Your job is to support, train, delegate and make sure standards are being maintained. Hold everybody accountable, don’t be the cool manager that turns a blind eye to things, especially for the firsts 3-6 months. Then after that you can start to loosen up, trust me its easier to be the strict manager and loosen up than it is to be the loose manager then have to become the strict manager.
If you see something that needs to be done that is the job of one of the employees under you, delegate that task to an employee, don’t just go over and do it. This is not you being lazy, or having a power trip, you are holding your employees accountable.
Praise in public and criticize in private. This is the most important thing I can think of. If someone messes up do not start yelling or belittling the in front of customers or other staff. At the end of the shift pull that person aside and talk about how they can handle that situation differently. And to the counter of that if you see an employee go above and beyond praise them in front of customers and staff.
And finally you have to be the one who doesn’t lose the composer. If food is taking to long to come out, customers and getting angry, you staff is getting angry and even you are getting angry, take a couple deep breaths and try to calm everybody down. There is no such thing as a perfect service that is why you are there. *Reddit
To Read: “Setting the Table” by Danny Meyer
The top comment calls accepting a management role a sucker’s play, and I can’t say that I straight up disagree. However, as one of the suckers that took this path, I wanted to offer a little perspective. This is going to be a long comment, so I apologize if I’m getting more in the weeds than you were intending…
First, let’s talk about the negatives; your relationship with your coworkers will absolutely change. I still remember the first time after being promoted that I walked up on a group of work friends and their conversation suddenly screeched to a halt. Even if you’re laid back and generally chill, being in a position of authority changes the way that your coworkers interact with you. You would also be in charge of maximizing the potential profit of the beverage program, which means minimizing breakage/theft. Do your coworkers enjoy taking mid-shift celebration shots or sticking around after their shift to enjoy some discounted drinks? Well, that sort of thing now negatively reflects on your performance, and no matter how reasonable you try to be in regards to setting policy, you’ll still likely end up looking like the buzz-kill bad guy. Depending on where you work and the organization of your tip structure, you may even end up making less money while being expected to take on significantly more responsibility.
With all that said, here is a question you should ask yourself: how much do you care about the place you work? How committed do you feel to seeing that place succeed? I was lucky, in that my journey through this industry started in a pretty unconventional place; a cocktail lounge attached to a cinema/performance venue, one that had been in operation for close to 90 years. I genuinely loved the place, I cared deeply about the service we provided, and taking on the beverage manager role provided me with the opportunity to take some amount of ownership over how that business operated. For instance, is a there a customer base that you like having around and want to build further engagement with? Well, you’d be in charge of the beverage program; you could pick drinks that encourage that crowd’s attendance. You can drop the beer that that one dickhead boomer regular who never tips drinks exclusively. You can add seasonal or even permanent cocktails to the menu that are yours. Your own original creations. And you can track sales to gauge their popularity and even cite those unique recipes on future recipes.
Another question to consider: do you enjoy the beverage industry as a whole? Could you imagine a career in alcohol being something you enjoy engaging with on a permanent basis? A large part of the job of managing a beverage program is meeting with sales reps, whether they be reps from specific brands or reps from distributors, and that means that you’ll be doing a lot of networking. Ultimately, everyone you meet will be trying to sell you something, but if you keep your head on a swivel, know what does and does not work for your program, and approach every one of these meetings with curiosity, you’ll have the opportunity to learn a lot about how the industry as a whole operates. How did the three-tier system of alcohol sales come to exist in America? What are “tied-house” regulations? Which age demographic is the largest purchaser of alcoholic beverages in the states? What’s the difference between “clay-pot” and “autoclave” in the production of tequila? What is the industry standard mark-up on alcoholic products for off-premise versus on-premise businesses? These are just a few examples of some of the things I learned as I cut my teeth in the beverage industry as a buyer/beverage manager. If you see yourself staying within this industry indefinitely, taking on a role as a bar/beverage manager is a great way to cultivate a specific body of knowledge, build an impressive resume and meet/associate with other beverage professionals who may become invaluable resources down the line. I started off as a bartender, accepted a role as a bar manager, and learned a helluva lot about how this industry operates. When COVID hit, the resume that I’d built allowed me to switch over to distribution sales (most thankless job in the industry, do not recommend,) and finally land in a pretty sweet gig with one of America’s most prolific independent craft distilleries.
To sum it all up, I guess I wanted to tell you that taking on the role of bar manager isn’t easy, it can be very challenging, and the decision definitely should not be taken lightly. But, if you particularly care about the place you work or if you see yourself continuing on in the beverage industry, accepting the role isn’t necessarily a bad/crazy idea.
I hope this helps. Either way, keep your head on a swivel and look out for #1.
https://www.reddit.com/r/bartenders/comments/vw1u4r/might_be_promoted_to_manager_is_it_worth_it/