How to Set Up a Step by Step Mentorship Program For Your Bartenders

I’m a strong advocate for craft apprenticeship programs. Hundreds of years ago skilled trades in Europe developed guilds and a guild system consisting of apprentices, journeymen, and master craftsmen levels of competence. These systems still exist today under various names, and in different forms because they work. These mentorship programs were developed to protect and develop the crafts, and to build strong industry standards. A journeyman craftsman from one area could travel to  another to learn more under a different master craftsman, and traveled with a letter of recommendation from the former master craftsman. We are all familiar with the “letter of recommendation” from former employers – which sadly, for litigious reasons, this is no longer a common practice. Too bad. Perhaps it needs to come back – at least for the skilled trades anyway.


The guidelines below are as broad as I could make them, yet with enough specifics to choose from so that anyone wanting create a custom bartending mentorship program for their own bar can pick and choose what will work best for them. 


There’s a Bartending Mentorship Curriculum Program (under 4. Curriculum) that looks surprisingly close in format to what great bartending schools should be doing.

Implementing a mentorship program for bartenders in your business can be a great way to share knowledge, enhance skills, and build a strong community within the industry. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set it up:

1. Define Objectives:
   • Determine the goals of the mentorship program. For example, is it to improve mixing skills, enhance customer service, or increase knowledge about spirits and cocktails?

2. Identify Target Audience:

   • Decide who the program is for—new bartenders, experienced bartenders seeking to upgrade their skills, or perhaps all levels.

3. Recruit Mentors:

   • Choose experienced bartenders who are respected in the industry and possess strong teaching abilities. Ensure they are enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge.

4. Create a Curriculum:

   • Develop a structured curriculum that includes both practical and theoretical elements. This could cover mixology techniques, customer interaction, upselling drinks, and managing bar inventory.

Here’s a structured curriculum for a bartender mentorship program that balances practical skills and theoretical knowledge:

Bartender Mentorship Program Curriculum

Module 1: Introduction to Bartending

• Lesson 1: The Role of a Bartender
  • Responsibilities and expectations
  • Overview of the bartending profession
• Lesson 2: Setting Up Your Bar
  • Essential tools and equipment
  • Layout for efficiency

Module 2: Mixology Basics

• Lesson 1: Understanding Spirits
  • Types of spirits and their origins
  • Tasting notes and pairings
• Lesson 2: Classic Cocktails
  • Recipes and histories of essential cocktails
  • Technique-focused: Shaking, stirring, muddling
• Lesson 3: Cocktail Creation
  • Principles of designing a cocktail
  • Balancing flavors

Module 3: Advanced Mixology

• Lesson 1: Infusions and Experimentation
  • Creating unique infusions
  • Experimenting with unconventional ingredients
• Lesson 2: Modern Techniques and Trends
  • Introduction to molecular mixology
  • Keeping up with current cocktail trends

Module 4: Customer Interaction

• Lesson 1: Communication Skills
  • Verbal and non-verbal communication
  • Understanding customer needs
• Lesson 2: Handling Difficult Situations
  • Dealing with intoxicated customers
  • Conflict resolution

Module 5: Sales Techniques

• Lesson 1: Upselling Techniques
  • Effective upselling strategies
  • Menu engineering to increase sales
• Lesson 2: Building Customer Loyalty
  • Creating memorable customer experiences
  • Loyalty programs and promotions

Module 6: Bar Management

• Lesson 1: Inventory Management
  • Stocking and ordering efficiently
  • Waste reduction
• Lesson 2: Financial Management
  • Basic accounting and budgeting for bars
  • Profit margin analysis

Module 7: Practical Application

• Lesson 1: Live Bartending Sessions
  • Hands-on practice in a real bar setting
  • Feedback from instructors and peers
• Lesson 2: Final Project
  • Create a signature cocktail and present it
  • Organize a mini-event or cocktail hour

Module 8: Certification and Continuing Education

• Lesson 1: Exam and Certification
  • Written and practical exams
  • Certification ceremony
• Lesson 2: Continuing Education
  • Resources for further learning
  • Importance of staying updated in the industry

This curriculum’s aim is to develop competent, creative, and customer-focused bartenders through comprehensive training and practical experiences. Needless to say, unless you’re using this to start a school, or if you’re a large well established corporation with many locations and bars, you might not feel the need to create a certification. But it might not be a bad idea to consider if you’re going to want your newer lesser or untrained bartenders to follow the instruction and lead of the better trained bartenders on your staff.

