The most common door
In the segments that do not hire bartenders off the street — craft cocktail bars, nightclubs, good hotels, busy restaurants — the position that is actually open is barback.
It is the standard route into those rooms. It is also, for a lot of people, the only route.
What a barback actually does
The job is to make sure the bartender never has to leave the well. Everything the bar consumes, a barback moves.
Before service:
- Stock the ice wells, and keep stocking them all night — this is the defining task
- Cut and prepare garnish
- Fill juices and syrups
- Stock beer, bottles, kegs, wine
- Set up glassware, straws, napkins, coasters, picks
- Change any keg that is low before it blows mid-rush
During service:
- Ice, constantly
- Clear glassware and run it to the dish pit
- Restock bottles as they empty, before they empty if you are good
- Change kegs
- Take out trash and change bins
- Wipe down, mop spills, keep the floor from becoming a hazard
- Occasionally pour beer and wine, depending on the house