Bar manager job description
A bar manager job description lists the duties of running one bar: the team, drinks, stock, money, license and safety. It also names the skills, the hours, and the sales and cost targets the manager is judged on.
If you hire a bar manager, you will judge their work against the job description. A vague line like "Manages the bar" doesn't say who orders the stock, or who is responsible when costs go up. So write down the areas and the numbers the bar manager is responsible for. There are six areas: the team, the drinks, the stock, the money, the license and safety, and the shifts on the floor.
What does a bar manager do?
| Area | What the bar manager does |
|---|---|
| The team | Hires, trains, schedules and disciplines bartenders and barbacks (bar assistants). Runs pre-shift, the team meeting before service. Runs the tip pool to a written policy. |
| Drinks | Writes and costs the menu with the owner or head bartender. Sets prices, or proposes them for the owner's approval. Keeps every drink on spec. |
| Stock | Counts the bar, sets par levels and places the orders. Checks each delivery against the invoice and approves invoices. |
| Money | Cashes out the registers (counts the money at close). Approves comps and voids (drinks taken off a check). Keeps labor cost and pour cost inside the budget. |
| License and safety | Keeps the bar inside its liquor license and the health code: ID checks, refusing service, opening hours, records and cleaning. |
| The floor | Works behind the bar on the busy shifts. Handles complaints and incidents. Decides when a guest has had enough. |
The bar manager doesn't have to carry out every task personally. A head bartender may write the specs, a shift lead may cash out the registers, and the bookkeeper may process invoices. What matters is that the manager knows who is responsible, checks the work and follows up when something is wrong.
Make those responsibilities clear in the job description, especially where the manager shares decisions with the owner or general manager.
A bar manager's week
The job follows the same steps every week: count, order, receive, plan. Hiring, training and the next menu fit around them.
| When | What the bar manager does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, after close | Counts the bar in tenths of a bottle (UK and Australian bars call it the stocktake). | The count finds 3 bottles of house bourbon. The sales say 3.5 should be left. 0.5 bottle × $30 = $15 of bourbon with no sale behind it. |
| Monday | Compares this count with the sales since the last count. Builds the order from par and sends it. | The week's stock with no sale behind it comes to $175, including the $15 of bourbon. The order has 10 lines. |
| Tuesday | Checks the delivery against the order and the invoice before signing for it. | The 5 bottles of Amaro Nonino didn't come. The manager checks the remaining stock, contacts the supplier and tells the team if the Paper Plane needs to go on the 86 list (drinks the bar can't serve). Campari is up from $30 to $32 a liter. |
| Midweek | Writes next week's schedule. Re-costs any drink a price rise hits. Trains the team and interviews. | The Negroni pours 1 oz (30 ml) of Campari: $2 a liter × 30 ÷ 1,000 = $0.06 more per drink. 600 Negronis in 28 nights × $0.06 = $36. |
| Thursday | Plans the weekend: how busy it will be, which drinks will sell, what to prep and what is short. | The prep list for Friday and Saturday is written. |
| Friday and Saturday | Works behind the bar on the busiest nights. Runs pre-shift, watches the rush, cashes out at close. |
For ordering and stock reporting, the count comes first. It tells the manager what is on hand, what needs buying and where actual usage differs from what the sales records suggest. Give the count a fixed place in the weekly routine, with someone responsible for reviewing it before orders go out.
Each month, the bar manager also works out what the stock on hand is worth, for the bookkeeper. They also check the month's The cost of a drink's ingredients divided by its menu price, as a percentage. and labor cost. A few times a year, the bar gets a new menu: new A drink's exact recipe: each ingredient and how much of it., costs and prices, and training before its first night.
The numbers a bar manager is judged on
Before the first day, agree in writing on a target for each of these numbers, and put the targets in the job description.