5. Match Mentors and Mentees:
   • Pair mentors and mentees based on shared interests, skills gaps, and personalities. Consider using a questionnaire to gather information to help make effective matches.

6. Set Up a Schedule:

   • Organize a regular meeting schedule that suits both mentors and mentees. This could be weekly or biweekly sessions, with flexibility for additional practice or discussion as needed.

7. Monitor Progress:

   • Establish metrics for assessing the progress of mentees. Feedback forms or short tests could be used to measure improvements in specific skills.

8. Provide Resources:

   • Offer resources such as books (I provide a partial list of good books below at the bottom of this post), online courses, and access to bartending workshops or conferences to complement the learning from mentors.

9. Organize Events:

   • Host mix-offs, guest bartending nights, or field trips to distilleries and breweries to provide practical, real-world experience and foster camaraderie among participants.

10. Evaluate and Adapt:

    • At the end of each cycle, gather feedback from all participants to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Adjust the curriculum, pairing process, or schedule based on this feedback to improve the program for the next cycle.

Implementing these steps will help you create a robust and effective mentorship program that supports the growth and development of your bartenders.


Obviously the “Apprentice, Journeyman, Master” mentorship program you’ll start will require skilled bartenders at the advanced Journeyman and Master levels (best advanced skills bartenders and former advanced skills bartender bar managers who understand the percentages, inventory pars, and the other aspects of financial well being surrounding a well run bar). If you haven’t got them in your business then my recommendation is to have your barbacks and bartenders take, and pass, the online courses offered by BarSmarts at https://barsmarts.com with their online courses “BarStarts” for barbacks and complete novices, and BarSmarts for the working bartenders who should ideally already have gained some knowledge through reading and experience. 


READING LIST:
WHAT YOU MIGHT CONSIDER READING
(Aiming for quality, by no means all inclusive)

• Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails (David Wondrich) (milliliter measurements – but this book is an absolute MUST READ.)
• Liquid Intelligence (Dave Arnold).
• Imbibe! Updated Revised Edition (Dave Wondrich).
• Meehan’s Bartender Manual.
• Proof. The Science of Booze (Adam Rogers).
• Jerry Thomas’ Bartender’s Guide – Bon-vivant’s Guide to Mixing Drinks (early).
• The New Craft of the Cocktail (Dale Degroff).
• The Savoy Cocktail Book, Henry Craddock.
• The Dead Rabbit (Sean Muldoon).
• Sippin’ Safari (Jeff Berry) (Tiki drinks).
• Trader Vic’s Tiki Party (Stephan Siegelman).
• Smuggler’s Cove (Martin Kate, Rebecca Kate) (Tiki).
• The PDT Cocktail Book (Jim Meehan, Chris Gall).
• The Official Mixer’s Manual (Duffy).
• Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide (Tiki).
• Beach Bum Berry – Remixed (Jeff Berry) (Tiki)
• Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails, with More than 500 Recipes (David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald, and Alex Day).
• Cocktail Codex: Fundamentals, Formulas, Evolutions (Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, and David Kaplan)
• Drinking Distilled: A User’s Manual (Jeffrey Morgenthaler).

By no means extensive, but industry respected experts who (if you read them) disagree in some areas. 🙂

WHAT YOU SHOULD WATCH
(Aiming for quality resources. By no means extensive)

Youtube:
https://youtube.com/c/SmallScreenNetwork

Anything Morgenthaler:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0B12841C885C311C

Anything Dave Arnold. –
https://youtu.be/E-6QlI6EAIU
https://youtu.be/BshURPITBIE

Anything Dave Wondrich:
https://youtu.be/ojzKN3xrBok

Anything “Cocktail Time With Kevin Kos”
https://youtube.com/@KevinKos?si=tHDp51j7T3YWFfjf