Is Bartending a good job? Explore the Pros and Cons with Jameson’s Expert Bartender, Oisin Davis
Whether you just want to be a pint jockey or a fully knighted, whiskey warrior – there are a multitude of opportunities available in the modern bartending world. Like any kind of employment though, there are pros and cons to the job and navigating the industry’s wild waters takes a certain degree of fortitude.
Throughout my many decades of battling it out in the hospitality & drinks industries, not only have I somehow managed to learn a few things about bartending, but I can still remember them too. So if you have a few minutes and would like to read some of my ramblings, stick with me for a bit.
Bartending as a career will fill your life with all kinds of high octane thrills. There is an addictive magic to be enjoyed when you’re behind the bar with the music pulsing, the atmosphere is just right and you and your crew are watching your customers have the time of their lives. Quite often those same customers will also become friends, before you know it the bar becomes a second home. And embracing mixology will open up a whole new world of understanding how flavour and culinary creativity both work.
What Skills are Required for Bartending?
Of course, it all starts with skills. Usually the best bartenders I’ve worked with have the right balance between hard and soft skills.
Traditionally, hard skills would encompass the areas that someone more senior could teach, such as cash handling, drinks knowledge and mixing cocktails. The soft skills we were always told, you had to have innately – like customer service, patience and attention to detail. Thankfully, we now know that with proper management, all of these skills can indeed be taught. More importantly, if you’re starting off as a bartender and these skills aren’t being shared with you, your superiors are failing you.
The Benefits & Pros of Being a Bartender
Once those skills have been mastered, there is no end to the possibilities that await you. Demand is always high for solid bartenders and the earning potential is great, whether you’re in it for life or it’s just a side hustle. This is because cocktails have a huge margin and they are a nice way for a bar to celebrate their own concept or identity. Being able to mix cocktails at a high level will ensure that the bar you work in can obtain a strong revenue, all while bringing better tips for you and allowing both you and the establishment to remain special. Keeping that up will usually take you into the peripherals of the drinks brands and that’s where it can get very interesting.
My first engagement with a brand saw me mixing up Cosmopolitans in a high end women’s department store on Saturday afternoons – not quite the rockstar bartender image we always want to project but it was easy money! That in turn got me further consultations to help out other brands and bars with their cocktail development and training. By then the era of cocktail competitions was in full swing. I won a national contest that flew me to New York to attend the highly sought after and extremely intensive Bar 5 program. My time there gave me the confidence and the know how to start my own full time consultancy company and I most certainly have not looked back since. Other bartenders I know that have won cocktail competitions have gone on to a variety of different things, whether it’s opening up their own bar to taking on a brand ambassador role. Now that’s not to say that as soon as you win a competition your whole world changes, but it does give you an upper hand and you should always make the most of it. Just keep in mind though, you’ve gotta get stuck in first. You can’t win anything by just spectating.
The Cons You Need To Know About Bartending
Naturally, bartending isn’t always plain sailing. Stress can hit you from every potential angle. I asked a few of my bartender mates what the most stressful elements of their jobs were and they literally all said the same thing: Dealing with difficult customers, trying to work a busy shift when you’re short staffed and the erratic and often long hours. How you deal with all of that will make or break your career. In my earliest years of working full time in hospitality, within about a month, I surmised that there were two different types of bartenders: the healthy ones and their unhealthy counterparts. From what I can see around me these days, nothing much has changed. Here’s the easiest way I can describe their differences.
A day in the life of a healthy bartender will see them up at a sociable hour and maybe after a half decent breakfast they’ll take in some exercise or hang out with a friend for a coffee or a meal before their shift. While on a staff break during work, they’ll be chowing down on a home cooked meal they brought in with them. At the end of the night, they might have the one post work drink before heading home to chill for an hour or two so that they can get a decent night’s sleep.
While a day in the life of an unhealthy bartender will see them get out of bed an hour before work starts, sometimes when it’s already dark outside. Throughout the shift they’ll subsist on coffee & crisps before eventually wolfing down a pizza as their primary meal of the day. When they’re finished working, they’ll have a few drinks before heading off to a party, then arrive home very late to start the whole cycle again.
Now, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who enjoys partying more than I do, but when the post work bartender socializing gets to a point where you become a vampire who can’t handle the daylight and the only people you ever see are your co-workers – that’s unhealthy.
It can be very easy to find yourself in that kind of rut and if you do, make some changes. Because once you do, you’ll have a deeper appreciation of all the cool things that can come your way as a bartender.
Is Bartending a Good Side Hustle?
We tend to forget that very few jobs will allow you the chance to see the world while working or grant you access to the places where humanity’s greatest spirits have been created. And most importantly, the global bartending community is the most fun filled supremely loyal network on the planet. As a proud member myself, I know that not only can I call upon them if I have a friend or family member in their town who needs some local steerage, but if I ever require any advice or help with a work related matter – I have a potential legion of individuals who can assist with much valued consultation.
So, is bartending a good job? Too bloody right it is. It can gift you a remarkable life that you can sustain for as long as you want – provided of course you keep it all healthy while keeping ‘er lit!
About the writer
Oisín Davis is an award winning cocktail creator, spirits columnist and best selling author of, “Irish Kitchen Cocktails.” Through his company Great Irish Beverages, he has run nationwide drinks festivals, worked all around the world marketing Irish whiskey and manages publicity for some of Ireland’s most prestigious spirit brands. Along the way he’s also worked as a bouncer and a brand owner, the very embodiment of a life spent in the hospitality and drinks industries!
