ProServe Bartending in Salt Lake City, Utah, offers training in English and Spanish for prospective bartenders. This program consists of 12 hours of classes that run on a weekend or weekday schedule. Seven of these 12 hours focus on drink knowledge and preparation, with the remaining five hours devoted to pouring techniques, how to set up a bar, types of wine, beer and spirits and the legal aspects of bartending. Coursework also focuses on customer service, cash management, and how to compose a bartending resume and find a bartending job. ProServe provides its graduates with assistance in finding a position.
The state of Utah mandates that any employee who serves alcohol take a course in responsible alcohol service. ProServe's bartending training includes coursework that satisfies this requirement. All ProServe graduates receive a Server & Management Alcohol Responsibility Training, or SMART card, one of the training programs that the state of Utah has certified to meet this legal requirement.
The state of Utah requires any individual hired by an establishment to serve or supervise the service of alcohol to take a seminar in responsible alcohol service. Bartenders must complete this seminar within 30 days of gaining employment; once bartenders complete this course, they must recertify every three years in order to continue working as bartenders. Utah bartenders can take this course online through the ACE Bartending Academy in Las Vegas, by arranging to take a class with a number of licensed SMART instructors in Utah (see Resource 2) or by taking it online through the program offered by Learn2Serve (Resource 3).
This course teaches bartenders how to recognize the signs of intoxication, how to detect a fake ID, and how to slow down or refuse service to patrons who have consumed too much alcohol. It also instructs bartenders in the legal aspects and liabilities that can result from serving alcohol to minors and intoxicated patrons.
Bartenders who enjoy working in the restaurant industry but have grown tired of closing a bar every Friday and Saturday night can pursue further training to become a bar or restaurant manager. The Woodbury School of Business at Utah Valley University offers a specialized program in hospitality management. Here, bartenders can earn an Associate in Applied Science, Associate in Science or a Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality Management. Coursework includes food and beverage management, techniques of inventory, ordering and cost control, hospitality finance and management skills and courses geared toward specific hospitality settings, such as restaurants, country clubs and golf courses and conventions and events.
Many restaurants and bars do not require bartenders to train at a certification-awarding bartending schools. Instead, these establishments generally promote and then train their best servers and hosts to become bartenders. Clubs and restaurants with in-house developed drink menus need their bartenders to learn these specialty drinks whether or not the applicants possess bartending certification.
Besides the concrete skills, drink knowledge and focused training a bartending school provides, the main advantage of a bartending school lies in its network of contacts with owners and workers in the industry. The graduates of a successful bartending school find work in local bars, restaurants, clubs and banquet halls. A bartending school that provides job placement can leverage this network of its graduates to learn about unadvertised job openings. Bartending schools that have built reputations of producing knowledgeable bartenders can count on local restaurant and bar owners to consider its current crop of graduates for open positions.