4 Telltale Signs Your Bar Inventory is Taking You Too Long
Think your bar inventory might be taking too long? You’ll know after reading these four telltale signs:
A successful bar manager knows that efficient inventory management is crucial for maintaining a lucrative bar. However, taking bar inventory isn’t usually considered the most exciting task, especially if it means spending time in a cramped storage room trying to decipher your own scribbles. Every moment you spend taking bar inventory is time you could be spending on training staff, coming up with new cocktails or marketing your bar.
1. You’re manually looking up product prices
You’ve attempted to memorize most of your product prices. But if you forget, you have to dig through the papers in your desk drawer to check one of the price sheets. In order to learn about new discounts and sales, you wait for a phone call from one of you reps and jot down the info to revisit later.
If you’re doing your catalog look-ups manually, you’re spending too much time on your bar inventory. Instantly knowing up-to-date prices will help you take advantage of current discounts and make better-informed purchase decisions. Having a modern system means no more memorizing prices or having to manually looking them up.
2. You’re taking inventory with pen & paper
It’s 4:45 am and you’ve just spent what feels like 5 hours taking a 50-page handwritten inventory or navigating a crowded Excel spreadsheet. At this point, you’ve been locked away in the basement for so long, you’re wondering if you’ll ever again see the light of day. Sound like you? Although we commend your hard work, your inventory is taking too long. Doing it with pen and paper can take ages. It can also make it more difficult to look back at previous numbers to track and take advantage of trends and make it challenging to keep the optimal balance between running out of inventory or sitting on too much.
3. You’re calling up each individual rep
When it’s time to order new product, you find yourself sorting through Post-it notes trying to remember that one product your bartenders kept saying you were out of. You guesstimate how many bottles and cases you need and call up each of your reps to place your orders. If you’re going through these steps, your inventory is taking too long.
4. Your sitting inventory is collecting dust
If you’ve got thousands of dollars worth of inventory collecting dust on your shelves, then your inventory is probably taking you hours. The time you spend counting five weeks worth of inventory could be spent focusing on more important tasks that generate greater sales and profit for your business (and you could catch up on a few hours of sleep).
As a bar owner or manager, you might be thinking,
“If it works, why change things now?”
We’re not disagreeing with you. The same method you’ve used for the past 29 years probably works. However, that doesn’t mean it’s the most efficient system. To really be successful in this modern, digital age, a bar management system is crucial. That’s where BevSpot comes in to help you streamline your ordering, cut your inventory time in more than half, and get insights to reduce your sitting inventory. Ready to save money and use your time more efficiently? Schedule a demo with a product expert to see how we can help!
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Running a More Profitable Bar: 3 Actionable Steps to Boost your Beverage Program
Improving your bar with BevSpot
There’s no better time than the start of a new year to revamp your operations strategies behind the bar, and we want 2022 to be your most profitable year yet. That’s why we’re excited to announce the second in our series of BevSpot Tool-books: 3 Actionable Steps to Boost your Beverage Program.
Our first eBook, Tips and Tricks for Managing an Efficient Bar, helped you build a strong foundation in your knowledge of bar management. And now it’s time to take it to the next level.
By now, you’ve likely mastered the art of monitoring your usage calculations. However, have you figured out how to properly apply and compare those usage calculations within your products in order to build the most optimal product portfolio for your bar?
And you no doubt understand how sitting inventory can suck away bits and pieces of your bar’s profits, wasting time, money, and space. But what about specific inventory ordering tactics that can directly reduce your sitting inventory? By practicing these ordering techniques, you can immediately put more money back in your pocket. A little extra pocket money can be pretty helpful for some of those other business expenses that tend to come up on a daily basis.
As a Bar Manager, you already know how to calculate your pour costs and how important this calculation is. But since the goal here is to have the most profitable year yet, let’s delve even deeper into these pour cost calculations. What are the three factors affecting your pour costs and how can you improve them?
