The full example
Everything below is fictional. The venues are described rather than named, and the achievements are the kind of thing a real bar manager does — written the way they should appear on a CV, not inflated.
Bar manager CV — example
Header
[Full Name] [Town, UK] · [phone] · [email]
Professional summary
Bar manager with eight years behind and in charge of bars, currently running a 220-capacity late-night bar in Newcastle with a team of 16 and a door team of four. Accountable for wet GP, the bar rota, stock and cellar, and the premises licence conditions. Personal Licence and SIA Door Supervisor licence holder. Looking for a bar manager role in a larger venue, or a group with more than one bar to think about.
Core skills
Wet GP and pricing · Weekly stock count and line-by-line variance Cellar and draught management · Line cleaning schedule Bar rota and labour against forecast · Recruitment, training and spec tests Cocktail and draught list changes · Supplier terms and promotional support Premises licence conditions · Incident and refusals logs · Door team briefing EPOS (Tevalis) · Stock counts (Stocklink) · Bookings (DesignMyNight)
Experience
Bar Manager — 220-capacity late-night bar, Newcastle Jan 2023 – present
· Run the bar rota for a team of 16 against the weekly sales forecast, and
explain the labour variance at the Monday review with the general manager.
· Hold wet GP to target through weekly stock counts, line-by-line variance
checks and a standing spec test for every bartender.
· Manage the cellar — ordering against par, line cleaning every seven days
and a draught range changed with the seasons.
· Brief the door team before every Friday and Saturday, and keep the
incident book, refusals log and CCTV requests in line with the licence.
· Rewrite the cocktail list twice a year with the senior bartender, costing
each serve to a target GP before it goes on.
· Took the venue through its last licensing visit with no conditions added.
Assistant Bar Manager — 120-cover cocktail bar and kitchen, Sunderland
Jun 2020 – Dec 2022
· Ran the bar on the manager’s days off, including cash-up, banking and the
end-of-night report.
· Placed the weekly spirits and wine order and checked deliveries against
the invoice.
· Trained eight new bartenders on the spec book, the till and Challenge 25.
· Ran the bar side of private hires for up to 80 guests, from the drinks
package to the staffing.
Bar Supervisor — 400-capacity music venue, Newcastle Mar 2018 – May 2020
· Supervised up to six bartenders across three bars on gig nights, moving
staff between bars as the queues built.
· Cashed up all three bars at close and reconciled the floats.Education and certifications
Personal Licence (APLH Level 2) — 2020 SIA Door Supervisor Licence — 2023 WSET Level 2 Award in Spirits — 2022 IOSH Managing Safely — 2024 First Aid at Work (3-day) — 2023 Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering — 2021 Level 2 Award in Fire Safety — 2024
Additional
Systems: Tevalis EPOS, Stocklink stock counts, DesignMyNight bookings, S4labour rotas Availability: late nights, weekends and bank holidays
Templates that suit this example
- Executive — Competency groups instead of a skills list, which suits a CV led by GP, stock and team results.
- Compact Scan — Fits three venues, a long licence and certificate list and a systems line on one page.
- Floor — Puts the Personal Licence and SIA licence in an emphasis row near the top, where an operations manager looks first.
Want this structure with your own experience in it?
Build your bar manager CVWhy each section is written that way
Professional summary
- Why it matters.
- An operations manager or owner reading a bar manager CV is pricing you against a wet GP line and a licence. Give them capacity, team size, what sits on your number and which licences you hold, before anything else.
- A strong version.
- Capacity, team size including door staff, the numbers you are accountable for, the licences you hold and the move you are making. Four or five sentences.
- Common mistake.
- Leading with cocktail creativity and "a passion for mixology". It belongs on a bartender CV. A bar manager is hired to hold GP and the licence, and the summary should say so.
Core skills
- Why it matters.
- Wet GP, variance, cellar, licence conditions, refusals log — the words place you at management level. Without them a bar manager CV reads like a senior bartender who was given the keys.
- A strong version.
- The controls you actually hold, named plainly — stock counts, variance, rota against forecast, licence conditions — plus the systems you hold them in, by name.
