Thinking about moonlighting as a bartender

[Kent Wang]

I've enjoyed all that I've learned in the brief year or so about cocktails from this forum and find that my knowledge has already well exceeded the average level of most bartenders in my fair city. Most bars I enter cannot even make an Old Fashioned! I've been contemplating moonlighting at a cocktail lounge, because I enjoy making cocktails, bartending and have the appropriate sociable personality. I have a nine-to-five and don't really need the money, so I'd like to work slow nights. Is this a crazy idea?

I have no previous experience in the restaurant or bar industry. I want to work at a place where I can make interesting cocktails, not make vodka sours all night. The cocktail lounges I've considered are all staffed by fairly experienced bartenders, most are late 20s, early 30s and the few that I've spoken to have been bartending for over five years. I've heard that hotel bars have lower requirements for entry, and I suppose Four Seasons, Hyatt, etc would still be better than working at Chili's or Bennigan's. I would definitely not work at a nightclub-type establishment pouring vodka Red Bulls all night.

When applying for a position should I explain that I know a lot of recipes and cocktail history? I wouldn't want to come off as a snob and earn the disfavor of the other bartenders.

[johnder]

I am not sure what hotels are like but my assumption is you will need a union membership to work for them. I think you would be better off finding a place you want to work and after drinking there a few times, talking to the bartenders and owner(s) about the possibility of working there as a barback or in an "stage" position to see if it works out.

I think this would a) get your feet wet, and b) show the other bartenders and owners that you know what you are doing and also not afraid to work your way up.

[thirtyoneknots]

I set out to find a bartending job for some of the same reasons you are, and I found one, but not quite the way I thought I would. Kind of lucked into it, as it were, and since you already have a 9-5, it won't help you much anyway (I had to work as a waiter first). However, I did read this recently, and it sounds like fairly sound advice that may help, especially in the angle that you want to take with it.

If I lived in a bigger city like Austin I would definitely be hitting up some of the higher end bars on slow nights and trying to chat up the bartenders, maybe find a place that can make a good Old-Fashioned and make small-talk with the barman about how hard it is to find that type of thing. Hopefully you can become a 'regular' and eventually insinuate into the conversation that you'd love to moonlight just one slow night a week, for kicks. May sound crazy, but I've had crazier things work.

Unfortunately, high-end bars can be hard to come by in a college town, but at least Austin is big enough to have an identity outside of that (I live in College Station, and I can count on one hand the number of places in the whole county that use fresh juice).

Hope this helps, and good luck!

-Andy

[Snowy is dead]

Good luck with your search. I second looking for a place you enjoy drinking at. If you don't like spending time there drinking, you definitely wouldn't like working there. Hopefully they will be open to new cocktail ideas, but be ready to make one interesting drink for everly 40 grey goose martinis you make and bud bottles you pop.

bon chance

Sean

[stolincuervo]

Any luck?

I doubt union membership is required to obtain a situation at a hotel restaurant and bar. Once hired, that may be something that is placed before you to decide upon.

And a bartender that knows a bunch of cocktail history or classics isn't always what a bar manager is looking for in a candidate. (nor the general public for that matter; remember an elite few are steadfast cocktailians when considering the consumer masses) Sadly, that isn't always a bonus to bring to the position when it often weighs the age, attractiveness (boobage a true factor) and hair colour of the girl that also applied. (sorry, but quite true)

Also to consider, many what others consider as a "slow" night is a regular night for a tender to cultivate a group of regular customers. Getting one of those shifts is a toughie!

While it isn't wholly impossible, but for one without any restaurant/bar experience, even waiting tables, it is next to a snowflake in hell to land a gig.

Though it is a fun to think about in the most romantic of ways, bartending is sweaty, sticky substances (on/in your shoes, hair, clothing, person) being cash handling reliable/conscious and plain old back aching work. Tis nothing romantic taking out the garbage, mopping the floors or turning dirty bar stools (remember! watch out for the gum!) upside down that makes your arm ache the next day. Did I mention moving kegs, cases of wine or liquor and large amounts of ice around?

However I must admit there is a percentage of jadedness that seeps into one in the biz for some time that it is refreshing to see one so eager to enter with such warm thoughts.

[Kent Wang]

No luck yet. I'm currently working on establishing myself as a regular at a few bars before popping the question. An expensive proposition, yes, but I consider it a business expense.

[dockhl]

No luck yet. I'm currently working on establishing myself as a regular at a few bars before popping the question. An expensive proposition, yes, but I consider it a business expense.

←

[thirtyoneknots]

No luck yet. I'm currently working on establishing myself as a regular at a few bars before popping the question. An expensive proposition, yes, but I consider it a business expense.

←

As is all the booze you drink learning at home

[freshherbs]

i think you should go all in and just open your own place

[stolincuervo]

Open your own place never having even waited a table? Spells disaster in one hundred and one million directions.

[lancastermike]

I believe tending bar to be a great part-time job and less so a full time one. I have done both and found working part-time for some extra cash to be a great thing. Unless one has a specific high value trade, part-time bar tending offers a great rate of pay.

When I tended bar for a living, as I got older, I started to think about health insurance, paid vacation, retirement plans and other things that most bartenders will never see. For these, and other reasons, I gave bar tending up as a full time job.

So, if you can get the right spot, I would say yes indeed. But would not encourage you to quit your day job.

[slkinsey]

Good points, Mike. Having many friends in the business, my observation has been that fulltime shaking is a young person's game. At some point you either move up the ladder to designing cocktails and being the head bartender to eventually managing staff, mentoring younger up-and-coming talent, consulting and/or owning your own place (where you might, e.g., shake on Sunday evenings to keep your hand in but that's about it)... or you get out of the game. I don't know too many people in their 40s making a living shaking on Friday and Saturday nights for tip money.

[Alchemist]

I would second the afore. Bartending is brutal on the body. Once you get into your mid thirties your knees start to go, tendenitis in the elbows and shoulders, the late nights are harder to recover from, the cute 22 year old cocktail waitress' start looking at you like a dirty old man, bruising the ego badly...

I am working 7 night a week right now, albiet only for a few intense hours, and every muscle in my body is screaming obsenities at me eveery morning. But There is something about the dance the sweat, the music and the act of creation that keeps me feeling about six months younger than I actually am.

[KatieLoeb]

I don't know too many people in their 40s making a living shaking on Friday and Saturday nights for tip money.

*ahem* There are still a few of us that are 26 with 20 years experience at that age doing exactly that...

...every muscle in my body is screaming obsenities at me eveery morning. But There is something about the dance the sweat, the music and the act of creation that keeps me feeling about six months younger than I actually am.

I get this part too.

Anyone that wants me to get off my barking feet and consult for them is welcome to e-mail me.