Our latest eBook digs into all these important concepts allowing you to take hard data and set out on actionable goals for the year.
Ready to make more money?
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2016 Beverage Industry Trends You Need to Know
Can you believe 2016 is here? Neither can we.
It’s been an exceptional year for the food and beverage industries. Craft breweries emerged on every corner, rye whiskey made a huge comeback, and diners were buried under offerings of fried chicken and waffles. 2015 was impressive and indulgent, but we couldn’t be more excited for the year to come.
It’s a constant struggle for restaurants and bars to stay on top of beverage industry trends, and 2016 is set to bring some interesting ones. So we spoke to our industry insiders about what to expect.
Here are our favorites.
Amaro and Herbal Liqueurs
Paulo Pereira, Beverage Director at Brass Union, gave us some insights into his predictions for this year. “In 2016, I see no slowdown with the popularity of amaro. From using it as a base spirit to using several varieties in a single cocktail, or even as a modifier, I see more and more bars utilizing this intriguing and versatile category of spirits. I think we could even see a rise in herbal liqueurs. I’ve been having fun playing with some of those recently, and I’ve had good feedback from guests and colleagues alike.”
Hard Cider
Just five years ago, cider had a (totally unfounded) bad reputation. Many American drinkers knew little about it and had probably never tasted it. In 2015, hard cider gained ground and identified itself as a serious contender for our favorite beverage. But this year, cider is poised to experience a full-blown revolution.
Wassail, in New York City, is leading the charge of this uprising with a whopping 16 ciders on tap and 120 bottled ciders on their beverage menu. Here, you’ll find cider variations from all over the world and the unlikeliest of places. Paired with a fine-dining, plant-based menu, Wassail offers an international flight of three for $15, and the staff provides extensive wisdom and answers to all your cider queries. We bet you’ll see more hard ciders on tap in restaurants and bars all over the country in 2016.
And this provides a nice transition to our next trend…
Tap It
Innovation is the word of 2016, and bars and restaurants are certainly tapping into that (sorry). Restaurants are focusing on their beverage programs and analyzing their efficiency, and, not surprisingly, beer won’t be the only thing on tap in 2016. Kegs full of wine and pre-batched cocktails will now be a staple at many establishments.
This is smart for many reasons. We all know how crucial time management is when running a bar, and tap-based cocktails can eliminate the wait involved with mixing popular drinks one by one. Installation costs may be high, but providing tapped wine saves money, reduces waste, and the process is generally better for the environment.
The only battle will be persuading patrons to tweak their perception of a proper beverage.
Sour Beer
The popularity of sour beer has been growing steadily for a while, and this year it’ll make a massive return among craft brewers. Despite the name, though, not every sour beer is sour—some are earthy, some are fruity, and others have merely a mild tartness. However, producing sour beers can be significantly more tedious than other craft blends, so don’t expect sour beers to completely flood the marketplace any time soon.
Russian River Brewing’s Supplication and Temptation sour brews have been popular for quite some time, and one of our personal favorites is a Flemish sour ale from Belgium, the Cuvée des Jacobins Rouge.
Hyper-Local and House-Made Everything
Consumers continue to demand more house-made and locally-sourced products, and the beverage industry is no exception. Restaurants and breweries are now introducing their own house-made sodas and carbonated beverages, such as ginger ales, root beers and hard soft drinks. Many are creating liquors and beverages infused with a range of flavors, like ginger and florals.
Thanks to all the locovores out there, we’re also seeing an ongoing demand for neighborhood collaborations and hyper-local sourcing, so we expect to see more joint efforts by local institutions when it comes to products, menus and even guest starring.
Gin Time
Whiskey had its moment in 2015, but gin will be leading the liquor pack this year. Barrel-aged gin, such as Grand Ten’s Wire Works, is on the rise, and in 2016 bartenders will become more creative with classic gin cocktails and flavors. According to Andrew Freeman & Co., we’ll see gins aged in whiskey, brandy or rum barrels to create flavor infusions “with tastes of botanicals and sweetened with hints of vanilla, maple, and brown sugar, creating a gin that is easy to sip and is the perfect complement in any number of cocktails.”
