Hi Stagebar,
I've got to admit, I USED to be very fast - highest ringer and first choice
for dispense to a 220 cover restaurant on fully booked nights. But that was 10
years ago and things have no doubt chaged a little.
On the subject of getting the ice into the glasses, its slightly off but, have
you tried holding 3 glasses in one hand over the ice well and useing a giant
ice scoop to cascade ice over the whole lot of them to fill them?
Thanks for your post as it has made me remember those days fondly and some of
the things I used to do to maintain momentum on a hard shift.
Things like:
- Mis-en-Place: have as much backed up as possible, especially limes and mint
and presqueezed fresh lemon and lime juice and any premixes for popular house
calls that can be done without affecting quality.
- Bottle opening: It has to said, I positively LOATHE the bar blade, even more
when someone uses it to pepper my station with caps in the ice, rails and
backbar! For really speedy opening I've found nothing faster than a "fixed
crown cork opener". A sturdy device fixed to the bar that meant I could put
2-3 bottles per hand and open 4-6 bottles before you could sneeze, and it had
a little tray to catch the caps and keep things tidy. My main use for a blade
is the circular end to lever off those awful plastic spill-stop pourers that
come fitted as standard to some bottles.
- Pours and Cuts: my favourite cut was a simple classic cut (was taught to me
as a french pour or french cut, not the bounce/bubble cut). Bouncing the
bottle can be perfected to a really quick art for multiple drinks. Main thing
was to always be using both hands.
- Multi-ordering: While making one round take the orders for the next two.
When it gets crazy - work clean and keep your head up to see the bar - then
every now and again I would stop for a second to explain the order of service
to the waiting guests. (eg: "you're next. then you, you, you, then you.
Everyone else, please be patient, I know you're waiting"). This also works for
cash on simpler rounds: collect the cash from 3 rounds before hitting the till.
- Separate the Wheat from the Chaff: When mega-crazy I sometimes stop and ask
who is waiting for just beers ONLY. Then do a five minute burst on beer to get
rid of those waiting a while for just a simple drink like that. at the same
time saying the others that coctail service will restart in 5 mins.
- Water Jugs and cups: Towards the end of the night I start putting a couple
of jugs of tap water and some glasses at each end of my station for guests to
help themselves and save me more time with nil-value orders.
- Having a good barback: and maintaining a relationship with him/her so they
look after you properly and dont slow you down by running out of things.
- Dispense: I'd let waiters get their own coffee (unless alcoholic or special
order), water and house wines if the station was set right. Anything else MUST
pass me before being served. When dealing with 12+ waiters at once it can get
hectic but pool similar tickets and again pre-prepare what you can.
- Other stuff: Multi-bottle pours, ambidextrous pouring, pouring while ringing
the last round, always make sure each journey is for a reason (Walking to one
end of the bar? take something there that's needed and the same on the way
back!) and any kind of multitasking really. Oh, and as little flair as
possible, just sharp fast economical movements. If a flair move is economical
then it can be incorporated. And working clean and logically was probably the
most important thing when going fast, if everything is in its place it can be
found with a minimum of fuss and work speeds up dramatically - have you ever
wasted time looking for the ice scoop to find the bar back buried it under the
fresh ice!?
You're probably doing all this and more, and a ton of people here will no
doubt have an issue with my dislike of barblades but still, I hope there's
something useful in there.
On another note, one of the fastest bars I ever worked used to have a "cowboy"
rail - it was set just under the lip of the bar counter set at 45 degrees
towards you. Pulling bottles was like drawing pistols and led to some really
fast pours and cuts.
Best,
Merlin
Bombay Sapphire