Bar managers trim menus, cross-train staff amid challenges

Bar managers and beverage directors grappling with the effects of the pandemic and labor shortages are streamlining cocktail menus and cross-training staff to keep their beverage programs thriving. John Deck, general manager of the AC Hotel in Greenville, S.C., says employees of the hotel’s rooftop gin bar and its ground-level tapas bar are being cross-trained so they can fill in as needed, and that liquors or ingredients that aren’t selling well at either concept are moved to the other and repurposed.