It’s important and appropriate to say, as a preface to the multitude of words I’m going to pour here, this is not Facebook, this is our website. It’s allowed and desired to say things on the agenda, without the “filter” of the networks, less “politically correct,” and more complete.
Why this introduction?
Because we are the only business of our kind in the world, this creates for us an encounter with a complex reality. We have no one to compare ourselves to conceptually, and it’s difficult to find parallels in terms of business models as well (although not impossible). The fact that we come here to change an existing situation, inevitably and necessarily confronts us with businesses and individuals who are not interested in this change, and one can understand why.
Who wants another person, another group, to come and say that things are supposed to be handled differently? And that the value currently received from the bartender is simply not enough. The answer to that is clear, nobody, but the truth is this is exactly what we think, believe, and act according to.
The current reality in which the bartending profession is acquired in a very short time (a month to be precise), there is no filtering process (everyone can take a course,) and in reality the role of the bartender is not fundamentally different from the role of the waiter, certainly not in terms of income, although it’s many times more complex; how much, this is a problematic reality to say the least. In reality it led to a significant decrease in the “prestige” of the profession and trampled the prestige.
Colleagues born in the 80s will testify that we grew up in a reality where bartending was a sexy profession. There was high demand to start at good places, and it was not easy at all;
I mean, there were many more job seekers than vacancies. As of today the wheel has turned 180 degrees, unfortunately.
The best places in Israel, whether they are bars, restaurants or hotels, fight by the skin of their teeth to complete teams. A completely imaginary situation only 10-15 years ago.
The world has changed, of course, and today we live in reality with a variety of variables that simply did not exist before the current era. Social networks make it possible to enhance a product or a persona in an extreme way, sometimes even disconnected from reality. The very possibility of becoming a Startender, (star bartender) creates a different dynamic for the professional against the systems in which he was supposed to make a living. From this new reality of self-branding, contests (separate post, or maybe even posts, plural) guest shifts, personal menus, and even financial book management – which is done from A to Z by the bartender.
In the previous era the bartender was the “nobility of the working class,” blue collar with a twist of class. Hard worker, but also having a good time. Team player before freelancer, black money, cash at the end of a shift, the standards were different. Today everything is legal, it is reported, the salary is not necessarily related to tips. Sometimes global, sometimes hourly. Today there is even a model in which the bartender is not employed at all by the business where they bartend and provide their services via invoice, the bartender is the business. As mentioned – a new reality, for better and for worse.
Let there be no doubts, I do not cling to days past or wallow in sweet nostalgia and claim that once upon a time everything was perfect, definitely not.
Today is today, and tomorrow, we don’t know that yet. I’m trying to describe a profession, an ancient one that underwent quite a radical transformations in the mirror of time. Along with our shift as a company. The well-worn debate going on under the title “Bartender or Mixologist” is an expression of these transformations, although it often falls into the trap of superficiality (Bow tie vs T-shirt.)
At the end of the day, this is a profession. Which is measured by professional parameters, such as knowledge (easy to acquire), service provision (difficult to acquire), speed/efficiency (acquired by experience) and much more.
There are a variety of ways to do the job well, but very few ways to produce a new standard of professionalism “Next level Shit.” Mixology upgraded the profession but distanced the contact between the customer and the bartender. More work on the drink and less contact with the customer. We are here to give another twist, to return the appreciation to the bartender. produce another layer of admiration.
It’s not “instead ” or “in addition to”. It’s simply a different approach to the technical part of the work, which opens up a new channel of interest. When a bartender stirs or shakes a drink in our language, when an Artender stands in front of the customer, magic enters that was not present until now, It’s just another level of work.
Artender, good for bartenders, business and customers but most importantly changes the rules of the game, patiently
worth following.
