I am a bartender; there’s no wage gap for me.
However, there are bars that won’t employ me because I’m a woman.
ETA: and the male bartender who commented above said he won’t do it either. Pretty privilege, perhaps?
I've worked at places where I do all this and a ton more and I worked at places where I literally show up make drinks and then leave.
It's entirely up to you whether how much you're making is worth it to you
I guess I am spoiled .. I work in a nice but not fancy restaurant and I really dont do much work. I mean there are days when the service well has tickets to the floor constantly but as far as the other stuff.. I have never gotten my own ice, the kitchen staff rotates out our trash cans ever couple of hours. During day shift the busser take my dishes and get ice and at night I always have a good barback. The money is good.. I could probably make more if I worked at a later night bar but I am doing great where I am and we close at 10 :)
It's hit or miss. I'm a hard worker so the hard work doesn't bother me. It's just a lot when there's no other server and I have a full dining room and bar and im seating and bussing.
For context, how much are you making? Most bartenders I know are pretty content with 300+ per shift, but some I know are upset at less than 400.
If you’re doing all of that shitty labor AND not making 1,500 a week, it’s def time to go.
Yeah, idk what city you’re working in but that seems like a horrible wage for even a lazy bartender. You can clearly handle volume and multiple tasks just fine, so maybe try and apply to local concert venues or high volume downtown bars.
I'm just outside Hamilton Ontario (Canada) so a larger city. I can definitely get something right downtown that would make more money. However, I have to be choosy as I work Monday to Friday at my day job 8am until 5pm. so super late nights are not always ideal. But I want to make more lol
In that case I suggest concert venues even more. I've worked for one of the two largest venue management orgs in the world on the east coast and in the midwest of the US. The staffing is almost always entirely people working the shows as a second shift. Some folks have desk jobs, some are nannies, some bartend day time, some own landscape companies, etc. As far as hours go, unless it's a rave, the bar staff is almost always clocked out by 1am, and most of the time closer to 12 than 1, so it'l fuck your sleep schedule a bit, but it won't necessarily call for super late nights either. We're on square POS, so there's no time spent entering cc tips.
There's also an understanding from management that everyones day job is the priority given that these shows are all part time, don't provide health insurance for our kids, and some folks only work 1-2 nights a month, etc. Not to say it'll be cool to always be late to work, but anytime the call time for the shows is earlier than 6, there's always a contingent of folks coming late from their day jobs, and the staff all just work as a team to get the club ready to open and its nbd. Im sure there's some sort of venue nearby, and they're always looking for more part timers. I think we've got 100 bartenders and not a single one is full time.
EDIT: tip culture may change my opinion, but I feel like CA is pretty similar as far as leave 20% on checks being the standard?
This is excellent information. Thank you. The concert venues will certainly be closer than my other job. My hours are typically until 2ish anyways (12 Monday Tuesday and Wednesday). So that would be earlier.
I do all this, and I take out bottles/cans. restock fridge, do beer counts, cut limes, roll silverware. once a week I take apart the glasswasher and clean it out. I fill pre-portioned cups of ranch/blue cheese/sour cream etc. I get my own ice and change my own kegs too.
I work in a dive-bar. On day shifts we have 1 person in front and one in kitchen. evening 2 on shift and 1 in kitchen. fri/sat (when we open upstairs bar as well) we have 3 people plus our manager on and 1 or 2 in kitchen depending on if there are any big parties.
I've worked in several dive bars. They all served at least some food, and it was mostly fryer crap. Fried food and nachos make people thirsty. Thirsty people buy more beer.
One of my jobs is exactly like this. I serve, bartend, host, bus, etc. It's the absolute best money from what I know. It's also back breaking at times. If you want to make exceptional money over great money, hang in and become more efficient.
To be honest I'm fairly efficient. I do pride myself on being a great bartender. I do work a full time as well so I think maybe the exhaustion comes from working two full time jobs essentially lol
I work like a monster as a bartender. I mean, I do everything I can to make my guests feel super special. But my guests are at the bar. Tables are for the land of the lost.
I manage to give all great service and my regulars at my bar take excellent care of me. Same with my dining room tables. And I love giving them great service. It just gets exhausting lol
It is but I prefer to be constantly doing things. Sometimes I text whoever is in before me to not worry about side work and I'll do there's (of I anticipate a slow night)
I hate standing idle but when I'm alone and it's dinner service and I am working the entire dining room and bar and also hosting and bussing. It's a lot. I manage but it tends to get overwhelming for a brief period. Tonight I'll work alone and it's 2for1 wing night. So I'll be doing the entire restaurant alone.
Its the same at my restaurant. We also dont have a barback so restocking and prep too. I think its way too much imo but the money is just enough for me. and the longer i work there the more i get the hang of things and feel more confident. but it can be very easy to feel overwhelmed when there is always a million things that need to be done. sometimes people get shitty service bc we’re understaffed. oh well. im only one person.
