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 Message 22670 of 22774 in Behind the Bar
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Subject: Frustrated at a New Restaurant... Is It Worth It?
From: Orange Julius
Posted: Mon Oct 29. 2012, 04:30 UTC
We have been open a little over a month, and it's pretty much back and forth 
in this place.  I am writing this to see if other bartenders have had similar 
experience and what I should do in this situation.

Here's the deal.  I was hired on at a restaurant.  My drinks are amazing (if I 
do say so myself ;) ) so they wanted to hire me on to create their cocktail 
menu and get the bar going. 

The thing is, I have great drinks, I have given them great ideas to improve 
the ENTIRE restaurant that would be common sense to people with experience.  
For instance, they really wanted to have their cocktail crowd grow and yet for 
the first week I noticed it was extremely bright in the restaurant and they 
would play pretty much whatever music they wanted to on the Pandora.

I was like, "You have to create an atmosphere.  If you want to sell cocktails, 
you gotta dim the lights in here and put on some better music."

So they listened and things improved.

There were several other ideas and observations I have given them over time 
and many of them they have put into effect.  Add to that I have created the 
entire cocktail menu, which people love, do pretty much all the beer, wine and 
liquor orders for the bar, keep the bar stocked with mixers and so on.  
Basically managing the bar is completely my responsibility and if I was not 
here, I literally feel they would still be in a shambles.

But it is slow.  They opened a month ago which, where I am, is probably the 
worst time of year to start a restaurant.

There literally are less than 6 seats at my bar for guests to sit at.  I have 
take up serving as a way to supplement $$ but then I started noting that when 
guests did come up to the bar I wasn't paying them enough attention.  So I 
told the management and owners I didn't want to serve at all, and focus on the 
bar.  (this was not only because of the serving, it's because there are so 
many tweaks in this place that need to be taken care of that if I ever expect 
to make this a cool cocktail place I need to be able to focus on creating a 
kickass bar, despite all the funkiness such as not having a proper bar at all 
- no guns, no ice well, no speed racks, no place to attach speed racks, the 
dump sink being in the corner of the bar against the side wall and not under 
the bar and a whole host of other issues.

I have tried to fix many of the problems, and yet, in the mean time have done 
a pretty kickass job with what I got.  But business is growing, people like 
what we have to offer and love my cocktails, but at the end of the day I 
sometimes go home with like anywhere from $20 to $120 on a good shift.

I have kinda told myself this is an investment; that I am helping them build 
something and it will pay off later.

But the problem is, that the bar is still a shit show despite my best efforts, 
mainly because no matter how hard I try there seems to be no set standard 
established, and other people that are clueless about the bar keep trying to 
tell me how best to operate it.

So I have discussed this with the owners.  I have told them we need to tighten 
up this bar, and take it more seriously if they want it to succeed.  I also 
made the suggestion a couple of time to the main owner, "I am pretty much 
managing the bar anyway, but I need to be able to own it.  I need the 
authority of "Bar Manager" if I am going to straighten up the bar, have people 
take me and the bar seriously, and since I am already doing all the duties of 
Bar Manager including training the other bartenders and staff when it comes to 
the bar, I need to be considered a Manager.

The owner replied he was with me and we would talk about it, and then I 
haven't had a talk with him since.

Today I was reminded of this when one of the Kitchen Staff, the Sous chef who 
is a 20 year old girl, went behind my bar, then complained about something she 
didn't like about how I was doing things behind the bar.  We got into a little 
fight about it, because I was like, "Look, I don't come into your kitchen and 
tell you how to do things.  You have no business coming behind my bar without 
my permission in the first place."

But the point is, All of this, and I'm almost not even breaking $100 a night, 
even on a friday or saturday and that's when I'm picking up a couple tables to 
serve.

But I keep telling myself this is an investment, and that down the road things 
will get better, and maybe by next summer I will have created a nice bar crowd 
and it will all be worth it in the end.

Had anyone been in something like this?  If I tell the owner I need to be Bar 
Manager and he doesn't make me one despite the fact that I'm pretty much Bar 
Manager, which allows staff to not respect the bar, and take me/it seriously, 
and I'm not making much money as it is, I just wonder if I am patient if 
things will turn around and get better, or if I should just say, Fuck it! And 
move on.

Let me add, that the reason I have persisted this long is because most 
everyone there are good people and I think they are trying to do their best, 
but these owners never owned a restaurant before in their lives.  I want to 
help them succeed, but at the same time, I don't wanna bang my head against 
the wall if this turns into a sinking ship.


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