We Have to Stop Telling Young People Working in Bars and Restaurants Isn’t a Worthy Career

Take it from me, it absolutely is

I have never been healthier, better paid, and more satisfied with my career than when I owned my wine store and bar.

And yet I took so much crap for my choice of career.

I took it from customers who looked down on me for working in hospitality. From family who thought it didn’t make the most of my capabilities. From society for working unsociable hours in a “lowly” industry.

I took all this criticism despite owning the freaking business — I can only imagine how much shit an employee would take for it

They shouldn’t have to. Working in this industry is, for the most part, incredible.

I was incredibly fit from the hours on my feet. I became extremely knowledgeable about a very complex subject. I mastered the art of service, a skill few can do well.

And yet we still tell young people it’s not a proper career. That they should do something — anything — else.

And young people listen. Unfortunately, they want nothing to do with the industry.

There are so many misconceptions about hospitality that stop people from working in it and I’m here to call BS on all of it.

Because y’all are missing out.

There aint nothing unskilled about it

I’ve had enough badly made coffees, suffered through enough poor service, and eaten enough plates of God-awful food to know that the idea of hospitality being “unskilled” is absolute BS.

Hospitality is an incredibly skilled job. Mastering the art of service can take years. Becoming a Sommelier is the work of a lifetime. Knowing how to make a cocktail or a decent coffee is an art form.

Yet many people assume it’s a stopgap job. The job you do when you’re 18 or are a college dropout or something to do when you retire. If I had a euro for every time someone told me in my wine store and bar “I’d love to do something like this as a little job when I retire.”

One of my friends is one of the best baristas in Europe (and has the medals to prove it).

He tells me how offended he gets when people assume his work is easy. He’s pissed off at the other coffee shops in his town know nothing about coffee and never train their staff because he feels it does a disservice to his incredibly complex and skilled industry.

The idea that hospitality is unskilled simply isn’t true. And there ain’t nothing like the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing you’re learning how to do something so few people can do.

It’s career satisfaction at its finest and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. After all, over 90% of hospitality workers are happy in their jobs.

What other career boasts that sort of satisfaction level?

Money, money, money

Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to make decent money in hospitality.

My friend Rocco Pendola recently dived into the mechanics of what you can earn as a bartender in the US and it’s no small chunk of change.

Tipping culture has its advantages.

Even outside the US where tipping is less common you can still make good money.

A friend of mine is the beverage manager for a restaurant group in London and he’s paid well into six figures. Another friend is a Somm in Barcelona and not only gets paid well above average for the city but also has accommodation thrown in.

Chefs don’t do badly either. According to Glassdoor, the average wage for a chef in Lisbon is €77–115k. Although I’d question that stat, even half that salary is 2–3 times the average Portuguese salary.

Granted there are poorly paid jobs in the industry. And sure, you’ll probably have to work your way up. You can’t be a great chef / Sommelier / bartender overnight. But hell, my first office job paid me $15k a year so it’s not like office work made me Ms. Moneypants.

Our society loves to equate money with success, so why is hospitality still considered a lowly job when it can pay very well indeed?

Hospo doesn’t have to be a young person’s game

People who consider hospitality as a young person’s game — not a game for life — have clearly never visited Spain.

I was in a tapas bar just the other day where not a single dude behind the bar was under 50. One looked well into his seventies. This is not unusual, I’ve seen it across the country more times than I care to count.

This isn’t just normal in Spain — it is in Portugal, Croatia, Italy and France too.

I used to visit the same French seaside town multiple times a year. Every single time — for 10 years — I saw the same people work the same restaurants. One I got to know a bit owned a freaking Rolex.

Closer to home, one of my own wine bar employees was a 60-year-old woman who had run and worked in restaurants her whole life. She could work 10 hours on her feet and still have the energy to dance around the bar after we closed the doors.

Hospitality is not for the young, it keeps you young.

Speaking of which…

Since when was working sitting down superior to working on your feet?

Humans are not meant to sit down all day.

Sitting in an uncomfortable chair your office manager may as well have found in a dumpster is terrible for your posture. Staring at a computer screen fucks with your eyes and can literally kill you. A study of over 300,000 people found a strong link between working at a computer and cardiovascular disease and death.

Not such an issue in hospitality.

The minute I stopped working in an office and opened my wine store and bar, I got stronger — quickly — from lugging boxes all day every day. I lost weight I needed to lose. I could stand for 10 hours a day without breaking a sweat. I’d walk 15–20k steps a day.

You know what happened the second I sold my wine place and started to write online? I gained 20lbs despite running three times a week.

When it comes to fitness and health, sedentary workers have it rough and yet many of them are still considered superior to hospitality. Only 1 in 10 young people will consider a job in hospitality whereas software engineers and lawyers routinely show up in top 10 young people’s career wishlists

Although the hospitality industry receives its fair share of criticism when it comes to health — irregular sleeping patterns, eating on the fly, more likely to smoke — it doesn’t have to be like this. It can be extremely good for you. Working the floor is like low-level working out for hours every single day.

There is nothing inferior about working a job that keeps you fit, healthy, and strong and we have to stop telling young people that there is.

The downside to working in hospitality (that isn’t really a downside)

The hours.

I hear it all the time:

I don’t want to give up my Saturdays.

I don’t like to work evenings.

I’ll never see my friends.

How will I ever have children or see my partner?

Here’s the thing. Once you dive into the world of hospitality, the hours become less of a problem because, if you work in the right place, you get a ready-made set of friends working the same hours as you.

You know that workers-are-like-family dynamic in HBO’s The Bear? That’s completely true, cousin.

Some say it takes a certain sort of person to work evening shifts in hospitality but no one says that about doctors, nurses, firefighters, or other shift workers. No one thinks these careers are stopgaps.

As for the kid issue, I’ve seen enough people work in hospitality and have children — women included. In fact, some say they prefer it because they can spend more time with their kids during the day before heading to work once they go to sleep. Some also tell me they have better relationships with their partners because they get independent time from each other.

It’s not always easy — childcare never is. But it is possible.

You may think hospo hours are a disadvantage but I promise you, they could make you happier than you ever thought possible.

I will defend hospitality until I die.

It keeps you fit. It gives you skills. It makes you part of a family. It can be a career for life.

Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

Sure, customers can suck but so can clients on the other side of a computer screen.

Sure, the hours are long but I know people who worked longer in their insurance jobs.

Sure, your boss can be a dick, but that’s not exclusive to hospitality.

Hospitality isn’t a stopgap job. It can be your everything. It can give you access to a world you may not even know you need. And once you find it, you may never want to leave.

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