Agree on what the manager can actually control. If the owner approves prices, the general manager sets the labor budget or a beverage director chooses suppliers, make those responsibilities explicit. The targets should reflect the decisions the bar manager is authorized to make.
| Number | What it tells you | Example week |
|---|---|---|
| Net sales, per night and per week | Whether the bar is busy enough to pay its costs | $35,000 |
| Pour cost | What the drinks cost as a share of what they sold for | 20% actual, 19.5% theoretical |
| Unaccounted stock | The stock used beyond what the sales account for, before you check waste, comps, transfers and the count | $175 (2.5% of stock used) |
| Labor cost % | The whole cost of staff as a share of sales | 30% |
| Comps and voids | Drinks given away or taken off a check, by person and by reason | Tracked each week |
In the example week, the bar sells $35,000 in drinks before tax. In a restaurant or hotel, use drink sales only, not food. The counts show that $7,000 worth of stock was used, giving an actual pour cost of 20% ($7,000 ÷ $35,000). Based on the specs and drinks sold, the bar should have used $6,825, giving a theoretical pour cost of 19.5% ($6,825 ÷ $35,000).
The difference is $175. Before calling that unaccounted stock, check recorded waste, comps, staff drinks, transfers and counting errors. Anything that still can't be explained is the variance the manager needs to investigate.
In the example week, wages are $8,400. Payroll taxes (tax and social security the bar pays on wages) and benefits add $2,100. Together that is $10,500 of labor cost, and $10,500 ÷ $35,000 = 30%.
Labor cost % = (wages + payroll taxes + benefits for the period) ÷ net sales for the period × 100
Labor cost changes with each week's schedule, so work it out every week, not only at the end of the month. If the bar adds a service charge, include the service-charge payouts too.
Report labor cost against the same period and sales definition each week. If you're comparing departments in a hotel or restaurant, agree on which wages and shared costs belong to the bar.
Skills to ask for
A bar manager needs two kinds of skill: business skills and people skills. The job also takes stamina: the shifts are long, and on some nights the manager helps serve guests the whole evening.
You can test the business skills with a task. A strong candidate can:
- cost a drink from its spec and price it
- build a week's schedule to a labor budget
- read a monthly profit and loss statement (the report of sales, costs and profit)
- say where the stock went between two counts
The people skills are the skills of a good bartender. A bar manager uses them to lead the team: set the standard during service, give feedback the same week, and decide when a guest has had enough.
A strong manager should also be able to handle a difficult conversation with a bartender, resolve a guest complaint without making the situation worse and help a less experienced team member improve. Ask candidates for real examples of those situations, not just whether they consider themselves good leaders.
Licenses and certificates
Licensing rules depend on where the bar is. A line copied from another country's job description will be wrong, so check with your licensing authority before you post the job.
| Where | What applies to the bar manager |
|---|---|
| United States | State by state. Some states and cities require a food safety certificate for the manager. Training rules for alcohol servers and managers differ by state. BLS points managers to the Food Protection Manager Certification. |
| England and Wales | Almost every bar that sells alcohol must name a designated premises supervisor (DPS): "the person who has day-to-day responsibility for the running of the business". The DPS must hold a personal licence. Applicants must be 18 or over and, in almost all cases, hold a licensing qualification. Staff without a personal licence can sell alcohol when a licence holder authorizes them. Say in the job description whether the bar manager will be the DPS. |
| Australia, New South Wales | Everyone who serves alcohol needs an RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) certificate. Most licensees and approved managers must also do licensee training, which needs an RSA first. Other states run their own schemes. |
Before you post the job, confirm which licenses or certificates the successful candidate must already hold and which they can get after hiring. Don't promise a 30-day grace period unless the rules where your bar is allow it.
Bar manager, head bartender or beverage director?
