For years, bartending was a fallback gig for Kelly Kuhn, a way to make extra money while she pursued other jobs – teaching, tutoring, selling cars, working as a private investigator for criminal defense attorneys – before she came to see bartending as her chosen profession.
Now that she’s not working due to the Covid-19 pandemic, she says it’s obvious to her why she eventually chose bartending. “I’ve been reminded during this of how much I hate sitting at a desk. I like being active, I like the interaction with people. Bartending is a physical activity and there’s always a mental challenge; you have to multitask. That fulfills the ways I need to work.”
She and her husband relocated to Monterey from Texas for his job three years ago, and for the past two years, she’s worked as a bartender at Alvarado Street Brewery in Monterey. She’s also a board member of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the United States Bartenders’ Guild, a professional association that meets for tastings and industry updates.
Even before the shelter-in-place order was announced on March 17, Kuhn watched as business plummeted.
She was working an eerily slow shift when a friend texted her that Gov. Gavin Newsom had ordered bars to shut down, though restaurants could remain open at 50-percent capacity. Within 48 hours, restaurants closed entirely, except for takeout. (Alvarado Street Brewery is not open, but its Salinas location is doing delivery and curbside pickup for beer.)
Normally, Kuhn’s income is 65-percent tips. That is included in her unemployment filing as part of her gross income, but through her Guild network, she learned about a website that started in Chattanooga that enables people to tip service industry workers, direct to their Venmo accounts, during the shutdown.
Kuhn signed up, encouraged her friends to sign up, and about 240 local workers are now registered to receive tips.
“Even if it’s $5, it’s a reminder that people are out there and they’re thinking of us,” she says. “Bars and restaurants are the places where people live – you live at your home, but do your living – your celebrations, commiserations, all of these things – in our spaces. I think people are realizing that.”
Lanet Sandoval lives in Castroville and for five years has worked as a cocktail server at BJ’s Brewhouse in Harden Plaza in Salinas. “I like talking to people, that’s why I’m a server,” she says. “Not having that face-to-face interaction is such a surreal flip.” (She is interacting a lot with her kids, 12 and 3, while home-schooling.)
Sandoval estimates tips account for as much as 80 percent of her income. Virtual tips from regulars are keeping her positive. “Whether it’s $2 or $7, that’s not the point,” she says. “It’s a morale booster.”
Kuhn sees this moment, with inequities so clearly displayed, as a chance to switch from the tipping model for restaurant workers to higher salaries. “If we don’t do it now, it will never happen.”
Go to serviceindustry.tips and select Monterey or Salinas to tip local servers. Servers can also register here.
Kelly Kuhn’s Fast Car
(a best-seller on the menu at Alvarado Street Brewery)
When Kuhn first pitched this drink, she was using fresh strawberries. A server tried it and suggested a shrub instead. (To make the strawberry shrub for this drink takes a couple of days, so plan ahead.) Kuhn’s original recipe calls for chile vodka for a peppery kick; ASB’s default is with citrus vodka, a little more inviting to many restaurant-goers. The key, Kuhn adds, is to “make it how you like it—it’s all personal preference.”
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz. chile vodka
- 1 oz. strawberry shrub
- 0.5 oz. ginger liqueur
- 0.5 oz. lime juice
To make the strawberry shrub:
Coarsely chop strawberries and combine with sugar (50 percent of the weight of the strawberries). Combine and refrigerate for two days, stirring occasionally to macerate; the sugar will pull out moisture, creating a concentrated strawberry syrup.
Strain out undissolved sugar and berries; press to remove as much liquid as possible. (Food waste tip: Kuhn recommends putting the strained berries in a blender, then pouring the resulting liquid onto a baking sheet. Bake at a low heat until hardened into fruit leather.)
Add Champagne vinegar (in a pinch, white wine vinegar can substitute) to the strawberry syrup; it should be about 25 to 30 percent of the weight of the syrup.
To make the Fast Car:
Shake, strain and sip.