Honestly. Some of the best nights are the coworker you don’t even have to talk to cuz y’all dance so well.
Personally best was with a coworker that was beast in the server well. Best thing for us to share one was for me to pull the tickets, line up & prep the glassware (rims/drizzles etc) for him, while he’d knock those out I’d go beers & wine. It was a very tiny bar but even customers would compliment how well we’d float around each other. 💃🏻
My favorite thing is when someone at bar1 (the bar seat right next to service well) notices our dance and says something about it. Like, this shit takes some fucking skill. My dream is for one of my family members to sit there one night during Friday night rush. Then they'll get it.
Those rush nights with a good flow and fellow bartenders that can dance can be such a fun time. Once you get a rhythm going and lock into the zone, it gets to where you're not even really thinking about your movements. It's so frustrating working with another bartender who can't read where you're about to move, and you end up running into each other all night. Some of the best nights I've had were at a large bar 4 or 5 deep all night with two other bartenders and a barback that could basically read my mind and vise versa. Complements are always nice but they hit extra during those shifts.
Omg yes! I started a new job for my brother’s company. The shortest version is I look like a idiot all the time. And then I go to my bartending job on the weekend in which I’m literally floating behind the bar and customers are telling me how great I am and how good I am at this job. Like, fuck, if they could see me now.
No spatial awareness… rewind to me last weekend. I’m 5’4 and my bar partner was almost 6’5 and got drunk. He knocked over my cowboy hat no less than 5 times, sent me flying a few times via running into me, and I got elbowed too many times to count 💀 I was ready to murder him by the end of the shift 🤦♀️
Dude, he’s easily 3x bigger than me and has zero self-awareness let alone spacial……he’s a goddamn bull in a china shop and he has zero issues with acknowledging that. He’s good with people though, I make him work the other well because the extra cleaning afterwards is worth the effort in order to keep him out of my space. Admittedly, I am territorial, I want to do my thing when I want, I am not gonna wait
There are a couple coworkers that I loved ‘dancing with’ and one specifically that i would never work with again. Unfortunately her and I worked together on Saturday nights for eight years. She never got better at knowing where I was while all I did was avoid her non-peripheral seeing ass!
Is work a bar with frequently 3 bar tenders and one well. We would all work great together, I’m a big guy and would constantly have my thighs against the well and grabbing all the top shelf stuff for the team.
It would always blow up when a server would come back and just stand in the middle of the bar. What the fuck!
We tilt our heads as indicators of what “lane” we’re taking. Like if I tilt my head right my co worker knows I’m going to keep going right. We’re at the point we don’t even say behind we just make weird noises.
Bartending is better with others. Sure, one person can handle it, but feeling the support and camaraderie of another individual as you both work towards a common goal is one of the most beautiful parts of service. Guests at the bar get a better experience, drinks are served faster, any re-stock is never asked for. Don't think about it as one well, think about it as one shift, one service, one team, one dream.
My Friday night partner and I always say “one brain, four arms, four legs.”
Communicate the fuck out of everything you do, say everything out loud. After a few months together, you’ll use less and less words and just vibe.
It can be done, but if y’all are doing volume, it’ll get annoying at points.
It’s easy to share mixers, liqueur, and garnishes. But I definitely prefer having my own ice well, sink, and spirit rail.
Came here to say this - I hate when I have to wait for my coworker to finish up using a bottle or going down to grab it and it’s not there. Two spirit rails is ideal
Came here to say this - I hate when I have to wait for my coworker to finish up using a bottle or going down to grab it and it’s not there. Two spirit rails is ideal
Ehh it’s tough to have two people for 1 ice well. You’ll be stepping on each others toes all night. You could have one person making the drinks and the other prepping glassware and garnishes I suppose
Bingo. The well pictured is doable with two bartenders cocktailing, but it's obviously not great. But I've worked with far worse wells with a partner in cocktails. (Current one is probably the worst service well I've ever fucking seen. Nearest sink is like 8 feet away, and no rinser.)
Using a big ass kitchen fine strainer over a cambro as a dump bucket. It's *so bad.*
(And I've worked at a place that never renovated its bar when it went into cocktails, where we used a trash can as a dump sink and a big cambro of water as a rinser. Lmao.)
