> Anyone know where to find them online? Detailed photos of
> service/working areas, including wells, rails, broad shots of general
> placements and space? Sites that have several different kinds of
> establishments including night clubs, sportsbars, casinos, fine
> dining, pubs, etc.?
> I think we could start an interesting thread critiquing (by which I
> do NOT mean only criticizing, maybe "deconstucting" would be a better
> term) each of them. I am training in a new store for a chain of
> sportsbar/restaurant, and the training is hellacious for the food,
> but I have the feeling the bar is being given short shrift, and the
> bar design is, IMHO, a disaster. And we open wednesday, with two
> short practice runs, and a VIP party coming up before.
> I am, to say the least, in hell.
Bar Design
I know there are commercial companies which can help you with this but I am
not sure whether there is freely available information on the internet (you
might try to spy around).
In the Netherlands there is a very nice company producing bars
(www.steelstuff.nl their portfolio may help you) and they have produced
several standards (www.barbijbel.nl). I am sure you should be able to find
something like that in your area. To bad you are already opening this week so
you can't change much but it could possibly guide you in showing the problems
you may encounter.
Mise en Place
The bar is a much different place from a kitchen. It is not only a place of
preparation (are you actually doing a lot culinary tasks?) but also a point of
sale and often a hang out for guests as well. Many factors are involved and it
is difficult to establish a general database as you suggest (although you
could still easily make your own personal database by searching the web for
individual bars). I believe bartenders often take a holistic approach and
common sense is their background in organising their bar set up. I suggest you
just try it out as a thought experiment (before wednesday) and teach the
essentials and bottle-necks to all the others.
I've worked in many disastrous bar designs and started to love work in hell.
Enjoy your service.
--
"Question everything..."