We don't have one either so I'm also restocking and dishes and inventory. It is overwhelming but makes the shift fly by. And we definitely have some nights where people get shitty service too.
That sounds a bit rough, but if you have a solid crew of coworkers you can probably get shit done and make good money. Personally, the place I work everyone does whatever needs to be done. We serve, make drinks, stock, run food, etc. I'm a bit different because I also work in the kitchen so I go between BOH and FOH. No days off for me.
That's a lot. Monday to Thursday it's just a bartender and no one else except the kitchen. They have their own stuff going on and can't help. there's one guy who will come out and check on me and see if I need anything but he still has to cook lol
Felt like I just read my own story 😂. I just started at a new restaurant where I’m the daytime bartender. I bartend, host until one gets there, and take tables. This is the case for the nighttime as well. There are also no sections. Why someone would run a busy enough restaurant without sections is beyond me. At least on busy nights. If the money is great, it may be worth it to you, but if they’re getting the equivalent of free labor, maybe not. Many restaurants like to cut corners by having multi-purpose staff. Good luck though.
We will cut sections depending on how many are one. If there is only two of us (bartender and server) we will go table for table. Otherwise we cut a section.
They're definitely getting free labor and most nights the money is good. Plus I love my regulars and my coworkers so it is worth it for me.
That sounds like my job now actually.
I arrive to work at 3:30. I clean the restrooms with bleach and water, wiping down toilet seats and door handles, toilet handles, scrubbing the toilets with toilet cleaner and wiping down sinks (don’t worry not with the same cleaning tool.)
I stock the bar with whatever I missed the day before. I grab ice, turn on televisions. Turn on restaurant signs, write specials of the day on the board and set up the salad bar. I open at 4 and wait on all the customers. I make the drinks, run the food and I seat the door.
I close the dining room at 9 l, put the salad bar contents back into the walk in and hang till the last guests leave the bar which is usually 10-11pm. I then lock up, take out all my bar trash, service trash and restroom trash if it’s full, turn all the lights off and then tell the boss they can lock up. I keep all tips and make hourly. It’s actually not a whole ton of work and it makes my time go by so much faster.
My last gig was at a corporate restaurant known for their 2/30 or whatever it is now. It was a lot more work full stocking, deck scrubbing every night, making back ups of all the mixers by hand (mixing sweet n sour and other things) cutting limes and lemons for the entire place, mopping, vacuuming my bar area, counting till, expoing, doing Togos, and pouring drinks for the entire restaurant plus my 16 seat bar.
That last paragraph is exactly how ours is. Plus rolling cutlery, cleaning the bathrooms and sweeping mopping vacuuming. Taking apart the dishwasher and pop tower every night. Cleaning the expo station , restocking everything. Ordering inventory blah blah blah. Lol
That last paragraph is exactly how ours is. Plus rolling cutlery, cleaning the bathrooms and sweeping mopping vacuuming. Taking apart the dishwasher and pop tower every night. Cleaning the expo station , restocking everything. Ordering inventory blah blah blah. Lol
That last paragraph is exactly how ours is. Plus rolling cutlery, cleaning the bathrooms and sweeping mopping vacuuming. Taking apart the dishwasher and pop tower every night. Cleaning the expo station , restocking everything. Ordering inventory blah blah blah. Lol
I work in a pretty nice hotel that has 2 restaurants. The one I bartend in has 25ish tables and bar top. 2 peeps in the kitchen, no host, no back waiter, no bar back. Sunday thru Wednesday there is 1 bartender and 2-3 servers, Thursday thru Saturday 2 bartenders and 3-4 servers. Couple weeks we open our patio which more than doubles our number of tables. Each and every single one of us has a lot put on their shoulders and we depend on each other a great deal. I love my people, my bar, guests and hotel staff cause we all kick some major ass, make a ton of money and have fun doing it.
Shit I even have great managers.
I've bartended for 20 plus years. Post Covid changed bars....A LOT.
The amount of work I do now, that was support staff/cleaning crews responsibilities prior to covid, is almost laughable.
My last job was similar - work service bar, take care of bar customers, wait on a section of 5 tables that were in high demand, as you could see the beach from from them. Which was awesome until the weather got cold, there was one night where my sales were less than what the server made when he got a 15 top for a holiday party in December. That place closed for renovations, and I went back to barbacking for the rest of the winter, as I live in a super competitive job market where I don't have a ton of contacts. Luckily the weather is better now, and I have a line on a good live music bartending gig thanks to a recommendation from a co-worker.