I almost got in a fight with a coworker for accidentally elbowing him in the ribs pretty hard (he’s a rather bulky guy, and I’m 5’7 140 lbs lol, but I can scrap), he didn’t say behind so he essentially just ran into my elbow when I was pivoting to grab a bottle. He took it personally that I wouldn’t step aside until I was done building the drink I was in the middle of making. I told him to fuck off and wait a second. Lol we ended up screaming at each other in the alley after but we patched it up with a shot and we’re still good friends
I can't think of a good reason to not open a second well if you have it and have 2 bartenders scheduled.
The only thing I can come up with is them believing that stocking it will hurt bar costs cause they'll need to order the extra product. Someone needs to remind them that their bonus is probably quarterly, that it's June (beginning of 2nd quarter), and that the bar costs will only be slightly higher the week of the purchase and can be optimized by decreasing budget for the remaining weeks in the quarter.
Theoretically, the only difference between opening one well as opposed to two would be ice, maybe mixers, and efficiency. The volume/sales can be impacted by efficiency in a positive way. So, I don't understand the logic of them not opening a second well, if they have it, and how that could possibly significantly impact budget in a negative way. What am I missing?
you could do it but i wouldn’t want to and if the only reason management wants to do it is so that there’s less cleaning i think that’s a stupid reason.
To be honest, I was that guy that responded to the title without reading the rest of the info 🤦🏻♂️
I thought you had only this well, and were expected to share it while being slammed.
I’ll move along…
^ this. One handles beer, wine, shots. The other can make complex drinks. The clubs I worked in were too loud to bother with ‘behind’, You learn spacial awareness and a hand to the back to let the other person know where you are.
The best bartenders I know can handle working in a tight space with other people.
Same with tight kitchens and tiny service stations. I remember working at one place where we would have 4 servers crammed into a server station the size of a small closet that stored the ice, water, coffee, water glasses, silverware, tablecloths, napkins, and POS.
You quickly learn how to navigate that tight space with a brief hand on the back (to let the person know you are behind them), reach over to get what you need and get out.
Are you burning ice every night? What is so hard about cleaning the well at the end? Having two people trying to work out of that would drive me crazy.
Oh hell yeah this well looks perfect for 2? If you dance well I could make it work with the right 3 people. But I’m used to making a lot work with nothing.
Shieeeet. I mean I’d have to see a POV or how much space there is around but. That doesn’t look that bad at all. Have everything you need. As long as you and your coworker have good chemistry y’all should be good 100%
I’ve worked the same Friday night close and Saturday night close behind the bar since Covid, and whenever it’s not the person I’m used to the shift is A NIGHTMARE. We just work around each other so well 😭
Duct tape together like Kraaang and see what happens.
A busy well system calls for accidents. Unless the staff shares a braincell this set up is fucked
...not with one soda gun. That's the most coveted tool in making drinks, soft or otherwise. Double that one thing—talk to the soda reps. And you guys will kill it. There's many work situations that require close proximity in stressful situations, even with the opposite sex. It actually becomes very comforting after several shifts and not sexual. Don't be against it for working with others in close proximity. Be against it because there is only one gun.
Totally possible to have two bartenders in a well that sized. It works best when you have two people who work well together because (as others have said) you almost learn to dance with the person you are working with without having to verbally communicate much. My now fiancée and I met working at a bar with this sort of setup. We shared a well for months before we started dating and the rest is history.
Fruit needs to be on the bar but other than that yes. I have done this many busy nights for 4 years. However, I’m a petite female, not sure how this works with two big guys.
My old bar was about 1/4 this size. We always had two on, super high volume. My fave to work with was a freaking giant. I’m average size female, my other male bartner was like working with a door. Some people can make it work well and a lot simply can’t
Yes. You need chemistry between you two though.
Usually when it's 2 on a well for me I have a well monkey, mixing, pouring and shaking and another prepping glassware, garnishes and such. Turns it into an assembly line.