- Common mistake.
- Filling the block with spirits knowledge and flair. It matters, but it is not what distinguishes a manager from the people they manage.
Experience
- Why it matters.
- Two bar managers can be doing entirely different jobs — one runs a 60-cover hotel bar with no door team, the other a 400-capacity late-night venue with four. Capacity, door team, licence and the numbers you own are what separate the two.
- A strong version.
- Capacity, team and door team size, what you own on the numbers, the licensing work you have done, and where a figure is a target you worked to, say so — it is more credible than a bare percentage.
- Common mistake.
- Headline GP improvements with nothing underneath them. A reader who cannot see what you changed — the count, the spec test, the supplier terms — will discount the number.
Licences and certifications
- Why it matters.
- A bar cannot trade without a Personal Licence holder, and a late-night venue needs someone who understands the door. These are conditions of the job rather than extras, and an owner looks for them first.
- A strong version.
- Personal Licence, SIA licence if you hold one, WSET at whatever level, first aid, fire safety and a health and safety award, each with a year. Mention a licensing visit you took a venue through.
- Common mistake.
- Leaving the Personal Licence until the end of page two, or omitting the year so nobody can tell whether it is current.
Systems
- Why it matters.
- A group moving a manager between venues wants to know they can be handed the EPOS, the stock system and the rota tool without a fortnight of training. Naming them removes a question.
- A strong version.
- The EPOS, stock, booking and rota systems you have used, by name, in one line.
- Common mistake.
- Writing "various POS systems". If you cannot name them, the reader assumes you have only ever worked the till.
If your experience looks different
Most people are not the candidate in the example. Three common situations, and what to change for each.
First bar manager role — moving up from senior bartender or supervisor
Your summary. Name the step openly: "Bar supervisor with five years behind the bar, looking for a first assistant bar manager role." Then prove with the bullets that you already do the management work without the title.
What to emphasise. Stock counts you have run, orders you have placed, cash-ups and banking, bartenders you have trained, shifts where you held the bar with no manager on site, and any part of the licence you already look after.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Ran the weekly spirits stock count and reported variance by line to the bar manager.
- ·Held the bar as keyholder on [X] nights a week, including cash-up, banking and the refusals log.
- ·Trained [X] new bartenders on the spec book, the till and Challenge 25.
Certifications. Personal Licence (APLH) before you apply. It is the single thing most often missing from a supervisor who is otherwise ready, and it removes the obvious reason to pass you over.
Experienced bar manager — going for general manager or multi-site
Your summary. Shift the emphasis from running the bar to running the business. Lead with the full P&L lines you have touched, the managers you have developed and any opening or refit you have been part of.
What to emphasise. Labour and GP across wet and dry, recruitment and retention, licensing applications or variations you have handled, covering other sites, and anyone you have promoted into a supervisory role.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Held accountability for wet and dry GP and the full site labour line, presenting weekly figures to the operations manager.
- ·Applied for and secured a licence variation for extended hours, including the noise management plan.
- ·Covered a second venue for [X] months during a management vacancy, running both rotas and stock counts.
Certifications. A Level 3 or 4 health and safety award, WSET Level 3, and a management qualification if the group funds one. Mental health first aid is increasingly asked for at GM level.
Moving into bar management from another industry
Your summary. Lead with the commercial spine — stock, margin, rotas, teams, compliance — and be specific about what is new to you. A leisure or retail manager who has run a stock count and a wage budget is closer to this job than the job titles suggest.
What to emphasise. Stock and shrinkage control, wage budgets, team size, any licensing or security responsibility you have held, and the hospitality training you have taken since deciding to move.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Managed a retail unit with a team of [X], accountable for the wage budget and a weekly stock count with variance reporting.
- ·Held a security or door supervisor licence in a previous role, with incident reporting to a documented standard.
- ·Completed the Personal Licence (APLH) and [X] shifts behind a bar ahead of moving into hospitality.
Certifications. Personal Licence (APLH) before anything else. Then WSET Level 1 or 2 and Level 2 Food Safety, which together answer the obvious objection to a career changer at this level.
Next steps
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