Beverage Operations
Hotel and pub bars are central to the venue’s beverage offer. They operate from the minute the doors open until last drinks are served. The styles of bars range from a traditional front bar in a pub setting, to a themed, specialty or a high-end cocktail bar.
Required duties behind the bar are not as simple as just serving drinks, they include taking reservations and food orders, preparing specialty cocktails, changing kegs, answering customer enquiries and making recommendations.
Beverage Operations Hierarchy
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Bar Back
A bar back is the glue that keeps a busy bar operation from coming unstuck. Bar backs ensure that the bartenders have everything they require to serve the masses! Whether it be clean glassware, ice, drink garnishes or fully stocked fridges. This is a great way to learn how a busy bar functions, without the pressure of pouring the perfect pint or whipping up a round of cocktails.
Stock/Cellar Person
Looking for a job with variety and physicality? This kind of work is often available in larger hotels and pubs, where the volume of beverage stock movement is very high. If you like a bit of physical labour and have an interest in learning how things work, then this is a great role to explore. The job often entails a combination of bartending shifts and cellar and stock work.
The cellar (or keg room) is the engine room of a hotel or pub, in this role beer lines and all the associated fittings and equipment need to be cleaned and maintained like clockwork, often weekly. Deliveries of stock are also accepted and moved into their storage locations. Stock is delivered from storage to bars for restocking on a regular, sometimes daily, basis. Working with stock control systems and regular stock counts may also form part of the responsibilities of this role.
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Hotel and pub customers are now far more discerning about their beverage choices. With the explosion of craft beers, locally distilled gins and whiskies, and boutique wineries, these days bartenders must possess a mountain of knowledge across many different beverage styles, and how best to serve them.
If you have a natural curiosity about how things are made, and even better, you love to create and make stuff, then you may be well suited to this role. The bar within a hotel or pub is equivalent to the centre stage of a theatre, it’s where all magic happens (ssshhhhhhh... don’t tell the chef we said that!). Customers love to engage with a bartender and watch them as they perfectly pour a pint, or vigorously handle a cocktail shaker or lovingly garnish a mixed drink. They rely on the bartender for expert advice and recommendations.
Most importantly, hotels and pubs are the beating heart of a community, the place to come for a chat, for a laugh and to create and share memories. If you have a genuine interest in people and their stories, love to have fun and work hard, and don’t mind being the centre of attention, this is the perfect job for you!
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After a few years developing skills as a bartender there are many opportunities in large, busy hotels and pubs to step up to a supervisory level. A supervisor oversees the operation of the hotel or pubs bars and, during service periods, working alongside a team to oversee and manage service standards and troubleshoot any issues that might arise.
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Bar Manager
To step into a Bar Manager role you will need solid bartending experience under your belt. Your knowledge across many categories of beverages will be exceptional, having researched the industry thoroughly and honed your skills working in busy bar environments. A Bar Manager is responsible for ensuring the bar is fully stocked for the week’s trade, training and educating staff, ensuring all work areas, utensils and equipment are clean and in good working order and maintaining the highest standards of health and safety. Bar Managers also have the opportunity to express their creativity through developing new cocktail and drinks lists and coming up with innovative bar presentation ideas. The purpose of the role is to ensure that the customer experience is consistently delivered to a high standard, and the production and presentation of drinks is in line with the expectations of the business.
Bottleshop Manager
The Bottleshop Manager oversees the day to day running of the bottleshop, managing the team, maintaining customer service standards and keeping the store fully stocked and well presented. This role also involves meeting with sales representatives from the various supply companies, rolling out special promotions and competitions. The bottleshop often runs as a stand-alone business, so this role may be considered quite senior in the pecking order of a busy suburban pub.
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Many larger hotels and pubs might employ a Food and Beverage Manager to plan, coordinate and oversee all their food and beverage operations. Likely a highly experienced and passionate ‘foodie,’ key aspects of their role include menu design, marketing activities, development of policies, to maintain high service standards, managing customer suggestions and complaints and compliance activities relating to safe food handling and the responsible service of alcohol.
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The Duty or Shift Manager is the person who is in control of the venue during a shift and is responsible for ensuring the hotel or pub operates within the guidelines and rules, set out by the owner, the management company (e.g. Marriott or Hyatt) and the various governing authorities, such as the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation and local council.
In a hotel, the Duty Manager is responsible for making sure the operations of the hotel run smoothly, in the General Manager’s absence, through maintaining great customer service, overseeing any security issues and addressing any maintenance issues that might impact guest satisfaction.
Aside from the years of experience working in hotels or pubs, to succeed in this role you will need to be able to make rational decisions and be good at troubleshooting problems under pressure. You will like leading people, be comfortable dealing with conflict and possess a laser focus and keen attention to detail. This role is a great way to hone your skills, on the way to becoming a Hotel Manager, Pub or Venue Manager.
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Welcome to the world’s best job! Where no two days will ever be the same and every day is both rewarding and challenging. Sure, there is a lot of hard work involved and a huge amount of responsibility, but to get to this position you will have done the hard yards and know how pubs ‘tick’. Being a pub manager is very much like running your own business, and you need to be fluent in front of house and back-office processes.
To be a great pub manager, first and foremost, you will love leading a team and you will enjoy interacting with people from all walks of life. You will need empathy, patience, humour and business smarts plus energy to burn. You will love multitasking, innovating and finding creative solutions. We often say that the pub is the centre of the local community, therefore the pub manager is thought of its unofficial mayor! Which really means that being a pub manager comes with the responsibility of helping to make the community a better place.
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This role exists in organisations that own multiple pubs and venues, we often refer to these businesses as ‘pub groups’. The role of Area Manager is one that oversees a number of pubs, sometimes more than 20. Each pub has a Pub Manager that reports directly to the Area Manager. The Area Manager oversees the strategic direction, compliance and financial performance of their portfolio of businesses. A large part of the role is to prepare detailed reports, analyse the variance performance measures of the business, and implement strategies for improvement and growth. To achieve this level of seniority, many years of hands-on experience is required along with a strong leadership style and abilities in strategic planning and thinking.