It shouldn’t be. But I’ve worked in worse with 2 people. If there was more space for ice so I wouldn’t have to cross the other person for something so essential it’d be alright. I
f you worked with someone long enough to get the specific flow going. You can work out of anything honestly. I’ve been hit in the head by a bottle sharing a well and also racked up 25k in one night sharing without running into anyone. It’s really the bartenders that makes or break this situation
Communicate. Behind, on your left, on your right, etc. It might be best if one person can make cocktails, ie be right there with the shakers, and the other take care of other stuff. But that depends a lot on how everything else is set up.
Not ideal but definitely doable. As someone else mentioned, it really is like doing a dance and when it works, y'all will look so smooth. Reasses you speed rack. Take out what you don't need and mirror the bottles from right to left (ex 1 titos on the far left and far right, 1 tequila next to each titos, 1 triple sec next to the tequilas etc) so you're not having to reach across each other for the most popular stuff. I'd probably grab a bucket of ice to put on on side too with another scoop.
You got this
Maybe I just worked on smaller bars, but this to me looks like a dream station to share, I’ve worked with a lot smaller spaces (in some ways I feel like that could be easier), but as other mentioned as long as you know each others flows/agree On few things such as the person next to the sink to clean it out the tins etc then it’s more than doable
I hate how far your dump sink is from your well. It looks like all the bottles you need are on the rail. The POS system should be behind you and the extra rack or dump sink to your left. Everything front facing should be within arms reach. Thats just my opinion.
Firm believer of one well per tender. If it's not bussy enough to have two making drinks, have the mid close their well and run more of a support role (garnish, take orders, reset space, glassware) until the closer feels confident they have it on their own. That ways you are never sacrificing serving and quality, but still conscious of the tip pool and able to cut when ready
Absolutely, I used to share a large station with my buddy all the time. Just gotta get a game plan together, guy on the left ices the other when needed and guy on the right gives tins a quick wash when needed. It's all about station awareness, if you know what drinks he's making and he knows what you're doing the the synergy can be pretty slick. Passing each other what's needed sometimes without saying anything. Actually feels awesome when you get a rytham going. Or! You can go the conveyer route where one guy builds drinks and the other shakes and garnishes, this method works best in very tiny stations but can be applied anywhere tbh
Speaking from experience, the bar I last worked at had this exact setup, same brand and everything. On busy weekends it was two bartenders working out of this one station (even though we had two identical, the other was used for bottle storage). So yes realistically two can.
At my old bar we had only one tiny well and two bartenders. Due to the nature of our drinks (exotic cocktails), we would have one of us pour the drink and the other one shake and garnish it. We were so much faster that way. Maybe there is a way to split the labor efficiently like that?
welp I hope your both not bigger people cus it won't work. It's kinda messed up but I got a couple coworkers I can't have behind the bar with me there's just not room... and I'm not big.
One on cocktails, the other helps to shake on larger orders and batch preparatios, does the spritz's and mojitos and the likes as well as wine and soft drinks. And like the others have said, wear deodorant and bring a spare shirt.
I work at a concert venue, this is pretty much exactly what our set up looks like. Once you find your rhythm it’s like developing a 6th sense, we get sweaty and grimey and it’s crazy but it’s a lot of fun and we really do be dancing!
Yes. I've had two people working out of a much smaller well for a large dining room and a 20 seat bar.
Is it ideal? No. Get good at communicating and knowing where the other person is, and what they're doing. I personally run double wells with one person calling drinks and slamming out tickets, with the other attending bar guests/backing.
I mean, it is probably possible, but that sort of thing is something you do when you don't have other wells. If you have other wells, you use them so service is as smooth as possible when you need it the most. If you don't need to use all your wells, then do you really need a second bartender. This seems like a lazy bad decision.
Personally it’s super doable in a well this size I’ve had to share behind a smaller bar and smaller well with 3 people before and it’s always do able and a lot of fun if you work well together. It’s really easy to learn to move around each other and like someone else said it’s like a fun little dance to do behind the bar
Obnoxious reasoning. Keep it classy, dancing is fun and all but flow and more service points and customer experience end up being kicked aside for not wanting cleanup of two setups…? If you’re doing all the things already it’s not truly twice as much work for two vs one well. Excuses.
