the bar team blueprint.
The Bar Team Blueprint is a complete, custom-built system for turning new hires into high-performance team members: who to hire, how to onboard them, and how to train them to full independence in their first 90 days. Built once, run by your managers for every future hire, and owned by your company. It keeps working long after I hand it over.
Customized to your bar. Delivered in 30 days.
The bars people cross oceans to visit are not just lucky with their staff. Their teams are built with intention, each stage fine-tuned to develop a team that operates at maximum efficiency and delivers their brand of hospitality to their guests, at the same high level, every service.
Most bars freestyle at least three of these stages. And that is exactly where the money leaks out.
The right people never hear about you.
the cost
Wasted ad budget and manager hours reviewing applications.
B- and C-players get hired. A-players look elsewhere.
the cost
Great interview, bad hire. Weeks of wages gone before you admit it and start over.
4–8 weeks to work confidently alone, or scheduled long before they're ready.
the cost
4–8 weeks of paying two people to do one job: $15–20K per year in a busy bar.
Shadowing is NOT training. Without a system, every hire learns a different version of your bar.
the cost
The second round they don't offer your guest: $4 per guest × 30,000 covers = $120K per year.
The culture you've allowed becomes the culture you're stuck with.
the cost
A-players held to a B level leave, and their regulars leave with them.
Nothing keeps your best people engaged and moving forward.
the cost
Good employees don't quit bars, they quit dead ends. Each exit costs $3–5K to replace.
Plug one of these and you feel it quickly. Plug all six and you are running a different business.
…how different would your life look if
your phone stopped ringing with problems?
every guest got the service you would give them, with or without you in the room?
you could get out of town for a few days without anxiety because the bar runs smoothly without you?
You could write it all down yourself. You have been meaning to for years, but you just haven't gotten to it. You could send your managers to a branded course that teaches everyone the same generic material but nothing specific to your bar. You could bring in a trainer for a workshop that fades by the next schedule change, and the knowledge leaves when they do.
The Bar Team Blueprint is the option that leaves a system behind: built for your venue, run by your managers, and owned by your company.
A hiring playbook for your venue: who to look for, the interview questions that reveal it, a trial-shift protocol, and honest checkpoints at day 7 and day 30 so a wrong fit costs you a few weeks, not a year.
A complete 90-day pathway for each front-of-house role: what gets taught, what gets tested, and what "ready" looks like. Your manager follows a checklist and we eliminate the guesswork from training.
Testing, sign-offs, and progress tracking in one place, plus the milestones, rewards, and progression that keep your best people moving forward.
What your managers do before, during, and after shifts to keep the system working and team culture healthy.
Everything lives in a single system that a brand-new manager could pick up and run with.
Framework, pathways, tests, tracker, and training material, drawn from a bar library I have been writing for 20 years. Your time with me is one recorded 90-minute call about your business, a couple of review calls, and a final walkthrough with your management team. I am also available for implementation advice for up to 6 months after giving you the system.
Some pieces only you can create, because I have never worked service in your bar: your welcome-to-the-company document, your house SOPs, and your recipes are all supplied by you. But I provide templates, examples, and a short to-do list for those, not just a blank page.
And my honest take: the hardest part of building a world class bar team doesn't live in a document. It's your managers building the habits and living them on every shift, rain or shine. The Blueprint gives you the tools to set this up and keep it alive, but the follow-through is yours. This is mostly done for you. But it isn't magic.
Gregory Buda · managing director, tangerine
every expensive mistake, made at least once
I spent eight years as the director of education at The Dead Rabbit in New York City, including both years it was named the World's Best Bar. The training system I built there is still the one they run today. And the first version of it was built by a much greener version of me: we made mistakes in hiring and training, and watched valuable knowledge walk out the door because it lived in someone's head, and not on paper.
Every one of those corrections is baked into the Blueprint, along with everything I have built since for my own bar, Bisou Bisou in Montréal (recognized on North America's 50 Best), and for bar programs I've set up in nine countries globally. I have made every expensive mistake inside these six stages at least once, so that you don't have to.
“The foundation of our approach at The Dead Rabbit is best-in-class education, developed and managed by Gregory Buda. Greg built a meticulous training program for all FOH roles, supported by an ongoing framework that ensures our team has every tool to succeed while continuing to grow. His work is one of the key reasons we've not only maintained our reputation and competitiveness as a company, but enhanced them.”
Jack McGarry
Owner / Operator
The Dead Rabbit, New York City
“Greg's training has been invaluable to our business. He's elevated our in-house team's skills while providing complimentary services to our clients – always professional, insightful, and results-driven.”
Richard Ryan
Founder / Creative Director
Drinksology, Belfast
“What an amazing experience working with Greg! His exceptional training program was precise, professional, and on point. My team's knowledge and technique were elevated tremendously.”
Mary Li
Owner / Operator
Ginger & Fork, Houston
“Greg holds the secrets behind successful (and unsuccessful) cocktail programs, based on cold hard numbers and years of actual experience that are otherwise very hard to attain.”
Ingólfur Gylfason
Manager
Jungle Group, Reykjavík
Every Blueprint client gets measured, before and after. You will know whether this worked, and so will I.
Run the system as designed for 90 days. If the numbers we track together aren't moving, I keep working with you at no additional cost until they are.
My program is specifically for cocktail-forward bars, hotel bars, and small bar groups doing $1M+ in revenue per venue, run by owners who understand that their team is their greatest asset. If you see training as a cost to minimize, this is not for you. No hard feelings.
three ways to work together
I build a limited number of these programs each month, personally, start to finish, for bars anywhere in the world. And the leaks don't wait: every month they stay open costs more than the program does.
Each option includes the complete Blueprint. The difference is in how much you want me on-site with your team.
The complete Blueprint, plus three on-site visits across your first year and a standing line to me for implementation, adjustments, and advice. I only take on two residencies per year.
The complete Blueprint, plus three days on-site: a hands-on workshop for your team and a working assessment of your venue.
The complete system, built for your venue and delivered remotely in 30 days. This is where most of my clients start.
half on signing, half on delivery
investment quoted in USD, but you can pay in any currency
Included with every build: lifetime access to the tangerine bar training library. The category knowledge, service standards, and management material I have been writing for 20 years, and everything I add to it from here. It is never sold separately. What I write next year is yours too.
Ready to get started?
You tell me about your bar and your team, I tell you honestly whether the Blueprint is the right fit. If it is, I will walk you through what happens next. If it isn't, I will say so.
book a callor email me at greg@tangerine.bar