Iain McPherson presses home the importance of growing a bartending community and explains how to build your network.

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None of this means you forget where you’re from – like you’re somehow bigger than your local market. Quite the opposite. Part of a global mindset is projecting your local community’s place within it. It’s helping to put your city on the map, just like my mentors did for Edinburgh, making it a globally known bar scene, and what I’m trying to continue. At every guest shift, every panel discussion, Edinburgh, Scotland, the UK are in the conversation.

Think about that bottle of tequila you see in every bar around the world, with its iconic branding and that connection with a sense of place. Think what that has done for the people of Tequila Town, or Jalisco, or even Mexico. To accomplish something similar in our industry, we need to treat ourselves as a brand. If you own a bar or are synonymous with it, you need to think like a brand ambassador. Think Ago Perrone at the Connaught – the two are inseparable.

As a Scottish person, I’m familiar with the mindset that you shouldn’t get too big for your boots, that shouting about your achievements and accolades is seriously uncool. But if you don’t believe in yourself and project what you do, who else will? Don’t wait to be discovered – it might not ever happen. Take a risk and tell the world what you do. What’s the worst that can happen?

In so many cities I visit I come across bartenders who are mentors and, at times, godfathers to the local community and quite often I’ve never heard of them. You scratch your head and think, why is this person not better known outside of their local community? I appreciate the bright lights aren’t for everyone, but sometimes the difference between being globally influential bartenders and locally known is just the simple act of talking about what you do. There are local leaders in so many cities – probably yours – who could add a lot to the global conversation.

So, if you’re a young bartender looking to see where this career can take you, think first about building you network. It is this that will broaden your horizons, open your mind to an expanding world of ideas. Your network is a web – the further it expands, the further it will take you.

But start by thinking local, focusing on cocktail competitions. As you get better known on the local circuit – perhaps winning your regional heats – try to make an impression on the national stage. Then if you’re fortunate and get a couple wins under your belt, the wheels of the recognition machine have started to turn. The brand’s PR team will start to publicise your achievements, drinks media will start to write about you. You’re now on the radar of media, events companies and brands who are organising events, pulling together panels, putting on guest shifts. Make the most of the fact that the UK is one of the most developed bar markets around – we’re not short of journalists, PRs, events and brands willing to invest time and resources in talent.

Making connections

And perhaps the most important part of competing is getting to know people. These people could be your next partner, employer – the industry leaders of the future. If you compete in an international comp like Patrón Perfectionists or World Class, in terms of connections you just graduated from Oxbridge.

Cocktail comps aren’t the only route to building a network. If they’re not for you, think about how you can pierce through nationally and occupy a little part of the market for yourself. What should people know you for? Perhaps it’s your style of bartending, or a technique you’ve developed. As I talked about in my last article on innovation – you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just know everything about the wheel, then give it a spin, ever so slightly.

Another way of building your global profile is to travel – and, of course, it’s also the most fun. Many brands offer trips to bartenders, and it’s never a bad idea to ask your bosses or the brands if they’re available and how to get on them. Not only do you gain an understanding of production and how other markets and cultures operate, you’re so often away with a group of amazing people from all around the country and sometimes from around the world. You’ll usually meet that one person you really connect with. By the end of the trip you’re planning a bar together.

Attending bar shows is something I love too. It started out as self-funded – going with a pal or two on a sort of cultural networking trip to an international bar show. But a few years down the line and you might find that brands will consider sponsoring your trip – if you’re willing to work with them. The first time at any event is always a bit daunting, but next time you go, you will start to see familiar faces. After a few international events, you start to realise that you’re part of the global community.

And of course, your own city’s bar show or cocktail week is a chance for you to shine. There’ll be national and international visitors – reach out and position yourself as their go-to advisor. This can be as simple as having an up-to-date list of bars and restaurants that you paste into a message in a flash, or you might go one further and show them around – investing your own free time is important. No doubt the same service will be reciprocated.

But what if you don’t have a bar show or a cocktail week? Well, you could always start one. That’s what I did with the Edinburgh Bar Show. Now I’m not saying that this is a first step – building up to this takes time – but find the right partners (as I did) and give it a go. When you switch your thinking to promoting a city not just a bar, you’ll be amazed at the good will that brings.

Nothing beats the physical, but digital networking is, of course, an indispensable tool for both maintaining relationships and extending your network. In today’s world, out of sight is out of mind, so regular posts are reminders to people of what you’re up to and what you’re about. Social media has its negatives, not least its drag on productivity, but if you are focused in your posts and your interactions it has the ability to accelerate your growth like nothing else.

Remember, the hardest part is setting this all into motion. It starts with a growth mindset and you don’t need to do it alone – join forces with your friends and grow together.