Recognizing that the best-stocked bar and most-creative cocktail list are for naught without a skilled and motivated hand to sell them, some restaurant and hotel operators are placing a renewed emphasis on bartender training and incentives. Among the methods they're using are cocktail recipe contests, skill competitions and incentive programs that boost morale as well as professionalism.
Indeed, bartenders are called upon to have more knowledge and skills than ever before. Today's bar scene is characterized by increasingly complex cocktails, made with a growing array of fresh, global ingredients and by using manual techniques like muddling and shaking. Then add to that the plethora of international wines and beers that bartenders are expected to master.
Underscoring the need for product knowledge is a recent survey of bartenders by the Adult Beverage Insights Group of the Chicago-based Technomic consulting company. The survey found that bartenders have a greater influence on customers' drink choice than the combined influence of advertising, displays and other promotional efforts.
Enhanced bar training, incentives and in-house competition are the hallmarks of Year of the Bar, a newly launched internal beverage campaign at Bennigan's Grill & Tavern. It debuted this spring at the 310-unit Metromedia Restaurant Group casual-dining chain, based in Plano, Texas. It's designed to build upon the momentum of last year's "back to basics" bar program, which hiked the chain's beverage sales percentage by 2 percentage points, according to Bennigan's executive vice president and chief concept officer Clay Dover.
With Year of the Bar, the company hopes to energize its bartenders through new training and incentives. "Our unofficial position is that we want to turn our bartenders into rock stars," said Dover. "They're our greatest marketing assets."
Every two months Bennigan's bartenders will take a certification test on spirits, wine or beer service and knowledge. "After six months, we'll do it again, so there's a double hit," said Dover. A training team travels from store to store to assist. "This training is not about flair bartending, flipping bottles and doing tricks," noted Dover. "It's about pouring accuracy, recipe knowledge, understanding our brands and upselling."
Dover pointed out that despite bartenders' importance to bar success, often they're overlooked by restaurant incentive programs. "As an industry, we do a good job of recognizing the general managers who run these places and also our servers, who have sales contests," said Dover. "But bartenders are often excluded because they aren't part of management or they don't sell enough food items."
Bennigan's remedy is to engage bartenders in competitions to win recognition and prizes. A new drink recipe contest is designed as an incentive for bartenders as well as a way to tap their creativity. When the company uses a bartender's suggested original recipe in a drink promotion, it will credit the creator and award a $500 cash prize. "We're motivating a group that is key to the culture and excitement of the restaurant," said Dover.
In addition, Bennigan's best bartenders will strut their stuff in new regional and national bartending competitions. A final field of 12 entrants, drawn from semifinal competitions across the chain, will travel to Dallas next year to compete for the prize of a vacation trip. The winner will be chosen on the basis of product knowledge, pouring accuracy, speed of service and speed and accuracy of using the point-of-sales system, plus a written test. Product knowledge is particularly important. "Customers expect our bartenders to know, for example, the difference between a pale ale and a Winterfest brew," said Dover.
Also a hit with Bennigan's bartenders is the set of business cards they've been given to hand out at the bar, adding a further touch of professionalism. "We're starting to build regular clientele for these bartenders," said Dover.
Also delving into the medium of competition to generate new cocktail ideas and enhance bartender professionalism is Hilton Hotel Corp. This month the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based hotel company is staging its first-ever Top Bar Chef competition at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. Six of the best bartenders from Hilton and Doubletree properties will vie against each other in tests of cocktail design, presentation and use of exotic and international flavors. The winner, chosen by a panel of celebrity judges, will receive a vacation trip to the Hilton Caribe in San Juan, Puerto Rico, home of the pina colada. "This fun and challenging competition will help us create exotic new cocktail offerings for our hotels," said Meredith Quarnstrom, Hilton vice president of food and beverage.
