Restaurant Bartender: How to Choose One for Your Restaurant?
Have you ever heard people comparing the hiring process to the fickle world of dating? If you do it properly, you will end up finding the ultimate happiness, but if you make the wrong choice, you will end up having a broken heart!
If you think about this comparison a bit more carefully, you will see that it is true. The only difference is that over time your heart will heal if you choose the wrong person romantically, but if you choose the wrong person to hire for your business, you will have quite a few problems that time will not heal. Not only will you have to start looking for a new hire, but you will also have to deal with all expenses a bad hire leaves behind.
Having the right restaurant bartender is one of the must-haves in each and every restaurant. This is the person who has to have the right attitude towards customers, who will be friendly and approachable, and who knows how to make the best cocktails and who can do it quickly and efficiently as well. Yes, this may not sound like it is too much to ask from a restaurant bartender, but it is. There are quite a few restaurants and bars in every town, so finding a good restaurant bartender may seem like a mission impossible – since all the good ones are already hired. But don’t sank to the depths of despair just yet! You too can choose and hire a great restaurant bartender if you just follow these simple steps. So let’s begin!
Observe their interpersonal skills
Once you go through all applications, and you choose those that seem interesting and qualified for the job of being a restaurant bartender, you will start interviewing them. The first thing you need to pay attention to is to check their people skills. This can be easily done by just observing how they behave when you are interviewing them. Do they make eye contact while they talk? Do they have a sense of humor? Are they comfortable when they meet new people? Do they leave a good first impression?
These are all the questions that only you can answer when interviewing them by observing them and noting down everything you notice. And once you are satisfied with what you see, you can move on to the next step.
Test their ability to learn and work quickly
No one wants to spend hours waiting to be served. This is the reason why it is important that your restaurant bartender is able to mix drinks quickly. Luckily for you, this is something that you can test rather quickly. Just ask them to make you a drink or two.
Another benefit of this type of test is to check how many drinks and cocktails they know how to make – because a restaurant bartender has to know how to make as many cocktails as possible.
However, you should know that no restaurant bartender knows how to make all the cocktails in the world. Yes, they have to know quite a lot, but they should be able to learn quickly as well. For example, let’s imagine that a customer comes to your restaurant and that they want a cocktail that is brand new. Your restaurant bartender will have to learn how to do it quickly, so it is not a bad idea to test this as well at the interview.
Patience and cheerfulness are a must
Imagine walking into a restaurant and a bartender seems annoyed that you want to order something. Who would want to visit such a restaurant again?
Cheerfulness and patience are must-have traits for a restaurant bartender. They have to be welcoming and encouraging, so customers can order drinks and enjoy while doing that.
Finding the right restaurant bartender is not something you should do lightly. You should invest enough time to interview all candidates properly if you want to hire the best restaurant bartender. Find out if they know how to make a variety of cocktails, if they are able to learn new ones quickly and whether they are cheerful and patient while talking to others. Only in this way will you be able to hire the right restaurant bartender.