Coffee and Nitro
Sterling-Rice Group recently identified its top 10 culinary trends, naming coffee as one of the new innovations for beverage makers. Whether it’s coffee-infused cocktails or dry-hopped coffee on nitro tap, restaurants and bars are jumping on the trend. Establishments are installing nitro taps for both bean and beer, and breweries are experimenting with more coffee flavors than ever.
The collaboration we’re most excited about in 2016? Boston’s Gracenote Coffee Roasters are teaming up with Treehouse Brewing Company, a western Massachusetts brewer whose beer is proving more and more difficult to get our hands on. The pair just released a coffee stout called Double Shot, and we’re dying for a taste. Gracenote’s coffee was also recently added to the cocktail menu of one of our favorite Boston restaurants, Alden and Harlow. Think bourbon, lemon, maple, and Gracenote’s latest roast as an Alden and Harlow coffee liqueur.
Food and Cocktail Tasting Menus
Fine-dining restaurants around the country are continuing to pair full tasting menus with cocktail offerings, which is a testament to how far cocktails have come in the last few years. Cocktails-by-the-course programs have increased in popularity, but in 2016 we’ll see this exciting beverage trend really take off in the form of full tasting menus.
James Beard award-winning restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, offers its diners the option to choose between a wine pairing or something more adventurous, like seasonally-focused cocktails, to complement their menu. The bar managers work closely with the kitchen to make sure every pairing works. In 2016, we’ll see other restaurants catch on to this but in a more simplified way, offering ‘suggested’ cocktail pairings next to each of their menu items.
Back to Basics
All these new beverage trends are pretty exciting, but we’re also predicting one more: a return to simplicity. Over the last few years, we’ve seen some impressive innovations when it comes to specialty cocktails and beers, but some consumers are getting tired of products that take ingredients too far. Less is more when it comes to retaining the integrity of ingredients, so we’re expecting simple cocktails with high-quality, fresh ingredients on the horizon.
By now you can probably tell how psyched we are about 2016, which is why we’re serving up more smarter bars and restaurants with all of these tips!
Have any 2016 trend predictions of your own? Let us know in the comments!
3 Essential Tips for Becoming a Better Bar Manager
Becoming a Better Bar Manager
There’s that crazy period, the rush. Your brain is functioning at the speed of light and your hands are moving even faster. You’re trying to chat with the couple at the end of the bar while shaking several different drinks for a table of six. One of your staff members just walked out on their shift.
You’ve got three more hours until last call, and then the tedious clean up and inventory checks begin. Will you ever make it to bed? How will you get through this again tomorrow?
Whether you manage a high-end whiskey bar or a busy local pub, there’s more to successful bar management than pouring beer and balancing the cash register. We all know this, but often it’s difficult to implement new practices, even when we realize we need them.
These three simple tips should get you on your way to becoming a better bar manager.
1. Take Care of Your People
You’re managing a team, and your team is everything. They’re the product, the face of your business, and the links to ensuring your business runs smoothly. Here are some of the big ones:
- Taking the time to train new staff members is crucial, but explaining the importance of everything they do is even more so. Most staff don’t understand the reasons behind what they do, but their work is a central part of your profit and loss statement. So, by explaining this to them, they’ll feel more invested in the success of the business.
- Provide feedback in a constructive way, whether it be positive or negative. The ability to do this will build a solid foundation of skillful staff who feel comfortable in what they can do.
- Develop an effective rostering system. Determine how much help you need, who should be in what role, and avoid understaffing — this is when disasters happen. Using software like Find My Shift can help manage staff, balance spending and ensure schedule organization.
- Be available. Get to know your team and allow them time to speak with you if they need it. More importantly, let them know they’re welcome to.
