A restaurant barback keeps the bar stocked through service: ice, glassware, beer, wine, spirits, kegs and garnishes, so bartenders never have to leave their guests or the service bar. They also clean behind the bar, haul empties and restock for the next shift.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, full-service restaurants · BLS, May 2025
We're hiring Barbacks to keep our bartenders stocked so they can stay with guests. You'll haul ice, restock beer, wine and spirits from the liquor room, change kegs, run and polish glassware, prep garnishes and clean as you go. On a busy night, the bar only moves as fast as the Barback keeps it stocked.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Stock the bar before and during service: ice wells, beer coolers, wine, spirits, mixers, garnishes and glassware.
Pull product from the liquor room against the par sheet, and sign out what you take the way the Bar Manager requires.
Change kegs and gas cylinders, and tell the Bar Manager when a line pours foamy or a tap fails.
Run clean glassware from the dish pit, polish it and keep racks full behind the bar.
Cut garnishes and batch juices and syrups to the Bar Manager's recipes, and label and date them.
Clear the bar top of empty glasses and bottles, and take recycling and empties out.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Fill ice wells and check par levels with the bartenders before doors open.
Watch the wells, coolers and glass racks through the rush and refill before anything runs out.
Change kegs between rushes so bartenders aren't waiting on a tap.
Sweep and mop behind the bar, and clean up spills and broken glass right away.
At close, restock for the next shift, clean coolers and floor mats, and haul trash and empties.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Times the bar runs out of ice, glassware or product: [your target].
Opening and closing bar checklists completed: [your target].
Liquor room sign-outs that match the par sheet: [your target].
Bartender feedback on support: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
No bar experience needed; we train you on keg changes, stocking, garnishes and glassware.
Meet [the minimum age your state sets for working behind a bar or handling alcohol].
Food handler card, if your state or county requires one for barbacks.
Learns the bar layout, par sheet and liquor room system in the first [two weeks].
Works around bartenders in a tight space without getting in their way.
6. Preferred Experience
Busser, food runner or dishwasher experience.
Basic knowledge of beer, wine and spirits.
Interest in training to bartend.
7. Physical Requirements
Carry ice buckets, cases of beer and liquor, and glass racks up to [50] pounds many times a shift.
Move full kegs with a hand truck and work in walk-in coolers.
Stand, bend and move quickly behind a crowded bar on wet floors.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Evening, weekend and holiday shifts that end after the bar is restocked for the next day.
Loud bar with wet floors, broken glass and cold walk-ins.
Shifts start before the bar opens to stock ice and product.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new barback gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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A nightclub barback stocks one crowded bar for a late rush. A restaurant barback also supplies the service bar for the dining room, shares a dish machine with the kitchen, and works under state rules on who may handle alcohol.
Age rules decide who can stock bottles
Liquor laws set who can touch the product. In New York, nobody under 18 may hold a restaurant job that requires selling, pouring or handling alcoholic beverages. A minor can handle empty bottles, the way a busser or dishwasher does, only under the direct supervision of someone 21 or older. Your state's line may sit somewhere else, so check it before you move a teenage busser behind the bar. Source: New York State Liquor Authority: Restaurant license quick reference.
Glasses share the dish machine with plates
The bar's glass racks go through the same dish machine as the kitchen's plates. During the dinner push, the barback has to get clean glasses back to the bar without cutting in front of the dishwasher, then polish and rack them. Running out of wine glasses on a Saturday stalls the service bar and every table waiting on a bottle.
A CO2 alarm means get out
Draft beer and soda run on CO2 from cylinders or bulk tanks. In a walk-in, basement or other closed room, a leak can push out the oxygen. The Syracuse fire department notes that several restaurant deaths have come from CO2 leaks, and that rooms with CO2 alarms carry signs telling people not to enter when the alarm sounds. Teach barbacks that sound on day one. Source: Syracuse Fire Department: Carbon dioxide systems for beverage dispensing.
Every bottle leaves on a sign-out
The bar gets counted every week, and the bar manager has to explain any gap. The barback pulls product from the locked liquor room against the par sheet and signs for it the way the bar manager requires. A missed sign-out looks just like a missing bottle on the variance report, so careful paperwork protects the barback too.
