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There are many traits, qualities, and characteristics to consider when hiring a bartender. Bartenders are often the faces of their businesses and the first point of contact with a business’s most important asset: customers. However, many food and drink entrepreneurs describe their most important assets as not the customers themselves, but how they’re interacted with. As a food industry HR professional, maximize your business’s customer service potential and productivity by hiring bartenders with the proper qualities. This is also essential if you want to start your own restaurant with a bar. Read on to discover the five best traits to consider when hiring bartenders.
Interpersonal Skills
Strong interpersonal skills are a great indicator of whether a bartender will excel in your establishment. Often, these skills make or break bars and restaurants in customers’ eyes. For example, there are many other places they can get drinks. But if your bartenders make them feel welcomed and at home, customers will come back. Evaluate applicants’ people skills during your interview by paying attention to their eye contact, sense of humor, and first impressions. Additionally, consider their attitude about the conversation and whether they like to meet new people. Surely, interpersonal skills help your bartenders provide a welcoming atmosphere that brings in customers.
Drink Knowledge
Extensive knowledge of drinks and alcohol in general is another trait of high-quality bartenders. Employing bartenders knowledgeable about common and uncommon drinks maximizes the quality of the customer experience. This way, bartenders can recommend specific food and drink pairings, or simply whatever;s popular. Often, these pairings and recommendations significantly increase customer satisfaction, increasing the likelihood they’ll come back and bring friends. Plus, knowledgeable employees often demonstrate some of the best habits of effective people and can train new hires. Absolutely, extensive drink knowledge allows your bartender to maximize the quality and value of the customer experience.
Handling Pressure
Staying calm and handling pressure well keeps your bartender from making mistakes. Since many things often go wrong in the food industry, even on slower nights, good bartenders should remain calm, assess the situation, and react appropriately. This way, the damage done to your business concerning service speed, quality, or money, is mitigated. Additionally, strong multitasking abilities often reduce the occurrence of these errors. Certainly, handling pressure well allows your bartenders to reduce the occurrence and severity of errors.
Heightened Awareness
Heightened awareness of their work environment is an additional trait of high-quality bartenders. It allows bartenders to anticipate small, service-disrupting issues, or opportunities to elevate a customer’s experience. During a busy service stretch, there are many happenings for bartenders to address before they become disruptive. For example, a customer may be ready to pay and put their credit card on the bar, and another might have a question about the menu. Additionally, most of the glasses have been used and therefore need to be washed. Any one of these innocuous events has the potential to disrupt service speed and quality. However, an aware bartender can remedy all these issues in a quick and efficient manner. Definitely, heightened awareness enables your bartender to keep the business running efficiently.
Enthusiasm For Learning
An enthusiasm and willingness for continued learning maximizes the quality of your bartenders. This is especially important for a new business startup as well. Continuing to learn about the craft increases knowledge, and therefore, the quality of their work. Additionally, an attitude of perpetual learning demonstrates a bartender or applicant’s quality as a worker. Help your applicants and bartenders with this by communicating a clear vision of what you want your business to be. Providing strong, high-quality training also helps. Of course, a willingness to continue learning demonstrates a high-quality work ethic in applicants.
There is a myriad of traits and characteristics to look for in bartenders. One such trait is interpersonal skills that provide a welcoming atmosphere to customers. Another is extensive knowledge of drinks and the menu, which allows bartenders to maximize the value and quality of the customer experience. Third, staying calm and chill under pressure reduces the occurrence and severity of service disruptions. Heightened awareness levels enable bartenders to keep running their bars efficiently. Finally, an enthusiasm for continued learning demonstrates a great work ethic in applicants and bartenders. When wondering about the best traits to consider when hiring bartenders, consider the traits described above.