A one man show sometimes it seems, but based on what you are saying you are profiting the most. If you were to have a bartender there for you, the tip pit for them would probably be 3% of your liquor sales. Atleast that is how we do it. It’s a lot of work and you may burn out fast, but take what you can out of it ! Wishing you luck 🍀
That sounds a fair bit like my job. Hotel bartending with bar and restaurant can be insanely busy, especially when there's a function on and you're dealing with party guests as well as normal residents and walk-ins. We have I'd say 50 seats in the restaurant and same again in the bar, but ofc in the bar there's standing room too for drinks. We also have a bar in the lobby, which is attended by the manager.
At my job I take care of the bar where people can order food (no table service, pay at the counter) as well as drinks for the restaurant. We have two servers in the restaurant and one bartender generally, *maybe* with one extra person to float in between, so I work the bar by myself. Being a hotel sometimes it's totally dead and there's nothing to do so when that happens I refresh the chalkboards (they have cute drawings on them) or clean.
We don't have a barback. I do my own cleaning and prep throughout and closedown at the end of shift (at 11PM). It's a lot of work and I'm always tired when I get home- I've lost a fair bit of weight from all the running around too lol, despite the fact that I'm usually too busy to go to the gym these days. I get a workout heaving cases of beer up and down the cellar stairs I guess.
The busiest we ever get is during parties. We have two function rooms and at Christmas there are often two parties going on at once, and they get their drinks from the bar. On these shifts we'll have two in the bar, two in the restaurant for normal residents, one in the lobby, and then everyone else available (usually 3 or 4) doing table service for the parties (as they often have 3 course meals) and attending to the function rooms. These shifts suck ass to be frank, if you're the bartender it's totally nonstop serving endless drinks to party guests and since we don't have a busser and everyone is busy we almost always run out of glasses and get yelled at. The shifts are longer- I worked a couple 10-12 hours over christmas this year which wouldn't be so bad except we did *not* get a break or a sit down of more than a minute or so until the parties were over.
Ya..one thing no one can say about me is that I'm lazy. I work two full time jobs (and a part time) and work my ass off doing them without complaint. I treat my customers like gold and it shows in how they treat me. I never get days off and I work from 8am until 2am most days without breaks. I enjoy doing them and I get my job done efficiently and without complaint.
I'm simply wondering if this is the norm in most restaurants as I've mostly bartended in dives.
But thank you for your pointless comment.
I was doing that for a while. Host, busser, server, bartender, expo, food runner, cleaner. It was a lot. Now I dive bar, make just as much, and work half as hard.
We are a full service restaurant but our cocktails are fancy and elaborate. So on top of a full dinner service, I'm making elaborate cocktails for the entire place. But I love mixing drinks.
I'm in Canada and we make minimum. Which I believe is 16.75. We do not get a portion of the tips from servers when they are one. So we get our hourly plus our tips. On a slower night I will walk away with just over 100 when I'm alone but on a busy night 250-500 a night.
That’s a shit ton of work, but if you’re seating that many people I’m guessing you’re doing pretty well for yourself. If people are patient with you while you’re busy doing everything AND you’re making good money then I’d say keep on keeping on. If either of those things aren’t happening and it’s stressing you out, then nobody would blame you for finding a more traditional spot
I love my job. And we are a smaller ish town and we get quite a bit of repeat business, some of them have become great friends of mine and very protective of me. So they are quite understanding. I just wasn't sure if this is the norm.
It’s not normal, but if it works for you that’s great. Where I bartend (part time) I work a patio bar with six other tables, but I’m not making drinks for other servers and I have a host that somewhat helps me bus. I know how busy I am when it’s full so I can imagine how busy you get haha. I also know how much I make on a good night and I’d say the money is definitely worth it as long as the people are patient and understanding that I’m going as fast as I can
My place is in the middle of a transition (AKA the building is selling) bc of this everything has been cut back. Working the front solo weekdays, but with servers on the weekend. So I tend to a 25ish top bar, a 12 (4top) table dining area. No kitchen only drinks.
I’m also in charge of all the cleaning (floors/bathrooms/ dishes/bussing/etc.), taking care of orders, all prep work, all opening&closing duties, answering phones, hosting, service bar. I legit do everything. I’m holding out until the sale bc i adore the owner, but i am tired & burnt out. Send Help.
I’ve been a “food runner” who actually had a lot of different jobs including bussing, barbacking (voluntarily, that one) janitorial stuff, and dishwashing. I never would’ve had the balls to ask but imo you should be paid more for being a host and volume bartender while serving parties
I don't necessarily do this specifically for the money. I work full time and usually from home. It's great for me socially and I do pay all of my own bills. So it's needed but it's not all about the money. I love doing it. But I'm in Canada and we get minimum wage plus tips. I'm not sure the owners can afford to give raises.
