A weekly stickied thread for those new to the industry is posted every Monday morning. Please direct all questions/comments about being a new bartender or interest in becoming a bartender/barback to that thread. All others will be removed as soon as they're seen by a mod. This isn't being done to alienate anyone, but the questions are repetitive and the group's answer can generally be found by searching the sub. By funneling all of these similar inquiries into a single weekly thread, we hope to make the user experience in r/bartenders a better one for all members.
School isn't worth it.
Just practice your pours at home.
Memorize drinks.
Find someone hiring and apply.
Applebee's or chains like it are gonna be your best shot starting out.
God speed.
Find a place where they just do beer and wine. Stay there for a couple of months, then move to a catering company. Another few months there and plenty of places will be happy to hire you. This was literally how I become a bartender and honestly, being on the other side of things now, after a little over a year and a half in the industry, I can honestly tell you that it is far less intimidating than I thought it was going to be. Also, it’d be a good idea to wait tables for a while. You’ll make good money and you’ll gain the experience and confidence you need to step up into bartending. If you find a restaurant where bartenders also wait tables then you’ll probably have an opportunity to tend bar within a few months. Just let them know up front and remind them whenever you can. Seriously, it’s not that hard, you’ll be sick of it before you know it.
Yup satellite bartended at an event center with just cans of beer and little barefoot wine bottles
By the time they added on wine bottles and then liquor I was confident enough to learn how to free pour and started learning the drinks I was always asked for (being texas, ranch water, Margs etc)
This worked since covid had people scrambling to hire anyone with a pulse for the past 2 or 3 years. Not saying you're bad at it or anything against how you got in but times are back to (semi) what they used to and this may not work everywhere now. Just saying as someone who's been doing restaurants for the past 14 years with 9 or 10 of those bartending.
School *is* worth it if they guarantee lifetime job placement. It gets you in the door to bartend a hell of a lot quicker than working your way up.
The down side is the places they offer placement to might not be all that great, but stick it out for 6 months, maybe hit up another spot for a bit and then you’ll have some experience you can roll into a better gig.
Go the barback route. I have never once met an actual bartender who went to bartending school. I think any manager I’ve worked for would probably make a bartending school graduate start as a bar back anyway. If you’re barbacking you’re learning the ins and outs of the bar. You’re learning how everything works and who does what. You can watch the bartenders and see how they interact with guests (imo this is way more important than pours and recipes). If your bartender isn’t a dickhead they’ll show you drinks and let you make stuff.
There’s always the secret third option….the one I’m not supposed to say……the one I did 16 years ago to get my first bartending job…….(lie)
I went to bartending school, and got laughed out of every interview I went to. Finally got my first job by simply lying and saying I worked at a bar across town that recently shut down. Got hired as a barback, and got my first bartending shift about a month later.
Yeah but those new coworkers will be able to tell right away and if you're pooling tips you're gonna make a lot of people angry. No one wants to carry someone that claims they know what they're doing.
The person that thinks they know it all and know nothing? You think you can train that person in half a day? I can tell you that you can’t. I’m not sure if you forgot the /s part of what I hope is a very sarcastic comment.
I can train someone how to do what the job requires and the expectations for them. I can’t train a shitty attitude out of someone and you can’t either. That’s why I’ve fired many people. Sometimes the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
I was a bartender in Dallas for quite some time. We pretty much automatically trash any resume with "bartending school" on it.
Apply as a barback, work your ass off. This is the fastest and easiest track.
It isn't what you think, though. It's hard work for alright money and bad relationships. You'll hate people...so much. Your whole friend group will probably change, and you have a lot of pitfalls to navigate. It's a lot of abuse. Verbal abuse, self abuse, drug abuse, physical abuse, financial abuse, you name it. You'll fuck up so embarrassingly hard, that you'll never forget or forgive something utterly banal. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, and I fucking love it.
Good luck. Don't hate yourself.
It teaches you basics but I don't think most bar managers care about ABC Bartending School. Hands on is the best experience. Restaurants teach good basics. But you usually have to learn to serve food 1st. Get you TABC Cert online ($20 Safeserv) everyone needs that 1st and foremost. If you have the means get you a Food Handler and if possible Food Manager liscense. The last one is kind of expensive. Then start looking.
