Bartender Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a bartender. Feel free to use our bartender job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a bartender.
Who is a Bartender?
There are many other titles for bartenders such as barkeepers, mixologists, and bar chefs. A bartender is anyone who prepares or drinks alcoholic (and non-alcoholic) beverages from behind a bar.
Bartenders may work in any licensed establishment. This includes bars as well as restaurants, hotels, casinos, and taverns. Other tasks that a bartender might have to perform include taking inventory, ordering food, and general customer service.
The workday of a bartender varies depending on the establishment he or she works in. It is common for a shift to begin with inventory and replenishment of stock.
Bartenders are expected to be friendly and open to having conversations with customers. Some bars and taverns may have a bartender who prepares drinks for the customers. The server will typically pick up these drinks and deliver them.
Bartender Job Description
Below are the bartender job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a bartender job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
- Providing services such as welcoming customers, reading and listening, making recommendations, and taking orders.
- Informing customers about specials and new drinks by planning drink menus.
- Serving beverages to customers by selecting and mixing ingredients, garnishing glassware, and choosing the right colors.
- Ensuring that the bar and tables are properly stocked
- Taking inventory and placing orders.
- Adhering to food safety and quality regulations
- Handling cash, credit, or debit card transactions.
- Keeping the area clean by clearing out trash and cleaning up after meals.
- Developing new cocktail recipes
- Mix drinks with a variety of ingredients such as liquor, bitters or soda, water, and sugar.
- Monitor all patrons to ensure that they are not drinking alcohol at inappropriate levels
- Assisting to ensure that patrons have a safe ride home by calling a taxi, Uber, or other appropriate services.
- Engaging with patrons to provide a friendly and positive guest experience
- Making sure the bar area is safe, clean, and organized
- Streamlining the drink preparation process and inventory by organizing the bar area
- Placing orders for liquor, beer, and wine.
- Preparing garnishes for beverages by cutting, pitting, or slicing fruit
- Making alcohol- or non-alcohol beverage for restaurant and bar patrons
- Assisting customers with their orders and serving food and drink.
- Ensuring that customers’ preferences and needs are assessed and recommendations made
- Mixing ingredients to create cocktails
- Making a plan and preparing a bar menu
- Validating the legal drinking age by checking identification
- Keeping your guests in mind and fostering a memorable guest experience
- Following all food and beverage regulations
- Washing equipment, barware, and glasses after use.
- Collecting and operating the cash register.
- Serving customers who sit at our bar with food or drinks.
- Identifying whether the customer has drunk too much alcohol.
- Serving orders to the right customers.
- Ordering the supplies required to make the bar.
- Checking to make sure that customers are of legal age before purchasing alcohol or tobacco products.
Other imperative tasks include:
- Making recommendations
People naturally search for reasons for things. This is why curating hospitality experiences can be so crucial. There’s a huge difference between a bartender recommending the winter drink on your menu and one that is on the menu.
Bartenders can make a great recommendation and turn a boring experience into something special by asking the right questions. They may also be able to use these recommendations to upsell cocktails and make a bit more for the night.
- Making and serving drinks
The mixing and serving of drinks are one of the major bartender duties. This is only one of two levels. The first is to know all the classic cocktails. The second is to be familiar with all the ingredients so you can experiment and create your cocktails. Although it is important to be able to pour a beer, customers may find this less impressive. You might also need to learn how to serve alcohol depending on where you are located.
- Knowing the Classics
All of the popular “most loved cocktail” lists from any given year are pretty similar. If a bartender has 30 recipes in their head, they should be able to handle 75%. You will also need to know how many drinks are sold for you to maximize your profit.
- Ability to make signature cocktails
This is where a bartender can reap the benefits of being familiar with all the major liquor groups (brandy, vodka, whiskey, vodka, and tequila). Once a bartender is familiar with the primary liquor types, and how they interact with mixers and juices, it’s possible to make great cocktails. They are ready to unleash the mixologist in them.
Mixology is a skill that allows bartenders to create drinks for guests who might not like what’s on offer. This allows bars to create signature cocktails that can make a huge profit if they sell well.
- Filling Orders for Drink
Servers will frequently ring the bar to order drinks. The bartender must fill the orders and place the drink orders at the service bar. This is because these drinks are not ordered from the bartender directly by guests but other restaurant or bar staff. You must know how many shots are in a handle to avoid running out mid-service.
- Maintaining a Clean Bar Area
Although bar managers are responsible to create bar cleaning checklists it ultimately falls under the purview of bartenders. These checklists are used so often that bartenders have to keep their workstations clean. They also stock up bar cleaning supplies and often delegate some of the cleanings to barbacks. It’s easy for chaos to quickly develop in a bar environment that isn’t organized. Bartenders are responsible for maintaining a clean bar, not only for efficiency but also for hygiene and health
Qualifications
- High school diploma.
- Additional education, training, or certificates can be required.
- Ability to work during the nights, weekends, or holidays.
- Positive, engaging personality and professional appearance.
- Basic math and computer skills.
- Excellent interpersonal and communications skills.
- Time and task management skills.
- Eye for detail, understanding, and appreciation of drink mixing tools.
- Ability to stand, move, bend, etc. for extended periods.
- Can lift to 25 lbs of weight.
Essential Skills
- Memory
A strong memory is a key ingredient to a successful bartender. Short-term memory is strengthened by bartenders being able to recall drink orders, remember ingredients and the names of trendy craft beers. Bartenders have a better memory for the long term. They can remember their regulars and be able to greet them by name. As bartenders talk to customers about personal topics, they build rapport.