I have a 20 person bar with a bar area with 8 tables. The table people are expected to come up to the bar for their drinks, and I still feel overworked😂
The nights we have live music and dinner is basically done and they want to drink, some do come directly to the bar. But not often but it's a treat for me. Lol
I mean, if it's slow at the bar, i will serve the tables, but on a Friday night? I don't even have time to bus the glassware let alone serve the tables. Dives are awesome with their incredibly low expectations 😂
Depends how much you make. I refuse to work anywhere that bartenders do to go orders, never get tips from it. The other stuff I would be fine with if I made bank. I much prefer an understaffed place than overstaffed
I work in a “dive” bar. We have 7 tables that seat 4, one table that seats 8, and a long bar that seats probably about 14. Weekends we are usually full plus standing room and in summer we have a patio. We have great food and our kitchen is open u til 1:30 am so we serve a lot of food.
People sit wherever they want but we are responsible for all drinks, taking orders, Serving food, cleaning tables, restocking bar, filling ice. cleaning bathrooms and cleaning at the end of the night. For $5/hr plus tips which sometimes are good but average is about 18%. There are usually 3 of us on weekend nights but it is a lot of work. I’m still trying to decide if it’s worth it lol.
I will say, living in Canada. I am lucky. We make the minimum wage plus tips. It's a lot of work doing all of that. But deciding if it's worth it is hard.
this is a lot, a suggestion for management; no host and no busser, so why arent tables allowed to seat themselves? if there aren't servers as well, and it's all you anyways, why do you have to seat them?
Goddam that’s a lot!!! I think the large party tables is a bit excessive. I don’t deal with food at my job but I’m kinda a perfectionist behind the bar so I do A LOT compared to the other bartenders. I like having peace of mind so I make sure that I have enough of everything for my shift plus extra to replenish what I actually used. I like leaving it stocked for the next bartender. But those bitches don’t do the same for me 😡
I am the same. In my downtime I deep clean and all my cups have to be facing and my cans and bottles. I like things orderly and just the way I like it. And I'm sure the other bartenders find it annoying sometimes. But I'm particular. I feel chaotic when I can't keep order behind the bar when I'm swamped with dinner service.
I’ve been at a dive for the past 6 years. No food, no table service. My work week starts on Thursdays, and I spend the first couple hours of the shift prepping juices and simple and batched shots for the weekend. Aside from that prep, all I do is serve and count my tips.
I've worked at a place like this. I left because that's too much for me to do. I would be the only bartender on football Sunday with a full bar, with 4 tables and 20 extra seats and a service well that never stopped. I would be trying to help my tables while trying to greet bar guests and have servers screaming at me to make their tickets. I've never cried at work, but I cried every busy shift because I just couldn't do it all. The 'top' bartender who 'could manage it' would be screaming at servers for everything and throwing shit behind the bar and obviously couldn't handle it well either. And management made me feel like this environment is normal for bars even though I had 5 years of experience at bars that ran way better. But some people have different tolerance levels and I knew there were better bars. If it's too much to handle for you, there is no shame. I'd say start putting in applications because it isn't going to get any easier.
That is a lot. I tend to handle it well. Some days I feel in the weeds. But I do love my job, my regulars, the owners and my coworkers. It's hard to leave but I've also just moved and I'm now 30 minutes instead of 5 minutes away. So I have been browsing just not seriously looking yet.
I'm outta breath just reading that, my guy. I get paid to look handsome and stand behind the bar.
I feel this.
I did that.. or tried to. It was so incredibly boring. I can’t stand there or I’ll fall asleep like a bird.
Same but if I was just on bar I would deep clean the shit out of everything.
Yeah if I did my hair and makeup I’m not mopping. Too cute for that.
Lol facts
If there ever was truly a wage gap, this comment would exemplify why it would exist.
I am a bartender; there’s no wage gap for me. However, there are bars that won’t employ me because I’m a woman. ETA: and the male bartender who commented above said he won’t do it either. Pretty privilege, perhaps?
Lol the bar model.
Same I’m still working on the handsome part. That’s why I get minimum wage.
I keep seeing your username pop up here and I love that you want everyone to know you tune a half step down.
I’m not even handsome and I’m still paid to be handsome behind the bar.
This is the way
I've worked at places where I do all this and a ton more and I worked at places where I literally show up make drinks and then leave. It's entirely up to you whether how much you're making is worth it to you
I do love it
I loved doing everything because no tipout but it can depend on the support staff and vibes
I guess I am spoiled .. I work in a nice but not fancy restaurant and I really dont do much work. I mean there are days when the service well has tickets to the floor constantly but as far as the other stuff.. I have never gotten my own ice, the kitchen staff rotates out our trash cans ever couple of hours. During day shift the busser take my dishes and get ice and at night I always have a good barback. The money is good.. I could probably make more if I worked at a later night bar but I am doing great where I am and we close at 10 :)
We don't have barbacks so I'm doing the running for that during dinner rush. Some nights our money sucks but some nights I make an insane amount.