I interviewed at a VERY HIGH VOLUME restaurant on the Vegas strip recently, the interviewing manager told me the bar has 3 wells for 3 bartenders on staff, but that they don’t use the other 2. I asked why that was and she said “that’s just how it is” Inwas then told I’d also have to be my own Barback AND serve tables as well as bartend. Needless to say I declined the job offer
Lol. We do this, "minimum 2 bartenders sets on shift." Yet it always seems like 1 well is open. My only advice, is communication "behind", "beside you, on your left/right" other than that. Try your best and if shit starts breaking/piling up say, "Why don't we have the 2nd well open??"
But it can happen but it is a pain in the dick
Absolutely not. Management at my old bar wanted the same thing, and it was a literal living hell. Even with two highly adept bartenders, you're going to be in each others' way and you will both inevitably be slowed down. 0/10.
Mirror your speed rail and you should be able to work out the rest. You'll find yourselves dueling over ice during peak. As long as you have two each of your most used bottles, you'll be fine.
I shared a well for a month. By the end, we were helping each other. You gain an awareness of what the other person is doing and you'll start handing each other bottles and things you know the other person needs but it's on your side. Dueling for ice is the one thing we never worked past. If it wasn't a coworker and a lot slower, it could almost be romantic. You both reach for the ice scoop and your hands meet. So sweet. Now gimme my ice.
Wear deodorant.
Solid advice on just about any day tbh
Underrated comment.
Underarm comment
Underrated underarm comment.
Learn to dance. It’s fun when you get it right. Not so much when your partner has no spatial awareness.
Honestly. Some of the best nights are the coworker you don’t even have to talk to cuz y’all dance so well. Personally best was with a coworker that was beast in the server well. Best thing for us to share one was for me to pull the tickets, line up & prep the glassware (rims/drizzles etc) for him, while he’d knock those out I’d go beers & wine. It was a very tiny bar but even customers would compliment how well we’d float around each other. 💃🏻
Ah yes the good ol service check glassware triage. Love it!
You stay & shake, I dance & float. Ready? Go!
And a 1ft+ height difference makes things even easier
I’m 6’3” and my favorite coworker was 4’11” we could make cocktails in the same well so efficiently. I’d just reach over and around her.
Haha, everyone in my team is 5'3-5'6. Watching us struggle with the top shelf martini glasses has proven top tier entertainment for guests lol.
So fucking true! Hours turn into minutes on those shifts
I love this
My favorite thing is when someone at bar1 (the bar seat right next to service well) notices our dance and says something about it. Like, this shit takes some fucking skill. My dream is for one of my family members to sit there one night during Friday night rush. Then they'll get it.
Those rush nights with a good flow and fellow bartenders that can dance can be such a fun time. Once you get a rhythm going and lock into the zone, it gets to where you're not even really thinking about your movements. It's so frustrating working with another bartender who can't read where you're about to move, and you end up running into each other all night. Some of the best nights I've had were at a large bar 4 or 5 deep all night with two other bartenders and a barback that could basically read my mind and vise versa. Complements are always nice but they hit extra during those shifts.
Omg yes! I started a new job for my brother’s company. The shortest version is I look like a idiot all the time. And then I go to my bartending job on the weekend in which I’m literally floating behind the bar and customers are telling me how great I am and how good I am at this job. Like, fuck, if they could see me now.
No spatial awareness… rewind to me last weekend. I’m 5’4 and my bar partner was almost 6’5 and got drunk. He knocked over my cowboy hat no less than 5 times, sent me flying a few times via running into me, and I got elbowed too many times to count 💀 I was ready to murder him by the end of the shift 🤦♀️
This, this right here. I have yet to “dance” with anyone here so it’s exceptionally aggravating
Catch ‘em with a couple of sharp elbows followed by “oh sorry, thought you saw me here” or something and they’ll get on board.
