This all ties together eventually. So I'm just going to start writing and see where it takes me. I'm a bit prone to getting wound up easily, preoccupied and overthinking things. Always have, it's just a fun bit of being me.
But. I found a really interesting trick years ago, that actually took until this year to work out what I was actually doing to deal with this, and just be in the moment on shift and dealing with whatever mess is thrown at you.
(In the course of your career in bars, there will be a substantial number of weird and wonderful messes thrown at you that no-one in a reasonable mind could ever expect to deal with it. It's not a job for everyone, but it's always interesting is what I like to say.)
The trick is remarkably simple, and it's called prep (short for preparation, in case you hadn't worked that out). It ties together a lot of different things, but the basic idea is, by doing the little things you can ahead of time to avoid having to deal with them in the middle of service - and this can be something as tiny as running out of lime wedges, it allows you to deal with the bigger curve balls you get so much easier, and as you've already problem-solved those other things, your brain is in a more calculating, receptive mood to deal with these new issues, and you solve them better than you would have without having done this.
There's a couple of ideas I'll highlight here, and then I'll go into what I do and what works great for me and hopefully you can get some good out of them too.
0. Flow - This isn't even number one, because it's that fundamental and basic, but it needs to be said. On a busy night, you want to spend as much time as possible in the flow - working at your best, without minor interruptions. Naturally moving from one task to the next in a fluid and natural way. If you can do this, and do it well, the night becomes a joy, especially if your whole team fall into the flow, which I've talked about before here. You'll be at your absolute best, you'll be happier in your job and your tips will skyrocket. Trust me.
1. 'Work smart, not hard' - one of my dad's favourite sayings, and a fantastic piece of advice. Not the not-working-hard bit, but working smart - are you going to the fridge to grab one bottle of wine? Why not anticipate that you'll probably need a few more if this one's at selling out point already, or why not check to see if anything else is running down and you'll need to pop back to the cold room in five minutes time?
I take this approach in work constantly- If I'm dropping drinks to a table, I try to be perceptive of what is happening on the other tables around that one - is there dishes I could lift on the way back to save me a trip later? Can I push another bottle of wine on the party beside them and up sales (and hopefully tips) for the night? Do I wash one tray of dishes, wait, unload them and put another tray on after, or do I put on a tray, go do a run of the floor for more dishes, then lift out that tray, stick another one and load it so I can actually clear two trays (and half the floor) of dishes in the same amount of time? Batching is a big part of this, as is the four foot-rule, but we'll touch on them below. Long story short, make sure you're making the most of your time. A good barman is never doing just one job, never just using one hand, and never standing looking something to do.
2. Filling the Well - In the Artist's Way, Julia Cameron speaks at length about 'filling the well' - by doing small, repetitive, but functional things - dishes, ironing, hoovering, we are focusing on these tasks on only a functional level, which allows our brain to get on with other things - working its way through a problem, considering the best way to create a new cocktail or just tying together things that have been bouncing around your head for days into a cohesive thought. The best way I can put it is like a computer, running an install application then switching out to something else- scrolling through FB or instagram, writing a piece for your blog (self-referential pun!). You just get on with other stuff and leave your brain to do the work in the background. This is an amazingly powerful tool, which has served me for years without realising it. An hour's prep work at the start of a big shift calms the mind, allows you to bring yourself to a place where you're ready to deal with the madness of a busy night ahead.
3. Prep is King- basically, as stated above, the more you can do in advance to anticipate little problems, the easier you'll find it to deal with anything else that pops up naturally during the course of the night. Think during shift about what takes the most time, and if there's anything you can be doing to shave that time - moving a most-used spirit bottle closer to hand, rearranging bar tools so what you use most is right there. A lot of this is about dopey little things that probably seem beneath your attention, but consider this - if you have to stop everything you're doing, and thus breaking the flow, eight times a shift to chop limes for two minutes, that's sixteen minutes you're taking yourself out of service (and losing tips). If you've spent five or ten minutes batching all your limes for the night pre-shift (you'll find if you're doing this as a bulk exercise you'll get very efficient and very speedy at doing these tasks very quickly), that's you already ahead of yourself.