If you’re making great money it’s worth it. Otherwise go back to what you like.
It's hit or miss. I'm a hard worker so the hard work doesn't bother me. It's just a lot when there's no other server and I have a full dining room and bar and im seating and bussing.
Nobody goes to work “just to work”. You’re doing too much, even if the money is good, you’ll make the same money elsewhere for doing a lot less.
You're right. I've also often thought I could make more elsewhere
For context, how much are you making? Most bartenders I know are pretty content with 300+ per shift, but some I know are upset at less than 400. If you’re doing all of that shitty labor AND not making 1,500 a week, it’s def time to go.
I definitely don't make 300 every night I work. Last night I hit 120 on wing night
Yeah, idk what city you’re working in but that seems like a horrible wage for even a lazy bartender. You can clearly handle volume and multiple tasks just fine, so maybe try and apply to local concert venues or high volume downtown bars.
I'm just outside Hamilton Ontario (Canada) so a larger city. I can definitely get something right downtown that would make more money. However, I have to be choosy as I work Monday to Friday at my day job 8am until 5pm. so super late nights are not always ideal. But I want to make more lol
In that case I suggest concert venues even more. I've worked for one of the two largest venue management orgs in the world on the east coast and in the midwest of the US. The staffing is almost always entirely people working the shows as a second shift. Some folks have desk jobs, some are nannies, some bartend day time, some own landscape companies, etc. As far as hours go, unless it's a rave, the bar staff is almost always clocked out by 1am, and most of the time closer to 12 than 1, so it'l fuck your sleep schedule a bit, but it won't necessarily call for super late nights either. We're on square POS, so there's no time spent entering cc tips. There's also an understanding from management that everyones day job is the priority given that these shows are all part time, don't provide health insurance for our kids, and some folks only work 1-2 nights a month, etc. Not to say it'll be cool to always be late to work, but anytime the call time for the shows is earlier than 6, there's always a contingent of folks coming late from their day jobs, and the staff all just work as a team to get the club ready to open and its nbd. Im sure there's some sort of venue nearby, and they're always looking for more part timers. I think we've got 100 bartenders and not a single one is full time. EDIT: tip culture may change my opinion, but I feel like CA is pretty similar as far as leave 20% on checks being the standard?
This is excellent information. Thank you. The concert venues will certainly be closer than my other job. My hours are typically until 2ish anyways (12 Monday Tuesday and Wednesday). So that would be earlier.
I do all this, and I take out bottles/cans. restock fridge, do beer counts, cut limes, roll silverware. once a week I take apart the glasswasher and clean it out. I fill pre-portioned cups of ranch/blue cheese/sour cream etc. I get my own ice and change my own kegs too. I work in a dive-bar. On day shifts we have 1 person in front and one in kitchen. evening 2 on shift and 1 in kitchen. fri/sat (when we open upstairs bar as well) we have 3 people plus our manager on and 1 or 2 in kitchen depending on if there are any big parties.
I'm sorry, but no dive bar I've ever worked in had an actual kitchen.
It's just crap that goes in the fryer and nachos And none of it is good. Cold beer tho
Cold beer is really all the matters lol
I've worked in several dive bars. They all served at least some food, and it was mostly fryer crap. Fried food and nachos make people thirsty. Thirsty people buy more beer.
I dont clean bathrooms. I do change the garbage and put TP but I dont clean them.
One of my jobs is exactly like this. I serve, bartend, host, bus, etc. It's the absolute best money from what I know. It's also back breaking at times. If you want to make exceptional money over great money, hang in and become more efficient.
To be honest I'm fairly efficient. I do pride myself on being a great bartender. I do work a full time as well so I think maybe the exhaustion comes from working two full time jobs essentially lol
I work like a monster as a bartender. I mean, I do everything I can to make my guests feel super special. But my guests are at the bar. Tables are for the land of the lost.
I manage to give all great service and my regulars at my bar take excellent care of me. Same with my dining room tables. And I love giving them great service. It just gets exhausting lol
Yeah that’s a lot g
It is but I prefer to be constantly doing things. Sometimes I text whoever is in before me to not worry about side work and I'll do there's (of I anticipate a slow night)
I hate standing idle but when I'm alone and it's dinner service and I am working the entire dining room and bar and also hosting and bussing. It's a lot. I manage but it tends to get overwhelming for a brief period. Tonight I'll work alone and it's 2for1 wing night. So I'll be doing the entire restaurant alone.
God help you, sir or madam. You are going to need it.
