TITLE: Successful Beverage Management
SUBTITLE: Proven Strategies for the On Premise Operator
Author: Robert Plotkin with Steven Goumas
PUBLISHER: BarMedia, 281 pages
COST: $49.95 US
TYPE: Reference
REVIEWED BY: Chris Carlsson, SpiritsReview.com

A lot of people think of bartending as something you do as a college student or something you do as casual employee. Not so. Today, bartending and managing a bar with all the associated fiscal and legal responsibilities is becoming about as complex and fraught as running a skydiving school. It’s not just about how to mix a drink but how to avoid or survive the potential legal consequences and turn a profit.

Part of a series of books authored by Mr. Plotkin on how to run a bar or restaurant and not go broke in the process. Other books of a similar nature are: Preventing Internal Theft, The Professional Bartenders Training Manual, and The Beverage Operators Survival Guide.

This book is probably the most positive of the group, as it does not deal with all the important and expensive pitfalls but on how to turn and maximize a profit. The other books are excellent examinations, discussions and solutions to problems, this one is about success.

A very detailed (but immensely readable) step-by-step dissection of bar setup of almost every facet; with strategies and formulas to maximize efficiency and profit. Everything including, yes, selection of the sink, is covered in concise detail with examples and guiding principles. One of the best books I have ever read on the subject of bar setup and management, it can make that idle (or in some cases drunken) idea into a reality. A must have for anyone seriously considering opening a bar or starting a career in the service industry with aspirations higher than that of barback.

While some people may be put off by the cost, it is no more expensive, indeed less so than most, colleges textbooks and a helluva lot more useful. It will save anyone who uses it thousands of dollars in bad layouts, ideas, regrettable liqour, and lost revenue opportunity. Serious and useful books cost money.

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