Bartending 101: What are the benefits to going to a bartending school?

May 5, 12:56 PMBartender ExaminerKathleen Neves

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Before I became an instructor, I didn't really know anything about bartending schools. I gained my entire bar experience while working behind the bar. Since I started teaching, I have seen just how beneficial attending a bartending school can be. Teaching has helped me correct some of the old, bad habits I had picked up over the years as well as learn a thing or two about bartending. Even after six years of bartending, there is always something new to learn.

There are some bartending schools out there that give all schools a bad name, so you just have to do your research. I work for the San Francisco School of Bartending (SFSOB). We offer lots of services that many other schools don't. For one, all of our instructors are working bartenders. We emphasize our lessons that we teach through our own personal stories of working behind the bar. It doesn’t make sense to learn how to bartend from someone who has never worked behind a real bar in their life.

SFSOB is set up in a real-life bar situation. Students work at their own wells with real liquor bottles. They aren’t pouring real alcohol. If they did, the tuition for the school would be a lot higher and everyone would be drunk trying all of the drinks they make. Instead, students learn how to make mixed drinks with colored water, but they are working with real bar tools such as a soda gun, real liquor bottles, muddlers, boston shaker sets, store and pour containers and real bar glassware.

Our school offers weekly guest bartending shifts for our students and graduates at local bars. Currently, we work with two bars here in the downtown area that let our students get behind the bar and guest bartend, serving real customers with real booze. Students get the experience of linking the classroom lessons with real-life experience. Plus, students can use the guest bartending shifts as working experience on their resumes. Most bartending schools don’t offer that.

We also offer lifetime job placement services. The school doesn’t guarantee job placement, but we provide assistance to our students and graduates throughout their entire job search process. We have a resume and cover letter writing workshop once a week that students can attend even long after they graduate. We also maintain a job database that is updated every day with new job leads that students and graduates always have access to. Not to mention a full lecture dedicated to finding a bartender job that is offered as part of the bartending school course.

Even after our students graduate, they are more than welcome and encouraged to come back into the school and practice using any of the drink drills so that they can polish up their bartending/pouring skills. This is especially helpful during their job searches.

I know there are bartenders out there who frown upon bartending schools. Some bar owners and managers prefer to hire a bartender with work experience. There are also a number of bars out there who would prefer to hire a school graduate because the students haven’t adapted bad bar habits yet and it allows for the bar owners or managers to train the students to be the bartenders they want them to be. Honestly I think if I had gone to bartending school from the get-go, I would have been so much better equipped to work behind any bar and handle any situation. After all, knowledge is power. Instead, I learned the hard way and picked up many bad habits during my work experience that I had to learn to correct later.

For more info: Check out the San Francisco School of Bartending website.