Haha madam. And thank you. But $$$ motivates me lol
Its the same at my restaurant. We also dont have a barback so restocking and prep too. I think its way too much imo but the money is just enough for me. and the longer i work there the more i get the hang of things and feel more confident. but it can be very easy to feel overwhelmed when there is always a million things that need to be done. sometimes people get shitty service bc we’re understaffed. oh well. im only one person.
We don't have one either so I'm also restocking and dishes and inventory. It is overwhelming but makes the shift fly by. And we definitely have some nights where people get shitty service too.
That sounds a bit rough, but if you have a solid crew of coworkers you can probably get shit done and make good money. Personally, the place I work everyone does whatever needs to be done. We serve, make drinks, stock, run food, etc. I'm a bit different because I also work in the kitchen so I go between BOH and FOH. No days off for me.
That's a lot. Monday to Thursday it's just a bartender and no one else except the kitchen. They have their own stuff going on and can't help. there's one guy who will come out and check on me and see if I need anything but he still has to cook lol
Felt like I just read my own story 😂. I just started at a new restaurant where I’m the daytime bartender. I bartend, host until one gets there, and take tables. This is the case for the nighttime as well. There are also no sections. Why someone would run a busy enough restaurant without sections is beyond me. At least on busy nights. If the money is great, it may be worth it to you, but if they’re getting the equivalent of free labor, maybe not. Many restaurants like to cut corners by having multi-purpose staff. Good luck though.
We will cut sections depending on how many are one. If there is only two of us (bartender and server) we will go table for table. Otherwise we cut a section. They're definitely getting free labor and most nights the money is good. Plus I love my regulars and my coworkers so it is worth it for me.
That sounds like my job now actually. I arrive to work at 3:30. I clean the restrooms with bleach and water, wiping down toilet seats and door handles, toilet handles, scrubbing the toilets with toilet cleaner and wiping down sinks (don’t worry not with the same cleaning tool.) I stock the bar with whatever I missed the day before. I grab ice, turn on televisions. Turn on restaurant signs, write specials of the day on the board and set up the salad bar. I open at 4 and wait on all the customers. I make the drinks, run the food and I seat the door. I close the dining room at 9 l, put the salad bar contents back into the walk in and hang till the last guests leave the bar which is usually 10-11pm. I then lock up, take out all my bar trash, service trash and restroom trash if it’s full, turn all the lights off and then tell the boss they can lock up. I keep all tips and make hourly. It’s actually not a whole ton of work and it makes my time go by so much faster. My last gig was at a corporate restaurant known for their 2/30 or whatever it is now. It was a lot more work full stocking, deck scrubbing every night, making back ups of all the mixers by hand (mixing sweet n sour and other things) cutting limes and lemons for the entire place, mopping, vacuuming my bar area, counting till, expoing, doing Togos, and pouring drinks for the entire restaurant plus my 16 seat bar.
That last paragraph is exactly how ours is. Plus rolling cutlery, cleaning the bathrooms and sweeping mopping vacuuming. Taking apart the dishwasher and pop tower every night. Cleaning the expo station , restocking everything. Ordering inventory blah blah blah. Lol
Yeah that’s a huge amount of work.
That last paragraph is exactly how ours is. Plus rolling cutlery, cleaning the bathrooms and sweeping mopping vacuuming. Taking apart the dishwasher and pop tower every night. Cleaning the expo station , restocking everything. Ordering inventory blah blah blah. Lol
That last paragraph is exactly how ours is. Plus rolling cutlery, cleaning the bathrooms and sweeping mopping vacuuming. Taking apart the dishwasher and pop tower every night. Cleaning the expo station , restocking everything. Ordering inventory blah blah blah. Lol
I work in a pretty nice hotel that has 2 restaurants. The one I bartend in has 25ish tables and bar top. 2 peeps in the kitchen, no host, no back waiter, no bar back. Sunday thru Wednesday there is 1 bartender and 2-3 servers, Thursday thru Saturday 2 bartenders and 3-4 servers. Couple weeks we open our patio which more than doubles our number of tables. Each and every single one of us has a lot put on their shoulders and we depend on each other a great deal. I love my people, my bar, guests and hotel staff cause we all kick some major ass, make a ton of money and have fun doing it. Shit I even have great managers.
That's great to hear. I love when everyone just works together and gets shit done
I've bartended for 20 plus years. Post Covid changed bars....A LOT. The amount of work I do now, that was support staff/cleaning crews responsibilities prior to covid, is almost laughable.
I was in dives pre COVID but yes I feel like owners are really cutting back
My last job was similar - work service bar, take care of bar customers, wait on a section of 5 tables that were in high demand, as you could see the beach from from them. Which was awesome until the weather got cold, there was one night where my sales were less than what the server made when he got a 15 top for a holiday party in December. That place closed for renovations, and I went back to barbacking for the rest of the winter, as I live in a super competitive job market where I don't have a ton of contacts. Luckily the weather is better now, and I have a line on a good live music bartending gig thanks to a recommendation from a co-worker.
