Whether you own a restaurant, a pub, or a hotel, a vital portion of your income will come from alcohol sales. Most establishments that sell alcohol usually operate a bar of some kind to service drinks. This of course means that at some point in time you are going to have to buy new bar equipment.
The types bar equipment that are essential for serving beverages – and that your bartenders are going to need in order to do their jobs – can be divided into three categories. The first is hardware. The hardware of your bar includes all things electrical, from your coolers to your soda gun to your ice machine. Glassware is obviously the second category. You can’t really serve beverages without bar glasses.
The third category, as deceptively as it may seem, may be the most important of all. Because this category is overlooked as often as it is, it is the one you’re going to want to pay extra careful attention to. This category is barware.
Barware is a generic term we use to identify all those essential utensils that are so central to the job of a bartender. This category incorporates everything zesting tools to bottle openers to cork screws to cocktail shakers The trouble is that when you buy inferior barware for your restaurant, you put yourself in danger of providing bad service. It doesn’t really matter how gifted your bartenders are or how top shelf the quality of your spirits are. Before you purchase tools for your bar, you might want to get familiar with a few of the conventions.
- The colder you serve your cocktails, the better they will be, so try and find an insulated cocktail shaker. If you choose a Boston shaker, the sort you use with a pint glass, you’ve got to buy a hawthorn strainer.
- A zester is a must for turning lemon twists for garnish, but your better bet is a good quality channel or decorating knife.
- A good quality wine opener is essential. Nobody likes picking out bits of cork from their wine.
- Buy a wall-mounted bottle opener if possible. You’re going to lose more of the hand-held kind than you’d like.
- Portion control is everything, so be sure you have a couple double jiggers or spirit measures around.
To learn more about barware, visit Hospitality Direct, Australia’s #1 Hospitality Superstore!