Education/training | Making Connections | Personal Advancement | Self-employment | Career Options

Career Planning

A new twist on the bar exam

Will Sturm says he paid his way through school working as a doorman at the Royal York Hotel, but that was as close as he came to working in the hospitality industry.

DAVID CHILTON -- Special to the Toronto Sun

Send to a friend

Brass Tapps manager Jimmy Moxam (left) and owner Will Sturm spent four weeks studying part time at the Bartending School of Ontario.

Until five years ago, that is, when, untrained and inexperienced, he jumped at an offer to manage -- and ended up buying half of -- a friend's restaurant and bar, Brass Tapps in Toronto's east end.

To learn more about his new trade he and current Brass Tapps manager Jimmy Moxam, whose background is the automotive aftermarket, went to the Bartending School of Ontario.

Sturm had spent from 1998 to 2003 studying dental technology and denturism at George Brown College, but rather dryly notes, "I found that wasn't the career choice for me." Moxam was equally dissatisfied with his former automotive field.

"We were advised to take that (bartending) course by those managers who were managing this restaurant at the time," Sturm says. He and Moxam spent four weeks at the school studying part time before writing their bar test.

Students at the school can attend for two weeks or four weeks, says Vic Miller, the school's owner and founder, but either way they have to study a total of 24 hours before they graduate. Classes are held during the day, at night and on weekends.

To celebrate the Bartending School of Ontario's 35 years in business, and to mark the opening of its brand new premises, also in the east end, Miller says the cost of tuition is $210, which is $35 off the usual price. The lower fee includes all workshops and manuals.

Sturm says during his time at the school he was impressed by its setup. It wasn't just a question of mixing drinks, he says; there was also time spent discovering their

history. For example, students were taught the difference between single malt Scotch and a blend.

Moxam says the school taught him to be genuine with the customers but also to keep his wits about him and anticipate events. Remember, he says, alcohol can raise or lower an existing mood. Or as Miller puts it, a customer might walk in and say, "I've had a bad day. I'll have a Zombie."

Miller says all sorts of people enrol in his school. There are school teachers on summer holidays, single parents and, of course, lots of students interested in

making a buck to finance their post-secondary studies. Bar owners show up too, Miller continues: "We don't just teach bartending, we also teach about bar management."

And where the jobs are. Miller says because his business is so well known there are 20 to 40 available jobs posted at the school every week and in summer that number could shoot up to 70.

There might even be a temporary vacancy at Brass Tapps. Last Saturday, Sturm married Clare Rowsell, one of his servers at the restaurant, and some of their regulars came to the wedding.