4. Use Your Downtime Wisely - Rather than wait for the spirits on your speed rail to finish, top them up when you get two minutes to yourself to save you having to do it mid-cocktail. Stock when you can, rather than wait to have to jump into the cold room mid-order.
5. Lists are your Friends - spend an hour some afternoon before work going through everything you do in a given night. Find out for yourself where you're wasting time, what 5 things you can look at doing to improve your speed of service, then give them a go. They're not all going to work, but keep trying, and keep writing and trying new things.
Write an entire list of everything you need for a busy shift - spirits, fruit, shakers. Then bring that list in, time yourself doing everything you can in advance of that night, and work week by week to optimize and improve this to make your night's work easier.
6. Home, or Mise-en-Place - everything on your bar has a Home, which chefs are known to call their Mise. That's where it gets put back after being used, be it a shaker, a bottle or even where your bin is. If everything is kept in one place, after a while (quicker than you think probably) you stop thinking about where it is, and you start working by muscle memory - putting your hand to a shaker or a mixing glass without even looking, just intrinsically knowing where it is. Doing this effortlessly, you're allowing yourself to be part of the flow, without even thought being required- this speeds up your service noticeably over the night, and looks cool as hell. Tips ahoy.
So, batching can be several things really, but the main concept is what can I do in BULK to speed up my night? Fruit's the easiest one - if you can spend an hour before shift cutting all your fruit, having all your garnishes ready to go, fruit juices at home, you're basically shaving time off every time you have to stop and do an individual garnish for a drink. Now, some places, and some managers I've had, will spend five minutes individually crafting the perfect garnish for a drink while prepping the drink itself, but as a personal rule, if the time it takes to make your drink takes less time than it does to make your garnish and presentation right, you're not making a drink, you're making a statement. And that statement is your time is more valuable than your guests. Don't be that kind of bartender.
Some fast-paced bars I've worked, and for several events, it's sometimes even worth premixing a handful of your spirits into a couple of empty wine bottles with speed pourers in them. If you're going to be doing 100 espresso martinis in a night, you could definitely save yourself some time by having your vodka and Kahlua premixed. Get the biggest jug you can find from the kitchen, work out your ratios to bulk your drinks up to a factor of 10 or 15 or whatever's appropriate, mix it all up then pour it into your empty bottles. Now, every time you get this drink, instead of measuring 35ml vodka and 15ml Kahlua (for example), you pour a 50ml measure of your premix, throw in your espresso and sugar, and shake. Well done, you've probably saved yourself ten minutes over the course of a shift!
There's an interesting trick tied to batching I discovered through the Death & Co. book (my holy bible, included in this article *following shortly), and that's cheater bottles. For spirits you use a lot during the night, but in no great volumes - 5-10ml each time - get yourself a ton of small bottles, called cheaters - there are specific ones you can buy through suppliers that are classy as anything, but if you can get yourself a case of empty tonic water bottles (especially those premium tonic bottles), stick them through the dishwasher, strip the labels of them, mark them up and stick a speed pourer in each one you'll find they do just as well. Basically, get all these oft-used spirits into these bottles, and stick them at the front of your service station - having them right there in front of you, especially if they're marked up well (I'm a big fan of using coloured elastic bands to make the distinction between one and the next), you're saving yourself a massive amount of time on any given night. Just keep them clean and well-stocked shift-to shift, and the difference you'll find will be massive. This is the absolute essence of Working smart, not hard.
Well, this is going to be a long and involved subject, so I'm going to finish up at his point for now rather than throw too much information at you at once. As always, take what you need from this, not everything's going to be useful to everyone, but you may find tricks here that work for you or inspire you to try something different again that works for you.
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