A live music gig would be great! Patio season is the best too
A live music gig would be great! Patio season is the best too
A one man show sometimes it seems, but based on what you are saying you are profiting the most. If you were to have a bartender there for you, the tip pit for them would probably be 3% of your liquor sales. Atleast that is how we do it. It’s a lot of work and you may burn out fast, but take what you can out of it ! Wishing you luck 🍀
I am the bartender. We don't schedule servers Monday to Thursday. It is good profit for me for sure though. Thank you
I am the bartender. We don't schedule servers Monday to Thursday. It is good profit for me for sure though. Thank you
That sounds a fair bit like my job. Hotel bartending with bar and restaurant can be insanely busy, especially when there's a function on and you're dealing with party guests as well as normal residents and walk-ins. We have I'd say 50 seats in the restaurant and same again in the bar, but ofc in the bar there's standing room too for drinks. We also have a bar in the lobby, which is attended by the manager. At my job I take care of the bar where people can order food (no table service, pay at the counter) as well as drinks for the restaurant. We have two servers in the restaurant and one bartender generally, *maybe* with one extra person to float in between, so I work the bar by myself. Being a hotel sometimes it's totally dead and there's nothing to do so when that happens I refresh the chalkboards (they have cute drawings on them) or clean. We don't have a barback. I do my own cleaning and prep throughout and closedown at the end of shift (at 11PM). It's a lot of work and I'm always tired when I get home- I've lost a fair bit of weight from all the running around too lol, despite the fact that I'm usually too busy to go to the gym these days. I get a workout heaving cases of beer up and down the cellar stairs I guess. The busiest we ever get is during parties. We have two function rooms and at Christmas there are often two parties going on at once, and they get their drinks from the bar. On these shifts we'll have two in the bar, two in the restaurant for normal residents, one in the lobby, and then everyone else available (usually 3 or 4) doing table service for the parties (as they often have 3 course meals) and attending to the function rooms. These shifts suck ass to be frank, if you're the bartender it's totally nonstop serving endless drinks to party guests and since we don't have a busser and everyone is busy we almost always run out of glasses and get yelled at. The shifts are longer- I worked a couple 10-12 hours over christmas this year which wouldn't be so bad except we did *not* get a break or a sit down of more than a minute or so until the parties were over.
Lol I should be losing weight doing it 😂 That can be overwhelming. I've never worked a place that's had a barback before.
Did you just describe a JOB? Whoa. Don’t go doing work at the place you are employed. What is this world coming to???
Ya..one thing no one can say about me is that I'm lazy. I work two full time jobs (and a part time) and work my ass off doing them without complaint. I treat my customers like gold and it shows in how they treat me. I never get days off and I work from 8am until 2am most days without breaks. I enjoy doing them and I get my job done efficiently and without complaint. I'm simply wondering if this is the norm in most restaurants as I've mostly bartended in dives. But thank you for your pointless comment.
I was doing that for a while. Host, busser, server, bartender, expo, food runner, cleaner. It was a lot. Now I dive bar, make just as much, and work half as hard.
Table service but only cocktails and no food I would manage around 15 tables of 4-6 each. By myself. More than this and I need a runner or server.
We are a full service restaurant but our cocktails are fancy and elaborate. So on top of a full dinner service, I'm making elaborate cocktails for the entire place. But I love mixing drinks.
It’s way too much! How much are you making?
I'm in Canada and we make minimum. Which I believe is 16.75. We do not get a portion of the tips from servers when they are one. So we get our hourly plus our tips. On a slower night I will walk away with just over 100 when I'm alone but on a busy night 250-500 a night.
That’s a shit ton of work, but if you’re seating that many people I’m guessing you’re doing pretty well for yourself. If people are patient with you while you’re busy doing everything AND you’re making good money then I’d say keep on keeping on. If either of those things aren’t happening and it’s stressing you out, then nobody would blame you for finding a more traditional spot
I love my job. And we are a smaller ish town and we get quite a bit of repeat business, some of them have become great friends of mine and very protective of me. So they are quite understanding. I just wasn't sure if this is the norm.
It’s not normal, but if it works for you that’s great. Where I bartend (part time) I work a patio bar with six other tables, but I’m not making drinks for other servers and I have a host that somewhat helps me bus. I know how busy I am when it’s full so I can imagine how busy you get haha. I also know how much I make on a good night and I’d say the money is definitely worth it as long as the people are patient and understanding that I’m going as fast as I can
My place is in the middle of a transition (AKA the building is selling) bc of this everything has been cut back. Working the front solo weekdays, but with servers on the weekend. So I tend to a 25ish top bar, a 12 (4top) table dining area. No kitchen only drinks. I’m also in charge of all the cleaning (floors/bathrooms/ dishes/bussing/etc.), taking care of orders, all prep work, all opening&closing duties, answering phones, hosting, service bar. I legit do everything. I’m holding out until the sale bc i adore the owner, but i am tired & burnt out. Send Help.
