At any wedding or event, the bar is one of the first places that guests will meet your staff. How that interaction goes can set the tone of the event for this person, so it’s important that the exchange goes well.
However, since the pandemic, younger staff might not innately know social niceties. In their formative years they missed out on in-person socializing. Sometimes it’s as small as not knowing how to make eye contact, or as devastating as not knowing how to really talk to and connect with another. It’s my mission to train people coming into the service industry to understand hospitality and the power we each have to change someone’s experience for the better.
Here are three of my immutable rules when teaching and training staff, and that I bring to my clients.
Education is everything
Make education the focal point of your entire program. Education is what differentiates a career opportunity from a job. We split trainings into two per month, two to three hours/session, pay them, supply food, and get them excited beforehand with a preview a week out. Be organized; don't waste their time (and your money). Get them in and out but make it intense and exciting. Demonstrate how education improves their career possibilities as much as their immediate earnings. Offer education from within (highlighting the experience and skills of your own team) and from external sources (talented brand ambassadors, distillers, blenders, other bartenders and bar owners, etc.). Teach life skills beyond bar skills (basic finances, good health, comedy) with the idea of both taking care of yourself first in order to properly take care of others while helping them live balanced lives. Provide additional resources for their independent study (books, online, etc.).
Self-study has never been easier thanks to major investments by the big producers. Start with the free online programs from Diageo Bar Academy, Campari Academy, Freepour by Bacardi, and Bar Smarts by Pernod Ricard. Encourage participation in a local United States Bartenders Guild chapter, WSET certifications and Certified Spirits Specialists. Ultimately, if you can get in and afford it, do The BAR Five Day program.
Monitor quality
Quality maintenance starts with education on product (brands, categories, production processes and evaluation skills). It is ensured by good processes for cleaning, storage, equipment maintenance, prep, loss/spoilage control, purchasing and reviews. It is held to a high standard by people with pride in what they are doing, producing and presenting, which goes all the way back to the hiring process to sort out those who would stop at nothing to produce their best. I always look back to a business book called The E-Myth Revisited, which I read 20 years ago while opening my bar, and it's main premise: build good systems and hire the right people to run them.
Empower your people
The sooner you realize that it's about them, not you, the better your program will be. Empower everyone. Nothing gives people more pride in their work than being acknowledged for their abilities and empowered to affect change. Encourage them to give feedback, present new ideas, and draw the same from their customers, friends and research. Treating everyone like a professional that can change the business will create that change.
I realize training takes time. I also know you might have an event coming up this weekend and need a sharp staff right away.
Here are three quick tips on training you can use right away.
- Start early: As soon as you hire, make sure they have every bit of information and material support they need to be prepared on the day of the event. Remind them of the details, the goal, and the expectations. Have them repeat it to you.
- Provide leadership: Make sure everyone on the job is clear on their role, who to turn to when they need something, what to expect throughout the event, where everything can be found, what to do in case of an emergency, and what the customer’s expectations are. Give them a phone number or other immediate form of communication to a primary point of contact, and then a secondary.
- Build a team: Invest as much time as you can afford in making sure the whole event team is not only aware of each other, but has a chance to say “hi”, introduce themselves, make some small talk, and get to know names. The last thing you want in the middle of an event is for someone to not speak up, act, or improve someone’s experience because they didn’t know someone’s name or feel comfortable interacting with their own teammates.
