I posted a tweet on the subject due to an article I read but want to say much more. Keeping this on my topic of Booze let me frame it this way.
There aren’t many bars that don’t have food. Some food is the draw, some bars are the draw, some both. I returned to @twisted_spoke in Chicago while traveling on back to back nights due to 1/2 price booze on Wednesday and Tempura Bacon. The staff were as great as the booze and legendary selection I had heard of. They were engaging and fun. I stayed much longer than expected, spent $400 on booze-(omg my aching wallet), left a large tip, and I’ll do it again in a heartbeat when in town again. Its not normally the Food or Booze that keeps people returning or referring which is the life blood aka profit of a successful place, its the staff. If the staff sucks the place is doomed.

I will say a well run establishment with great owners, expertly picked and staffed that are a great happy team is what makes the difference and they are a rarity. If you think you own or work in such a place your most likely fooling ourself as there are very few great places such as this. Many closed bars and restaurants with “For Sale” and “For Lease” signs now in front of them had no idea or the wrong idea of how and why. Case and point Jockey Silks in Louisville’s Galt House Hotel. Once a great bar, the staff now blames the club upstairs, the new place on the corner, and not getting any of the “good stuff” for being empty most nights. I’ve heard this from lots of people and I don’t live anywhere near the place. The selection is very average and boring. Staff and management clearly are way behind the curve and I can’t see the place staying open much longer. I doubt they know it but they have thrown in the towel from top to bottom. It shows once you’ve been there a couple times.

If I go to a great bar and the staff sucks, I move on usually and don’t ever go back or recommend the place. If the staffs’ great its a rarity for the place to suck. If its a great place with great staff, not only are you coming back but you’ll often feel like Norm walking into Cheers. There are loads of statistics on Customer Service and Customer Retention. Without boring you much further on it a couple of my favorite reads on the subject are Harvard Business review “Zero Defections” and book “The Loyalty Effect” both by Frederick F. Reichheld.

I recently was in Jack Rose in DC and the Whiskey-tender remembered me after a year—-in a good way. Go into a “Whiskey bar” and you find several types of Whiskey-Tenders. Lots of people tend bar. Most see very little difference between Jack and Elmer T Lee. Special Whiskey-Tenders can describe the Lincoln County Process or that Elmer is a high rye Mashbill and what that means to interested or engaged customers. If you are involved with the sale of Whiskey in such an establishment (and often food with it) you are one of these people below:

1. I Come to work. I do what I’m told, give customers what they ask for and leave work. The vast majority.
2. All of the above plus—I’m engaging and want my customers to be happy.
3. All of the above plus—I want to make this part of my customer’s day special. I want them to be impressed.
4. All of the above plus—This is my profession while I am here. Im proud of it and I’m going to go about what I do as such. I’ll notice the little things. Even when I’m busy I’ll try and make each customer feel like they are the only one’s there. I won’t forget you. I will make sure that if you want more, I’ll help you get it. I’ll be intuitive. I’ll notice you dropped your napkin or need more ice—and I’ll get you more (often without you even asking). I’ll anticipate what you’ll need before you ask often saving me work because I’ll do it while getting the same thing for someone else.
5. All of the above plus I will study and work my ass off outside of work so when I get there I am prepared to help you with your selections. Ill read the trades, books on Whiskey. I’ll visit distilleries. Attend tastings. I’ll do my research and homework. It’s the profession I choose and I’ll treat it as such. When I help you, you will want to spend 2-3x more of your hard earned money with me because its worth it. Ill make much more for my employer and myself. Others I work with will see this and might figure out what they need to do if they want to be the best too.

There aren’t many #5’s. They are the ones that love their jobs. You can tell pretty fast. They are the ones as a customer I love to happily spend 3x more than I expected when I walked in. I’ll stay longer than I expected. I’ll come in on slow nights with six friends that will all leave you abnormally large tips—in cash. I’ll tell people to go to see you, lots of people and they in turn will tell more. This #5 type will know exactly why this is as they’ve worked for it and at it, it’s not an accident or random. Type #1 from above will never have a clue or care. They will often hate their jobs, struggle to get tips and hate the customer as a result.