Bartending School

Bartending is a very lucrative and fun career. You earn lots of money while helping people out, listening to their problems, serving them drinks, or even performing in front of them. Becoming a bartender though, isn’t easy if you don’t have the proper education and skills for the job. You have to study in a bartending school or a bartending academy to get hired by the best bars and hotels around the country.

Why Go To a Bartending School?

More and more people are drawn to bartending because few jobs let you have so much fun for so much money. The typical hourly salary of a bartender is about $5 to $8, plus tips that are two to four times that amount. If a bartender earns $8 an hour, he can get tips of $16 to $32 per hour. It’s possible for a bartender in a popular establishment to earn $50,000 to 75,000 a year.

The best way to be a successful bartender quickly is to get bartending school certification. Attending a bartending school or a bartending academy gives you the edge over other applicants because your certificate guarantees your employer that you know everything about bartending, including the responsibilities of a bartender, how to properly serve and mix drinks, and how to do flairs and bar magic. In fact, it’s difficult today to land a bartending job in a popular bar or hotel if you don’t have the proper training and experience.

Bartending Training: Learn to Flair in no Time

Many of the skills that you can learn from a bartending school are impossible to learn on your own. While you can read about bartending tricks on the Internet, you can only go so far in your bartending training because you lack the right equipment to fully train yourself. You also don’t have a professional bartender who will teach you how to do things properly.

The best bartending schools today have professional offices and classrooms that look just like real bars or cocktail lounges. Classrooms allow you to talk directly to your instructors, while working with your classmates who also have their own complete sets of bartending equipment. These schools have cocktail units, ice machines, soda gun dispensers, stainless steel bar sinks, blenders, and glassware. Their expert instructors teach you exactly what to do in different bar situations. The precious knowledge that you can get from the courses that these schools offer can’t be found on online bartending training articles.

Brick and Mortar Bartending Schools

Bartending schools can be found anywhere there are hotels, clubs, and casinos. There are brick and mortar bartending schools, and online bartending schools. Online bartending schools can help a lot to improve your bartending skills, but brick and mortar schools are still best because they offer face-to-face interaction with an expert instructor. The following are some of the best brick and mortar bartending schools today:

• ABC Bartending Schools (New York City): ABC Bartending Schools have a lot of branches in the United States. The founder, Tony Sylvester, has been producing brilliant bartenders since 1977. The ABC branch in New York City is one of the best bartending schools in the whole world. They accept all students 18 years of age or older; and you only have to complete 40 hours of bartending training to become a professional mixologist. The curriculum includes topics on bar equipment, mixing techniques, tipping, and catering.
• American Bartenders School (Palm Desert, California): The American Bartenders School has branches in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, and California. The Palm Desert branch has been operating since the school was founded in 1969. The school has a solid reputation in the bartending industry because of the high-level skill of their graduates. You can become a highly skilled mixologist in just one or two weeks’ worth of bartending training.
• Bartending Academy (Tucson, Arizona): The Bartending Academy in Tucson Arizona is another great place to learn both basic and advanced skills in bartending. Like other bartending schools, the training also usually lasts for two weeks. The Bartending Academy has a website filled with testimonials written by their successful students.

Online Bartending Schools: Bartend at Home

If you don’t have enough time to attend a brick and mortar bartending school, one option you have is to learn through an online bartending school. The primary advantage of an online bartending school over a brick and mortar school is that you can sit back at home and learn everything through e-mail, chat, and videos. The following are some of the best online bartending schools on the Internet:

• The Bartending College: The Bartending College’s online school is almost as good as its original brick and mortar version. The school was established in 1980 and continues to supply the food and beverage industry with highly skilled mixologists. Bartending College Online gives its successful students real certificates of completion that can be presented to employers. It supports its students through phone, chat, e-mail, forum, and videos. It even includes interactive bartending software that helps you understand your work environment from the comfort of your chair.
• Professional Bartending School: The Professional Bartending School is a well-respected online school that gives bartender certification recognized by many hotels and bars. It offers a 30-day refund policy which means you can quit anytime you think their program is not helping you improve. You’ll learn courses through CD-ROMs, DVDs, books, video demonstrations, and exercises. It also has its own bar simulation software that makes learning easier and more interactive.
• Nexgen Bartending School: Nexgen Bartending School exclusively offers online courses. You can save a lot of money by completing their program than going to a brick and mortar school. The school grants access to a job community of bartending students, where you will learn a lot from successful bartenders. Nexgen requires its students to pass its online bartending examination with a mark of 70 percent or higher to receive the Nexgen certification. The great thing about this online school is that you can take as much time as you like to complete the course if you have a busy schedule.

Tuition Costs: How Much Does Bartending Training Cost?

Attending a brick and mortar bartending school is more expensive than going through an online bartending course because the tuition fee includes the cost of the equipment and the expert instructors. A two-week course in a small bartending academy costs about $250. Studying in better bartending schools can cost about $500 to $800.

Courses offered by online bartending schools are much cheaper because all the learning tools are downloadable, such as e-books, videos, and interactive simulation programs. Some online schools even offer classes for less than $50. Be extra careful when choosing online bartending schools though, because some of them are just scams. There are online bartending schools that charge $79, and only ask you to finish an open book test. You will learn nothing from these online frauds, and you’ll just waste your money.

Whether you plan to attend a brick and mortar or an online bartending school, make sure that the school is well-respected in the food and beverage industry before you enroll. Read reviews of the school on the Web to know what other people have to say about it. If it’s a brick and mortar school, visit the place yourself to see their facilities and talk to their instructors. If it’s an online bartending school, e-mail or chat with its current and previous students to gauge its quality.

Don’t apply for a bartending position without anything to show your employer. Start a successful career in bartending with complete bartending training. Show your bartending certification to your employer and get hired immediately.