4 Crucial Bartending Tips and Tricks to Impress Your Customers

If you’re a bartender, you not only need to care about making a well-crafted cocktail but also have to put effort into being more organised and conscious of your customer’s needs.

Sure, anyone can simply pour some vodka on ice and add some juice and an umbrella to call it a drink, but you need to focus on other aspects as well to become the best bartender in the business.

To help you with that, in this article, we won’t be focusing on drink-making suggestions but shed some light on bartending tips that are overlooked by many while running a crowded pub.

Let’s get started!

1. Keep Your Pub Clean

One thing that every bar needs to stay on top of is hygiene. However, many bartenders tend to ignore basic cleanliness factors like not wiping pools of liquor and beer creeping under the glasses, leaving unsealed juice containers unattended and not cleaning the dirty utensils in the sink.

Having said that, there are several simple solutions to these problems like adding beer mats to avoid little spillages on the table or being conscious of any residues on your bar.

Additionally, you should set up a neat and organised work area while making drinks to prevent any extra mess or waste. While you’re at it, make sure to keep your utensils clean and avoid any spillages by measuring your ingredients correctly.

Keeping your bar clean will not only leave a good impression on your customers but also encourage them to visit your place regularly, whenever they want to have a good time.

2. Don’t Mess with Something that Works

It’s easy for bartenders to keep tweaking and fine-tuning things until they can create the perfect drink. However, you might forget the original taste of your cocktails, as you continue to experiment and try out different variations you can add to them.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you should stop improving and testing drinks. In fact, experiments can sometimes help you come up with unique cocktail ideas that can make your pub stand out from the crowd. If you are looking for a way to improve your skills behind the bar, try an online local bartending school and take it to the next level. However, if your drinks sell well, you don’t need to make changes to your drinks because in the end of the day, you’re making these drinks to please the consumers.

Put simply, if you’re looking to find a way to improve the taste of your drink, you should always listen to customer feedback. For instance, if your customers ask for more water or soda in their mixed drink, it’s a sign that you are pouring too much.

Keep paying attention to small details like these, and it’ll help you improve your drinks and overall skills as a bartender.

3. Use the Best Glasses While Serving Drinks

A well-crafted cocktail not only appeals to your customer’s taste buds but to their eyes too. This means, while serving any drink, you need to choose the most suitable glass.

For instance, if you’re serving any mixed drinks that consist of lemonade or ice, it’s better to give it to your consumers in a Mason Jar. Likewise, if you’re making a tropical mixed drink, try adding a little flare to it by pouring it into a hollowed coconut and adding a tiny umbrella on top of it.

Sure, practising this will take a little time and effort, but your customers will see it as a bonus for their refreshing brew. On top of that, you can charge a little more for an intriguing drink presentation and you’ll have chances of getting additional tips.

Not only that, the use of fancy cocktail glasses has become crucial in today’s age, as customers love to take pictures of good-looking drinks and post them on social media. Doing so will not only help you get positive reviews but also promote your bar to other people without any additional cost.

4. Measure Your Drinks Properly

The common sentiment among bartenders is that “measuring your drinks is only done by trainees”. However, the truth is measuring should be done by bartending professionals to keep things on the bar in alignment.

For example, bringing out a set of jiggers and spoons might seem amateurish, but it shows how dedicated you are to making a perfectly mixed cocktail. What’s more, measuring drinks can help reduce additional liquor costs and prevent liquor waste, which is great for your bar.

To Sum Up

Bartending is an incredibly fun and entertaining job, as you get to interact with interesting people, making for intriguing stories to tell to your friends and family. However, it’s a tough profession and it requires practice and calculation to become an amazing bartender.

With these tips, you should be able to impress your customers while avoiding any rookie mistakes that might displease them. 

Now, go ahead and continue making drinks that will amaze your consumers!