5 Tips for a More Organized Bar
When it comes to setting up a bar, organization can be the major difference between a smooth shift and a complete disaster. Not only is a disorganized bar uninviting to guests (trust us, they notice), it is really not conducive for any type of speed or efficiency of output for a shift.
If your bar has a cocktail menu, this problem gets exponentially worse — especially as you start adding in more ingredients, syrups, juices, spirits, liqueurs, and bar tools - without a well organized plan for each station - it is nearly impossible for any bartender to step in and do a great job, which should always be the goal: a seamless transition from any bartender to any well.
With that in mind, here are 5 quick tips to take your bar organization to the next level and set yourself (and your staff) up for success:
Organize for Speed First
In regards to serving guests in a timely manner — speed is everything. Of course, quality is the number one goal with a beverage program, especially cocktails, but the speed at which that quality can be delivered affects everything about the overall guest experience as well as perception.
When setting up a plan for your bar — be sure to account for speed in the set-up plan. Try using your well space to organize by cocktail - not by spirit. Group bottles together that go in your most popular cocktails — if there are 5 to 7 of the most popular cocktails in a given menu where the ingredients can all fit in your speed rack — then group the bottles together so that everything for each cocktail is next to each other.
Then, be sure to organize the well like this for every shift so that bartenders can create a muscle memory when reaching for bottles. This is a surefire way to increase speed of output - especially for your best selling drinks on the menu.
2. Organize for Efficiency Second
It could easily be argued that speed and efficiency are interchangeable, but the speed at which a drink can be created is not necessarily the same as efficiency of movement behind the bar, and that’s what we refer to as ‘organizing for efficiency’.
Speed is important with your most popular cocktails — the odds are simply higher that anyone ordering something that fits into a ‘most popular’ category is likely prone to want it as fast as possible, as opposed to being there for something that takes a long time to create. For everything else on the menu, anything with 5 touches or more, there probably just isn’t space to keep everything necessary in the well, which means you need to be able to organize your back bar and side wells for efficiency of movement.
If one of your bartenders has to wander back and forth to get ingredients for a drink, you are decreasing the efficiency of their actions — and the speed at which they not only can create the drink, but they can get to the next one as well. Organizing your back bar for efficiency can help alleviate this problem.
Try taking the same concept of grouping bottles together, and transferring this to the back bar - keep all your bitters in one place and all your syrups in another (alphabetical order will increase muscle memory and speed/efficiency). Group bottles together for higher-touch cocktails and let these groups fill the bottom of your back bar — then you can use higher shelves for things you may need around but that aren’t on the menu.
Once you have a map, stick to it. Make sure the back bar stays organized this way. This will allow a more efficient use of body movement behind the bar, which will increase efficiency for your bartenders as they output these higher-touch drinks.
3. Simplicity is King
Creating a plan that allows for muscle memory is as much about what you don’t want to do as it is about what you should do. Try to keep stations as simple as possible. The less cluttered a well/station is, the more likely that your bartenders will be able to create a speedy and efficient muscle memory with their movements.
The more they have to struggle to remember where things are in a busy shift, the more mistakes will happen, and the more product you’ll end up wasting with builds that are done wrong in haste. Keep the well setups as simple as possible — include only what’s necessary to be as fast as possible, and make sure that everything has a specific place.
If you have seldom-used bitters that are not in anything on the current menu, there’s no need to keep them in a station — sure, they may look impressive to guests, but a bartender who struggles to find something they use frequently because it’s surrounded by the clutter of things they’re not frequently using detracts from efficiency.
Approach the situation by thinking about what this menu needs, and adjust accordingly. Sure, your house-made white chocolate Himalayan sea salt bitters from 4 menus ago looks great in front of a guest, but knocking things over and fumbling around because it’s in the way and not being used doesn’t do anyone any good — so just keep it simple.
4. Make Sure Every Well/Station is the SAME
This one seems like it should be self-explanatory, but you’d be surprised at the number of places we’ve seen that don’t adhere to this simple concept — because Bartender A likes things just so and Bartender B has a different view of how things should be organized.
Your staff will always have individual preferences, but it’s important to make sure that every well is always set up the same, because if Bartender A has to step off and Bartender B needs to step into their well to make something, they shouldn’t have to be stumbling and fumbling around to find what they need. This isn’t about your bartenders, this is about the guest experience, and that should be seamless, no matter who is in the station in front of them.
Any bartender should be able to step into any well and be able to do so with ease and comfort because everything will be set up the same. This increases your speed, efficiency, and enhances the guest experience because they will feel at ease knowing that they can ask any of your knowledgeable staff members for anything and expect to receive it in a timely manner.
5. Mise en Place - Everything In It’s Place
Mise en Place is the first concept I was introduced to when I stepped behind a cocktail bar - and I’m glad, because it is absolutely everything when it comes to organization. Mise en Place is a French phrase that means “everything in it’s place,” but I find that it’s less of a statement, and more of a philosophy or way of life behind the bar.
There are certain things that should simply always be in the same place, no matter what. This allows for a routine, and routine is where speed and efficiency thrive. Mixing glasses, shaker tins, jiggers, spoons, strainers, juices, syrups — the things that are used every single shift, day in and day out across every menu — these items should have a home and be set up in the same place, every day, in between every build.
It’s about a place to create from. When everything is restored to its proper place, a new build can begin again. Nothing is worse than stepping into a bartender’s station only to find that their tins are dirty in the sink or there are emptied mixing glasses that haven’t been cleaned sitting on the rail. It’s not an efficient way to step in and help a guest, and it looks bad for your bar.
The sooner you can teach every bartender to make sure that everything is in its place — in between every single drink order they prepare — the more prepared your staff will be for success in every facet. (This obviously depends on how many drinks are in an order, there is rarely a need to clean everything and re-set a station in the middle of an order).
Mise en place is more than a phrase, it’s a philosophy, it’s a way of life, and it could be the key that will take your bar organization to the next level.
