Professional Bartending Duties
Sunday, March 29th, 2009What exactly does it mean to be a bartender? A bartender is someone that serves beverages, and in some cases food behind a licensed bar. Bartenders can be found in any establishment that has a bar, such as bars, restaurants, night clubs, pubs and taverns.
The majority of the drinks that a bartender will be serving contain alcohol in them. They also serve beer and wine, along with other types of alcohol. Not only do they serve alcohol they also have to serve juice, soda, water, and non alcoholic beverages to those who do not drink alcohol.
Not only do bartenders have the responsibility of making and serving drinks, they are also responsible for the over cleanliness of the bar area. They must make sure they have enough clean shot glasses, wine glasses, mugs, and drink glasses at their disposal, so there is a light amount of dish washing that is involved.
In most scenarios, the bartender is expected to dress appropriately to add to the atmosphere of the bar. In some establishments, the bar tender might participate in flair bar tending, which contributes to the entertainment in the bar.
A professional bartender should have in their head hundreds of recipes for drinks and shots. The quicker that you can serve the customer the more likely you are to get a good tip. It is not very professional to go over and look at a recipe book while the customer is waiting on his or her drink, especially if you are working at a busy night club.
All bartenders should be friendly and enjoy having contact and communication with customers. Good bartenders have a way of attracting regular customers. Good bartenders like this will remember the favored drink of regular customers; have drink recommendations on hand or recommendations for other bars, as well as several other unofficial duties.
In the United States, mostly all bartenders are payed minimum wage. So their main source of income will be coming from tips, which is a custom in almost every country. Bartenders must also be strict when it comes to checking if that person is old enough to drink alcohol or not.
So as you can see there are many responsibilities when it comes to being a bartender. You are in charge of a great amount of alcohol. Some places of course will pay better than others, but since you are working for tips your people skills will get you further than your drink mixing skills in the long run.