Dean Serneel has created an excellent 4 Volume DVD set which is all you need to become an expert in the bar tending industry. Each disc is packed with step by step techniques and vital training information. Special Features include: trailers, short videos, and bonus footage. The Menus are broken down into specific categories, so your not wasting time looking for the content you need to see.

Volume 4, Practical Bar Magic, includes tried and tested magic tricks from years of working as a professional restaurant magician. Over one hour of epic, memorable, Bar Magic. Learn how to do tricks with props found behind your bar. Slow motion step by step instructions of over 25 different tricks. Learn the Floating Shaker Tin, make a Lit Cigarette disappear, and how to Steal Watches right of the arms of your guests. This disk is perfect for anyone working the wood.

This is not only a super way to improve your tips and customer loyalty, it’s loads of fun at parties too!

To get more information, see video clips or purchase Practical Bar Magic click here!

Found on the web…

By ANDREA MOSS – Staff Writer

SAN MARCOS —- Anyone who sells or serves alcohol in San Marcos would have to attend mandatory training to make them “responsible beverage servers,” under a proposed ordinance tentatively approved Tuesday by the entire City Council.

The proposed ordinance must be approved a second time before it can take effect. That vote is scheduled for April 28.

If adopted, the proposed ordinance would require bartenders, waiters and waitresses who work at bars and restaurants to attend a free, two-hour class designed to teach them how to spot fake identification.

The classes also cover such topics as how to tell when someone has had too much to drink and how to tell them they cannot have any more alcohol.

Clerks and cashiers at San Marcos stores that sell alcohol also would be covered by the training requirement.

Mayor Jim Desmond got support from Councilman Hal Martin when the mayor said he feared the city was trying to force an unfunded mandate on its businesses, “which we seem to doing more and more.”

Both men voted in favor of the ordinance, however, after they were assured the training classes are already readily available at no charge to the businesses.

And Councilwoman Rebecca Jones said a ride she took with a local sheriff’s deputy last year taught her how useful the training might be.

“It is difficult, when someone’s had a little too much (to drink), to be able to tell that and know how to tell them,” she said.

The city’s Student and Neighborhood Relations Committee drafted the responsible beverage server ordinance at the request of the nonprofit North Inland Community Prevention Program in Poway.

Funded by the county’s Health and Human Services agency, the program works with communities to prevent alcohol- and drug-related problems.

The proposed San Marcos ordinance is modeled after a similar one that Solana Beach adopted in 2007.

Deputy City Manager Lydia Romero told the council Tuesday that the San Marcos version would require employees of bars, restaurants and stores that serve or sell alcohol to attend the special training sessions once every two years.

Those who complete the training would receive certificates that their employers would have to keep on file, she said.

Telling the council she sat through one of the classes last year, Romero said the presenter displayed several identification cards and explained what gave them away as fakes.

Participants also learned conversational techniques that can be used to determine someone’s age, the signs of intoxication, and tips for talking to someone who has reached that point, she said.

Celeste Young, a prevention specialist with the Poway nonprofit, said hairdressers and people in many other professions have to obtain special training before they are allowed to work.

“So why not the gatekeepers of alcohol,” she said.

Displaying San Diego County Sheriff’s Department statistics that showed San Marcos has a higher-than-average rate of alcohol-related vehicle accidents compared to the rest of the county, Young also noted that the city is home to Cal State San Marcos and Palomar College.

“With the increasing student population in San Marcos and no (responsible beverage server ordinance), chances are that these (local) statistics will get higher,” she said.

Judy Slane, who lives in the Coronado Ranch residential development near the university, also urged the council to approve the ordinance, saying that drinking among college-age people is a nationwide problem.

“We need to do this to improve the safety of our community,” she said.

Restaurants, bars and stores would have 180 days to get all their employees trained, if the proposed ordinance is adopted. New hires after that would have 90 days to get their training certificates, and new businesses would be informed about the training requirement when they applied for business licenses.

A Tip20! Original Article, by Tom Mason

Making better tips doesn’t have to be rocket science. In fact it can be as simple as the words you choose when taking an order. The list below are just 10 simple ways to make better tips and improve your guest experience.