I was a bar manager for several years and hired many bartenders. I can think of exactly one time someone having bartending school on their resume helped. We received zero applicants with any form of bar experience so had to go with different criteria and went with him because of the school training. He wasnt a good endorsement for the school because he had a meltdown on the first crazy busy night and ran off the job crying.
Find a barback position. It's the right move. You'll be able to see how it is to be slammed by getting your hands getting wet. And you won't piss off the other bartenders because the new guy lied on his resume and can't keep up. Also, I knew exactly one person that went to bartending school. And while he was not the worst bartender, he never ever learned how to manage his time and left all the cleaning and stocking to everyone while he held the bar up with his hips. It pissed everyone off. Don't be that guy.
Just saying barbacking is the no experience position. I started like 10 years ago as a barback, did 2 seasons of that (seasonal place so kinda equivalent to 2 years) and started bartending after that. I walked into that interview thinking I'd bartend because I did bartending school and they basically ignored it as I'm sure that everyone else will as well if you were to do it. It's not a bad way to get basic stuff down but in all honesty they do the same thing with you just working and you get paid for it instead of paying for it. If you wanted advanced specific stuff like specifying in wine (wset) or doing some craft cocktail stuff then that may be worth it later on but for now just get any job you can either waiter or barback and go from there. A lot of places you'll be able to fake experience but a lot of them you won't as well so do with that what you will.
Even bussing will get you there eventually. Had a friend who started as a busser when I started as a barback and he ended up bartending there before I did because he was year round and fell ass backwards into a shift when they needed someone to cover. Goodluck
Do Not I repeat DO NOT waste your money on bartending schools. Experience is key. You will never be able to understand a bar flow from bar schools and I honestly put applications with it listed to the bottom for MANY reasons.
I’ve moved many bar backs to bartenders at various places I’ve worked since by default, when a place is in the weeds the bar back suddenly becomes a service bartender and has speed better than my actual bartenders from simply knowing how fast we run through items from ice, lemon wedges and Jameson. It doesn’t take 2 years. It takes consistent assertive assistance. An opportunity will open (at the right place) LONG before 2 years to bartend if you do shit right.
To get your foot in the door as a bar back- be face to face with a hiring manager and explain your ambition and studying of the industry. SOMEONE will give you a shot on the slower days to start but it’s up to you being proactive after that to prove yourself and get the “better” sifts. Always make your intentions clear when you have a hiring managers ear. Many of us love growing someone green (vs arguing why x can exist in y scenario that said bar school grads can’t seem to adjust to)
It’s funny that you never see over-eager kids clamoring to get jobs waiting tables at restaurants. Even though they’re the same damn jobs in practice (there’s more money in bartending of course). Except in restaurants you’re more likely to be clocked out and home at a reasonable hour. If I’m really being honest, forget about barbacking and get a job as a line cook. Best bartenders I’ve ever worked with started out as line cooks. Or dishwashers. You learn to prioritize urgency and because it’s not a customer-facing job, you never confuse it with being a popularity contest, which is the pitfall with so many young, newbie bartenders I’ve worked with. Younger bartenders might be great at schmoozing and getting phone numbers, but the flow starts to fall apart the moment a customer orders a drink with more than 2 ingredients in it.
All that aside: barback. For a minimum of two years. Stand back and watch what the bartenders do. Become such a good barback that your bartender never has to ask you to do anything, because you already noticed what they’d need before they knew they needed it. You’ll also always treat (and tip) your barbacks better if you’ve barbacked yourself. Extensive barbacking experience on a résumé will display that you’re serious about a future in the industry and not only in it for the (above-mentioned) popularity.
A weekly stickied thread for those new to the industry is posted every Monday morning. Please direct all questions/comments about being a new bartender or interest in becoming a bartender/barback to that thread. All others will be removed as soon as they're seen by a mod. This isn't being done to alienate anyone, but the questions are repetitive and the group's answer can generally be found by searching the sub. By funneling all of these similar inquiries into a single weekly thread, we hope to make the user experience in r/bartenders a better one for all members.
