a barback and hoping you eventually get moved up to bartending, but without any experience, would I even get hired as a barback?
Anyways, my question is this: First, does anyone know what percentage of bartenders start by taking a course? I’m in San Francisco, so local or California info would be preferred.
Second, would I be more likely to get a job bartending with a course? I realize that it’s not going to teach me everything, but it seems like I’d be better off with than without. Would I be more likely to get a job as a barback with a course?
Third, anecdotes: anyone who’s taken a course? Was it worthwhile? Any bartenders or bar owners want to chime in? How did you get a job/choose a bartender?
I took a non-credit course when I was in college in New Orleans. I worked at an upscale hotel with a famous bar at the time and they started letting me fill in after I finished the class. Bar tending at a nice, busy place is about the most fun job that I know of and the money can be excellent at times. We could make $400+ a night in tips on a busy Friday and Saturday night. Of course, the actual pay is close enough to zero so that crap shifts aren’t worthwhile from a money standpoint. They can still be fun however.
New Orleans is similar to San Francisco in a few ways. To bar tend at an upscale place, you need to be reasonably attractive and you have to have flair. I actually had to do a virtual catwalk in front of gay men to get the job. You don’t have to know how to make all the drinks in the universe but you need to have the top 50 down cold. A bar tending manual that you read on the sly will take care of the rest.
I would definitely recommend it but you have to choose the bar carefully. Upscale is definitely the way to go and, if you are hot (gay or straight), a gay bar pays more in tips.
Bar backing is OK and can be fun but you only get paid a fraction of what the bartenders get. Lugging all of that stuff and cleaning isn’t that great but most make their way to actual bar tending if they try hard enough for a few months.
I’ve never taken a bartending class, or been a bartender, but that doens’t make sense to me. I’m sure the class doesn’t really teach you how to deal with drunks (that’s people skills), but you do still need to know how to make a Manhatten or a Whisky Sour, or an Alabama Slammer or a Fuzzy Navel etc etc etc Every bar will make their drinks differently (remind me not to go to the place that puts Amaretto in the Whisky sours), but it wouldn’t hurt to have the basics down.
And if your’re worried that have a certificate will hurt your chances. Don’t volunteer the info, no one needs to know. All they need to know is that you know how to mix alot of different drinks.
I have a question about bartending school. Who drinks the practice drinks? Do they just throw them out? Or are you working at a real bar, with customers paying reduced rates for your mistakes (like a dental school)?
We just had real alcohol bottles filled with colored water. At actual bartending schools, I am sure that real alcohol comes into play at some point but 10+ students can generate a lot of real drinks in a one hour session and I am not sure how that would work.
I don’t see why real alcohol ever has to come into play. Maybe on the “final exam,” they use real alcohol just to make sure it tastes good, but if up until that point they are making sure what you’re measuring is accurate, there’s no need to use anything but water.
And from what I hear, no bar in the country will give you a bartending job if all you have is some random bar school certification. It’s VERY difficult to keep track of dozens of customers all wanting different drinks. You have to keep track of who showed up to the bar first, who is too drunk to get another drink, who’s tab is who’s, etc…As said, the best ways to get a job bartending are either try to start out as a barback (grunt work, and even then, it’s hard to get the job,) or know someone who owns/mangers or at least works in a bar.
Another option I’ve seen is to get a job as a waiter at a restaurant that also has a bar, and then ask to train for their bar. Odds are, a bartender in a restaurant is going to be less busy and make a smaller variety of drinks, but it will help you to get a handle on the basics, and then you will be able to say you have actual bartending experience if you want to apply for a out and out bar/club.
That is basically right. The real challenge is to build up speed especially in a busy bar while keeping up with cash and tabs. Two drinks a minute plus charges might be a conservative estimate for a busy bar and you might need to serve a drink every 15 seconds during prime time while keeping track of things. That isn’t easy. I usually worked big events where you didn’t have to worry about money because it was paid for in advance but speed was always the deciding factor and can only come from experience.
Here in Atlanta the odds are overwhelming in favor of you getting a job as a bartender (with or without experience) if you are an attractive female. Any other profile, and you better have a TON of experience.
This is from observation and from discussing this with several bartenders in this area both that fit the profile, and those that don’t.
I’ve worked as a bartender at five bars in Minnesota and Wisconsin for over 8 years. Here the bartending school is a joke. Save your money, no bar here will hire unless you have experience and you can’t get experience without a previous job. In rare cases you can work your way up through the bar back/bouncer role but that’s incredibly slow, once you’re hired for a certain job that you work hard at an employer is unlikely to shift you because they’ll lack another good bar back if you leave.
My advice, stay away from corporate bars/restaurants and find a small ma and pa bar that will hire you sans experience. It’ll be slow and you won’t make any decent money but you’ll get experience. No matter how many hours a week you put in you can put the whole week down in your next resume. I’ve trained many bartenders and in my experience it takes 4 months of training in a busy bar just to not be liability to the bartenders you work with. Maybe 6 to 9 months to be a good bartender.
I get the impression from a lot of people that’s the perception everywhere. You’ve spoken to many bartenders about the situation, and I haven’t but across the board that seems to be the agreement. Heck, as I was looking at CL for jobs, there was an ad for a bartender “no experience needed”. The text of the ad actually required some experience, but the ad also required a photo. I suspect they’d be more willing to bend the rules depending on that photo.
I’ve heard bartending is lucrative, or can be, but I’d never even heard of “barbacking” before this thread. Very interesting.
My old roommate took a bar tending course. And despite words to the contrary in this thread he was able to get a good job at a nice hotel after graduation based on that.
I tended bar for years in the mid-west. When I moved back to the east coast I couldn’t get a job based upon my word that I had the skills. After working at a couple of places as a bar-back to green bartenders who had “taken a course” I just gave up and got a real job.
The class will help get you a job, no question; certainly at larger places and chains where they need large numbers of people and can’t risk unknowns. Then you will start to learn about tending bar.