Commercial Bartending
There are several factors that set Fine Art Vancouver apart from the competition: We offer the most in-depth & extensive training in the city. Our course is 8 days of training, which allows us to go much more in-depth than the average 6 day course. Our instructors are very involved with your training every step of the way, we are not a drop in whenever you feel like, and go at your own pace with no supervision kind of school. Our Guarantee. Fine Art Vancouver guarantee’s you will be a great bartender at the end of our course. If you don’t feel confident at the end of the 8 days, you can come back through right away, or at a later date, as many times as you want until you do feel confident, at no additional charge. Our Staff. We have by far, the most experienced instructors & management in the city. View Instructor Bio Student / Instructor ratio. We have small class sizes and to allow an excellent student/instructor ratio. You will not get lost in the crowd of students at Fine Art. Reputation. Fine Art has been in business in Vancouver for 27 years. More managers & owners recognize the Fine Art Certificate over any other. We also have 8 locations across Canada. We have the most recognized certificate in the industry across the country.
$475.00 no tax. There is no tax on tuition in BC. The course fee is tax-deductable.
There are no extra fees, levels, materials cost etc, its just $475.00
Yes you do! After completing our Commercial Bartending course you receive a Commercial Bartending Certificate that shows prospective employers you are ready to jump behind the bar, without months of costly on the job training.
Yes.
Serving It Right is BC’s responsible beverage service program. It is essentially a license to serve alcohol in BC. It is designed to encourage a responsible, caring and professional approach to the service of alcohol. More specific info can be found here.
No you do not have to be 19 to take our course. If you are 18 or older, you are welcome to enroll. The minimum age to bartend in BC is 19, but it is 18 or younger in other Provinces & Countries.
-DAY CLASSES run 4 days a week; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, for 2 weeks, 8 days in total. Day classes run from 11am to 4pm, with a short lunch break in the middle.
-EVENING CLASSES run 4 days a week; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, for 2 weeks, 8 days in total. Evening classes run from 6pm to 10pm, with a short break in the middle.
-WEEKEND CLASSES run for 4 Saturdays in a row, from 11am to 5pm.
Bartenders can make a great income. It mostly depends on where you work. If you work at a slower bar, with not as many customers, you will make anywhere form $30-$70 a shift in tips, plus your hourly wage. As you gain more experience & knowledge, and get better jobs, you can make more and more, anywhere from $200 to $500 a night in tips. You will make enough to pay for your tuition within your first week behind the bar.
The hospitality industry hasn’t stopped growing despite the slowdowns in other industries, and with the Olympics headed our way, now is a great time to get started in Bartending. New restaurants & bars are opening all the time. We teach you all the in’s & outs of finding work, from putting together a resume, right through to interview skills. While we can’t guarantee job placement, we do place graduates in restaurants & bars quite frequently. We also have a catering division that keeps many of our grads busy as well.
Yes, servers & those who hope to become servers benefit greatly from our program. There is no server school, or course you can take in the Lower Mainland to become a server. Having the ability & confidence to talk about & (&sell!!) a wide range of beverages, cocktails & martinis is a huge asset as a server, it's basicly half your job (the other half being food). A bartending course will make you an expert with the beverage / cocktail side of your job. Your confidence & tips will go up, & managers will see this as a huge asset when hiring.
We offer small classes for all our courses which provide an excellent instructor/student ratio. Maximum 12 students.
While Fine Art offers the most complete bartender training program in North America, there is really no universally recognized, worldwide standard for Bartender training. However, Fine Art has been in business in Vancouver for 24 years, and has 7 locations in Canada, our certificate is the most recognized, well-known certificate in the industry. More owners & managers recognize the Fine Art name than any other. Our certification is recognized by the Bartenders Guild in The United States, we are also a member of the BC Food & Restaurant Association.
Although it is not mandatory to have a bartending certification to serve, more and more establishments and employers require you to have a "bartending certification" or "bartending license" in order to be considered for employment. Owners & managers recognize that the training you receive in a bartending school replaces months of costly on the job training.
Our day and evening classes run on the same class schedule, so if you are enrolled in the day class, and have an appointment, and you cannot make it in, we may be able to accommodate you in the evening class that same day (which would cover the same material), or the other way around. If you are attending the Weekend class, plan on being there all 4 Saturdays as making up class time can be more difficult, but we have managed to work around some crazy schedules, so give us a call, and we can probably accommodate you.
The Weekend Classes are longer days, but overall, a few less hours long, so the material is a bit compressed, and the class moves slightly quicker through the material. But even with a little less class time, we still get through all the material, and our weekend graduates are great bartenders.
We start a new Daytime & Evening Class every 2 weeks. We always start our Day & Evening classes on Monday’s. If a statutory holiday falls on a Monday, we generally push our schedule back 1 day, and run from Tuesday to Friday for that week only. We start a new weekend class once a month, always on Saturdays.