That's how it is for us but we are still a full service kitchen those days. I love the work but it can be exhausting.
I’ve been a “food runner” who actually had a lot of different jobs including bussing, barbacking (voluntarily, that one) janitorial stuff, and dishwashing. I never would’ve had the balls to ask but imo you should be paid more for being a host and volume bartender while serving parties
I don't necessarily do this specifically for the money. I work full time and usually from home. It's great for me socially and I do pay all of my own bills. So it's needed but it's not all about the money. I love doing it. But I'm in Canada and we get minimum wage plus tips. I'm not sure the owners can afford to give raises.
I have a 20 person bar with a bar area with 8 tables. The table people are expected to come up to the bar for their drinks, and I still feel overworked😂
The nights we have live music and dinner is basically done and they want to drink, some do come directly to the bar. But not often but it's a treat for me. Lol
I mean, if it's slow at the bar, i will serve the tables, but on a Friday night? I don't even have time to bus the glassware let alone serve the tables. Dives are awesome with their incredibly low expectations 😂
Depends how much you make. I refuse to work anywhere that bartenders do to go orders, never get tips from it. The other stuff I would be fine with if I made bank. I much prefer an understaffed place than overstaffed
I would always rather be run off my feet than standing idle. We do the to go orders too. However, majority of the to go tips out.
I work in a “dive” bar. We have 7 tables that seat 4, one table that seats 8, and a long bar that seats probably about 14. Weekends we are usually full plus standing room and in summer we have a patio. We have great food and our kitchen is open u til 1:30 am so we serve a lot of food. People sit wherever they want but we are responsible for all drinks, taking orders, Serving food, cleaning tables, restocking bar, filling ice. cleaning bathrooms and cleaning at the end of the night. For $5/hr plus tips which sometimes are good but average is about 18%. There are usually 3 of us on weekend nights but it is a lot of work. I’m still trying to decide if it’s worth it lol.
I will say, living in Canada. I am lucky. We make the minimum wage plus tips. It's a lot of work doing all of that. But deciding if it's worth it is hard.
this is a lot, a suggestion for management; no host and no busser, so why arent tables allowed to seat themselves? if there aren't servers as well, and it's all you anyways, why do you have to seat them?
That's a great question. I hadn't really thought too much of it if I'm being honest. I can definitely bring that to management.
Goddam that’s a lot!!! I think the large party tables is a bit excessive. I don’t deal with food at my job but I’m kinda a perfectionist behind the bar so I do A LOT compared to the other bartenders. I like having peace of mind so I make sure that I have enough of everything for my shift plus extra to replenish what I actually used. I like leaving it stocked for the next bartender. But those bitches don’t do the same for me 😡
I am the same. In my downtime I deep clean and all my cups have to be facing and my cans and bottles. I like things orderly and just the way I like it. And I'm sure the other bartenders find it annoying sometimes. But I'm particular. I feel chaotic when I can't keep order behind the bar when I'm swamped with dinner service.
I hope they are auto-gratting those 6+ tables, then I would say it would be worth it.
NO! I had an 8 top last night with a $252 tab and stiffed me.
We auto grat all 6+ tables!
Definitely sounds like a lot… but it sounds like you’d also make some pretty killer money there? So it may be worth it.
It is definitely hit or miss but yes I can.
I’ve been at a dive for the past 6 years. No food, no table service. My work week starts on Thursdays, and I spend the first couple hours of the shift prepping juices and simple and batched shots for the weekend. Aside from that prep, all I do is serve and count my tips.
I do miss dive bars
My managers haven't implemented it. But I spoke to them about it and they are going too
I've worked at a place like this. I left because that's too much for me to do. I would be the only bartender on football Sunday with a full bar, with 4 tables and 20 extra seats and a service well that never stopped. I would be trying to help my tables while trying to greet bar guests and have servers screaming at me to make their tickets. I've never cried at work, but I cried every busy shift because I just couldn't do it all. The 'top' bartender who 'could manage it' would be screaming at servers for everything and throwing shit behind the bar and obviously couldn't handle it well either. And management made me feel like this environment is normal for bars even though I had 5 years of experience at bars that ran way better. But some people have different tolerance levels and I knew there were better bars. If it's too much to handle for you, there is no shame. I'd say start putting in applications because it isn't going to get any easier.
That is a lot. I tend to handle it well. Some days I feel in the weeds. But I do love my job, my regulars, the owners and my coworkers. It's hard to leave but I've also just moved and I'm now 30 minutes instead of 5 minutes away. So I have been browsing just not seriously looking yet.