- Mixology and preparation
Bartenders stand out by having a deep understanding of the latest drinks and obscure concoctions. They keep up to date with seasonal trends and drink popularity, and they often create their recipes. Bartenders who free-pour, which is the skillful practice of adding alcohol in exact amounts, improve their efficiency and dexterity.
Bartenders can mix the same drink over and over again with the same precision to satisfy customers’ expectations that the next drink will taste exactly the same.
- Communication
Bartenders have to interact with different people during their shifts. Because of their communication skills, bartenders can shift the tone and change topics depending on who they’re interacting with. Bartenders are part of a group that communicates with waitstaff or kitchen staff. They might also run interference to make sure the bar and/or restaurant run smoothly.
Listening to customers’ problems with a sympathetic ear and following up with them if they are regulars are all part of communication skills. They can listen to customers and can intervene when necessary in heated discussions or disputes of opinion.
- Flexibility
Bartenders may work alternate shifts, nights, or weekends. Their availability is flexible, and shifts might change from week to week. When bartenders serve food or make financial transactions, their flexibility is key. Customers may request changes to their drinks or meals, or they might be ready to close a bar tab. Bartenders can fill in for these customers.
- Organization
Bartenders require organizational skills to be able to respond to customer demands and make sure the bar has the right ingredients to create trendy cocktails. Bartenders can anticipate seasonal trends in drink demand and know which ingredients are most popular.
Organizational skill is also required to remember what customer wants and fill the order correctly. It takes organizational skills to keep things in balance when handling cash, working together with teammates, and keeping track of the day-to-day demands.
- Teamwork
Bartenders serve customers as the wait staff or kitchen staff. They also work closely with management and other bartenders. They are proud of the team effort they put into serving customers. Bartenders keep an eye out for changes in the environment and are available to assist if necessary.
- Friendliness
Bartenders provide a friendly, welcoming environment for bar patrons that makes them feel relaxed and welcome. When dealing with unhappy customers, it can be difficult to remain friendly. Bartenders can offer conversation when the bar’s quiet, and may also be able to meet customer demands when they are busy. They can interact with many cultures, people, and customs. Their friendly approach builds trust and makes customers feel welcome.
- Composure
Bartenders develop friendliness and the ability to stay calm under pressure. Bartenders gain composure by being able to read situations and respond accordingly to help others, manage crises or assist coworkers. Bartenders who take regular breaks and practice self-care are better able to maintain their composure in stressful circumstances.
- Efficiency
Bartenders do much more than simply pour drinks. They take orders and wait at the tables, handle cash transactions, replenish inventory, and manage inventory. Many job responsibilities require you to be efficient to finish tasks on time without sacrificing customer service.
- Consistency
Bar patrons order cocktails expecting that their drink will taste exactly like the one they have previously ordered. To ensure that customers receive exactly what they want, bartenders need to be consistent with their mixology. Bartenders should be able to use the same ingredients consistently. This is good for business. It also ensures that profits are not lost.
Customers may expect consistent behavior from the bartenders. They might expect them to be the same attitude and temperament each time they visit.
- People skills
Bartenders develop the ability to read people and can adapt their bartending style according to the situation. Bartenders will interact with football fans differently than they would with bachelorette guests. Bartenders learn to adapt to situations and people so that they can be friendly and fulfill customer expectations.
- Cash management
Bartenders manage financial transactions during their shifts. They might process an order for a large group to celebrate an event or help out-of-town travelers determine which coins are worth what. Bartenders can close out tabs. To know the amount owed by customers and to provide receipts, they will need accurate records. Cash transactions are managed by bartenders. They announce the amount of cash that a customer has presented (“Out Of ten dollars”) and count back their change.
- Stamina
Stamina can be defined as the ability to work efficiently and accurately under changing circumstances. Bartenders may be busy filling orders, stocking bars, managing inventory, and processing transactions, depending on when they are working. Bartenders can be very productive with stamina as they can multitask throughout the day.
How to Become a Bartender
- Get a high school diploma
A college degree is not required to be a bartender. However, a high school diploma is imperative. It is also necessary that you can legally serve alcohol in the state in which you plan to work. You must be at minimum 16 years of age to drink and 18 years to tend bars in licensed establishments.
- Attend bartending school
Bartending school is not a requirement. However, it can help you learn the basics of serving alcohol to customers. Many schools of hospitality offer programs in bartending for those interested in this career.
- Learn from others and move up.
Although you will be able to get a job as a bartender after you have completed bartending school, it does not guarantee that you will get a job. However, you will still need to have on-the-job experience in a restaurant or bar setting. Bartenders often start their careers as waiters and runners, before moving on to more senior roles in the industry.
- Work as a barback
A barback can be a great transition to bartending. It is similar to working as a waiter. Barbacks are more closely linked to bartending than waiters. The pros will teach you the tricks of the trade, which can help you move faster. Bartending experience is not required to be a barback.
- Practice your skills
It’s crucial to practice your skills once you can mix and serve drinks. To perfect your skills, you should practice as much as possible. Research is also a good idea to find out about new bartending terms, mixing techniques, and flavor profiles.
Where to Work
Bartenders work in restaurants, bars, and clubs as well as other food and drink establishments. They are often under pressure to deliver customers efficiently and quickly during busy hours.
Bartender Salary Scale
The average salary in the United States is $11.75 an hour. The hourly wage ranges from $7.25 to $28.05
Average tipping bonus: $150 per day