The right bar team is sized for the busiest ten minutes of the night, not the average. Here are the ratios we start from for each kind of event, with the reasons behind them, so you can sense-check any quote, including ours.
For a bar serving beer, wine and spirits, plan one bartender for every 50 to 75 guests at the busiest moment. For a cocktail menu or a free open bar, plan one for every 40 to 60, because each drink takes longer or everyone orders at once. Where drinks go out on trays, one bartender for every 75 to 100 guests is enough, as long as floor staff do the carrying.
Those numbers are for the peak, not the whole night. The peak is usually the first twenty minutes after arrival, the moment dinner ends, and the last half hour before the bar closes. If the bar copes then, it copes all night.
These are starting points for a single, well-stocked bar with working tills. Two bars, a long walk to the cellar or a card-only bar with slow machines all push the number up.
| Event and bar style | Ratio at peak | 100 guests | 250 guests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wedding drinks reception, drinks on trays | 1 per 75 to 100 | 1 to 2 | 3 |
| Wedding evening, beer, wine and spirits | 1 per 50 to 75 | 2 | 4 |
| Office party with a free open bar | 1 per 40 to 60 | 2 to 3 | 5 |
| Cocktail menu | 1 per 40 to 60 | 2 to 3 | 5 to 6 |
| Standing reception, wine and fizz only | 1 per 75 to 100 | 1 to 2 | 3 |
| Cash bar at a ticketed event | 1 per 50 to 75 | 2 | 4 |
Add a Lead once the bar team reaches four, or sooner if the bar takes payment, runs a tab or stays open late. The Lead owns the stock, the tills and the cash-up, so the bartenders can keep serving.
A bar runs out of clean glasses long before it runs out of drink. Once the room is full, somebody should be collecting glasses and nothing else. Plan one person on glass collection for every 75 to 100 guests, or make it part of the floor team's brief. At a standing event with no floor team, that person is the difference between a busy bar and a stalled one.
If the bar is a long way from the cellar or the ice, add a runner for the peak. One person restocking lets three bartenders keep pouring.
The drinks list. A short list of beer, wine and one spirit and mixer is fast. Twelve cocktails are not. Batched or pre-mixed cocktails bring the ratio back towards the beer and wine number.
Free or paid. A free bar peaks harder, because nobody hesitates. A cash bar spreads demand but adds payment time.
How many serving points. Two bars need at least two people each at peak, even if the guest count says three in total.
The tills. Slow card machines add seconds to every drink. Test them before the event.
The guests. A wedding evening crowd and a corporate reception drink very differently. Tell whoever quotes you what kind of night it is.
A 150-guest office party with a free bar for the first two hours, then a cash bar. At one bartender to every 50 guests, that is three bar staff at peak, plus one person on glasses and a Lead who runs the tab and the switch to paid. At our standard Core rate of £25.00 an hour and £34.00 for the Lead, over six hours that is four Core staff at £600.00 and one Lead at £204.00, a staff line of £804.00 ex VAT. In December, the festive uplift of £3.00 an hour applies.
Three good bartenders who know the stock and the tills before they arrive will serve faster than five who arrive at the doors. That is why we brief everyone twice, once in writing 48 hours before and once on the day. Use the full staffing ratio guide for waiting and floor staff, and the cost guide to turn it into a budget.
For beer, wine and spirits, two at peak. For a free open bar or a cocktail menu, two or three. For drinks served on trays at a reception, one or two, with floor staff carrying.
For the drinks reception with trays, two bartenders plus floor staff carrying. For the evening bar, two or three, plus someone on glasses once the room is full.
Once the bar team reaches four, or if the bar takes payment or runs a tab, yes. A Lead owns stock, tills and cash-up so the bartenders keep serving.
Yes. Plan one bartender for every 40 to 60 guests, or batch the cocktails in advance to bring it closer to one for every 50 to 75.
Someone should, and only that, once the room is full. Plan one person for every 75 to 100 guests, or put it in the floor team's brief.
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