Staff Training
Whether you’re training new staff or continuing to educate existing staff, a well-organized system is a must to ensure a smooth training program. Laura Newman, 2018 World Class US Bartender of the Year shows you how to get new staff up and running while continuing the educate those seasoned staff members.
Talk Shop
As the owners of two bars, whenever we “talk shop” with other bar owners, a gripe that comes up over and over again is the difficulty of training new staff and continuing employee education for existing staff. We have found that by creating a highly structured framework of training systems, we are able to effectively and efficiently train new staff while simultaneously continuing the training and educating of our current employees. As in many other elements of our business, doing a great deal of organizing and planning on the back end means less work once we are actually implementing this programming.
When it comes to training new staff, structure is key. Providing all new staff members with extremely clear, updated, and easy-to-access training materials (as well as deadlines and expectations) during their new hire orientation is crucial for getting them up to speed as quickly as possible.
New Employees
All new employees, regardless of their experience or educational level, start in floor and support roles. As all our non-managerial staff - including those who have “graduated” to bartending - have at least one non-bar shift a week, it is vital that everyone is trained to do every role in the building. A common mantra among our staff is that everyone does everything – if you see a coworker struggling, you’re more able to help them if you know every element of how to do their job effectively. While new employees are getting settled in roles serving, barbacking, and doing prep, they are conducting independent study in preparation for required written tests; study materials are included in their orientation packet
One of the biggest hurdles that new staff need to overcome at our cocktail bar is memorizing the recipes for all the menu cocktails (there are currently over 60). Due to the fact that we are incredibly fast-paced, there is no time for bartenders to look up cocktail specs – so staff need to demonstrate that they have all the recipes memorized before they can be scheduled for bar shifts. All new staff are given access to a Quizlet deck containing the names, recipes, builds, glassware, and garnishes for all our menu cocktails. We have an established series of tests that staff must pass in order to become eligible for behind-the-bar training and a higher percentage of pooled tips.
Once staff begin their bar training, we have a clearly established set of roles and responsibilities for our managerial staff to spend time with them. Other bartenders do supplemental training during shifts, which includes bottle drills and recipe recitation. Our head bartender works with staff on their bar shifts until they are proficient behind the bar; finally, our beverage director works with staff to complete their final 5% or so of behind-the-bar training.
Beyond steps of service, drink-making technique, and where items live, we also have a very structured system of checklists and manuals for how to complete any job in either space. Every single role has an exhaustive opening and closing checklist that must be filled out, dated, and initialed at each shift. These checklists are contained in a binder that also has pages for well location maps, backup liquor shelf maps, and weekly side work checklists. In addition, our prep guides and recipes are laminated and in labeled binders at both bars; these binders are updated any time there is a new recipe or we decide to change prep pars.
Weekly Training
Once someone is fully trained behind both our bars, their training continues, albeit in a more general way. We recommend baking weekly training into your schedule. These trainings need to be mandatory in some form, or else you’ll develop two tiers of staff: those who are motivated to consistently attend trainings, and those who always come up with excuses for why they can’t attend. A challenge in hosting these weekly educational sessions is coming up with content – we sit down every few months to make lesson plans in advance, then set a calendar alert to come up with new plans once we’re almost done with the current list. Keeping a running note in your phone of lesson plan ideas helps shorten these lesson planning sessions. Educational sessions can also mean staff competitions – in speed or cocktail development – or bringing in a brand rep or industry luminary (or someone who can contribute to their professional development in other ways: we’ve brought in physical therapists, accountants, and consultants) to speak to the staff. While the current global pandemic has made travel and in-person meetings challenging, we have used Zoom to great effect, bringing in speakers who otherwise wouldn’t visit our small market, pandemic or not.
Research and Development
Research and development is another way that we encourage our staff to broaden their professional horizons. Group trips to local bars and breweries, either on our educational meeting days or on the semiannual group trips, are a great way for our staff to taste new cocktails and spirits, observe different methods of service, and hopefully learn some new techniques. Annual individual staff trips, another benefit we offer to full-time employees, are another time that we take staff members to bars and restaurants and afterward reflect on what worked for them and what didn’t.
We check our personal social media daily to get information on upcoming competitions or brand trips; we pass this information onto our staff in a timely manner and support staff with their applications, either by helping to proofread for grammatical and spelling errors or to taste competition-entry cocktails with them and offer critiques. Additionally, an employment benefit we offer is an educational reimbursement: we pay for any educational opportunities (trips, courses, etc.) that our staff are accepted to, as well as any associated travel costs. We’ve found that while staff may be initially hesitant to enter competitions or apply for trips and events, once they are admitted to and attend their first one, they’re hooked. These trips are not only great educational and networking opportunities, but they present a change of pace for our staff and make them even more enthusiastic about growing within the hospitality industry.
Coming in for weekly educational sessions does represent a couple of hours a week of our employees’ time, and we were initially hesitant to require this of our staff. And our training program is rigorous – we understand that many, and perhaps the majority of bartenders want to work somewhere where they can step behind the bar on day one.
However, we are extremely transparent with potential new hires that weekly meetings and an intense, structured training schedule are a requirement for employment at both our bars; this is part of what our employees sign up for when they choose to work for us, and their payment is the suite of benefits that we provide them. Fortunately, staff who choose to stay with our company after their 90-day probationary period are people who have totally bought into what we do and how we do it; they are enthusiastic and passionate about continually bettering themselves as beverage professionals.