Understanding Bar Staffing and Skill Issues Can Improve Advocacy Programmes

In June, Wilde Toast began publishing monthly Pulse insight reports, drawing on surveys and interviews with curated panels of bartenders and venue managers from across the UK. While the reports are designed to offer real-time snapshots of trends shaping the industry, they’re also beginning to uncover deeper, more systemic issues, particularly around staffing and skills.

When we asked our panel in June to describe the challenges facing their businesses, economic pressure came up repeatedly. But beneath the familiar concerns, a more troubling theme emerged: the diminishing availability of experienced, career-focused bartenders. At Swift in London, Rebecca Swann noted that her team had “been necessitated to hire much ‘greener’ members of staff than we ever have historically”, a sentiment echoed by Niall English of Milk in Reading, who observed that the standard of bartending in his area had “dropped a little,” attributing it to cost pressures and a lack of innovation.

These comments, coming from respected operators in their respective regions, prompted a deeper investigation. Industry-wide data confirms the anecdotal trend. The Migration Observatory at Oxford University reports that the number of EU nationals working in UK hospitality fell by almost 30% between 2019 and 2021. The same report highlights record levels of job-hopping and cross-sector movement—classic signs of a tightening labour market.

But statistics only tell part of the story. To get a sense of the lived reality behind the numbers, we reached out to Drew Mallins, founder of the London Bartenders Association, a Facebook community with over 33,000 members and more than a decade’s worth of insight into the UK trade.

Drew sees Brexit and Covid as the twin forces that reshaped the landscape. When the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, he says, many European bartenders felt unwelcome. “A lot of them thought, ‘Do I want to work somewhere I’m not welcome?’ That was the beginning,” he recalls. Then came lockdown. “Bartenders who’d been working 50-hour weeks, pulling double shifts, living off meal deals and minimum wage, were suddenly at home. They started sleeping properly, eating three meals a day, living what we’d consider a normal life. And a lot of people realised what was actually important to them.”

The effect was profound. Many EU bartenders returned home to be with family during the pandemic—and didn’t come back. “The talent pool shrank dramatically,” Drew says. “And we haven’t recovered.”

This rapid shrinkage of skilled labour created a cascade of knock-on effects. With fewer experienced bartenders available, venues rushed underprepared staff through promotions. “Coming out of Covid, we didn’t have enough talent, enough bodies,” Drew explains. “So venue owners rushed people through management training. And then the domino effect happened, everyone’s having to hire really green staff, and not all of them are receiving proper training.”

This has implications not only for venues, but for the long-term health of the industry. If new recruits aren’t being trained well, or are being asked to take on too much, too soon, how likely are they to view hospitality as a viable, long-term career?

Drew is candid: “We also have to ask questions of the industry. What have we been doing for the past 10 or 15 years? Have we been training and looking after people properly? Protecting them legally? Are we giving them a stupid amount of hours each week?”

If the answer to those questions is “no,” then the current staffing crisis is less of a surprise and more of a reckoning. Hospitality is a demanding job. If it isn’t well paid, well supported, or treated as a serious career path, people will leave—and they are.

Symbiotic Advocacy

Drew thinks so. “Advocacy needs to shift,” he says. “It started out as glamorous bartenders travelling the world giving out laybacks, but the balance sheet on that doesn’t make sense anymore. Venues need help. It’s not just about ambassadors doing category training—it’s about looking at a venue and asking: how can we help train your team? What kind of activations actually build skills?”

He points to recent trends in sponsored WSET courses and first aid certifications as promising examples. “It’s good to see things like that going on,” he says. “We need more of it.”

Our July Pulse report reflects a similar mood among operators. One of the strongest themes to emerge was a universal call for more meaningful training, and frustration that many brand activities aren’t meeting the moment. Peter Drake, general manager of Project Halcyon in Manchester, put it plainly: “I would like to see more training about hospitality, all the things that help build guest experience. Category training is important, but no one is really training general hospitality and service skills.”

There’s also a growing appetite for sessions that feel personal, immersive, and relevant. “I went to a Diplomatico rum and chocolate training recently and it really stuck in my mind,” says Miley Kendrick, head bartender at Tiki Hideaway in Leeds. “It was much more immersive than just sitting in a back room listening to brand facts and history. More brands should think about training from the perspective of the people being trained.”

There’s an old showbiz maxim: Give them what they want, and they’ll come. The insight from our Pulse panels makes it clear what venue operators want: support developing the next generation of bartenders into capable, motivated professionals. And if brands can help with that—through better training, smarter activations, and more relevant advocacy—they can earn not just loyalty, but real partnership from the trade.

For brands willing to step up, the opportunity is huge. Help venues lift the training burden, and you don’t just win hearts—you help build a stronger, more stable workforce. And that benefits everyone, on both sides of the bar.