Message 127 of 22774 in Behind the Bar

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You may not have control of it, but honestly the right music can help you move 
30% faster. Jack up the rythm to meet the speed you need to move at and things 
will move smoother. And (again if you have any influence) have them tone it 
down if it's not suiting the crowd. High-BPM stuff is annoying unless you're 
moving at that speed.

I often find that there are several 'gears' you work in. You can't blat along 
at top speed all the time, BUT it's better to be fully in high gear than 
somewhere just below it. Once you realize you're doing more than a drink a 
minute (or whatever the threshold) keep yourself hyped by cleaning, chatting, 
flairing, hefting stuff around. 
The most out-of-sych I've seen or felt is when you have small, irritating 
bursts of activity, followed by just enough time for the adrenalin to go 
sour... again & again.

When a 'tender is really moving, there's a grace in the movement that is 
beautiful to watch. It's a dance... and original flair came NOT out of bar 
tricks, but (I believe) the fluid motions of a pro mixologist in flight.
I find that if you simply pay attention to your own movements and consciously 
turn it into swoop & flow rather than jerk & grab you'll suddenly find that 
A) you're working faster
B) You're less tired & harried
C) You spill/break much less
D) you conflict with other behind the bar less.

... that may all sound a bit trite, but if you watch the pros that really seem 
to be doing well, and those others that are just doing 'something' wrong - I 
think you'll see what I mean.


With no soda gun, yet you wanna serve it cold, pop your bottles in the closest 
sink full of Ice. Also Juice, Milk etc. 
Depends a lot on the volumes you're turning over whether this becomes 
efficient or not - you need to be grabbing something every ten minutes for it 
to be worth unpacking like that. Otherwise it's just messy.
At TGIs it was standard to prepare all the juices like that - which was fine, 
but we only touched Cranberry thrice a night, and Grapefruit less than that, 
yet had all the Daq stands prepped like that all the time. The main reason 
there was consistancy for the team - so it was justifiable, but if you've less 
than three staff on at a time, you can be more flexible.
Be ready to make that decision - spend 2 minutes unpacking stuff into ice and 
save 20 minutes over the two next hours?

Buckets of beer bottles & ice are really helpful if you're getting caned 
during a special or something - restocking a fridge mid-shift is annoying to 
everyone, expecially if you're going to be emptying it again soon.

If they won't spring for another hand, the mgt. better front up with a few 
extra loads of ice for you to play with.
Spare ice means you can grab a full scoop each time - not spend extra seconds 
scraping around. And grab it faster - don't worry about losing a bit as you go.

If you stop to look, you can probably identify half a dozen things that slow 
you down in your environment. The decision is to take it into your own hands 
and do something about it, never mind that it was like that when you got there.

Are the high-rotation beer barrels in the back of the cooler, obscured by the 
slow ones? Habit or convention is probably the only reason, but you might find 
it takes 20 minutes less rolling all the spares out of the way each week.

Would changing the proportions of bottle lines in the cooler help any? Shift 
them left or right? Retire the Elephant beer to the bottom corner in favour of 
the more common lager?


Cheers, .Dan.