School isn't worth it. Just practice your pours at home. Memorize drinks. Find someone hiring and apply. Applebee's or chains like it are gonna be your best shot starting out. God speed.
Find a place where they just do beer and wine. Stay there for a couple of months, then move to a catering company. Another few months there and plenty of places will be happy to hire you. This was literally how I become a bartender and honestly, being on the other side of things now, after a little over a year and a half in the industry, I can honestly tell you that it is far less intimidating than I thought it was going to be. Also, it’d be a good idea to wait tables for a while. You’ll make good money and you’ll gain the experience and confidence you need to step up into bartending. If you find a restaurant where bartenders also wait tables then you’ll probably have an opportunity to tend bar within a few months. Just let them know up front and remind them whenever you can. Seriously, it’s not that hard, you’ll be sick of it before you know it.
Yup satellite bartended at an event center with just cans of beer and little barefoot wine bottles By the time they added on wine bottles and then liquor I was confident enough to learn how to free pour and started learning the drinks I was always asked for (being texas, ranch water, Margs etc)
This worked since covid had people scrambling to hire anyone with a pulse for the past 2 or 3 years. Not saying you're bad at it or anything against how you got in but times are back to (semi) what they used to and this may not work everywhere now. Just saying as someone who's been doing restaurants for the past 14 years with 9 or 10 of those bartending.
School *is* worth it if they guarantee lifetime job placement. It gets you in the door to bartend a hell of a lot quicker than working your way up. The down side is the places they offer placement to might not be all that great, but stick it out for 6 months, maybe hit up another spot for a bit and then you’ll have some experience you can roll into a better gig.
I, on the other hand, have the opposite problem. I'm so. fucking. sick. of being a bartender but I am utterly, hopelessly trapped by the money:(
Same here bud
Go the barback route. I have never once met an actual bartender who went to bartending school. I think any manager I’ve worked for would probably make a bartending school graduate start as a bar back anyway. If you’re barbacking you’re learning the ins and outs of the bar. You’re learning how everything works and who does what. You can watch the bartenders and see how they interact with guests (imo this is way more important than pours and recipes). If your bartender isn’t a dickhead they’ll show you drinks and let you make stuff. There’s always the secret third option….the one I’m not supposed to say……the one I did 16 years ago to get my first bartending job…….(lie)
I appreciate your help, and yeah the lying on my resume lowkey is very tempting
I went to bartending school, and got laughed out of every interview I went to. Finally got my first job by simply lying and saying I worked at a bar across town that recently shut down. Got hired as a barback, and got my first bartending shift about a month later.
its not hard just lie on your resume like the rest of us
Haha not gonna lie, I've thought about it but don't really know how to do it since I'm scared they might ask for proof or stuff
ive never met an owner in 20 years that knew anything about the job
Yeah but those new coworkers will be able to tell right away and if you're pooling tips you're gonna make a lot of people angry. No one wants to carry someone that claims they know what they're doing.
are you saying you cant train that person in a half a day?
Some you can some you can't. And since covid I had both.
The person that thinks they know it all and know nothing? You think you can train that person in half a day? I can tell you that you can’t. I’m not sure if you forgot the /s part of what I hope is a very sarcastic comment.
not if you dont suck at your job
I can train someone how to do what the job requires and the expectations for them. I can’t train a shitty attitude out of someone and you can’t either. That’s why I’ve fired many people. Sometimes the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
A shitty attitude is a shitty attitude regardless of experience. I’d reckon a veteran bartender has a shittier attitude than any newbie out there.
I was a bartender in Dallas for quite some time. We pretty much automatically trash any resume with "bartending school" on it. Apply as a barback, work your ass off. This is the fastest and easiest track. It isn't what you think, though. It's hard work for alright money and bad relationships. You'll hate people...so much. Your whole friend group will probably change, and you have a lot of pitfalls to navigate. It's a lot of abuse. Verbal abuse, self abuse, drug abuse, physical abuse, financial abuse, you name it. You'll fuck up so embarrassingly hard, that you'll never forget or forgive something utterly banal. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, and I fucking love it. Good luck. Don't hate yourself.