- Outline regular goals and ask for your team’s input. You’ll be surprised at how helpful suggestions from the floor can be.
- Provide valuable incentives and rewards for good performance.
Basically, if you create a system that allows the staff do their job well, it’ll make yours a hell of a lot easier.
2. Keep Up With the Industry
We know you’re busy, but taking the time to observe industry trends is crucial. Reading blogs and websites, participating in forums, and even taking educational courses will help. Both the internet and the beverage industry community hold useful information that can improve some of the practices in your own bar. Reach out and you’ll learn a lot.
Staying on top of the latest marketing trends is also part of keeping up with industry practices. Creating an inventive cocktail menu and an inviting space is important, but knowing how to market them is, too. Maintain a presence on social media — it’s an easy way to create a buzz around your bar.
A successful bar manager should also keep up with tech. The bar management industry has made a lot of progress, but there are still a ton of products out there that will make your job a lot easier. New tech may seem pricey, but an overhaul of old software makes it worth it. Ancient cash registers, outdated sales systems, and a paper printout of the weekly roster are only going to slow down the rest of your business.
3. Control Your Inventory and How It’s Used
Efficient inventory management is one of the most difficult aspects of running a bar and is crucial for its success. We know because we’ve been there. We started Bevspot because we were fascinated by how many people still spend hours in the storeroom counting bottles on a piece of paper. Guys — it doesn’t have to be that hard!
There are several factors that determine your inventory usage. These include monitoring over-pour, calculating product margins and understanding product worth. For an easy formula to determine your own inventory usage, see our free Guide to Bar Management. Understanding your sitting inventory and regulating stock levels are also important aspects of inventory management.
We realize, however, that finding an easy way to do all of this in your own storeroom can seem impossible — too many bottles and not enough time. It may seem too complicated but gaining control of your inventory process will save you hours and cut your pour costs. It can be done. We created Bevspot to make it simple. Interested in seeing how it works? Get a live demo with one of our product specialists!
For more tips and tricks on successful bar management, head here.
Do you have any advice of your own? Let us know in the comments!
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4 Winter Cocktails to Try Now
Whether at home or out on the town, these are the drinks that will cure your seasonal blues:
Here we are approaching the end of December having had uncharacteristically high temps thus far this season. We may have enjoyed an outdoor tiki cocktail or summer beer a bit longer than we should have, but we know what’s coming. Soon come the days when we shall hibernate in our homes with our favorite bottles of whiskey, or venture out (not too far, of course) to our favorite neighborhood bars to sip on the winter cocktail drinks that make us feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Winter Spiced Apple Cider
Full of classic holiday flavors, who doesn’t want to sip on warm apple cider by the fire? An easy one to concoct at home (and a great batch cocktail for parties), but for our Bostonian readers, we’re encouraging you to venture out on a snowy night to 6B Lounge. Nestled on Boston’s Beacon Hill, the holiday lights and snow-covered cobblestone might just melt your heart before you even touch the homemade cider with spiced rum and a cinnamon sugar rim.
Sake
Sure, red wine is a reliable winter option that always does the trick, but why not try something different this year? Japanese rice wine opens a whole new world of sippable options to warm up the soul. Suited for a wide variety of flavor palettes, and with options to drink it hot or chilled, sake is an easy drink to pick up at most local liquor stores. Interested in ordering it out? An added bonus here is that sake is to delicious sushi what peas are to carrots. And for Bostonians and New Yorkers, O Ya is the mecca of both.
Don’t worry Chicago- we know you have sub-zero temps heading your way too. Roka Akor has you covered as one of Thrillist’s best oyster bars in Chicago, voted as a US top 10 sushi spot by Bon Apetit. And we know first-hand that their sake selection is quite impressive.
Holiday Hot Chocolate (Adult Style Please!)
