Bar Supplies Checklist

Serv-U is your one stop online shop for bar supplies. Keep your bar running smoothly by making sure you have all of the essential bar supplies you need.

Liquor pourers are essential to any bar. Liquor pourers are available in a variety of sizes, colors and materials. Measured liquor pourers offer portion control features, while free flow liquor pourers provide you with the ability to free pour.

Cocktail shakers allow you to create a multitude of mixed drinks and martinis. Available in stainless steel or brightly colored acrylic, the cocktail shaker is one of the most essential tools of every bartender. Cocktail strainers and jiggers are a great accessory to the cocktail shaker.

A muddler is an often overlooked bar supply item. Recently, muddlers are used most often to make mojitos, and other similar drinks that require your create a fruity pulp or mixture in the drink. Muddlers are made from plastic, hard wood or stainless steel.

Glass rimmers are perfect for applying salt or sugar to the rims of glasses. A rimmed glass can add that extra special touch to nearly any martini, margarita or daiquiri.

Bar condiment caddies that hold ice or ice packs are an ideal way to help maintain food safe temperatures for fresh garnishes. Features such as see-through retractable lids allow servers to see the contents of the caddies, while still protecting their contents from outside contaminants.

Bar caddies are another great organization tool for every bar. Bar caddies are ideal keeping cocktail napkins, straws, swizzle sticks and par picks easily accessible to bar staff and servers.

Bar utensils like condiments tongs, bar spoons, citrus peelers, cutting boards, ice scoops and bottle openers are small tools that should not be overlooked, and are recommended to be purchased in multiples. Cork screws and wine openers should also be purchased in multiples. Wine service supplies such as ice buckets, wine bottle chillers and wine stands may be of use to select bars.

In our last blog we talked about specialty glassware and its benefits. Now let’s take a peek at the top shelf and see what we can do there. So what is it that a customer expects when ordering top shelf liquor? I can tell you for sure that it isn’t a Dixie cup.  

Your choice in glassware can add that final touch to your bar drinks that increase a customer’s enjoyment and keep them coming back for more. For instance, when choosing glassware for beer you’ll want to decide if you would like an increased perceived value in a mug where there appears to be a larger amount of beer due to the way the base is shaped, or would you rather have an hourglass pilsner that allows for a larger head. Restaurant guru tip: always make sure you account for the head when choosing glass size.

When it comes to wine glasses there is not only the visual appeal of the glass to consider but also what type of rim is on the glass. Talk to any wine connoisseur about the importance of the rim on a wine glass and you’ll most likely end up in a conversation about the advantages of a sheered rim glass. A sheered rim won’t make a bad wine taste like top end, but it will make a quality wine taste even better. The sheered rim allows the customer to taste the wine more than they taste the glass and it also directs the wine in a more precise manner toward the correct area of the tongue. Another benefit of a sheered rim is by increasing the amount of oxygen one draws into the mouth, volatilizing the wine and directing the flavor up into the nasal cavity for increased taste perception.

So now that we’ve covered specialty glassware and top quality glassware, let’s talk about storage of your newly expanded glassware selection. You could store them under the bar but that is really counterproductive to what we’ve been trying to accomplish. Perhaps it is time to invest in an over head glass rack so your glasses can still be generating customer interest and conversation even if they aren’t currently in use. Has anyone been to a pub which has a yard glass hanging on the wall behind the bar? How many ales do you think the bar is really selling in that yard glass; probably not many, but I will say for sure that somebody asks about the glass at least once a night.

You can find all of your glassware needs here at Serv-U. If you have questions regarding glass size for your beer or if sheered glasses are right for you, feel free to contact us via phone at 800-797-3788 or click the picture of the customer service representative at the top left corner of each page of the site to launch a live chat and one of our customer support staff will be happy to answer all of your questions.

Be sure to check back for part three of eight in our easy ways to refresh the look of your restaurant series where we’ll be discussing dinnerware.

How much money is your bar leaving on the table? For the bar owner, over pouring of liquor with a free flow pour can result in a huge loss in revenue. Today we are going to discuss one low cost change that you can make which has the potential to increase consistency and profit; that change is adding measured pours. Let’s quickly review the numbers pouring from a measured 1 oz shot out of a one liter bottle:

When you reduce over pouring with a measured spout you can increase the number of drinks the bartender can serve by an additional two to four drinks per bottle. Considering the average number of liquor bottles in a bar, the impact using a measured pour spout will have on long term profitability is easy to see.

In addition to the revenue increase, you are increasing the quality of your customer service by ensuring that each customer is treated equally and consistently on every drink. The drinks won’t be too weak one night and too strong the next. This will hold true on busy nights when the staff can’t pay as close of attention as they normally do or on the first night of a new bartender.

You can find measured pours here at Serv-U in the bar supplies section and are available in a wide range of measurement sizes, colors, and collared & uncollared. If you have addition questions, feel free to contact us via phone at 800-797-3788 or click the picture of the customer service representative at the top left corner of each page of the site to launch a live chat.