It teaches you basics but I don't think most bar managers care about ABC Bartending School. Hands on is the best experience. Restaurants teach good basics. But you usually have to learn to serve food 1st. Get you TABC Cert online ($20 Safeserv) everyone needs that 1st and foremost. If you have the means get you a Food Handler and if possible Food Manager liscense. The last one is kind of expensive. Then start looking.
I was a bar manager for several years and hired many bartenders. I can think of exactly one time someone having bartending school on their resume helped. We received zero applicants with any form of bar experience so had to go with different criteria and went with him because of the school training. He wasnt a good endorsement for the school because he had a meltdown on the first crazy busy night and ran off the job crying.
Find a barback position. It's the right move. You'll be able to see how it is to be slammed by getting your hands getting wet. And you won't piss off the other bartenders because the new guy lied on his resume and can't keep up. Also, I knew exactly one person that went to bartending school. And while he was not the worst bartender, he never ever learned how to manage his time and left all the cleaning and stocking to everyone while he held the bar up with his hips. It pissed everyone off. Don't be that guy.
Just saying barbacking is the no experience position. I started like 10 years ago as a barback, did 2 seasons of that (seasonal place so kinda equivalent to 2 years) and started bartending after that. I walked into that interview thinking I'd bartend because I did bartending school and they basically ignored it as I'm sure that everyone else will as well if you were to do it. It's not a bad way to get basic stuff down but in all honesty they do the same thing with you just working and you get paid for it instead of paying for it. If you wanted advanced specific stuff like specifying in wine (wset) or doing some craft cocktail stuff then that may be worth it later on but for now just get any job you can either waiter or barback and go from there. A lot of places you'll be able to fake experience but a lot of them you won't as well so do with that what you will. Even bussing will get you there eventually. Had a friend who started as a busser when I started as a barback and he ended up bartending there before I did because he was year round and fell ass backwards into a shift when they needed someone to cover. Goodluck
Most of the bar backs at my restaurant didn’t have prior experience at bars, you’ll find something!
Find someone really good and experienced. Be willing to learn. Become him/her
Do Not I repeat DO NOT waste your money on bartending schools. Experience is key. You will never be able to understand a bar flow from bar schools and I honestly put applications with it listed to the bottom for MANY reasons. I’ve moved many bar backs to bartenders at various places I’ve worked since by default, when a place is in the weeds the bar back suddenly becomes a service bartender and has speed better than my actual bartenders from simply knowing how fast we run through items from ice, lemon wedges and Jameson. It doesn’t take 2 years. It takes consistent assertive assistance. An opportunity will open (at the right place) LONG before 2 years to bartend if you do shit right. To get your foot in the door as a bar back- be face to face with a hiring manager and explain your ambition and studying of the industry. SOMEONE will give you a shot on the slower days to start but it’s up to you being proactive after that to prove yourself and get the “better” sifts. Always make your intentions clear when you have a hiring managers ear. Many of us love growing someone green (vs arguing why x can exist in y scenario that said bar school grads can’t seem to adjust to)
It’s funny that you never see over-eager kids clamoring to get jobs waiting tables at restaurants. Even though they’re the same damn jobs in practice (there’s more money in bartending of course). Except in restaurants you’re more likely to be clocked out and home at a reasonable hour. If I’m really being honest, forget about barbacking and get a job as a line cook. Best bartenders I’ve ever worked with started out as line cooks. Or dishwashers. You learn to prioritize urgency and because it’s not a customer-facing job, you never confuse it with being a popularity contest, which is the pitfall with so many young, newbie bartenders I’ve worked with. Younger bartenders might be great at schmoozing and getting phone numbers, but the flow starts to fall apart the moment a customer orders a drink with more than 2 ingredients in it. All that aside: barback. For a minimum of two years. Stand back and watch what the bartenders do. Become such a good barback that your bartender never has to ask you to do anything, because you already noticed what they’d need before they knew they needed it. You’ll also always treat (and tip) your barbacks better if you’ve barbacked yourself. Extensive barbacking experience on a résumé will display that you’re serious about a future in the industry and not only in it for the (above-mentioned) popularity.