A head bartender owns the drinks. A bar manager owns the whole bar. A beverage director owns the drinks across a group of bars or a hotel. The table shows what each one owns and who they report to.
| Role | What they own | Who they report to |
|---|---|---|
| Head bartender | The drinks: specs, prep, training the team on the menu, often the menu itself | The bar manager |
| Bar supervisor or shift lead | One shift: the floor, the breaks, cashing out at close | The bar manager |
| Bar manager | The whole bar: the team, stock, costs, license and the week's numbers | The owner or general manager; in a group, the beverage director; in a hotel, the food and beverage director, or the beverage director where the hotel has one |
| Beverage director | Every drinks list across a group or a hotel: buying, pricing, standards and the bar managers | The owner, or a hotel's food and beverage director |
In a small bar, one person may hold two of these titles. Above the bar manager, the job grows from one bar to many, and a beverage director spends less of the week on the floor.
Hours
Put the real schedule in the job description, including how often the manager works nights, weekends and closing shifts. In the UK, full-time pub and bar managers work a median of 47.1 paid hours a week.
If they share closes with a supervisor, say so. If the role regularly involves long weeks, don't hide that until the interview. A candidate who finds out in week two that the job means five late closes a week will leave, and you hire again.
Bar manager job description template
Copy the template below, or download it as a plain text file. Change everything in square brackets. A candidate reads a job description as a promise, so delete any line that isn't true of your bar.
Bar manager, [bar name], [city]
About the bar. [Bar name] is a [number]-seat [cocktail bar / hotel bar / restaurant bar] in [neighborhood]. We serve [number] drinks on a [seasonal] menu, and our busiest nights are [Friday and Saturday].
The role. You run the bar: the team, the drinks, the stock and the numbers. You report to [the owner / the general manager / the beverage director / the food and beverage director] and lead a team of [number] bartenders and [number] barbacks. You work [number] shifts a week on the floor, including [Friday and Saturday].
What you'll do: the team
- Hire, train and schedule the bar team, and keep the schedule inside the labor budget
- Run a pre-shift briefing before every service
- Keep the spec book current and check that drinks match it
- Run the tip pool by our written policy
- Give each team member feedback every week and a review every [six months]
What you'll do: drinks and menu
- Write and cost a new menu [twice] a year with [the owner / the head bartender]
- Price drinks to the targets we agree, and re-cost them when supplier prices change
- Taste drinks from service every week against the spec
What you'll do: stock and ordering
- Count the bar every week, after close on [Sunday]
- Set The stock level you order up to: on order day, what you count plus what you order equals the par. and place orders with our suppliers
- Check every delivery against the order and the invoice
- Approve invoices and send them to [the bookkeeper]
- Investigate differences between expected and actual stock usage, accounting for recorded waste, comps, transfers and counting errors
What you'll do: money and reporting
- Cash out the registers and reconcile cash every night
- Approve A drink given away for free, for example to a regular or to make up for a mistake. and voids, and review them every week
- Report sales, pour cost, unaccounted stock and labor cost every [week / month]
- Hit the targets we set together: pour cost [x]%, labor [y]% of sales
What you can approve. You can approve [orders up to $X], [staff schedules within the labor budget] and [comps up to $X a night]. Menu price changes, supplier contracts and spending above these limits need approval from [role].
What you'll do: licensing and safety
- Hold [the license or certificate your state or country requires]
- Make sure every bartender holds [the server certificate required here]
- Keep the bar inside the liquor license: ID checks, refusals, opening hours, records
- Keep the bar clean and ready for a health inspection at any time
- Record incidents and refusals in the incident log
What you'll need
- [Two] years or more behind a busy bar, and [one] year leading shifts
- You can cost a drink and set a menu price
- You can build a schedule to a labor budget
- [The license or certificate your state or country requires], or the ability to get it within [the time the rules allow]
- Available late nights and weekends
What we offer
- Salary [$ to $] a year, plus a quarterly bonus of [amount or percentage], based on agreed measures of sales, cost control, service standards and team performance. The full bonus criteria will be provided in writing.