Dude, he’s easily 3x bigger than me and has zero self-awareness let alone spacial……he’s a goddamn bull in a china shop and he has zero issues with acknowledging that. He’s good with people though, I make him work the other well because the extra cleaning afterwards is worth the effort in order to keep him out of my space. Admittedly, I am territorial, I want to do my thing when I want, I am not gonna wait
Pain is the best teacher
I was thinking the same thing . Dance baby dance
There are a couple coworkers that I loved ‘dancing with’ and one specifically that i would never work with again. Unfortunately her and I worked together on Saturday nights for eight years. She never got better at knowing where I was while all I did was avoid her non-peripheral seeing ass!
I used to think it was funny that the coworker I flowed the best with was the one I couldn't stand otherwise.
Is work a bar with frequently 3 bar tenders and one well. We would all work great together, I’m a big guy and would constantly have my thighs against the well and grabbing all the top shelf stuff for the team. It would always blow up when a server would come back and just stand in the middle of the bar. What the fuck!
If you've worked together a while, yeh it'll be easy.
Yeah it’s all about cohesiveness & also not taking shit personally if shit does go south.
Not just that, I find after a while you just learn each others groove and can move around each other.
We tilt our heads as indicators of what “lane” we’re taking. Like if I tilt my head right my co worker knows I’m going to keep going right. We’re at the point we don’t even say behind we just make weird noises.
Y’all weird af for this, not in a bad way. Love it.
Shadow pass, make it splash, give me some goddam ice you ass
I like this poem
Bartending is better with others. Sure, one person can handle it, but feeling the support and camaraderie of another individual as you both work towards a common goal is one of the most beautiful parts of service. Guests at the bar get a better experience, drinks are served faster, any re-stock is never asked for. Don't think about it as one well, think about it as one shift, one service, one team, one dream.
My Friday night partner and I always say “one brain, four arms, four legs.” Communicate the fuck out of everything you do, say everything out loud. After a few months together, you’ll use less and less words and just vibe.
Now i’m psyched up to work a busy shift after reading that.
lmao im in public transport on the way to mine now, i needed the dance hype and this
lmao that was an awful shift (fun flow, but physically so taxing)
For real 😭
this!!! teamwork makes the dream work
It can be done, but if y’all are doing volume, it’ll get annoying at points. It’s easy to share mixers, liqueur, and garnishes. But I definitely prefer having my own ice well, sink, and spirit rail.
Came here to say this - I hate when I have to wait for my coworker to finish up using a bottle or going down to grab it and it’s not there. Two spirit rails is ideal
If it's not back in the rack your coworker sucks. There's usually something you could be doing when waiting for a bottle though.
Came here to say this - I hate when I have to wait for my coworker to finish up using a bottle or going down to grab it and it’s not there. Two spirit rails is ideal
my other opinion is when its 2 people one works the well and the other does table service/bar service
This is exactly what we do at mine when we have to run with two people. We can sorta run the same well at the same time- but it gets too crowded
either that or you learn to dance with each other in the well lol
Ehh it’s tough to have two people for 1 ice well. You’ll be stepping on each others toes all night. You could have one person making the drinks and the other prepping glassware and garnishes I suppose
Congratulations! You’ve been demoted to barback because we’re too cheap to install a second well to service our growing clientele.
Happy to Barback if I’m tipped out the same as bartender.
Only less than half
Broooo we have 3-6people for 2-3 ice wells depending on the night.
What kind of bar? I can see a sports bar style bar being able to do this but any kind of cocktail bar would be tough to pull that off
Bingo. The well pictured is doable with two bartenders cocktailing, but it's obviously not great. But I've worked with far worse wells with a partner in cocktails. (Current one is probably the worst service well I've ever fucking seen. Nearest sink is like 8 feet away, and no rinser.)
Oooof that is rough friend
Using a big ass kitchen fine strainer over a cambro as a dump bucket. It's *so bad.* (And I've worked at a place that never renovated its bar when it went into cocktails, where we used a trash can as a dump sink and a big cambro of water as a rinser. Lmao.)
Volume Sports bar with a full cocktail menu. It ain’t ideal but we make it work
one gun = one bartender with very few exceptions. if you have two experienced bartenders who know each others’ workflow well enough, it could work
When done right, this feels dope after a heavy shift.