You can pay for the whole class in advance online during the registration process to guarantee yourself a spot in one of our classes. A minimum $50.00 deposit is required in advance to hold your spot in one of our classes, and the easiest way to do that is online. If you chose to put down a deposit to hold your spot, we prefer the balance be paid on the first day of class. If you have a special situation, for example, you are waiting for a payday that occurs halfway through the course, we are fairly flexible, you just need to give us a call, and we can make an arrangement to delay payment, no problem. If you are not comfortable using your credit card online, we are happy to take your info over the phone, or make alternate arrangements for payment, in any of these cases, please call our office at 604 873 2811
For payments online, we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express & most Debit cards. If you are paying in person, at the school, we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Cheque, Cash or Debit. You could also send a cheque by mail. Do not send cash in the mail.
Not at all, our course is designed to take you through all aspects bartending, right from the beginning.
We turn out really good bartenders at Fine Art, and to be really good bartender upon graduation, it does require some effort. You will have lots of fun, and sometimes you will have to pay attention and focus. The course might best be described as medium-intense.
We guarantee you will be a great bartender at the end of our course, if you don’t feel 100% confident, you can re-take the course at any time, free of charge. The only time there would be any sort of fee for retaking the course is if we have done a substantial update to our textbook (it happens about once every 6 months), only then we would expect you to purchase a new textbook for a very small fee. We also offer free re-fresher courses to past students. All we require is some sort of proof you took the course previously, a certificate or receipt. We do not have years of student records we can look up your previous registration in.
There is a small amount of homework, maybe 10-15 min each night, many students complete it in-class during lunch or a break.
You don’t need to bring much, a pen for sure, we supply you with a textbook you can write notes in, or you can bring a notebook if you wish. We recommend closed-toe shoes, not sandals, or flip flops, in case a glass gets broken.
Our course is about 25% theory, and 75% practical. You will spend most of your time up behind the bar, working through various techniques, practicing your skills, filling drink orders, learning how to deal with customers, etc.
Yes, you are always welcome to visit our school, however, we have funny hours. We are open Monday to Thursday, from 11am to 4pm for our day class, we are closed between 4pm and 6pm, then we open again from 6pm-10pm for our evening class. We are closed Fridays & Sundays. We are open Saturdays from 11am to 5pm. We operate fairly small classes, and there is usually only 1 instructor at the school, so if you catch us in the middle of a lecture, come in, have a seat, and we will get to you within a few minutes.
There are no pre-requisites required to attend our courses
Yes, Bartending is a great skill to have if you would like to see the world. We have former students working all over the world. In the past year alone, our graduates have found work all across Canada, the U.S., Cayman Islands, Mexico, Central America, Ireland, England, Korea, Japan, China, France, Sweden, and many are working in Australia. We also have several students working on various cruise lines.
Working Flair
Even very basic Working Flair is a great conversation starter with guests, and increased interaction with customers will always increase your tips. Having that extra skill set will help you stand out from the crowd, and you will create better opportunities for advancement for yourself.
Many bars & catering companies love to see you took an interest in your profession & upgraded your skill-set. There bars all over the world that only hire flair bartenders. Many accomplished flair bartenders will tell you they got better jobs, and made more $$$ because they had that extra skill.
Our 1 day Working Flair Seminar costs $99.00 There is no tax, and no additional fees or costs.
The seminar fee includes our 50 move Working Flair Manual, 1 Flairco flair bottle (comes with lifetime warrantee), and a stainless shaker tin. That’s over $40 worth of materials!
We always run the seminars on Sundays. The seminar begins at 11:00am and ends at 5pm. There is a short lunch break about halfway through the day.
Yes, to guarantee yourself a spot in our 1 Day Working Flair Seminar, you will need to register & pay in advance. The easiest way to do that is online here. If you are not comfortable using your credit card online, or would prefer to use a different method of payment, we are happy to take your info over the phone, in this case, please call our office at 604 873 2811
For payments online, we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express & Debit. If you are paying in person, at the school, we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Cheque, Cash, or Debit. You could also send a cheque by mail. Do not send cash in the mail.
-No, we have usually have a good mix of Fine Art grads, and bartenders from various establishments looking to upgrading their skills.
Class size is limited to a maximum of 6 students.
A pen for writing notes is all you really need to bring. We recommend you wear closed toed shoes, not flip flops or sandals.
-No, we have had several people come through the seminar just for fun. We recently trained a group of Starbucks Baristas looking to put some more fun into their work. Anyone is welcome.
Competition flair is very entertaining to watch at a live competition, or on TV, but not practical in all working environments, it isn’t often you have the 4 exact bottles with less than 3 ounces of juice in them you need to pull out a crazy competition flair move behind a real working bar. Our focus is on Working Flair. We teach you how to mix tricks in evenly throughout the night, so you never need to slow down & you are always entertaining to watch. If you are interested in pursuing Competition Flair in the future, the best way to create a solid foundation to build upon is to start with our Working Flair Bartending Seminar.
We run a Flair Seminar about once every 6 weeks.
At our live seminar, our very experienced instructors can spot and immediately correct any mistakes you may be making, or any bad habits you may be forming that are preventing you from mastering a movement, and you will master more moves & sequences, much quicker than trying to figure out what you are doing wrong alone in front of an instructional DVD.
We guarantee results! If you have any doubts about your ability to master our program your first time through, don’t worry, you can come back through the seminar for free.