Bartending Advice from Monster.com

Found this while looking around the Internet today...

http://hourlyandskilled.monster.com/rest/articles/bartending/

From Monster.com, obviously one of those big, important, all-mighty job websites so I figured it was pretty relavent. The article is titled "Break into Bartending" and is written by Jamie Popp.

I've found some conflicting things here and there over whether Bartending School is a good idea or not -- this article suggests so, and I would personally attend it if I was planning on trying to get a job working for someone else's bar. Says the article:

"If you want to work for a national chain, a bartending certificate is a must, emphasizes Chad Ryan, manager of New York City-based nightclub Therapy.

At Vintage Wine Bar & Restaurant in St. Paul, drink servers and pourers are expected to learn 20 wines served by the glass and mix all of the martinis on its extensive list. Fortunately for servers with limited experience, menus can serve as cheat sheets. And the restaurant provides beverage training to exceptional candidates, according to general manager Dan Nelsen."

I think although the accreditation of attending a bartending school would most likely look important on someone's resume, getting the knowledge of how to make all of these drinks is much more important. While I'm sure I could rattle off a few that I knew from the top of my head, actually memorizing, and knowing the ins and outs of making tons of drinks at will is something that I would imagine the average person couldn't pull off just from their days of binge drinking in college.

The article also covers perhaps some under-looked aspects of bartending, such as a bartender's appearance behind the bar. Again from the article:

"Nelsen says bartenders 'have to present themselves neatly and look good. We want someone who looks professional.'

Some hot spots commonly hire based on looks alone. Staff who hire drink servers at trendy 10,000-square-foot SBNY Splash Bar New York, a dance club and bar that boasts performances by Britney Spears and Cyndi Lauper, say better-looking bartenders sell more drinks."

Dress and style are obviously very important issues when attracting customers to a bar, but besides low-cut shirts and gelled hair, what type of dress attract more customers to bars? I think this could be a good investigation down the line and would probably make good for a later post! :)

I got a good chance to mini-bartend this weekend with the big Mizzou game and put together a huge tailgate for our friends and family. Dealing with just those people and having to arrange drink-making was stressful enough, I can't imagine dealing with hundreds of people in a night that I don't even know! Although my friends don't tip, hmmm...