How to Make More Tips as a Bartender
Just because a person tends a bar does not mean he will automatically make good tips. Good bartenders can easily make over a hundred dollars a night in tips. Anyone can mix alcohol—it takes a special person to get paid extra for making the service fun.
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Instructions
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Provide the best customer service in town. Go above and beyond the job description to make customers want to come back. Provide fast service with a joke or a smile. Learn customers' names and drink orders to make them feel special. Remember their personal quirks and be prepared so they don’t feel self-conscious.
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Place the tip cup in a noticeable position on the bar. Decorate it to entice customers into putting in money. At a sports bar, for example, place a basketball hoop over the tip jar and place it 10 feet from the nearest pitching point. Offer a free beer to anyone who "shoots" money and makes it.
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Work private parties at the bar for extra tip money. A gratuity is added to the bill of the party to guarantee the bartender makes extra money. Customers also tip well at private parties with cash bars to look better in front of friends.
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Get cash flowing in the bar. Start weekly game tournaments with small cash entry fees and 100 percent payback. Set up a card, dart or pool tournament. These competitions keep customers in the establishment for several hours, pleasing bar management and earning you more tips.
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Create a fun atmosphere to make customers want to spend time and money in the bar. Start the music off with customer favorites. Remember and recite appropriate jokes for every occasion. Promote stimulating conversation to keep customers in the bar longer and make more tips.
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Tips & Warnings
Handle problem customers quickly and quietly without recruiting help from other customers. Customers will tip more if they know the bartender is in control.
Work with bar management or owners to set up specials for happy hours to save customers money for tipping the bartender.
Let customers help come up with new drink recipes. Customers give bartenders extra tips for letting them be involved.
Get to know the customers in the bar before telling jokes or introducing potentially volatile topics of conversation.
Don't date customers or other employees of the bar. Breakups and fights affect the entire bar's mood, the number of customers coming in and your tips.
