I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! The time spent with the family in Florida has even more appeal to immediately return as snow now blankets central Indiana.
I wanted to touch on the importance of beverage management today after sitting in a sports bar yesterday watching football. During the course of the game I observed so many bad behaviors being exhibited on the part of the bartender, of which some could have cost people their lives. I think it is important that we not only teach kids how alcoholic beverages are produced and how they fit into the scheme of a single meal or event, but responsible service on part of the staff.
Case in point. While sitting at the bar there was a group of "spirited" individuals who were very much enjoying themselves. One member of the party came to the bar, there were no servers, to pay the tab for the table. The bartender ran the credit card and had the man sign for it. During this transaction another member of the party came to the bar to see what he owed, if anything. The first gentleman responded that he had taken care of it. That was when the bartender indicated that the second gentleman indeed did owe for his drinks. The first gentleman asked how that could be when he asked to pick up the check for the table. The bartender indicated that he had not added it to the first charge, so the first gentlemen asked that he do so. Moments later it turned out that other drinks had not been paid for either. While the bartender kept going back to the register the patrons became increasingly frustrated with the fact that something so simple had all of a sudden become terribly complicated. They were not speaking to highly of the business at that point and talked amongst themselves as to whether or not they would leave any kind of a tip, especially when they had initially intended to leave a most geneous tip based on service provided up to the point of paying for the check. Finally, the first customer asked the bartender once more if he was heard when he had asked to pick up the tab for the table. The bartender indicated that he did not hear the man say that, which was easily construed as a lie. Needless to say, the party left the establishment in disgust over something that should have been so simple.
Another critical incident that caught my attention was irresponsible service on the part of the bartender. Across the bar from me were four men enjoying the Colts game. They were also "spirited." The bartender honored the request to serve up four generous Bull Blasters (Jagermeister & Red Bull). About 15 minutes later, the same request was honored by the bartender. The request to fill their basic drink orders in the meantime were also granted. In the span of one hour the four patrons were well above the blood alcohol limit to be charged with a DUI. No mention of this was made to the patrons by the bartender and am sure service continued after I left. In other words, the bartender was participating in a chain of events that could have provent to have had lethal consequences for those four patrons as well as those whom they may have encountered while driving home, or at home. I am also positive that this is not an isolated incident and the scenario plays itself out in countless restaurants and bars across the US every day in lieu of the fact that more efforts are being made on the part of law enforcement to curb drunken driving, groups like MADD, and others.
I guess the message today is that responsible beverage service is something that we must continually remind our students to practice when out there cooking and/or manging hospitality businesses. Yes, the bar business can be profitable but it can also put people in an early grave if not managed properly. One of the things I recommend we do as educators is to take students into the bar and sit at a corner table and have them observe the interaction between servers, bartenders and patrons to see if beverages are being served in a responsible manner. In this way it is possible to openly discuss the observations made -- and missed -- by the students to help them learn practical ways to manage responsible beverage service. Most important of all, students engage in a dialogue with each other and the teacher on how to balance the interests of the business with those of the customer so that both remain viable.
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