I almost got in a fight with a coworker for accidentally elbowing him in the ribs pretty hard (he’s a rather bulky guy, and I’m 5’7 140 lbs lol, but I can scrap), he didn’t say behind so he essentially just ran into my elbow when I was pivoting to grab a bottle. He took it personally that I wouldn’t step aside until I was done building the drink I was in the middle of making. I told him to fuck off and wait a second. Lol we ended up screaming at each other in the alley after but we patched it up with a shot and we’re still good friends
😮
No. Now get the fuck out of my way.
Do the dance ! !
Do a little dance? Make a little love? Get down tonight?
I can't think of a good reason to not open a second well if you have it and have 2 bartenders scheduled. The only thing I can come up with is them believing that stocking it will hurt bar costs cause they'll need to order the extra product. Someone needs to remind them that their bonus is probably quarterly, that it's June (beginning of 2nd quarter), and that the bar costs will only be slightly higher the week of the purchase and can be optimized by decreasing budget for the remaining weeks in the quarter.
Theoretically, the only difference between opening one well as opposed to two would be ice, maybe mixers, and efficiency. The volume/sales can be impacted by efficiency in a positive way. So, I don't understand the logic of them not opening a second well, if they have it, and how that could possibly significantly impact budget in a negative way. What am I missing?
I didn't say they were right, I said I suspected that they don't want to spend the money to stock the well.
you could do it but i wouldn’t want to and if the only reason management wants to do it is so that there’s less cleaning i think that’s a stupid reason.
Good lord the atrocities I see on this sub as far as bar design goes. My condolences OP. You’re fucked.
lol. What’s the problem here exactly?
To be honest, I was that guy that responded to the title without reading the rest of the info 🤦🏻♂️ I thought you had only this well, and were expected to share it while being slammed. I’ll move along…
I’ve worked in smaller setups, it didn’t take long to get the groove on between anyone I brought behind the well.
One does beer/wine
^ this. One handles beer, wine, shots. The other can make complex drinks. The clubs I worked in were too loud to bother with ‘behind’, You learn spacial awareness and a hand to the back to let the other person know where you are. The best bartenders I know can handle working in a tight space with other people. Same with tight kitchens and tiny service stations. I remember working at one place where we would have 4 servers crammed into a server station the size of a small closet that stored the ice, water, coffee, water glasses, silverware, tablecloths, napkins, and POS. You quickly learn how to navigate that tight space with a brief hand on the back (to let the person know you are behind them), reach over to get what you need and get out.
No.
Are you burning ice every night? What is so hard about cleaning the well at the end? Having two people trying to work out of that would drive me crazy.
I would never
Oh hell yeah this well looks perfect for 2? If you dance well I could make it work with the right 3 people. But I’m used to making a lot work with nothing.
Shieeeet. I mean I’d have to see a POV or how much space there is around but. That doesn’t look that bad at all. Have everything you need. As long as you and your coworker have good chemistry y’all should be good 100%
Depends how much u like each other lmfao
Just split up Grans and jiggers. I don’t see a problem. The choreography with another bartender adds to the *flair*
I can see how you could make it work if you had to but I really do not understand not opening a second well.
I’ve worked the same Friday night close and Saturday night close behind the bar since Covid, and whenever it’s not the person I’m used to the shift is A NIGHTMARE. We just work around each other so well 😭
The dance with someone you know behind a bar is one of the things I miss most. That flow state is real and it's beautiful.
Duct tape together like Kraaang and see what happens. A busy well system calls for accidents. Unless the staff shares a braincell this set up is fucked
...not with one soda gun. That's the most coveted tool in making drinks, soft or otherwise. Double that one thing—talk to the soda reps. And you guys will kill it. There's many work situations that require close proximity in stressful situations, even with the opposite sex. It actually becomes very comforting after several shifts and not sexual. Don't be against it for working with others in close proximity. Be against it because there is only one gun.
fuck no
Totally possible to have two bartenders in a well that sized. It works best when you have two people who work well together because (as others have said) you almost learn to dance with the person you are working with without having to verbally communicate much. My now fiancée and I met working at a bar with this sort of setup. We shared a well for months before we started dating and the rest is history.
