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 muchmoney 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.