This one probably goes without saying, but we can’t leave out the most classic winter beverage of all. There are certain treats that we carry over from childhood into our adult years, and holiday hot chocolates are definitely one of them. And this one’s pretty easy to spike. Obvious options include Bailey’s or XO Patron, but try getting creative with a spicy option like mezcal and chocolate bitters, or Grand Ten’s Fire Puncher Black.
Boston-area and DC natives can’t miss The Met’s Hot Chocolate Experience, featuring a flight of four miniature glasses boasting four distinct flavors, of course all available in upgraded “adult versions.”
The Scorched Earth Winter Cocktail
This one’s a little more intermediate for you at-home bartenders, but luckily, we’ve got the how-to video right here. The perfect balance of smokey and sweet, this is certain to be a go-to for all the Old Fashioned-lovers out there. And if you don’t have the tools to make it at home, Ward 8 is the perfect Boston bistro to sip on this delicious cocktail while watching the snowfall.
We know that these may not live up to the memories of lying on the beach with a margarita in hand, but there is something magical about this season too. Hopefully these drinks will help ease some of the negative effects of winter, and at the very least, keep you just a bit warmer. Cheers!
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The Journey of a Sommelier
I graduated from Berklee College of Music armed and ready for my next adventure, except I had no idea what it would be. Here’s what I did know:
- I loved working with people
- Collaboration was among my favorite aspects of my college education.
My next career move would need to encompass these two elements.
Stepping into the Restaurant Industry
The restaurant industry seemed like a great next step. I loved making people happy with my music, and I knew I could channel that same energy into the hospitality industry (and the steady paycheck was pretty appealing as well). It was the perfect transition.
I scoured Bostonchefs.com, a great resource in Boston for any jobs in the industry, and worked hard to send out resume after resume. Having never worked in the industry before, I knew I’d have to dedicate myself to working my way up fast.
L’Espalier was one of the first restaurants to reply, and after perusing their website for quite some time, I realized I had a real opportunity on my hands. This was not just any restaurant. This was the restaurant to work for in Boston if I wanted to soak in some real industry knowledge. I familiarized myself with their farm-to-table ethic, and, drawing from my own experiences growing up on an organic farm, I quickly gained interest in what this place was all about.
So I decided to swing by, drop off my resume in person and make a face-to-face intro. Right on the spot I had a chat with two of L’Espalier’s managers—Sean Ahern (now the GM of Russell House Tavern) and Cynthia Gold.
Among Boston’s Finest: L’Espalier
It must have been my small-town eagerness and desire to dive head first into the industry, but they saw something in me, and putting aside the fact that I had zero experience, they hired me as a Backwaiter at L’Espalier.
This opportunity was a mighty high horse for me to jump on and I wanted to make the most of it, soaking up knowledge every single step of the way. I studied my butt off, worked in the kitchen on my days off, joined the professional development group, picked up every shift I could get, and constantly asked for feedback. I was in the right place to learn and did not plan on letting it go to waste. From food to service, tea to cheese, and everything in between, L’Espalier was the Mecca of it all. I was truly lucky.
I also bought every book out there—one that stands out to me is Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking, a bible to the Culinary Institute of America.
Of course, one huge aspect of the restaurant that stood out to me was the wine selection. L’Espalier boasts one of the best in the city, and even has national acclaim. And the wine staff that complements it is second to none. I’ve always been fascinated by the plethora of knowledge that goes into building a wine list—the regions, the grapes, the food pairings. Alcohol consumption has been a part of many cultures for thousands of years, but the lists of thousands of grape varietals, each made thousands of different ways, boggled my mind. If there was ever going to be a time for me to learn the ins and outs of wine, this was it, and L’Espalier was the place to do it.
Mentors and Role Models
Chris Dooley (sommelier at L’Espalier) and Lauren Daddona took me under their wings right from the start. They saw my interest and immediately began teaching me the ways of the wine by hosting weekly wine briefings when we would conduct blind wine tastings. Dooley was especially a huge mentor to me, teaching me something new each day and then quizzing me on it the very next. They even invited me to industry tastings, allowing me to further submerse myself into the world of wine.
