We are the champions! - What do a bartender and an athlete have in common?

What do a bartender and an athlete have in common? And the fact is that both of them, without participating in competitions, championships, without comparing themselves with others, without understanding their shortcomings and without working on mistakes, will never become a professional, but will remain just an amateur.

A BARTENDER exists in every restaurant. More often than not, it does exist. Simply because someone has to pour it. Neither visitors nor managers attach much importance to its existence. Rarely in any establishment in Russia there is a person at the counter who is sought after - sociable and active, attracting guests to the restaurant by the fact of his presence in it. This kind of worker can turn out to be a real star of bartending art. He already has the necessary human qualities; all that remains is to acquire professional skills. You can gain some experience already in the bar where you started working behind the counter. But this will be the experience of only one bar, albeit the most “pretentious” one. It is impossible to master all the skills that exist in our profession in one institution. They are too different.
Changing your job on purpose to improve your qualifications is an option that is only good in theory. The team you work for is probably the best team for you, and that’s worth a lot. They do not seek good from good.

How then can you improve your level without leaving your friends at your favorite bar or going on long courses? Everything, including professional level, is learned through comparison. This level is very clearly visible at competitions. Some cocktail makers like to exalt themselves in front of visitors to the bars where they work, but when really great professionals are nearby and everyone is on an equal footing, it becomes immediately clear who is worth what. The difference in the level of training is more noticeable than the sun on the Japanese flag. Ambitious and smart guys who want to become super try to surpass those to whom they lost at the next competition. This means that you will have to look at the “chips”, train, study, and not bend your fingers at the level of a single bar. Well, the one who spies on the “chips”, trains, studies – he becomes super. Consequently, competitions are an incentive to improve skills and a scale of professional level.

But why are there so many competitions and are they all different? The fact is that these events are also very interesting for manufacturers of products used in bars. There is such a thing as a coincidence of interests. In our case, this coincidence is obvious. A company that produces products for the restaurant business has the opportunity to present them to the consumer. After all, if liqueur, syrup , blender, glass, etc. are produced for use in bartending, the most effective and inexpensive way to spread this delicacy/convenience throughout the country is to introduce professionals to it. And if it turns out to be really tastier or more convenient than others, a smart person will start using such a good product. The manufacturer has achieved its goals. Professionals had the opportunity to gather and learn from each other. The interests coincided.

The following principle follows from the above: competitions must become more complicated. The stricter the rules, the more you need to study and train to defeat previous champions. If the rules are always the same, a huge number of participants of equal level appear. In this case, the result is greatly influenced not by the presence of skills and abilities, but simply by luck. And this great lady comes to whomever she wants. A person who constantly participates in competitions, realizing that everything depends only on fortune, will train less and pray more for luck. And one of the main objectives of the competition – professional development – will be lost.

Therefore, the Russian Bartenders Association makes every effort to ensure that the level of our competitions is optimal to achieve the listed goals. I consider my main achievement in recent years to be that the level of preparedness of the guys coming to the championships has increased significantly. This is especially noticeable in the example of the English language. Some at first could only say “senkyu”, but a year later, at the next competition, they could already communicate fluently in English. If Russian bartenders continue to study at this rate, there will be special demand for us. We will be expensive. And work where we like.

Editor-in-Chief Sergei Tsyro. /BARNEWS/