#weddingbartenders #bartendersforhire #volumecocktails
In a country like India, bar events are taken very seriously. Whether its social events like weddings and related events or corporate events related to awards and rewards, team building or conferences, or be product launches or fashion shows, bar is a key attraction. Managing bars with high volumes of dispensing is not easy.
If you’ve been to a major cocktail event in the last 20 years, chances are Sandy Verma had something to do with it. Sandy has become the very first guy to call when it comes to making cocktails in giant volumes. At times there are multiple functions and aligned back to back; dinners getting over in the wee hours followed by lunches carrying onto sundowners and even dinners. It’s an enigma!
Few years back, Sandy undertook the biggest event of all in Punjab, a sprawling social event in a Chandigarh Stadium attended by approximately 50,000 people. That amounts to hiring 200 bartenders; 50 bars; hundreds of gallons of simple syrup and lime-juice; thousands of kilos of ice.
It takes days of planning the resources, organizing vendors to drop their supplies in time, organizing licenses, liquor purchase, bills post negotiations with liquor companies, strategizing menus, designing uniforms, organizing store and prep spaces, distribution of alcohol and inventories running into thousands of bottles brand wise.
Tips to handle large volume bar events:
Plan well to execute smoothly. Get your information and paperwork ready to the tee. Plan the menu sensibly.
Try to get as much information about the set-up and situation as possible beforehand, so you know what you’re walking into and can prepare accordingly. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Have all your information in place- Background of the event, venue and accessibility, number of guests, background of people and cultures, kind of event, purpose and focus of the event, entertainment, layouts, entry and exits, behind the scene prep area, bar space and lengths, number of bars strategically placed in each area, distribution network and supply chain, storage area, inventory sheets with each bars requirement, manpower supply, food menus to make your suggestions for beverages.
Once you have all the information in place, now we have to plan on paper.
Know your audience and food menu and tune your cocktails and volume accordingly. Do not keep too many cocktails on the menu. Limit your inventory by having house specials according to the local tastes and availability of products. I would recommend 6-8 cocktails and 4 non-alcoholic cocktails in the menu. Have a separate section and bar for molecular cocktail bar. You can’t serve every thing to every one.
Get the rates of all products from your vendors. Squeeze them for discounts for bulk purchases. Prepare your excel sheet with requirements of alcohol, ingredients and cordials according to the menu selected. Get your projected costs for the event and forward it to your client, safe guarding your profits. He is happy to have this given to him on a platter.
How to figure out the volume of liquor and material?
The hardest part is figuring out the volume.
Once you have the information on number of people attending the function, their culture, nature of kind of function, entertainment and duration of function, find out if there are any ladies or kids in the function. Ladies with kids will drink less or perhaps, might not drink alcohol at all. The consumption of alcohol by the guests attending a corporate and fine dining event will be less than that for the people who are attending a pre wedding cocktail party with a known DJ, who are likely too let their hair down and will dance till the wee hours.
In a corporate event, 60% guests are likely to take 1-3 drinks per head, on an average. In a pre wedding function, 70% guests will take 3-5 drinks on an average. The variance in forecast and actual should not exceed 15%.
How do you choose which recipes are best for an event?
In a corporate function, wine and malts will be on a flow along with some classic cocktails. Younger generation is likely to consume white spirits and cocktails- Gin cocktails; Martinis or Aperol will be preferred over other drinks. Kamikaze, Jagermeister or Sake bombs will vanish once the party gets going with youngsters. Plan your menu and forecast consumption brand-wise carefully. Brunches should have Campari, Champagne, Pimms and Aperol based drinks. Sangria, Bloody Mary, fresh fruit and herbs based cocktails is a must.
There are so many factors: your audience, the style of the event, whether or not you’re working with a brand. But the biggest is probably knowing what your bar set-up is.
How to handle perishable ingredients, like ice and fresh juice?
Always order more ice than you think you’ll need. It’s the backbone of making a drink, so err on the side of too much. I use the thumb rule of 1 kg per person and a little extra incase the weather is hot or the event is outdoors. The chilling ice blocks are not a part of consuming or drinking ice.
The same goes for glassware. Never assume that you will have the time (or the facilities) to wash glassware, so prepare by having more than you need. Always order 3-4 times more than the number of guests. One set is held in the hand by the guest, one for washing through clearance, one set on the bar counter and one as a backup.
When it comes to fresh ingredients, work with integrity and generosity. For instance, if you are making a sour of some kind, batch your citrus and simple syrup together, because the sugar preserves the juice and cuts one step out of building your drink. Additionally, instead of muddling fresh herbs or fruits, make syrups out of them; it’s less of a mess, more consistent, easier to control. Use zip locks with no air to preserve your fruits and herbs.
Strategize. Always have a commissary and a feeder bar in the back of the house. Ensure a proper storage area.
Never risk your operations by not having space for your operations in the back area. We have our own warehouse for prepping, a warehouse for bottling and labeling batched cocktails in Delhi and ensure to make one when travel outstation and we also always build a commissary for dispatching batched ingredients to various bars that are spread out across the space. Always have a dedicated in charge at each drop zone to call in for more supplies when needed. Having a little garnish cutting section and a shots making section is not a luxury but a necessity.
