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Published:Saturday | July 9, 2011 | 12:00 AM
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Proud bar owners display their certificates after completing the Red Stripe Bartending Academy programme. - Contributed
Montego Bay Community College's valedictorian Wrenae Samuels accepts her award of excellence from mayor of Montego Bay, Charles Sinclair, during a graduation exercise on Sunday. - Photos by Sheena Gayle
Dr Angela Samuels-Harris, principal of Montego Bay Community College, presents the award for Student of the Year to André Cleghorn during the valedictory service.
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Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

In a bid to enhance the customer experience offered by bar owners and impart lifelong learning skills, the Red Stripe Bartending Academy graduated 160 participants from its programme in western and central Jamaica.

"Many of the participants in the programme expressed that they have always wanted to develop their bartending skills and to be exposed to this kind of professional training but various factors may have hindered bar owners' ability to be exposed to this type of training," said Latoya Simba, customer marketing planning and activations manager.

The Red Stripe Bartending Academy forms part of the philosophy of their parent company Diageo in 'Celebrating Life Every Day, Everywhere'and seeks to empowered bar owners with the capability, knowledge and skill set to reinvigorate and enhance the viability of the community bar business.

The graduation ceremony for the participants was recently hosted at the Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay, St James.

"This programme is the first of its kind from a corporate company in Jamaica and it is a part of Red Stripe's effort to create a great time and experience for the customers while allowing us to interact directly with our stakeholders," Simba outlined.

"We will continue this programme in 2012 to make it bigger and better as we continue to deliver against our three strategic pillars of building amazing relationship, creating great times, great experiences and enriching our communities."

Building confidence

The six-month-old programme has equipped 225 graduates with the skills, knowledge and confidence to be successful community bar entrepreneurs.

The training initiative focuses on 'The World of Bartending', 'Making Your Money Work for You', 'Basic Marketing & Sales Skills' for both owners and bartenders, 'Customer Service', 'Alcohol and the Law', 'The Fundamentals of Quality', 'Distribution and Visibility'. It also includes a two-hour session on responsible drinking and serving adapted from Diageo's award-winning alcohol awareness programme, DRINKiQ.