WHAT?! No TIP! That’s BALOGNI!

…haha! Yes Balogni! I said it…

What to do when you DON’T get tipped

Heaven forbid this will ever happen to us, but it DOES happen, and when it does, we HAVE to be prepared with what to do next!

I want to do something a little different here.

I want to hear YOUR response to this question, and then I will post the best answers so we can all learn from each other.

It’s a question I get all of the time from bartenders everywhere, and it’s a great one!

What do you do when you don’t get tipped by your customer?

Whether you are working at a bar or a restaurant and you serve a customer who does not tip you, or you work an entire night for a private party and you don’t get tipped (or tipped poorly)…

WHAT DO YOU DO??

As bartenders, we survive and depend on our tips, so it really hurts us financially when we don’ get that tip we worked so hard for.

Recently, one of my bartenders did an event for me. The client who hosted the party was from a different country (I will not identify due to incorrect stereotyping for bad-tippers!).

Anyway, at the end of the night, the client walked up to my bartender, said thank you, HUGGED HER and gave her a $5.00 tip.

FIVE DOLLARS?!

My bartenders are used to making $100-$300 in a tip at the end of the night (and sometimes way more!!)

Needless to say, my bartender was devastated and confused. She thought she did an outstanding job, and the host loved her!

But I gave her tons of helpful advice that I use for those rare times when my tip is below par or non-existent. Advice that she truly took to heart that she believed was very helpful.

But I ask you, in your bartending or serving position, WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU DON’T GET THE TIP YOU DESERVE?

Please reply in the comments section of this BLOG. I will then compile the best answers along with what I have done in the past and will create a great article that everyone will get a FREE copy of!

So send me your answers, THANKS GUYS!

To your Bartending Success,

James Wedmore
Mobile Mixologist
Bartend4Profit.com

Do you NEED a Portable Bar?

YES! As a private party bartender working at different events, weddings, birthdays, etc, a portable bar is a great perk for your clients, but it can also make you a lot more money! It shows that you are professional and prepared, plus you can charge your clients more for using one!

In this video, I describe 2 of the portable bars that I use on a weekly basis. You need to decide what is the right bar for you based on determining factors such as your budget and vehicle capacity (car or truck?). I created a detailed list of different portable bars and how to obtain them in a budget range of $100-$2,500. All of this is located in The Bartend-4-Profit System Home Study Course.

Sure you can still bartend without a bar, but watch what happens when you get one! You will see the difference in your tips, your base pay, the way your clients treat you, and the level at which you perform. I hope you find this post helpful and informative.

Build Your Own Bar at www.barplan.com

New Year’s BABY!

A New Year’s Eve Bartending Event Done Right!

Ok, I know its ALMOST June, but this is a NEW Blog and I just have sooo many stories that I would love to share with you guys and this one happens to be about this past New Year’s Eve!

Well, we all know that December 31st is the craziest night of the year-everyone does something on this LAST night of the year! Well, needless to say, I DOUBLE my rates for this highly-desirable evening…and people easily pay it…(plus TIPS!!) I even employeed 4 other bartenders that same night for those high rates! But this story is about my gig…

So, it is 6:00pm and I show up to a beautiful home and was greeted by the host who was more than thrilled to have me serve his friends and co-workers. He directed me to a “Grand Room” where a 30 foot bar graced the entire West wall. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen…and for the next six hours, it was all mine!

Well, as the party got under way, I found myself busy as ever! Over 100 VERY THIRSTY guests lined the entire length of the bar demanding my services for another round. Even though I was covered in sweat and working my tail off to serve guest after guest, I couldn’t help but notice my tip jar overflowing with CASH! It made all the work worth it!

I became so busy that I stopped working entirely and only helped those guests who had cash in their hands. The demand for my services increased so much, that people were waving $5 and $10 dollar bills in my face just to get my attention.

The Best Part…

The best part came when two gentlemen decided to fight over me. One man said to the other, “Hey! James was helping me first!” while the other retorted, “Whatever! James likes me more!” they went back and forth for some time in an attempt to prove who I liked more. Let’s just say it was difficult to determine who I liked better since each gentleman continued to drop twenty after twenty into my tip jar as the repeated the same drunk phrase, “No! He likes me MORE!” I made over $200.00 in less than 2 minutes…and it would have been more but their wives grabbed them and took their wallets away before they could donate anymore to my cause.

I walked that night with over $900 in tips (not including my DOUBLE base rate). Even though I was a little upset for missing out on an exciting night of New Year’s festivities of my own, realizing I had just made over $200 an hour (..isn’t that how much a lawyer charges?) so I couldn’t complaint to bad. The question I asked myself was: “I wonder how much money I would have LOST had I NOT worked tonight!”

The Lesson Here…

So what can you take away from this story? FIRST: understand the important of Scarcity and Demand…New Years Eve is the BIGGEST party-throwing day of the year! Your services will be in High-Demand…you MUST increase your rates (minimum 2x) SECOND: In this biz, your money is made with the tips, so how hard are you willing to work? Are you up to the challenge of 6 hours of straight bartending for 100 guests? If it pays off $900…I’m sure anyone is!

Until next time, here’s to your Bartending Business Success!

Cheers,

James Wedmore
Bartend-4-Profit
www.BartenderforProfit.com