National business coach and beverage educator, Kelly Skillen, demonstrates how operators can boost earnings by recruiting quality bartenders and reevaluating the club’s bar program.
(Note: This article was written by Kelly Skillen and appears in the March 2026 issue of ED Magazine.)
I have a controversial, even incendiary, thing to say: our establishments are bars. They are bars with bells and whistles, for sure, including live entertainment to whatever degree of nudity the law allows, but bars, nonetheless. You may disagree and say our product is entertainment (as labor lawyers across the nation cringe), and bars are just the facilitators, the necessary lubricants, or even an “amenity” for guests to enjoy until they get down to the real business at hand. To which I say, you couldn’t be more wrong.
As an operator and national beverage educator, my company, KMA Consulting Group, has previously offered pro tips on how to rev up your beverage program, accessible on our website, but today, we’re going to focus on the crucial role of the bar—and the bartender—in your operation.
Create a visual
Your bar must be a visual invitation to the guest. That means your shelves should be well-lit and fully stocked with popular, premium products you want to sell! We do not sell lip gloss, bar rags, change bags or copies of the liquor requisition, so those things have no place on our back bar. Service stations, glass washing, trash and other housekeeping should be kept out of the guest’s eyeline.
“The bartender is a confidante, an insider, sometimes a respite from the chaos on the floor. Prioritize their ability to converse over cup size.”
— Kelly Skillen
Choose personality over looksThe most important element of our stage is our actors—or bartenders, of course! Recruit based on personality, but keep your unspoken promise to develop their talent. It’s our job as leaders to convince our cast to abandon their phone, personal conversation and resting bitch face to hold their glass to the light and mix their drink with the level of showmanship worthy of our venues! While all cast members are important, take special care when recruiting and placing bartenders. They may follow the same steps of service as a server, but there is something about the bar that cultivates a less structured, more intimate connection. The bartender is a confidante, an insider, sometimes a respite from the chaos on the floor. Prioritize their ability to converse with a wide spectrum of guests over cup size. And if you elevate your beverage program, never allow your menus and the prep they require to become so extensive that new cast members can’t easily master them. Add bar stationsDrinks come from bars, and a healthy venue should be able to break even from beverage sales alone. While this excludes juice bars and BYOB venues, keep in mind that nonalcoholic beverage sales can be a game-changer! To increase your club’s drink revenue, make sure you have enough bar stations, each comprised of an ice well, rail and soda gun. If you only have two stations, you can schedule 12 bartenders, but you’ll never get the output of more than two-and-a-half. Extra bartenders won’t increase service speed if they’re competing for the same workspace. Offer service well motivationNext, be sure your service well is efficiently tended. Each server represents multiple sales, but what’s your bartender’s incentive to prioritize them over their regulars sitting at the bar? It’s 100% our job to answer that question. Bartenders need motivation and systems in place to take care of server orders quickly, rather than focusing only on walk-up guests. Consider the bar layoutYour bar’s layout should work with bartenders, not against them. In our business, success requires maximizing revenue when it’s available, which can come down to seconds. Design your bar to enhance natural workflow and minimize the steps bartenders need to take to complete each order, because extra steps waste seconds, and those seconds add up to lost revenue after a busy night. |
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“A great bartender is never in competition with entertainers, but relishes matchmaking and curates an environment conducive to spending money.”
— Kelly Skillen
Cast each bar station
Build enough bars to support your operation, but be equally prepared to cast each bar you build. An empty bar is the same thing as an empty stage, which is to say, the same thing as a smile with missing teeth.
Bartenders as your secret weapon
When we first evaluate a business, we pay special attention to the bar, which operators often view as mostly an overflow area. Have the wheels come off? Has the bar failed to uphold the same standard of service expected on the floor? Conversely, are the bartenders our unheralded secret weapons?
I’ve worked with some of the industry’s top professionals who serve food, mix cocktails, sell bottles and make introductions, all the while maintaining a steady flow of drinks going out to the main floor. A great bartender is never in competition with entertainers, but relishes matchmaking and curates an environment conducive to spending money.
I should note that your bartender is not in competition with your server either. In training, I prioritize the need to seat guests on the floor—stage, tables and VIP—because a well-cast bar will always attract its own stellar clientele. Also, your bartender and server should not be the same person.
Those of you who refuse to schedule a server on Mondays because “it’s dead,” resulting in the bartender coming out from behind the bar to serve guests or, more commonly, the guest walking up to the bar, are part of the problem. You’re the reason Mondays are dead. Cast for the crowd you want, not the crowd you have, then go out there and make it happen.
Grant the bar and the bartender the respect they deserve as a key element of our operation!
For more information on KMA Consulting Group, visit www.kmaconsultinggroup.com.
