Bartending Courses Are Worth It
It’s no secret why the concept of bartending is so attractive. The sexiness of bartending brings thousands of people to bartending schools all across NYC to learn the art of the trade. However, many of these people associate the fun that they normally have at a bar to the profession, only to come to the hard realization that being behind a bar is much harder than sitting at one.
Experienced bartenders will tell you that the time it takes to become a master is ultimately worth it, but it depends on the level of dedication that you’re willing to commit.
While looking up bartending classes (and researching what it takes to get a bartending license in NYC) is a great place to start, it’s important to keep your endgame in mind. What you’re truly after is bartending experience. In many cases, bartending schools offer job placement assistance and practical skills that transfer over to a real-world bartending environment.
718.364.6700
The Skills Required to Be a Bartender
Becoming a bartender is about more than just learning how to mix drinks. In order to be a bartender, you need to understand people and be good at dealing with them, all while flawlessly maintaining their drink orders, handling their money, and keeping the bar clean. Bartenders have been known to say that their craft makes it feel like they’re doing three jobs at once, and they’re not wrong.
A good bartender knows:
- How to set up and break down the bar
- How to greet customers and take their orders
- The equipment and tools needed to make certain drinks
- How to prepare multiple drinks quickly and accurately
- Advanced money handling and tab tracking techniques
- How to deal with customers, even the intoxicated ones
- The importance of keeping bars, tables, and work areas clean
- To check identification to make sure patrons are of legal drinking age
- How to manage a bar and maintain liquor supplies
These skills don’t come naturally to anyone. Beginning bartenders and barbacks are often overwhelmed in their first couple of months, but, once they’ve worked the job into their muscle memory, it begins to feel like second nature.
Bartending Courses Build Experience
If you don’t already have bartending experience, you’ll be out of luck looking for bartending jobs, especially in NYC. It may seem unfair that experience should be needed for even entry-level bar jobs, but, when you consider the myriad of skills necessary to complete the job, it makes sense. Most bartenders work their way up in specific establishments, maybe going from busboy, to barback, before finally landing the coveted bartending job.
Restaurants, clubs, and bars are always on the lookout for skilled bartenders, and the best way to make it over that “no experience, no thank you” hump is to research cheap bartending schools in NYC that offer interactive learning to give students a “real” bar experience. This way, you’ll learn all of the best mixology and bartending techniques from a team of professionals and be guaranteed a certain number of hours of experience behind a “real” New York bar.