If you ever think about the many unwritten rules of bartending, you will find many of them are very important. The main thing to consider at all times is that many of these rules are essential for success in the business.
If you think about the unwritten rules, there are dozens. With that said, we are going to focus on the most essential rules that bartenders should always follow. This is going to be a great way for you to get a better idea on how that works.
There are too many elements that you need to consider before you even start working. The first one is that you are going to be able to upgrade your efforts by following the most essential rules.
The following are the most essential and the ones that any bartender looking to make a name in this industry should always follow.
Rule 1 โ Learn to mix the official cocktails
There are 77 official cocktails available in the bartending book. Realistically, only around 15% of those drinks will be requested at a bar. The best way to go about this process is to consider the importance of learning the most popular drinks. You should at least take the time to make all 77 to get an idea on their preparation.
When people look to hire a bartender near me, they expect the bartender they hire to know the mixes. This is basically what people expect the most from a bartender. That is the reason why it is so important to be aware of this if you want to be successful.
Once you do this, you should focus on practicing the top 20 or so drinks that are requested at most bars. The most common requests include:
- French 75
- Dark and Stormy
- Bloody Mary
- Aperol Spritz
- Manhattan
- Mojito
- Boulevardier
- Whiskey Sour
- Margarita
- Dry Martini
- Old Fashioned
By learning all of these drinks by heart, you will be able to save yourself a significant amount of time. This is always going to be an important thing to consider. Just make sure that you are not looking for drink mixes online all the time. This should only be something that happens when someone comes with a very rare drink request.
A great bartender will learn all 77 mixes even if many of them do not get requests often. This is going to make a huge difference. It may take some time to get them all right, but it will be a solid foundation to your bartending career.
Rule 2 โ Never let your emotions get the best of you
A bartender that is always enraged when a person is rude is not going to be a good bartender. We are not saying that bartenders should allow people to insult them or treat them badly. What we are saying is simple and practical. A good bartender is going to have the emotional intelligence not to let this affect their work.
That is always going to be a very important rule to follow if someone is to work in bartending. You have to take the time to analyze the way that things work in this environment. There will always be rude people and people that get too drunk.
If you want to avoid this becoming an issue, you need to learn to see that it is never personal. If a person crosses the line and starts getting personal, you have every right to stand your ground. Otherwise, just learn to brush off annoying behavior.
People looking to hire a bartender near me are always going to find this to be important. You have to make sure that you can take your time and achieve the best results. This is why keeping your cool and knowing how to handle your emotions is always so important.
Some people are more likely to stay cool than others in certain situations. If you feel that your emotions get the best of you all the time, you may need to learn to handle them before becoming a bartender.
Emotional intelligence is not something that is easy to master. Most people are unable to fully contain their emotions in certain situations. With that said, it is important to be mindful of this skill and how it benefits your business.
Rule 3 โ Apply common sense with drinkers
You need to develop a sense for the type of guests you are dealing with. Some people are heavy drinkers that can handle their booze, while others are less tolerant. The biggest issue is that you will find many drinkers who should not drink any more alcohol during the night.
Learning to determine when that is the case is going to prove to be extremely important. You need to be able to do this carefully because there are people who can get upset. The best way to do it is to evaluate if they are fit to keep drinking. Once you see they are not, all you have to do is stop serving them drinks.
If they insist, tell them that you are obligated to stop serving them drinks. They are likely to stop insisting after you mention that the decision is out of your hands. If they keep pushing, just respond with the same answer until they give up on their request.
There are all types of people who drink, but most of them will be friendly. When you bump into a difficult drinker, this is when you need to avoid letting things get personal. That is going to be essential for anyone in the beverage catering business.
Rule 4 โ Be friendly, but not too friendly
You need to learn to avoid being too close to your guests or getting too personal with questions or answers. A great way to handle this is to be friendly, but to avoid being overly friendly.ย
A good way to do this is to keep conversations casual and to interact with people as briefly as possible. When you are busy serving drinks, this is a perfect opportunity to cut off a conversation with a guest.
Always remember that when you give preferential treatment to some guests, the others will resent this. You have to be as neutral as you can as a bartender in terms of how you interact with people.
There are several ways to look at this process, but you have to be as neutral as you can when you are working with clients. This is going to determine how people perceive you as a bartender. It will also influence if they decide to hire you when searching for Hire a bartender near me. Keep this in mind at all times for your efforts.
Rule 5 โ keep personal hygiene and clothing optimal
A great bartender is always going to know how to dress for the occasion. Some bartending companies require to wear a uniform. If you are not required to do so, you need to dress in a way that fits any given event.
You personal hygiene is all about staying fresh and clear of body odors. Remember that you are going to be fairly close to people when they ask for drinks. What this means is that you need to make sure that your personal hygiene is good enough. This is important in order to stay fresh during your work hours.
The way you look and how presentable you are in general are very important in the beverage catering industry. This is especially important in Bartending services Los Angeles. The LA crowd is very likely to find the looks and appeal of a bartender relevant.ย
Those five rules are essential, but there are many more
While the five rules we just mentioned are the most relevant, there are others that ate just as essential. If you want to be able to achieve optimal results, you need to consider many other rules such as the famous 50 rule.
What this means is that you have to wait until a guest has half the glass empty before you can serve them another drink. This is something that has many implications and reasons to exist. You can find out more about the 50 rule in this article we wrote.
Questions and answers
It is pretty common for bartenders not to follow those rules when they are getting started. The problem is that this could start ruining their careers before they gain any momentum. This is one of the reasons why it is important to be mindful of those rules at all times.
The main thing to consider is that bartending is always going to be about being able to handle any situation. Following those rules is going to make this much easier.
Not really, there are several unwritten rules, but not closer to 50. The 50 rule comes from the 50% empty glass. When the glass is 50% empty, you can serve another drink to that same guest.
This is an important rule because it helps you regulate the drinking intensity of a guest. That is very important because the faster someone drinks, the faster they get drunk. The idea is to avoid this as much as possible.ย
It is always a good idea to hire local bartenders. Mainly because they know the local slang and culture more than someone from another city would. This is the reason why hiring a bartender near your area is always good.
The world of bartending and beverage catering in general took a serious dive in 2020 and early 2021. This was mainly due to the pandemic and it was a situation that made things very difficult. The good news is that this has changed for the better in the last few months.
Now business is back on track with more and more people deciding to start arranging events. This is definitely a process that is going to take some time, but it will be ideal. All you need to do is take all proper measures when it comes to safety and you will get optimal results.
Los Angeles has always been one of the most active cities in the world. This is the reason why it is so important to ensure that you take the time to ensure the best services. The city is coming back to life in 2022 with more events being held.
It is always recommended that you take the time to evaluate the best options. This is going to make things much easier for you in general. Never forget this and you will be in a much better position to succeed.
