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They\u2019re the four words every regular loves to hear: \u201cThis one\u2019s on me.\u201d Whether it\u2019s an extra pint of Guinness or a free Gin & Tonic, a buyback\u2014the practice of giving the occasional drink on the house to a well-liked patron on a loosely regulated cadence\u2014has been a time-honored tradition of American bar culture since at least <\/span>the repeal of Prohibition<\/span><\/a> nearly a century ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n But gradually, over the past 25 years, the once reliable cultural norm has become, to some, a relic of a bygone era. As far back as <\/span>1999<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>news outlets<\/span><\/a> have pondered whether tighter profit margins and declining bar patronage have spelled the end of the friendly freebie. Recently, bartender and writer Rick Paulas <\/span>suggested<\/span><\/a> in a post on X that the concept had \u201csuddenly died\u201d and wondered, \u201cWhat happened!\u201d Has the buyback truly gone the way of the $5 boilermaker? And if so, how are bartenders keeping customers coming back for another round?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Paulas, a bartender at Oak & Iron<\/a> in Brooklyn, first heard about buybacks while he was still living in Los Angeles, from friends who had spent time in New York. \u201cIt was always something that was dangling there as this fable: In New York City, if you go there and get three drinks, the fourth one is for free.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
But now, he says, \u201cthe word buyback has lost a lot of usage.\u201d At his bar, free drinks are \u201cvibes based\u201d and dependent on the sales for the day. To him, the concept lost its charm when social media made these if-you-know-you-know traditions more widespread: \u201cIt kind of went away when all the secrets became not-so-secret anymore.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Other bartenders cite economic factors for the decline in regularly comping drinks; many repeated some form of the adage \u201cDon\u2019t give away the bar.\u201d Erin Gerety, a Richmond, Virginia, bartender with more than a decade of experience, says that one of her bars, the neighborhood watering hole Home Sweet Home<\/a>, is \u201cso cheap to drink at that it feels silly to give things away for free.\u201d She hadn\u2019t heard the term \u201cbuyback\u201d before our conversation, but she was familiar with the practice in general. \u201cThat\u2019s not to say that I don’t occasionally pour a shot a little heavy for a friend,\u201d she clarified. \u201cBut I don\u2019t do it very often.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n For Matt Grimm, a bartender at the famed Chicago dive bar Rainbo Club<\/a>, the fastest way to ensure you won\u2019t get a buyback is \u201cif you ask for one because \u2018it\u2019s my birthday\u2019 or \u2018it’s my friend\u2019s birthday,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cIf I buy drinks for everyone whose birthday it was, we\u2019d be losing money.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Mike Sternfeld, who works at Shenanigans Pub<\/a> in Kensington, Brooklyn (where I also work!), has put in nearly 20 years behind the bar. To him, the buyback began to lose its potency when bars began to process credit cards. He recalled the register at the original location of Freddy\u2019s Bar\u2014which was tragically <\/span>demolished<\/span><\/a> to build the Barclay\u2019s Center in 2010\u2014had just three buttons to ring in drinks: liquor, beer, and buybacks. At that time, he says, it was expected for 10 percent of your \u201cring,\u201d or total daily revenue, to be buybacks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n But fees for processing credit cards, along with the costs associated with point-of-sale software like Toast and Square, began to cut into the bottom line. \u201cIt costs more to do the commerce, so there\u2019s less room for freebies,\u201d says Sternfeld. And whereas cash-based buybacks leave customers with more money to tip their bartender at the end of the night, credit card freebies have the inverse effect, cutting into the subtotal that most customers will use as the basis for calculating gratuity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n In the absence of the traditional buyback, bars are still finding ways to keep customers coming back. Rainbo Club will often invite regulars to private events, like its annual Kentucky Derby party, where they\u2019ll give away free drinks and host a backyard potluck. One of Gerety\u2019s fellow bartenders at Home Sweet Home keeps a \u201cprize bucket\u201d filled with dollar trinkets like heart-shaped sunglasses, finger puppets, and lipgloss that she will dole out to particularly affable patrons. At The Jasper, a cocktail bar she also works at, bartenders give out a flat 20 percent friends and family discount, and pour pre-bottled shooters for fellow industry workers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n For Sternfeld at Shenanigans, the role of a bartender as a social interlocutor is its own reward: \u201cIt’s really personality management: You\u2019re trying to get all these strangers to socialize [and] to utilize this space as they want,\u201d he says, \u201cand you\u2019re trying to make a judgment call as to what level they want to interact and how you’re going to make that as comfortable as possible to hopefully get a better tip and to keep them coming back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Still, all the bartenders I spoke to say they continue to reward the people who make bars fun, sociable, and safe spaces with free drinks in one form or another, whether it\u2019s a shot for the road or a draft beer on the house. \u201cI think it is a crucial practice. It invites community; it breaks the ice,\u201d says Gerety. \u201cWhen I see a real slice of humanity, I get to say, \u2018Good job, you get a gold star.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n This is an excerpt from Pre Shift, our newsletter for bartenders, restaurant workers and the hospitality industry. Subscribe for more perspectives like this in your inbox.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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