Spirits training: Why staff need knowledge on spirits serve

Cocktail culture having now had time to bed in, the popularity of long mixed drinks has reached corners of the on-trade one may never have thought possible. The pub is now the home of Mojitos as much as it is of classic spirits serves such as Bloody Marys and gin and tonics.

With this comes the need for training, equipping barstaff with the skills to serve high-quality drinks. It seems, though, that this is not exactly widely available.

Time and again, the answer came back from pub companies approached for this Focus that they didn't really offer spirits training to their lessees or tenants. The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) says that while its courses are popular with managed operators, the number of licensees putting staff through the organisation's training is "a raindrop in an ocean".

The recession is undoubtedly playing its part. Educating staff is often low down the priority list for cash-strapped licensees.

When times are at their toughest, it can be the first thing to go, especially if individual pubs are left to organise training off their own backs.

So is spirits training worth it? And how do you go about getting it?

The common consensus is that it is short-sighted to cut back on training costs when well-trained staff will earn you the money back in increased sales in no time. The WSET estimates that one of its basic spirits courses will pay for itself in three weeks. "They should equate costs with the number of extra drinks they need to sell, or the number of times they will avoid fines through their staff not knowing their legal requirements," says Paul Nunny, director of Cask Marque, which is heading up a new training course covering spirits and other drinks categories.

Andy Gemmell, manager of Maxxium training programme 'Mixxit', adds: "If there's ever a time to invest in training, it's now, in a recession.

"We all know how important it is for consumers to have a reason to come into your bar. That is usually the staff."

The go-to places for spirits training have been the big spirits companies, but there are also plenty of other providers.

Many of the spirits giants who have been reliably providing training are in a state of flux. Diageo is currently conducting a review across its business, cutting costs, staff and facilities. It is unclear how its ESP spirits training programme will be made available in the future.

Maxxium was relaunched last month in the form of a restructured sales and distribution alliance between shareholders. As with Diageo, corporate goings-on at the spirits company are resulting in changes to its training provision. Maxxium's 'Mixxit' programme will be reorganised from June into three formats - ranging from entry level one or two-hour classes to the Mixxit Bartenders Academy, a three-day course at Maxxium's Stirling HQ.

The WSET offers a range of courses catering to licensees with different levels of experience, and launched a new one-day beginners' course last week. The WSET Foundation Certificate in Spirits will provide the basic product knowledge and skills to prepare a person for their first job in the on-trade. It covers the main categories of spirits, factors affecting their flavour and health, safety and legal issues.

"We have mostly been running training for managed estates," says WSET chief executive Ian Harris. "The few individual tenants we've got to have been a raindrop in an ocean. Getting to them is something we need to explore, and we should be able to do that with this new spirits course."

There are moves afoot at major pubcos to make spirits training available outside of managed estates. Punch Taverns runs workshops covering the category for its Spirit managed estate, and is currently developing this into a 'non-beer' course to be offered to its tenants too.

All the training providers are clear in their aims for the courses. Mark Peters, training manager for Spirit, says: "If a customer is being charged £3.50 or more for something that looks like a drink out of the 1970s, are they going to go back? Of course not. But if you train up your staff, that situation is avoided."

Another factor that often proves off-putting to licensees considering paying for training is staff turnover, expensively trained temporary workers taking their spirits knowledge back to college after their summer holidays, for example. Most training courses have elements built in to get around this. 'Train the trainer' sections sees students taught how to pass on their know-how to other members of their team so that it doesn't leave the pub when they do.

Gemmell believes the crucial thing is to "de-mystify" the category. "'Cocktail' can be a scary word for pubs, when in fact all they are is long mixed drinks, many of them very simple," he says. "You say 'can you make me a Martini?' and most pub staff will say they don't know how to make it. But ask for a Bloody Mary, and they'll jump to it, when actually it's one of the hardest mixed drinks to make, far harder than a Martini."

A major focus of Pernod Ricard's training, says customer development director Dan Reuby, is stressing the profitability of spirits. "Spirits are the second largest profit-driving category in the on-trade in terms of value, so there is definitely a lot of demand," he explains.

"Features of the programme which are particularly useful for publicans are the profit calculator which demonstrates the benefit of stocking premium spirits alongside standard, back-bar and spirit range advice, optimum Optic layouts, and perfect serve advice for spirits and mixed drinks."

The message is clear: spirits training is valuable and it is available, much of it for free. Why not give your staff the skills that will make you profits in everything from gin and tonics to Mojitos by sourcing some training today?