What’s a bar about? Escape? Socialization? For being seen, or for hiding? And the experience: what makes it or breaks it? The staff? The atmosphere? The drinks?
Considering that we can buy our own wine, six pack, or booze to mix up a beverage, we’re not going to the bar just to imbibe. Watering holes serve their purpose, but we also go to bars to feel good in a way that doesn’t involve raising our blood alcohol level.
“When you go to a bar,” Angus Winchester explained, a panelist at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail spirits conference, “you want to feel that you’re cool enough to be there, that they want you to be there.” It all comes down to one thing: “hosting.”
Whether you’re serving $13 cocktails and $8 Dubbels or $4 well drinks and $2.50 PBR, it’s a service industry; let us not forget that bars are in business because of the customers, both new and old. As Angus tells us, “Make them feel welcomed. Make them feel important. Make them feel comfortable…” Here's how:
...Welcomed? “Hey.” “Hello.” “How’s it going?” “What can I get for ya?” “Is this your first time here?” Unless the music is ridiculously loud – in which case you should turn it down – nodding in someone’s direction as a way of asking what they’d like to drink isn’t a very good hosting technique.
...Important? Tell the regular who’s talking your ear off that you’ll be right back. A customer is a customer, and all deserve equal attention. And please, if you’re pouring free shots for some people, pour them for everyone.
...Comfortable? Smile if you happen to make eye contact. Smile and nod when you take their order, making them feel like they’ve made a great choice, even if they’ve just requested a Bud Light at the underground cocktail lounge.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard to “host” when a bar or is at capacity and the one pouring drinks has approximately 20 seconds to spend on each guest. But there’s a way to welcome in every situation. A quick smile? A genuine “hi”? Whatever the scenario, host us please, and maybe you’ll start seeing us come around to your bar more often.
Emily Callaghan is managing editor of Table Matters and a graduate of Drexel University. Her work has appeared in Philadelpia Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer and TheSmartSet.com.
Article photograph from dreamstime.com, "The Brew" photograph from Flickmor via Flickr (Creative Commons), "Bottle" photograph from istockphoto.com
