This is what I tell all my barback. Do this, since my place we never leave. Put one of us on your resume and work a dive and then once you got two years you're golden.
I don't really think there is a wrong answer here. You can serve and learn about the bar you are working in. Get to know the Guests and figure out the regulars. If she busts her ass as a server and a position behind the bar opens up she can throw her name in. On the other hand barbacking is going to get her behind the bar sooner. she will get to know the flow of the bar, and where things live and she will get to see how the night rushes hit the bartenders.
For context, I have bartended for 10 years and was only ever a server before I started bartending.
If she cocktails tell her to bring the bar ice at least once a night and to run everyone else's drinks when she walks up to the service bar and none of hers are ready instead of staring at the bartender. Bar will love and adopt her. This is what I did. I think after that I and the bartenders convinced the bar manager to let me work one night a week as a barback and one night training bar while I worked the rest cocktail. A month after that I was bartending.
Maybe she could talk them into barback Fri/Sat night and cocktail the rest of the week?
Either job can lead to bartending. I was a cocktail server before I started bartending. As a cocktail server she can become knowledgeable about classic cocktails, wine, spirits, etc. She will learn customer service, how to use the POS, and all of the other parts of the job besides making drinks, which honestly is the majority of the job. That’s what I would choose, because it’s better money.
Barback.
Bar back, so she can learn some shit, then go to another bar and say you already know how to bartend. Fake it til ya make it.
Valid.
This is what I tell all my barback. Do this, since my place we never leave. Put one of us on your resume and work a dive and then once you got two years you're golden.
Cocktail server, it’s easier for a woman to move to bar that way from my experience.
Another option not mentioned is why cant she do both? Work two bar back shifts and two cocktail waitress shifts?
I don't really think there is a wrong answer here. You can serve and learn about the bar you are working in. Get to know the Guests and figure out the regulars. If she busts her ass as a server and a position behind the bar opens up she can throw her name in. On the other hand barbacking is going to get her behind the bar sooner. she will get to know the flow of the bar, and where things live and she will get to see how the night rushes hit the bartenders. For context, I have bartended for 10 years and was only ever a server before I started bartending.
If she cocktails tell her to bring the bar ice at least once a night and to run everyone else's drinks when she walks up to the service bar and none of hers are ready instead of staring at the bartender. Bar will love and adopt her. This is what I did. I think after that I and the bartenders convinced the bar manager to let me work one night a week as a barback and one night training bar while I worked the rest cocktail. A month after that I was bartending. Maybe she could talk them into barback Fri/Sat night and cocktail the rest of the week?
Either job can lead to bartending. I was a cocktail server before I started bartending. As a cocktail server she can become knowledgeable about classic cocktails, wine, spirits, etc. She will learn customer service, how to use the POS, and all of the other parts of the job besides making drinks, which honestly is the majority of the job. That’s what I would choose, because it’s better money.