The perfect serve to enhance your customer experience

As a nation, when it comes to pouring the perfect pint of Guinness we are extremely critical. This is because it’s our national drink and no one wants to see it being poured too quickly, or have a bishop’s collar while the head runs down the outside of the glass. The basics are really important to the whole experience and it must be perfected just right or the drink will be sent right back by any self-respecting stout aficionado

So why is it when it comes to another hugely popular drink ‘the Gin and Tonic’ do we so frequently get it wrong? And the answer is simple, we need more training and more investment in people Furthermore, the question as to what are we doing wrong and what we should be doing differently needs to be addressed

Let’s start with the ice A perfect G&T should have four large cubes in it, and should not have tiny shards of ice that will inevitably result in an unsatisfactory and watery drink. The Ice should be put into the glass first, allowing the glass to cool and subsequently preventing the gin from being bruised or cloudy which can often happen if the ice is dropped into a warm gin glass as opposed to the gin being poured over the ice. The next critical step is to have the correct tonic. There are over 70 Irish Gins alone, along with 20 or so Gins from other locations. Therefore, it is foolish to just have one tonic to pick from as some tonics will clash with the gins and become flavourless or cancel each other out. Perhaps the most important thing that can be done to improve the quality of your G&T is to chill your mixers. This will do two essential things to the drink:

1 It will reduce the time that it takes for the ice to melt and water down your drink

2 It will keep the drink carbonated for longer because often the room temperature mixers go flatter a lot quicker

The style of glass and garnish will always come down to personal preference My favourite is ‘An Dulman Irish Maritime Gin’ with a regular Schweppes tonic water, served in a Copa with a slice of dried lime If the correct process for making a G&T is followed, then no matter what combination of Gin to Tonic people request, the end result will be a quality drink

Subsequently, the way the workforce has gone since the Covid pandemic means that the drinks industry needs to be mindful of the difference in the knowledge that exists now, particularly regarding junior bar staff. They are just starting out in the hospitality industry after nearly two years of closure and the industry simply doesn’t have the volume of people who would once have done formal training or who were once considering a full-time career within the industry.

Many bar staff are working either part-time or temporary shifts, and are planning other careers in the future outside of hospitality Consequently, the knowledge that exists now is far less than it would have been 20 years ago With this in mind, along with a higher than ever employee turnover, it’s essential that training and upskilling are done on a daily basis so the customer experience is at its highest possible standard One or two poor comments on the likes of Instagram or Facebook can quickly go viral and be extremely damaging to any establishment when it comes to hard fought for clientele

If you don’t have the knowledge base in your current team that can implement daily training of staff, then perhaps a monthly masterclass would suit you better There are several places you can go for this such as your wine and spirits distribution company or onsite training specialists like Future Proof Training that can come on-site or train in a classroom setting in areas such as HACCP and Manual Handling, Upselling, Customer service, Barista Skills, Introduction to Wine and essential Bar. You can visit the website at: www.futureprooftraining.ie ! Alternatively, if you need recruitment assistance or advice, Excel can help you recruit temporary or permanent chefs, bar staff, and waiting staff nationwide. Visit: www.excelrecruitment.com !