It was such a rewarding experience, and to this day, I am incredibly grateful. To show my appreciation, I spent my free time studying, showing them that I didn’t take my education for granted. The obvious next step for me soon became clear—to expand on my newfound knowledge and continue to move forward, I would pursue my Sommelier certification.
Resources for Aspiring Sommeliers
The first resource I turned to was the Guildsomm website, an almost infinite source of knowledge created by The Guild of Master Sommeliers about every wine-growing region in the world. I also bought a digital copy of The World Atlas of Wine so I could zoom in on the maps of each region, learning about the best wines from each one.
In studying some of the best wine lists in the world (Eleven Madison Park, Per Se, French Laundry, El Cellar de Can Roca, etc), I visited the websites of some of the greatest wineries featured on these lists to learn about their individual products. These wine lists have been put together by some of the world’s leading wine experts. If they don’t know how to pick em, who does!?
The Sommelier Exams
As a worldwide organization, The Guild of Master Sommeliers travels to different states to administer the exams. Anxious to get it done quickly, I flew to Ft. Lauderdale to take my first level exam, a written test on theory knowledge, wine history, and different regions. It asked about very in-depth wine knowledge such as what the mistral is and the names of various wine-growing regions in South Africa.
I successfully passed the written test and became an intro-level Sommelier. Soon after, L’Espalier promoted me to a Captain level, making me the face of the tables and really allowing me to drive the entire dining experience of the restaurant’s patrons. I also got to taste some of the rarest wines out there—an ‘82 Chateau Margaux sticks out in particular.
It wasn’t too long before I took my second Guild of Master Sommeliers exam and received my second-level Sommelier pin. Passing this test on wine service, theory, and blind tasting, awarded me the certified level and standard qualification for most industry Sommeliers.
I have since left my Captain position at L’Espalier and now channel my industry knowledge and love of hospitality into my Business Development role here at BevSpot. I am and always will be a certified Sommelier and feel proud of achieving this status, and of course thankful to L’Espalier for the incredible experience and knowledge that I possess.
It may not be clear if I will ever go back to a Front of House restaurant position, but either way I know that I will continue to submerse myself in the culture of wine. I’ve certainly learned a lot, but I also know that I’ve only scratched the surface. I still look forward to learning more each day, and luckily I know exactly where to find the resources to do so.
Spotlight Behind the Bar at Ward 8
It might be the leather barstools. Could be the exposed brick. Or maybe it’s the white tile that resembles the kitchen you grew up in. Then there are the friendly smiles and the rustic wooden tables…really, it’s not clear where it begins, but everything about Ward 8 adds up to the perfect feeling of homestyle comfort.
It’s very fitting that Ward 8 opened in the heart of the winter in 2013, because nothing feels more right than sipping a wintertime cocktail by the floor-to-ceiling windows while watching the snowfall, eating mac and cheese, braised short ribs, or cheesesteak dumplings, and sipping on a cocktail made by Sean Earley, a bartender who will craft anything to suit your mood.
I sat down with Sean to watch him hard at work behind the bar, flaming garnishes and all, and chat about the importance of comedic relief in a world of hospitality, among other things.
What is your favorite cocktail to make?
Depending on the mood, there’s a Drambuie cocktail with Fernet and pineapple that Sean says really shocks people. “It’s so dessert-y, but also has the complex components of the fernet and bitters in there. It has the flavors people love in a sweeter drink, but also those minty and sort of savory notes.”
“Every bartender tends to keep a couple cocktails in their back pocket to impress people with…something different to really shock people with.”
What is your favorite cocktail to drink?
A whiskey man by nature, Sean recently rediscovered a love for an old classic: “the daiquiri is so simple and delicious, such wonderful flavors.”
