Bar Future Imperfect
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Angus Winchester on the development of the bar industry and the importance of refocusing on what hospitality is really about.
It is undeniable that the Bartending profession is in vogue right now and that it seems that finally our time for recognition is close. The current generation of bartenders is more technically proficient than it has ever been with not just proper techniques entrenched but also new tools and techniques being introduced regularly. The knowledge of the current crop of bartenders in unparalleled with almost master sommelier-like understanding of how history, production and even terroir makes a product unique and desirable. And the passion shown by our mixologists of today is amazing and is regularly commented on by guests and reviewers alike. While we may still be low paid the idea of the modern professional bartender is no longer considered low skilled.
Broader Recognition of the Industry
One of the most obvious recognitions of this is the recent Netflix show “Drink Masters”. In it 10 of the ‘nation’s top mixologists’ battled to win challenges and wow an expert and credible panel of judges and one, LP Taylor walked away with a $100K prize. We cheered on our friends and also cheered the fact that our industry had gotten its own show and no doubt took notes from their efforts to help us create such amazing drinks in the future. It is also the obvious next step as more and more of our industry look at their work as a culinary art and predictions about closer engagement with chefs continue to feature in articles.
Finding the right Balance
Yet as with a great cocktail the key is balance. What all our improvements in technique and knowledge and passion do is help enhance what we sell yet we cannot be too focussed on what we sell and loose site of how and why we sell it. What Netflix did was shine a spotlight on the bartender and the amazing products they create but ignored the third part of the triptych and perhaps the most important one – the guest. And if we lose sight of the ‘why’ we do such amazing work – to make the guest in front of us feel better – then we run the risk of creating a dichotomy in our industry. Much in the same way that Michelin starred restaurants do mind blowing food but are not every-day places so we are perhaps creating bars that people go to for the drinks and not for the social aspect.
Refocus on the Ideas of Hospitality
I have been vocal is suggesting that we need to refocus on – or at least remember – the ideas of hospitality: making the guest feel comfortable, welcome, important and understood. To that end, I am spending more time investigating Customer Experience to give my team the tools and ideas they need to give balance to the whole transaction. Books like “Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Guidara and speakers like John Di Julius are awesome places to start but we need to focus on some of the creative energy our youngest members are showing into finding memorable solutions to everyday occurrences that happen in all of our bars regularly. We need to focus on our servers and hosts as much as our drink makers and ensure they have the training and skills that us Sultans of Shake have been given via brand ambassadors, cocktail competitions and books/magazine and tradeshows.
The Core of our Job
This is not a new idea. One of my favourite quotes to start education sessions is from OH Byron from 1886 - “An inquiry about how the beverage is desired; a suggestion as to how it could be made; a pleasant observation. All of these are as likely to secure a guest as the finest drink one can set before them”. And while our attentions spans decrease and we become increasingly obsessed with the bright and shiny and new and trends setting we must keep in mind and in sight that our real job is not to make drinks and serve drinks but to serve people and make them feel good. It’s simple but it’s not easy and we need to work on it just as hard as we do on our drinks and our social media profiles.