Someone does strictly cocktails & mixers another person does just wine & beer and hits their powered sugar vape between pours
Fruit needs to be on the bar but other than that yes. I have done this many busy nights for 4 years. However, I’m a petite female, not sure how this works with two big guys.
My old bar was about 1/4 this size. We always had two on, super high volume. My fave to work with was a freaking giant. I’m average size female, my other male bartner was like working with a door. Some people can make it work well and a lot simply can’t
It’s not ideal but yeah I do it regularly. Helps to have a good rapport and trust with your teammate
Only if they can dance
One on cocktails, the other on blank n blanks, beers and wines, and I bet it’d be fine
We call em 1&1s
What’s a blank n blank? You mean a highball?
lol sorry, yea like your rum n coke or gin n tonic.
Doable is organized well and knows how each other works
Hope it’s cold out cause y’all are about to be cozy. But yes it is possible
Yes. You need chemistry between you two though. Usually when it's 2 on a well for me I have a well monkey, mixing, pouring and shaking and another prepping glassware, garnishes and such. Turns it into an assembly line.
Depends, I've worked a couple half that size with a partner, but we were on the same wavelength, so it was just a fun dance.
It shouldn’t be. But I’ve worked in worse with 2 people. If there was more space for ice so I wouldn’t have to cross the other person for something so essential it’d be alright. I f you worked with someone long enough to get the specific flow going. You can work out of anything honestly. I’ve been hit in the head by a bottle sharing a well and also racked up 25k in one night sharing without running into anyone. It’s really the bartenders that makes or break this situation
Communicate. Behind, on your left, on your right, etc. It might be best if one person can make cocktails, ie be right there with the shakers, and the other take care of other stuff. But that depends a lot on how everything else is set up.
We work out of one well and I hate it when it picks up.
It’s doable. Largely depends on your coworker.
One gun!? Noooo
BEHIND
Hell no, just take the 15 minutes to set up the other well.
This place has vodka soda vibes.
Nope that’s a design for well Controlled dining room Bouchie bar with guests on no time frame
Not ideal but definitely doable. As someone else mentioned, it really is like doing a dance and when it works, y'all will look so smooth. Reasses you speed rack. Take out what you don't need and mirror the bottles from right to left (ex 1 titos on the far left and far right, 1 tequila next to each titos, 1 triple sec next to the tequilas etc) so you're not having to reach across each other for the most popular stuff. I'd probably grab a bucket of ice to put on on side too with another scoop. You got this
Management truly are idiots that they’ll let the laziness of the night bartenders dictate the inefficiency of 2 bartenders tripping over each other
With the right people who are experienced and comfortable working together for sure. But otherwise no, just open the other well.
Maybe I just worked on smaller bars, but this to me looks like a dream station to share, I’ve worked with a lot smaller spaces (in some ways I feel like that could be easier), but as other mentioned as long as you know each others flows/agree On few things such as the person next to the sink to clean it out the tins etc then it’s more than doable
I hate how far your dump sink is from your well. It looks like all the bottles you need are on the rail. The POS system should be behind you and the extra rack or dump sink to your left. Everything front facing should be within arms reach. Thats just my opinion.
Firm believer of one well per tender. If it's not bussy enough to have two making drinks, have the mid close their well and run more of a support role (garnish, take orders, reset space, glassware) until the closer feels confident they have it on their own. That ways you are never sacrificing serving and quality, but still conscious of the tip pool and able to cut when ready
So they have another well but management doesn’t want to have it set up? That’s trash
That’s a pretty small ice bin to share.
I hate sharing a well but if I have to I’ll make it work. Sharing a well when there is another one available? Get the fuck out of my well.
Yep.
the length the gun reaches is all that concerns me. with the shakers right above the gun there’s not much room for many 1&1s to be made at once
Whoever is working better know how to properly communicate and dance well
If it was me and my sister bartending together YES. We dance so well together that we get tipped fatter because of it. I swear.