Another favorite of his? The Last Word:
Equal parts:
-Chartreuse
-Gin
-Lemon
-Luxardo
“All of these components are distinct and very bold on their own, but together they combine to create something totally different.”
What is your must-have bar tool?
The Boston Shaker and the Hawthorn Strainer are kind of the basis for your bar kit as Sean points out, but he’s also excited to talk about the importance of graters and zesters for their multi-use purposes (think nutmeg, cinnamon, and citrus).
:::Pause:::
“What am I talking about? Booze! The most important component of your bar is booze.”
Touché Sean, touché.
What is your favorite bartending or customer story?
Having moved here recently from Boise, Idaho, Sean was surprised when the phones at Ward 8 kept ringing with people asking if he was working. Thinking it was a buddy from back in Boise pulling some sort of prank, he was surprised to learn the truth, “as it turned out, it was a couple I had come to know in Boise who have a summer home here in Boston (I didn’t know that at the time). They were calling to find me because they’d heard I’d come to Boston. So my first regulars here at Ward 8 were from across the country. They came in and gave me a big hug…it was awesome. And it kind of felt like I was home.”
I’m pretty sure that’s how you know when you’re really good at your job, Sean.
Favorite food/drink pairing?
Prosecco and oysters
Tell us about your personal journey and what led you to bartending.
“It was an accident to put me through school, but my major was actually psychology, so I really ended up in the right profession I guess….helping people with their problems. You create your own energy and that creates your own space. People either feed off that and enjoy it or not.”
Back in Boise, Sean was involved in the nation’s first distillery, Bardenay, “I took over the bar program there and as a distillery, we’d make our own spirits and it was nice having that tie and bond to the cocktails. Working with the Master Distiller there really fueled my curiosity and added a whole new layer to the puzzle.”
Sean immediately felt at home upon joining Ward 8 with its great cocktail scene that also caters to loyal regulars, “[GM] Mike Wyatt [formerly of Easter Standard] is unbelievable and this is the most knowledgeable bar staff I’ve ever worked with.”
How do you keep a fresh spin on what you offer in your beverage program?
On top of regularly tasting and bringing in new products, “everyone brings something to the table through regular bar meetings with a staff who all know their cocktails” says Sean. Using the freshest and highest quality ingredients, Ward 8’s beverage program also offers a playful spin through its antique glassware that the staff collect for the bar.
The menu is very seasonally focused as well and after tasting some of the specialty cold weather cocktails, I’m thinking maybe winter in Boston does have a few perks.
What is your biggest piece of advice for aspiring bar managers?
“Be ready to put your heart and soul into it because it is a lot and you’re always thinking about it, even off the clock.”
What’s most important to Sean? Focusing on making people feel comfortable, because this is the hospitality industry and that’s extremely important, “It’s supposed to be about a warm friendly environment and I think people forget that sometimes. More important than the cocktails, whatever you bring to the table has to be special…your own personal addition.”
And Sean takes his own advice very seriously, bringing his personal stash of jokes to the table on a list he’s been compiling for about a dozen years, and never leaves home without. “I kind of revise it as I go. It has key words to remind me of about 100 of my jokes, so I have one for every moment.” The taped up pieces of scrap paper clearly have a story to tell.
“I should probably laminate this before it disintegrates.”
What is your favorite thing about BevSpot?
“In my past jobs, we’ve pulled out every single bottle and put them all on the counter to count them all, making sure not to miss anything, and then put them all back. We had a lot of booze so that is a lot of work.”
“With BevSpot, I can take segments and conform it to Ward 8’s bar, and enter it in right through my phone. I’ve never seen a better system, honestly. It’s really impressive and extremely user friendly.”
We all know that inventory is never going to be fun, but according to Sean, BevSpot takes the pain out of it, and we love hearing that he has more time to focus on the things he loves about his job.
Maybe he can use some of that extra time to type up and laminate his joke list. We’ll be looking out for that next time, Sean. Thanks for the chat and great cocktails!