Hire Bartenders: What to consider when looking for an event bartender

There are many different ways to approach the process of hiring people for your next event or party. Depending on the kind of event you are running, you have to think about several services that you will need. This will ensure that the event is as successful as possible.  

When it comes to bartenders to hire, you have to consider the value of taking the time to look for someone who can handle that particular event. A great bartender is going to be someone who can handle any type of situation and any type of guest.

There is a lot to cover when it comes to this topic. So we are just going to be talking about the most relevant aspects of this process. Once we cover that, we will go over the rest of the details that will help you make the right decision when you hire a bartender.

Bartending and the skills that matter the most

There are all kinds of skills that bartenders need to have in order to be efficient at their job. Some people would initially think that the most important skill for bartenders is to know how to create cocktails. 

There is no denying that this is a very important skill. Any professional bartender should be able to know how to make the most popular drinks on the official bartending list. Ideally, a great bartender should know all 77 drinks by heart. However, the truth is that this is not the case most of the time.

It’s very common for people to request specific drinks for their events. Therefore, this is also going to depend on how much they are willing to invest in the many ingredients required to create all 77 mixes. Most of the time a bar for an event will have the required ingredients, and liquors to handle a small portion of the cocktail catalog. 

The ability to mix drinks is definitely important. However, not as important as the ability to handle any type of guest, environment, and situation. This is a very important part of the skillset of a bartender. It does create all kinds of scenarios that are going to be extremely important to consider.

Bartending requires emotional intelligence

When people look for bartenders to hire, they are thinking of someone who is going to be able to handle all aspects of the job. The emotional intelligence part of the service is going to be extremely important. It will ensure that the bartender is going to be able to deal with the unpredictable nature of a social environment that involves alcoholic beverages.

Drinking alcohol tends to have very different effects on people based on many factors. Some people tend to become very friendly and they laugh about everything. Others seem to become very irritable and confrontational. These differences have been more than evident in any situation. Therefore, the way that a bartender handles those situations is going to be very important. 

Alcohol has been responsible for starting many altercations between people at bars, events, and even conventions. It seems like alcoholic beverages, and large crowds are always a recipe for trouble. When a good bartender is handling the bar, their fire extinguishing skills can be extremely helpful in the process of stopping fights.

When we say fire extinguishing skills, we are referring to the ability to help cool people down. For example, lowering their irritability and keeping them from getting involved in a fight. Think about the many things that can go wrong during an event. The only way to handle this kind of situation properly is to ensure that you have someone with the emotional intelligence to deal with problems.

Some may say that they do not expect their event to have any kind of issues of that nature. This is probably true if you are holding an event for senior citizens. People of older age are usually less likely to rush into a heated argument with others. 

It is the younger crowds that are usually going to be the most difficult and unpredictable. So if you are dealing with an event that is targeted towards younger people that are going to be drinking. Find it essential to take the time to look for a bartender that has the skills to handle that kind of audience.

How to know if a bartender has good emotional control?

When looking for bartenders to hire, you are likely to conduct some interviews to get to know some of your options. That way you will see if their personality clicks with you. While interviewing it’s always a good idea to ask them how they would usually handle any kind of situation with a difficult guest.

If they tell you that they don’t take any disrespect from anyone. This is a sign that they get too emotionally involved in this type of situation. This is not an optimal bartender for an event with a bunch of drinking young adults.

The last thing you want at your event is to have a bartender that is going to be easily irritated. This could lead to a confrontation between a guest and the bartender. This could ruin your entire event. 

You can always count on people speaking negatively about an event on social media. Especially,  if anything unpleasant happens that is not expected. This is why you need to make sure that you can hire someone who is truly going to be ideal for your event. Moreover, someone who is going to be able to keep things under control. 

What is the best type of bartender for this kind of crowd? Someone who is able to detach their feelings and their emotions from this kind of environment. For example, if a bartender is dealing with a rude and angry young guest, they can decide not to let their emotions get the best of them. Therefore, realize that this person does not know them at a personal level.

This is going to be a very important step in the process of being able to handle a difficult situation like this. That is the kind of attitude and approach that can be considered making use of their emotional intelligence.

a beautiful bartender

Having a friendly and outgoing personality 

It’s not all about learning to control their emotions. Emotional control is a huge plus for any bartender. They also have the need to be able to give the guests the best experience by engaging in conversation with anyone that is looking to talk.

Being able to mingle and engage in interesting conversations on any kind of topic is always going to be important. A great bartender can talk about any topic. Therefore, have an interesting conversation with a guest. 

They should also have the skill to suddenly stop that conversation in order to tend to another guest without making that person feel ignored. This is not as easy as it sounds. It will require some finesse, but that is definitely another skill that any top level bartender should be able to handle at all times.

Being friendly is not difficult. However, being friendly and also being able to have interesting conversations with guests is something that requires an even more skillful bartender. This is the main reason why people who look for bartenders to hire are always going to want to make sure that they can take their time. That way they can look for someone who is going to be able to handle all situations and all types of guests.

This means dealing with chatty people who never stop talking. Moreover, people who are always trying to rush the bartender for their drinks. Also people who are going to start getting drunk and acting impatient and even rude. Those are some of the most common situations that bartenders will have to face at all times. It’s always important to be able to handle them to the best of their abilities.

What other skills should bartenders have when handling an event?

Multiple languages. Depending on the location, bartenders are likely to have skills speaking more than one language. In other cases, there will be an entire team from several nationalities that is going to bring the multilingual element into the service.

Having the ability to speak several languages that are popular in any specific area is going to be important. For example, anyone in California is going to find that speaking English and Spanish is going to be very useful. The languages that a team of bartenders speak are going to have more value for their profession. Of course, depending on their location. 

The option of flair bartending to give any event a boost of entertainment

This is just one of many scenarios that could be influenced by bartenders. However, if you really want to take bartending to a higher level of entertainment. Then, you need to look for bartenders that have skills in what is known as flair bartending. 

The biggest issue with flair bartending is that many people are going to think that hiring a flair bartender is going to be too expensive for them. Therefore, they don’t usually ask for this type of skill. Honestly, the truth is that many skilled flair bartenders are charging a very low fee for their services. 

Flair bartending is a completely different type of skill from what is usually expected of a bartender. It can be an extremely reliable and important skill to consider for certain events. A flair bartender is basically like a juggler that is able to perform all kinds of crazy tricks when they are serving a drink. 

From basic bottle juggling and pouring. To mode advanced tricks involving fire, multiple glasses at once, and other tricks. The flair bartender is the type of bartender that can really make a difference in any type of event and situation. 

If you feel that your event is not going to be exciting enough with a regular bartender. Then, you will find that flair bartenders to hire can be a perfect way to give your events that extra appeal that you need.

This is such an amazing skill. In fact, there are bartending tournaments held all over the world to see who the best flair bartending is. This is also a great way for them to gain more notoriety as bartenders that are worth considering when people are seeking bartenders to hire.

Final thoughts

There are many things that people have to keep in mind. Especially, when they are thinking about the best bartending for hire. Hopefully we have managed to provide some important insight into this process. In order to help you make a decision when you are thinking of hiring someone for a specific event or party.

If you feel like you don’t want to deal with the time consuming task of finding the best bartenders. You can always count on the bartending team at Party Shakers. They have the years of experience and a proven record of customer satisfaction. This ensures that your events are going to run smoothly from beginning to end.