Atomicflea wrote:
I suppose I can see the point with the waitstaff (although not the bartender),
It depends on where you have a hosted bar or not. Having bartended for wedding receptions, conventions, etc., in my experience when the bar is hosted (free to the guests and billed to the contracting party) tips tend to be pretty
Shitty. A lot of people figure that if the drink is free then there is no need to tip. Also any job I worked where the bartender's tip was billed in the contract, we were prohibited from having a tip glass on the bar.
Oh and if you are hosting the bar, you generally are billed for each bottle they open. Make sure you tell them you wany and bottles that were opened but not emptied. I worked with a manager who would crack open a few bottles just so he couple bill for them. Also tell them you want new sealed bottles. A lot of catering companies will "marry" the liquor bottles. That's where they take several partial bottles of one liquor and pour them all into one bottle. That is illegal in most states (because a lot of times a cheaper version of a liquor goes into a bottle of a more expensive one), but it still happens.