How much restaurant barbacks make
The closest BLS group for restaurant barbacks is dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers. Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $15.89 an hour ($33,040 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $33,980 median for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in all industries. About 326,970 of the 542,750 dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in that survey work for full-service restaurants.
Hourly plus a share of the bar's tips, paid as a bartender tip-out or a place in the tip pool. The BLS figures here cover bussers and dining room attendants as well as barbacks.
Full-service restaurants
$33,040$33,040 median Middle half $27,060–$36,810 10th–90th $18,500–$46,360
All industries
$33,980$33,980 median Middle half $28,330–$37,250 10th–90th $21,300–$46,570
$10k$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Full-service restaurants
$18,500
$27,060
$33,040
$36,810
$46,360
All industries
$21,300
$28,330
$33,980
$37,250
$46,570
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Moves around a crowded bar without getting in the bartenders' way
Spots a low ice well or an empty glass rack before anyone asks
Follows a par sheet and a sign-out log exactly
Arrives on time for setup, before the doors open
Stays calm when three bartenders need something at once
Teach these on the job
Changing kegs and CO2 cylinders safely
The bar layout, par levels and liquor room routine
Garnish cuts and batch recipes for juices and syrups
What to do when glass breaks near the ice well
Beer, wine and spirits basics, for barbacks training to bartend
Barbacks use a hand truck for kegs and cases, keg couplers and CO2 regulators, ice buckets and scoops, glass racks, and the par sheet and sign-out log. If barbacks change CO2 cylinders at your bars, mention it in the posting and train it before their first busy night.
Restaurant barback interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Pick targets that fit how this bar runs. A small bar with one bartender needs fewer checks than a busy bar with a service well, so set them with the bar manager.
Times the bar runs out of ice, glassware or product
Bartenders note each run-out on the shift report with the time and the item. Count them per shift and look for patterns, such as wine glasses every Saturday at eight.
Opening and closing bar checklists completed
How many shifts ended with the checklist finished and signed, checked by the manager at open and close. Spot-check a few items, such as coolers and ice wells, so the signature means something.
Liquor room sign-outs that match the par sheet
Compare each shift's sign-out log with the par sheet and the next count. Note mismatches by person and by product, and talk each one through with the barback that week.
Bartender feedback on support
Ask bartenders each week, on a short form or in person, whether they ran short on anything and how the barback handled the rush. Track repeat comments over a month.
Career path
Busser or dishwasherLearns the dining room or the dish pit and how a rush builds.
BarbackKeeps the bar stocked and learns how it runs.
BartenderMakes drinks, runs tabs and works the service bar.
Bar managerHires the bar team and answers for the bar's numbers.
Your state's liquor law decides, and states draw the line in different places. In Pennsylvania, a licensed restaurant may hire workers aged 16 or 17 to serve food and clear tables. They may not serve or pour alcohol, and no one under 16 may work there at all. California is stricter for bar work: no one under 21 may work in the part of a restaurant mainly used for serving drinks during business hours, and that's where a barback works.
How much does a restaurant barback make?
Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $15.89 an hour ($33,040 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $27,060 and $36,810 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Does a barback need alcohol training?
Sometimes. BLS notes that bartender helpers and others who work where alcohol is served may need training on state and local laws, and some places require it. If your barbacks ever pour a beer or carry a drink to a guest when the bar gets slammed, train them like bartenders and check whether your state's server rules cover them.
Do barbacks get tips?
Often. Bartenders tip them out after close, or they share in the bar's pool. Agree on the barback's share before the first shift and put it in writing, so a new hire knows what a good night looks like. Under federal rules, no manager or supervisor may share in it, so a bar manager who hires and directs the team can't take a cut.
What's the difference between a barback and a busser?
Both are support jobs, and O*NET counts them in the same occupation. A busser handles the dining room tables and backs up the servers. A barback stocks and cleans the bar and helps the bartenders. On slow nights one worker may cover both, so if you plan on that, the ad should say so.
Can a barback move up to bartender?
Yes, and many take the job for that reason. A barback learns the specs, the pace and the regulars by watching the bartenders every shift. Give them slow shifts behind the bar with a trainer once they know the recipes, and check the age your state sets for bartending before you promise a date.
