Bartender

Bartender interview questions:

You might already have potential Bartender candidates within your current team, particularly among your barbacks. However, if you’re starting from scratch and need to build a new bartending team, it’s essential to look for bartenders with relevant experience in your specific type of establishment. Their experience level in a similar setting matters more than the number of years they’ve been bartending.

It’s beneficial if candidates have bartending certification and alcohol safety training. Depending on your location and clientele, knowledge of a second language could also be an advantage. If it aligns with your business strategy, consider hiring someone with specialized expertise, such as a sommelier (wine expert) or cicerone (beer expert).

The following interview questions are designed to be open-ended and situational, encouraging candidates to share details about their bartending experience. Exceptional candidates will possess knowledge of both popular and classic cocktails and have opinions on the best pairings with your menu items. They should be outgoing and able to upsell drinks without being overly pushy. Reliability, hard work, and teamwork are also crucial attributes to look for in candidates.

Operational and Situational questions:

• What do you enjoy most about bartending?
• How would you describe our typical customers?
• What types of customers have you served in your previous bartending roles?
• Tell us about your training and experience in bartending.
• Have you undergone any alcohol safety training, and if so, which ones?
• What’s your favorite cocktail to prepare?
• Where do you like to go for a well-made cocktail?
• If you had to pair a drink with one of our specialty dishes, what would you recommend?
• Can you walk us through the process of making an Old Fashioned?
• What dessert cocktails do you often recommend to customers?
• How would you handle a situation where a patron appears to have consumed too much alcohol?
• If you suspected that an underage person was using a borrowed ID, what action would you take?
• What steps would you take if you knew you would be more than an hour late for your shift?
• During slower nights, how do you stay productive and engaged?
• Describe a time when you successfully turned a negative customer experience into a positive one.
• What is your approach to upselling drinks without being overly pushy?
• If a customer sent back their drink, how would you handle the situation?
• How do you accommodate ingredient substitutions for drinks?
• Share an experience where you effectively resolved a problem with an upset customer.
• What would you do if you observed a coworker not contributing their fair share of work?
• If you anticipated being significantly late for work, how would you communicate and handle the situation?
• Have you ever been a patron at our bar? If so, what was your experience, and do you have any suggestions for improvement?