1. Greet your table immediately. A minute or less. If you simply don’t have time to do your big introduction at least stop by the table for a moment and say “My name is ________ and I’ll be right with you.” This will buy you a little time because they know that you are aware of their presence and are hurrying to get back to them as soon as possible. When you get back to them apologize for the delay.
2. Smile. Smile. Smile. It’s you strongest money maker.
3. Don’t be just an order taker. Repeat their items back and re-enforce their decisions. People are often unsure about their choices and are comforted to know they have made a good one. Set yourself up for success – “That is one of my favorites” or “I just had that myself yesterday” or “A very popular dish”
4. Know your menu. Not just the items on it but the ingredients that make them up too. Solid product knowledge will help you sell and build your credibility with the guest.
5. Always up-sell. When you do make sure it is an addition you personally like. If you can be honest about your recommendation, you will sell more. No one likes a salesman but people do value your opinion. Higher ticket averages mean larger tips.
6. Recommend specific beverages and deserts. “Anything to drink?” won’t cut it and they will stick with water. People can get exhausted just deciding on their entree and won’t want to think anymore about a beverage. Instead try “Would you like a cold soda, fresh brewed iced tea or glass of red wine?” Notice the adjectives cold, fresh and red. This helps your guest visualize the beverage and may trigger a taste for it.
7. Stay on top of refills. You never want your guests thinking about you. Nothing will get them thinking about you faster then thirst. Also, use napkins when possible. Drinks sweat and leave pools of water on the table. People don’t like putting their hand inadvertently in said pool, it’s gross.
8. If you need to apologize for something, be sincere. Don’t try to shift blame if it is your fault. People may feel sympathy for you if you feel bad for the mistake you made. They may not be so forgiving if you are trying to blame the kitchen for their late food.
9. Present the bill at the right time. Don’t make them wait for you, this is the number one tip buster.
10. Tell them how much you have enjoyed waiting on them and to please come back and ask for you. Building your own clientele is good for you and your establishment. You will get to know your guests and can hone your service to their likes when they come back. “It has been my pleasure serving you today, please come again and ask for (say your name).”

Bonus Tip: For a great eBook on improving your tips, check out Patti Farnham’s Gratuity Ingenuity. The proven techniques and information it contains will pay for itself almost immediately!

by David Neeson – Tip20! Contributer

My name is David. I remember growing up looking at people who have ‘fun’ jobs and being jealous.  I was 10 when I first went to a go-kart track and saw this guy whose entire job is to just sit outside and be around go-karts ALL DAY LONG… How awesome was that?   I mean he’s not in an office, or in the back scrubbing toilets, he’s around fun go-karts just sitting around and occasionally jumping on the back of a kart and riding it for a bit. Most important thing is he’s outside around people when THEY are having fun…

It took me awhile, but seven years later I became that guy.  I worked at a Family Fun Center for two years working the go-karts.   By now you’re probably thinking, “What does this have to do with bartending???”  Well hold on, because it was around that same time that I went into a TGI Fridays and saw a bartender who had the entire crowd laughing, cheering, and genuinely enjoying themselves.   It was at that exact moment that I found my new ‘fun’ job to strive for.

I left Indiana and went to college at the University of Dayton, in Ohio.  Sure I left my family and friends a state away, but I never forgot that feeling in the bar as a teenager. I wanted to be that guy who had the crowd cheering, and remembered that he was doing ‘flair’ behind his bar and owning every inch of it.  I didn’t know at the time how hated flair is to bartenders, all I knew is how much fun I had watching it.   Within the first two months at Dayton, I found a group of jugglers and learned how to juggle with the specific idea of applying it to bottles later in life.  Even though learning to juggle was a big step in my life, I was too scared to say anything about my hopes to family and friends, because it just seemed silly.  This brings me to another point I want to make: The ONE thing I would like to accomplish by this post is giving hope to those who enjoy something, not to be scared to strive to get it done, no passion is stupid…

My second year at Dayton I left on a study abroad program to Hawaii.  I was only 20 but thought I was the best flair bartender in the WORLD.   I soon found guys who showed me otherwise and taught me the art; yes I said art, of flair bartending.  I can truly pinpoint my passion for bartending, and flair, to that moment in my life.

It’s been several years since and I’m still growing and learning every day.  Flair bartending aside, bartending is still an art.   Not everyone can walk into a bar and own every inch of that bar top.  I’ve heard the saying over and over, “I can teach a monkey how to pour a drink, but I can’t teach anyone how to bartend.”

It’s hard to look someone in the eye when they’re having a bad day, and get them to trust you enough in the five minutes you’ve known them, to tell you why their day isn’t going well.
I’m here to talk about bartending.  So my first question to those who’ve cared enough to read this far is, Why do you bartend?   This isn’t meant to call into question the monetary rewards bartending achieves, but this is more calling into question your dedication to the art…  So… Why?  Why do you bartend.  I do this because it’s the only job that no one is perfect at.  No one can go into a shift and truly have the exact same thing happen to them because everyday is something different…

If by now you’re tired of bartending, or don’t have the motivation to grow in the art, then sit down and think about what it was like for you the first time you saw a bartender who really made you feel good… I mean someone who probably wouldn’t be able to pick you out from a ham sandwich, but yet you still respect enough to trust them with your deepest secrets…

Bartending can be fun.  Bartending SHOULD be fun.  Aside from the flair aspect, which I plan on talking about later, bartending should be a job people look forward to…   If your bar is gloomy, then take some action and be that one person who makes other people have fun… No one likes having a boring area to work, and fun can be contagious…

Well I’m going to end this with that same go-kart track that I worked at before bartending… It sucked… After the initial first week, it was boring and the same thing over and over while smelling gas fumes and dealing with yelling children every day… The one thing that kept me going was that even though I got the same question asked, and same scenarios each day, it was with a different person and I couldn’t hold that against them…   I never knew if I was going to the next race with a child who looked up to me like I did that guy how ever many years ago, so I had to make it fun… After I did that, the fumes and yelling didn’t bother me quite as much…

Choose your work style…