1954 Practical Bar Management by Eddie Clarke

SIX

Equipment

There's no dearth ofkindness. In this world ofours. Only in our blindness. Wegather thornsforflowers. There is a very old quotation which tells us that"a poor workman always blames his tools", which may probably be correct in some stages or spheres of life. Be that as it may, in this book we are not interested in poor bartenders(meaning in their craftmanship, of course, and with no reference to their financial assets), for in our opinion they should never be allowed to disgrace a good Cocktail Bar with their presence. There is a great difference between an inexperienced bartender and a poor one, because the former with the right training may acquire great heights, but in the case of the other chap he will seldom improve, and has the unfortunate knack of bringing others down to his level. In view of this, then, let us drastically change the old quotation to meet our own requirements, and let it read:"The best work is done with the right tools". The point has been stressed in previous pages that bartending on the whole is truly a skilled trade, and it therefore demands the very best and most up-to-date equipment to enable the man behind the bar to do hisjob efficiently and correctly. Needless to say, the size of the bar and the number of bar tenders officiating, will have a bearing on the necessary quantities of the many pieces of equipment, but one must find a happy medium somewhere to set a basic standard. Let us then select for ours a bar in a good-class establishment, with a Head Bar tender and one assistant working behind, and two assistants serving the drinks and looking after the tables—not that the latter two come into the picture really, except to stress the point that we need: Two Waiter's Trays. These will rule out any need for a tug-of-war during the busy period should the bar only boast of one tray.

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