The highs and lows of the hospitality business.

Australian capital cities and towns are home to bars of all shapes and sizes.

From the tiniest hole in the wall to kid-friendly venues complete with playgrounds, there are countless highly recommended establishments and even more people putting in the hard yards to make them a success.

Owning a popular bar can be a highly rewarding experience, however, being in this industry means having a unique lifestyle.

If you’re a bar owner, you’ll no doubt be nodding your head at the following:

Weekends? What weekends? 

When everyone else is at play, you’re at work – every Friday, every Saturday and on every one of those luxurious long weekends.

Mostly this is ok, but missing big family events or not being able to cross that once-in-a-lifetime rock concert off your bucket list can sting.

The benefits of working after hours means when you have time off things are quiet.

You can avoid busy Saturday mornings at the supermarket, you can always get a table at your favourite cafe and you can take advantage of mid-week specials in a big way.

8am phone calls are the worst

Because you don’t get to bed until the sun is about to come up, any noise that interrupts your sleep before 10am or even midday is unpleasant.

You are used to switching your phone to silent, investing in multiple packets of earplugs and reminding your friends to not even dare text you before lunchtime.

Afternoons are your reward

Between waking up and heading to work - the day is yours. The shops aren’t busy and those with kids are free to pick them up from school.

If there is work to be done to keep the bar running, connecting remotely over a broadband connection means you can take care of a number of items on your to-do list from home.  

Managing staff can be a headache

Workers in the hospitality industry can often be transient. You may have a core group of staff, but others will come and go.

Shifts get swapped, forgotten or, in the worst case scenario, you will have a no-show on what ends up being the busiest night of your year.

Fortunately, there are a number of software solutions that let you manage rosters and automatically send reminder text messages to staff ahead of their upcoming shift.

You can even allow staff to login with a fingerprint or use recruitment websites to find extra staff to fill in at short notice.

Sensible shoes win  

Working in hospitality makes it easy to hit the daily step targets on your wearable fitness tracker.

In fact, you’re racking up so many steps you almost don’t need to exercise outside of work.

Your spot may be the trendiest around, but your shoes scream practicality, and you love them for it.  

Your short term memory is on point

Three glasses of various wines, two different soft drinks and one complicated cocktail… you can remember complex drink orders without batting an eyelid, even when they are yelled to you over the din of an excited Friday night crowd.

Finding it hard? Some establishments are adopting technology that allows patrons to order from their table, cutting out the middleman and sending drink and meal requests direct to the kitchen.  

You love being in the thick of it

Why open a bar? Most people who work in hospitality genuinely love interacting with lots of people on a daily basis.

They get a kick out of seeing patrons appreciating their venue and having a great time.

Once you have built a reputation you’ll start getting to know your regulars, some of whom might even go on to become friends, or at least friendly familiar faces.  

'Those' customers

Most customers repay your efforts and good service by behaving themselves, paying the bill without arguing and leaving before closing time.

But there are always a few… especially at a licenced venue.

They make life difficult in a way that most other business owners do not even have to imagine putting up with.  

It’s not all service and smiles

You’re a business owner after all! There are tills to be balanced, accounts to be paid and heaven forbid you run out of lemons or serviettes.

Smart operators keep track of accounts and stock online.

This makes it easier and faster to review past data and avoid over-ordering. It also helps you with a day-by-day snapshot of how your business is doing financially.

Even though you’re only open at night, as a bar owner, work is never far from your mind.

By connecting to fast broadband such as via services over the nbn™ network, you can manage a number of elements remotely and with efficiency, potentially giving you more free time before first drinks are served.  

Check your address to see if you can connect to the nbn™ network.