There has to be a separate storage space for liquor with lock and key. Inventory is manned at all times. Make sure there is adequate lighting, power points for charging mobiles, if case be then have a printer too.
How are events good for bartenders? Play it well and create euphoria.
Events are important way where we get to showcase our cocktails to masses. It’s also a great way to make great money, great friends and create experiences for masses. It’s great to go into a standalone bar and belly up in front of a craft bartender for that experience, but then one needs to shell out good amount of bucks to try variety. But not everybody gets to do that. Working in events means that more people get to experience our craft and we get to share what we love with a larger group of drinkers. I also think it teaches bartenders to be incredibly efficient while still crafting great drinks.
Train your bar team well.
When your bar team is slinging anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 cocktails per night, remembering two dashes here and a perfectly rimmed glass or garnishing your drink properly, there is no easy feat. Still, that quality meets quantity approach should be practiced for high-volume bars, where behind-the-stick pros should tackle the best ways to deliver top-notch drams to their patrons in record speed.
Time and Quality go hand in hand. Bar backs tend to get excited. Do a site recce with your team before the event
Every body in your team should realize importance of their role. They should be briefed thoroughly with the flow of events, timings, scope of work, menus and recipes. Each one should understand their job responsibility and accountability.
Bar backs generally tend to get excited and want to serve the customers directly. Not happening. They have a job to do. If they come forward to serve across the counter, then who will do their job? Let them know that they will be involved in direct service towards the end when it’s slow or towards the last end lag of the event. It’s a very fast paced environment and one needs to save time. It’s all about shaving few seconds here and shaving few seconds there and shaving few seconds everywhere one can scrape.
Don’t move — not any more than you have to.
Always design a strategic bar setup, so that we can put out 30 cocktails without taking two steps in either direction to produce them. It’s about having the right sized well, having your bitters in front of you, and having your garnish, tool, and breakdown stations close by.
Save time with consistency.
Muddling fruits and certain herbs is usually not the best way to incorporate flavor because, as we all know, one strawberry can differ from another — not just in size, but in sugar content, acidity and flavor. Making a syrup or infusion, though, can be a more consistent way of incorporating flavor. You can use refract meter to check the sugar content while making batches. Also always make bulk batches with date and time mentioned on the label.
Batch your spirits. But batch them in the right way.
Batching is a great way you can maintain that high quality, because you’re taking a five-touch cocktail and cutting it down to one or two touches. What’s nice is that since we’re using sealed containers and keeping them in chilling units. You don’t have to worry about oxidation or temperature changes. You can actually prepare your batch a couple of days earlier.
Batch a lot of spirit-based ingredients that are usually used in smaller portions within a cocktail, which helps for two reasons. It saves time because you’re only picking up one bottle instead of multiple, and the biggest margin of error is usually in the smallest measurements of ingredients. More people make mistakes in that 1/4th ounce (7.5ml) pour than they would in that ½ ounce (15ml) pour. If you go slightly over or under the required pour, it’s probably not going to affect the drink as much as when you go over or under a quarter-ounce pour because generally, the smaller the pour, the more flavor impact it has. It’s a lot more efficient to combine the right ratios and have a one-ounce pour instead of four quarter-ounce ones. Ingredients with slightly higher sugar profiles actually do better together because they help maintain the quality and consistency of the drink itself.
Create a workplace of accountability.
Once a great barman said “If you’re the type of bartender who likes to pick up a bottle of Cognac for a cocktail and then put it down in a completely different place, you will not fit into this environment. Everyone needs to be subscribed to the same philosophy, and working fast does not equal working efficiently.”
Keep your product around a while — but not too long.
Oxygen is every bartender’s enemy, so the container used to store your batches in is important. Use store n pour jugs with spouts on them, so you can control the oxygen in the vessel as you fill the bottles. Always label your bottles before filling. Once chilled, it’s difficult to label them. Also you want minimum oxygen because it’s oxygen that will cause your components in the batch to change.
Don’t be scared to throw away ingredients that bring doubt to your own sensory experience, because if you want to produce high-quality drinks, you have to have fresh produce to use.
Talk while you rock.
You can talk as much as you want, as long as your hands and feet are moving. Our Bar Wizards are trained to introduce patrons to other guests with similar interests. If you had a party at your house and two people walked in the door who didn’t know each other, you’d introduce them — that’s what a good host does. After all we are just not bartenders, … we as Bar Wizards are “Show Tenders”.
If you do slip up, make it up to them.
Everybody wants all of his or her cocktails out in seven minutes or under. First and foremost we want everyone to have a cocktail in a timely manner. If busy, involve them in a conversation. Apologize for the delay. They can see that you are busy. Serve with a smile. Trust me, it works wonders.
Job is well done! Lets count the bottles again
Every body enjoyed their tipple. You made friends and tips. Did your “Ciaos”. Had a great evening. Bravo.
Now comes the part where you need to count your bottles and stocks again. The venue is always not the prettiest in the end. Don’t sulk. Start picking up all alcohol bottles from the counter and back to liquor room. Line them up brand wise and segregate them in an orderly fashion of sealed, open and empty bottles. Count them, pack them, hand the stock over to the in charge and hit the sack. Tomorrow is yet another day.
The above article is just a synopsis of a process-oriented activity. To know more, log on to www.barwizard.in or write to sandy.verma@barwizard.in
