Bar Pet Peeves

chiming in on the overpriced beer... make friends with your bartenders, and the entire staff at your bar for that matter. I know the bartenders, and i know the guy who orders and switches out all the kegs. All great guys when you get to chatting about beer. I haven't paid full price for my tab in over a year.
 
jeffpn said:
Bar owners hate that.
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i'd agree. while it's nice to be on the receiving end of the discount, i've watched enough of those bar rescue shows to know that employees doing that are giving away a lot of money (in the hopes that you'll be tipping them the money that you saved). i would absolutely reprimand and/or fire an employee if i caught them doing that

i also am a bit peeved when i see them pouring out a massive amount of foam with each beer. and when a beer gets to me with no head at all
 
But a real pet peeve is when they put the glasses in the dishwasher with soap and the head is gone before they can get the beer to the table.
 
Nosybear said:
And I have a few more on you. Bars are way too noisy, interferes with the tinitus. When the local brew pub starts getting too loud, I have to vacate.
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I like noise. Covers up my tinnitus!!
 
jmcnamara said:
i'd agree. while it's nice to be on the receiving end of the discount, i've watched enough of those bar rescue shows to know that employees doing that are giving away a lot of money (in the hopes that you'll be tipping them the money that you saved). i would absolutely reprimand and/or fire an employee if i caught them doing that

i also am a bit peeved when i see them pouring out a massive amount of foam with each beer. and when a beer gets to me with no head at all
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Glad I never worked for you. We were allowed a few free pours. A) to keep regulars coming back and B) so we got better tips and the owner didn't have to pay us as much. Of course it's been many years since I tended bar and I guess things have changed some at many places but I know a few places that comp drinks. The funny thing is they are usually the busiest and noisy.
 
Brew Cat said:
Glad I never worked for you. We were allowed a few free pours. A) to keep regulars coming back and B) so we got better tips and the owner didn't have to pay us as much. Of course it's been many years since I tended bar and I guess things have changed some at many places but I know a few places that comp drinks. The funny thing is they are usually the busiest and noisy.
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haha, maybe i'd just be a cruel boss :mad: to be fair, those shows i think skew more towards liquor sales, and I'm sure the margins are a bit different on that. there's a huge difference in giving out a pint or two, and giving away hundreds of dollars of liquor. ultimately, the more that's given away only hurts the business. if you've got good, knowledgeable customer service and great products, i think you'd have no trouble attracting regulars. and giving away one drink on a $100 tab is different than if they only get 2 drinks
and maybe it'd be a bit different if everyone knows they can only give 2 pints free per night or something. but, let's say there's 3 bartenders each night, that's 6 drinks. for easy math, let's say they're $5 each. that's $30 a night, $210 a week, and almost $11,000 a year of gross sales (assuming you're open every night). i think that's hard to argue as an acceptable practice. and i'd think that paying your employees just a little bit more would still be less money than what they'd be giving away

anyway, if they were able to stay in business, more power to 'em!
 
jmcnamara said:
i also am a bit peeved when i see them pouring out a massive amount of foam with each beer.
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Got a local deck bar in town that has foam trouble. The beer is downstairs and porters and stouts always foam terribly. I keep telling them they are pouring money down the drain but they can't get the distributer to address the problem. I guess they sell more beer that way.
 
I have a foam problem at my house, my taps are on the wall so lines travel out the keezer up the wall at least 2 feet creating a warm spot creating foam, it gets you only on the first pour then after the lines cool down its fine, I just deal with it, I let it sit then fill up after the foam dies down
 
jmcnamara said:
haha, maybe i'd just be a cruel boss :mad: to be fair, those shows i think skew more towards liquor sales, and I'm sure the margins are a bit different on that. there's a huge difference in giving out a pint or two, and giving away hundreds of dollars of liquor. ultimately, the more that's given away only hurts the business. if you've got good, knowledgeable customer service and great products, i think you'd have no trouble attracting regulars. and giving away one drink on a $100 tab is different than if they only get 2 drinks
and maybe it'd be a bit different if everyone knows they can only give 2 pints free per night or something. but, let's say there's 3 bartenders each night, that's 6 drinks. for easy math, let's say they're $5 each. that's $30 a night, $210 a week, and almost $11,000 a year of gross sales (assuming you're open every night). i think that's hard to argue as an acceptable practice. and i'd think that paying your employees just a little bit more would still be less money than what they'd be giving away

anyway, if they were able to stay in business, more power to 'em!
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I was never good with numbers but say a guy had four drinks and I gave him the fifth now bar etiquette requires that you don't leave on the free one so after the free one he buys one more. So that's 5/1. Of course he's a regular so he knows he can't leave after 3 so he has 4 gets a comp buys 1 more . So the bar sell 5 cost them the price of the pour( not retail) the customer is happy the bar is happy. Now he's sh... faced so the bartender is happy ( better tip) . Do the math.
 
Head First said:
Got a local deck bar in town that has foam trouble. The beer is downstairs and porters and stouts always foam terribly. I keep telling them they are pouring money down the drain but they can't get the distributer to address the problem. I guess they sell more beer that way.
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Thought that was on the bar to maintain line temps and such. cleaning then may be a different story though, not sure.
 
Brew Cat said:
I was never good with numbers but say a guy had four drinks and I gave him the fifth now bar etiquette requires that you don't leave on the free one so after the free one he buys one more. So that's 5/1. Of course he's a regular so he knows he can't leave after 3 so he has 4 gets a comp buys 1 more . So the bar sell 5 cost them the price of the pour( not retail) the customer is happy the bar is happy. Now he's sh... faced so the bartender is happy ( better tip) . Do the math.
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It might only cost them the price of the pour, but they're losing the money on whatever they mark it up. effectively, that's losing money twice
And that assumes everyone follows that bar etiquette of not leaving on the free one
 
I'm glad I was around before the 80s and everyone started majoring in business. Slot more free drinks back then.
 
Ozarks Mountain Brew said:
I have a foam problem at my house, my taps are on the wall so lines travel out the keezer up the wall at least 2 feet creating a warm spot creating foam, it gets you only on the first pour then after the lines cool down its fine, I just deal with it, I let it sit then fill up after the foam dies down
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This place has got to have a trunk with glycol. The beer is in the basement under the bar. They must be pushing beer up 12-14 ft. They need separate pressures for different beers but the distributer sells them the foam they pour down the drain so... I haven't had a chance to talk to the owners about it but they have had some very good barrel aged stouts that they can't pour for customers without a pitcher and a lot down the drain.:( Not to mention it is over carbed when it does settle.
 
Brew Cat said:
I was never good with numbers but say a guy had four drinks and I gave him the fifth now bar etiquette requires that you don't leave on the free one so after the free one he buys one more. So that's 5/1. Of course he's a regular so he knows he can't leave after 3 so he has 4 gets a comp buys 1 more . So the bar sell 5 cost them the price of the pour( not retail) the customer is happy the bar is happy. Now he's sh... faced so the bartender is happy ( better tip) . Do the math.
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Easy for a consumer to agree with that. You might feel differently if you owned a bar. I don't own a bar either, but I have to think that the successful bars don't give away free product. Free alcohol is a touchy legal subject as well.
 
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