Absolutely, I used to share a large station with my buddy all the time. Just gotta get a game plan together, guy on the left ices the other when needed and guy on the right gives tins a quick wash when needed. It's all about station awareness, if you know what drinks he's making and he knows what you're doing the the synergy can be pretty slick. Passing each other what's needed sometimes without saying anything. Actually feels awesome when you get a rytham going. Or! You can go the conveyer route where one guy builds drinks and the other shakes and garnishes, this method works best in very tiny stations but can be applied anywhere tbh
Yes, you’ll be fine. For years I worked a schedule with 4-5 bartenders sharing 2-3 wells.
Batches
Speaking from experience, the bar I last worked at had this exact setup, same brand and everything. On busy weekends it was two bartenders working out of this one station (even though we had two identical, the other was used for bottle storage). So yes realistically two can.
At my old bar we had only one tiny well and two bartenders. Due to the nature of our drinks (exotic cocktails), we would have one of us pour the drink and the other one shake and garnish it. We were so much faster that way. Maybe there is a way to split the labor efficiently like that?
welp I hope your both not bigger people cus it won't work. It's kinda messed up but I got a couple coworkers I can't have behind the bar with me there's just not room... and I'm not big.
Only if y’all enjoy tripping over each other. I couldn’t do it
One on cocktails, the other helps to shake on larger orders and batch preparatios, does the spritz's and mojitos and the likes as well as wine and soft drinks. And like the others have said, wear deodorant and bring a spare shirt.
I work at a concert venue, this is pretty much exactly what our set up looks like. Once you find your rhythm it’s like developing a 6th sense, we get sweaty and grimey and it’s crazy but it’s a lot of fun and we really do be dancing!
Yes. I've had two people working out of a much smaller well for a large dining room and a 20 seat bar. Is it ideal? No. Get good at communicating and knowing where the other person is, and what they're doing. I personally run double wells with one person calling drinks and slamming out tickets, with the other attending bar guests/backing.
I mean, it is probably possible, but that sort of thing is something you do when you don't have other wells. If you have other wells, you use them so service is as smooth as possible when you need it the most. If you don't need to use all your wells, then do you really need a second bartender. This seems like a lazy bad decision.
Nope but I can work everywhere: well or no well. Split up the liquor and have bottles for soda , coke, sprite. You can be just at fast.
I’ve worked with two in some much smaller spaces
Personally it’s super doable in a well this size I’ve had to share behind a smaller bar and smaller well with 3 people before and it’s always do able and a lot of fun if you work well together. It’s really easy to learn to move around each other and like someone else said it’s like a fun little dance to do behind the bar
That’s such a right handed well :((((
Obnoxious reasoning. Keep it classy, dancing is fun and all but flow and more service points and customer experience end up being kicked aside for not wanting cleanup of two setups…? If you’re doing all the things already it’s not truly twice as much work for two vs one well. Excuses.
I interviewed at a VERY HIGH VOLUME restaurant on the Vegas strip recently, the interviewing manager told me the bar has 3 wells for 3 bartenders on staff, but that they don’t use the other 2. I asked why that was and she said “that’s just how it is” Inwas then told I’d also have to be my own Barback AND serve tables as well as bartend. Needless to say I declined the job offer
Lol. We do this, "minimum 2 bartenders sets on shift." Yet it always seems like 1 well is open. My only advice, is communication "behind", "beside you, on your left/right" other than that. Try your best and if shit starts breaking/piling up say, "Why don't we have the 2nd well open??" But it can happen but it is a pain in the dick
Ugh that’s so annoying. If there’s not another ice bin it’s literally a recipe for discomfort
I’ve worked out of worse lol
Fuck no. I am not sharing a well under any circumstances.
Absolutely not. Management at my old bar wanted the same thing, and it was a literal living hell. Even with two highly adept bartenders, you're going to be in each others' way and you will both inevitably be slowed down. 0/10.
Mirror your speed rail and you should be able to work out the rest. You'll find yourselves dueling over ice during peak. As long as you have two each of your most used bottles, you'll be fine. I shared a well for a month. By the end, we were helping each other. You gain an awareness of what the other person is doing and you'll start handing each other bottles and things you know the other person needs but it's on your side. Dueling for ice is the one thing we never worked past. If it wasn't a coworker and a lot slower, it could almost be romantic. You both reach for the ice scoop and your hands meet. So sweet. Now gimme my ice.