- [Health insurance / retirement plan / paid time off: number of days]
- [Staff meal, staff drink, education budget]
- [Two] consecutive days off every week
How to apply. Send [a resume and a few lines about a bar you ran or helped run] to [email] by [date]. Shortlisted candidates do an interview and a paid trial shift.
Put the pay range in the job description. It saves you an interview with someone who would never accept the job. In some places, the law also requires it.
How to test candidates
The business skills are easier to test with a task than with a question. Give every candidate the same four exercises and one hour. The table shows what you hand over for each one.
| Exercise | What you hand over | What a strong candidate does |
|---|---|---|
| Cost and price a drink | A spec card and the invoice prices of its bottles | Costs each line by its pour, adds the garnish, and prices the drink to a target they state |
| Build a schedule | Last week's sales by hour, and a labor budget | Puts people where the sales are, stays inside the budget, and gives a reason for any shift over it |
| Explain unaccounted stock | One count's results, with one bottle much lower than the sales say | Checks the count, the deliveries and the recipe before blaming the pour, and says who they would talk to |
| Check a delivery | A purchase order and an invoice, with one line short and one price rise | Signs only for what came, asks for a credit, and re-costs the drinks the price rise hits |
Score each exercise from 1 to 5 against the same criteria for every candidate. Look at whether the answer is accurate, whether they explain their reasoning and whether they identify information they would need before making a decision.
A candidate who asks a sensible question about missing information may show better management judgment than one who confidently guesses.
Test the people skills as you would for a bartender: a paid trial shift that includes some real service. Give them a short introduction to the station, and judge how they adapt.
Questions
How much does a bar manager earn?
In US bars in May 2025, the median pay was $67,320 for food service managers and $44,820 for food service supervisors. The US classification lists the job title "Bar Manager" under food service supervisors (code 35-1012). A manager who hires, buys and is responsible for the budget is doing a food service manager's job (code 11-9051). A manager who runs shifts under a general manager is closer to a supervisor. More in bar manager salary.
Can a bar manager take a share of the tip pool?
Not if they pass the federal duties test. Under US federal law, a manager or supervisor who meets that test cannot receive a share of employees' tips through a tip pool. The three-part test: their main duty is managing, they direct two or more full-time employees, and they can hire or fire, or their advice on hiring and firing carries weight. A manager may generally keep a tip given directly by a customer for service the manager personally and solely provided. That doesn't allow them to take any part of a shared tip jar or staff tip pool. State and local rules may add restrictions, so check the rules that apply to your bar.
How do you become a bar manager?
Usually from behind the bar: bartender, then head bartender or shift lead, then manager. BLS says the job typically needs a high school diploma and "several years of experience in the food service industry", plus at least a month of training on the job. First learn the business skills listed above, the part of the job a bartender doesn't see. More in how to become a bar manager.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Food Service Managers. What they do, work environment, how to become one and important qualities; pay for May 2025.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Standard Occupational Classification 2018: definitions and direct match title file. "Bar Manager" is a direct match title under 35-1012.
- O*NET OnLine, U.S. Department of Labor, Food Service Managers, 11-9051.00: tasks and sample of reported job titles.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: national industry-specific estimates, NAICS 722400.
- GOV.UK (Home Office), Alcohol licensing.
- Liquor & Gaming NSW, Licensee and Advanced Licensee training.
- Liquor & Gaming NSW, Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training.
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Managers and supervisors may not keep any part of employees' tips, directly or through a tip pool.
- New York State Department of Labor, Pay Transparency. Labor Law Section 194-B: businesses with four or more employees list compensation ranges.
- Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Equal Pay and Opportunities Act. Employers with 15 or more employees include a wage scale or salary range in job postings.
- Office for National Statistics, ASHE Table 14, 2025 provisional: paid hours (Table 14.9a).
About the authors
Sarah co-founded and ran Teresa Cocktail Bar, a Tales of the Cocktail nominee. She was also the first customer success hire at Loaded and now builds Overproof.