I am thinking of getting into bartending in Houston to make some extra money. If anyone have bartended, I would love for you to give me some pointers. Do I need any licensing or certification and where? Where should I start looking for part time bartending (probably not in careerbuilder or monster)? How much should I expect in tips working at a bar or club? Thanks fellas.
Greening you up for an excellent question. I will give you my experience with it.....see if it helps any...... I bartended my way through college and then after college did it at night to pay off student loans. There are bartending schools but I went through the restaraunt biz to learn the trade. I started out waiting tables at Pappas seafood house in North Shore, and slowly got into bartending there. Left to go to work at Cappy's and Birraporettis on Westheimer and continued waiting tables and dabbling in bartending. Then took a job at Birraporettis in Austin and was doing about 50/50 bartending and waiting tables. Finally got into a night club gig in San Marcos at SF Austins on the square and bartended there for 2 years, then on to sixth street in Austin at Club Sandwhich and then the 6th street country club..... Left 6th street back to San Marcos and bartended at the Tavern and Mirage bars for about 4 years...... After school, and grad school moved to Houston, and started bartending at Dave and Busters opened up.....MADE SERIOUS BANK there.......then after a year of that.....got a real job and kept bartending at night for 2 more years a couple days a week to pay off student loans. All told I bartended about 9 years......and to this day, it was still the most fun I have ever had in a job..... I have been trying to buy a pub in Manchester UK with a good friend of mine over there, as we want to do regular english food and Tex Mex......but so far, we have not found the right location. Bartending, rocks, good money, you get to meet good people, and it is flexible hours. Bartending school works, as does going the restaraunt route like I did. Good luck to you ! DD
LOL at DD's rise through the bartending industry. From in debt waiting tables to buying a pub. True American story.
True story...when I got out of grad school I owed everyone money, my parents my roomates everyone.... Then I took a job at Dave and Busters on Richmond......got hired the first week it opened...it was INSANELY busy.... Within 1 month I had paid everyone off, I was making about $600-$800 a day working there...I would go to work at 2pm and get off at 3am...... And did nothing but work for the first month...as we were short handed..... Loved every minute of it, and as I said paid everyone off....... The reason I can buy a pub though has nothing or little to do with bartending and everything to do with me owning and selling video game companies... DD
Bartending school will teach you everything you need to know to make drinks, but if you go applying for jobs with only your school certificate, you will be laughed at. If you don't know how to bartend, school will teach you how, but the best way to break in is by getting a job waiting tables and pestering your boss every chance you get to tend bar. It may take a while, but staff turnover in restaurants is typically pretty high. If you stick around, you'll eventually get a shot. It's a good idea to make friends with a lot of bartenders (tips are key) and talk with them about jobs opening up that they've heard about. Bartenders tend to hang out with a lot of other people in the service industry because those are the only people with the same hours. Ask around about who's hiring and where a good place would be to start out.
^ This. Bartending can be a boom or bust job... it's all about who you know. If you know people and get in somewhere good, you're set.
It is also about personality and speed. When I got hired at D&B's I had like 5 or 6 years of Bartending experience, but they told me I would have to barback for a while before getting my chance. I even knew the Remanco system they were using, but whatever....so I barbacked for 2 days....then a new night club opened up and 3 bartenders quit on Saturday leaving us very short staffed. The management told me that I would fill in that night since I knew the system and then I would go back to barbacking.....as that was their policy.....I was ok with that. That night I rang up over 4k in drinks breaking the D&B record for a single night, single station in sales by over 1k...... The GM came up to me and said, I was not going back to barbacking.....and within 5 months I was the head bartender there....which sort of sucked because it meant you had to come in on Monday and do inventory.....I did that for 6 months and then stepped back down to just being a drink jockey. Point is......be personable, be able to multitask, and be fast....there are a lot of tricks to learn to getting tips. Things like...the more ICE you pack into a drink makes the drink seem stronger, and people give you more of a tip.......if you are in a free pour environment....be more generous with tippers and stingy with non - tippers... One time on 6th Street, when we were opening up, we had 7 deep of a line at the bar....we were giving away drinks as a way of opening up.... A patron yells from the back...."How can I get a drink around here?" I yell back "A tip gets you to the front of the line" He tosses 5 bucks, he got served first......I made a mint that night. Man....I haven't thought about these stories in years.... DD
