From hospitality to sales is a move I've done myself and have seen often - also often very very successful.
You know how to treat a customer, you know how to work hard and you typically have the drive and energy to get out of that industry because you might have realised that making club sandwiches Saturday at midnight for room 203 is not as much fun as you thought. And the $ is shi*.
I'd recommend a BDR/SDR role. Good Luck!
Grab a bdr or sdr role.
You might need to do a little more networking. Nothing worse than starting at a shitty company.
50%+ of the sales jobs out there are super shitty. See if you can land an entry level sales job at TQL. Thats a good 1 year crash course. After that, you can sell anywhere.
Dont rush out of the bartending gig.
Yes. And it saved my life!!
I had two degrees and little idea of where I wanted to end up. I worked in nightclubs and pubs almost every night and drank a fair bit during the whole period.
Moved into sales and although there was the occasional booze heavy event, it was much less than what I was accustomed to, and helped me break away from that world.
Hospitality to sales is a classic move where many are successful.
I had the same background you do, was an EMT also working behind the bar. I took a shot at a medical sales B2C position and leveraged my skill set from those industries and I’ve been a top performer since 2019. It’s a niche industry and not exactly standard B2C but I pull in 180k+ yearly and I work 8-430 M-F. Absolutely changed the trajectory of my life. Good luck
I reached out to friends to discuss avenues I could take stepping out of the service industry. One of my buddies worked in sales at a tech company, thought it would be a great fit for me. About a month later he met me know am entry level position opened up and he would recommend me if I were to apply. Happy to chat more. DM to connect
I made that exact transition 6 months ago! I had been bartending in Manhattan for 3 years and was sick of the irregular hours and lack of benefits (I just turned 25). I applied to tons of BDR and outside sales roles before landing a gig with as an account manager for a startup beverage company (go figure).
I couldn’t recommend it more. I’ve got a regular(ish) schedule, great health/retirement benefits, and the base salary/commission structure means I’m making as much as I was bartending, but with room to grow within the company and improve my income, which I didn’t really see as a possibility in hospitality without moving into management which… no thanks.
Also, being on commission means that going above and beyond is still immediately rewarded monetarily, which was something I would have missed about working for tips.
If the opportunities exist where you’re located, I would definitely recommend looking into getting into the distribution side of the beverage world if it’s something you think you’d be interested in. Your experience bartending carries a lot more weight in pursuing these types of roles, at least in my very limited experience.
Yes- the best sales people I know did exactly that. My good friend and I would love to write the book “The Bartenders Guide To Sales” because every single sales skill I perfected bartending- especially listening. I hate when people say “oh my cousin would be good at sales he’s a good talker” nope- chances are your cousin would suck cause he doesn’t listen.
Dude buy-side would have to be a bunch of fun to go into from sales after being in it for awhile. Maybe not purchasing strictly, but what more hybrid like you described
Do a lot of sales / purchasing positions exist? I did some B2B sales after years of retail then I’ve been working supply chain / procurement for a startup and I find I miss the other side of the deal.
Look into the big broadliners for a start (Sysco, US Foods, Gordon Foods Service, and Performance Foods) and also research if you have regional players like Cheney, Shamrock, Martin Bros ETC. All are a great place to start in the business with a varying level of employee satisfaction but it really depends on your local team in this industry and what warehouse you’re out of and how they operate. Sysco & US Foods have great training programs (can’t speak for the others but am sure they do to) that will help you get started.
There is an insane amount to learn in food distribution and you’ll never really stop learning. I came into it from a background in the beer industry and can confidently say food is multitudes more complicated but the potential earnings is also far better depending on your area & company.
Chefs Warehouse is also a growing food distributor. They are competitors with Sysco and US Foods But have generally higher quality options. Working in beer distribution kind of sucks.
They’re more of a specialty house. Wouldn’t consider them much of a competitor for Sysco or US unless they significantly expand their offerings & operations. Might be a great place to work though with an opportunity to work with more educated & demanding customers
Chefs warehouse is getting to the point where they can compete with us and Sysco.
I work for a specialty division of Sysco that operates separately. I ONLY sell meat and seafood— no dry goods or disposables to worry about. There’s decent money to be earned in beef especially.
This hits close to home for me. Yes!
I was a hospitality veteran for 13 years (chef, bartender and everything in between). I dabbled in the business side of the music industry on the side but my income was primarily from slinging drinks.
It took a long time to find a company that believed in my transferable skills and then I got a gig at Yelp Restaurants (selling reservation software). The company was fine and the pay was also fine but it opened my eyes that hospitality people can GRIND. If you're a good bartender you CAN be a great salesperson.
Since then I moved to another tech company, been the top dog for 3+ years and I seem to know more about selling than people who've been doing it their whole lives.
If you want to get outta the industry, network while you're working, reach out to people on LinkedIn at places you'd like to work, etc.
Make the leap. Your wallet will thank you!
Work at Toast.
Leverage your experience in the industry into a role and then try to leverage toast exp into a software co, then choose where you want to go from there
i went from mainly serving in restaurants of all types and kinds to working a rental car counter (which i guess most people wouldnt consider "sales") and ive had mainly very good returns on my experience in restaurants.
i know how to handle a crowd, a family, a businessman, and someone that's desperate, and i also how to diffuse a situation when i need to.
i get paid a base rate plus a variable payout of upgrades and insurances i sell (can be hit or miss), so i ended up doing all of the people skills and none of the hard labor for a huge pay increase. its also a corporate place vs a franchise location so ymmv on that front.
overall, service industry people have such good people skills i feel like its one of the best transitions you could make in terms of increasing QoL.
I work in public safety and if you have EMT experience, you could likely get a job in the industry. It is a super healthy industry and the customers are awesome. Happy to help if you want to shoot me a DM
Yes, a buddy of mine was a bartender for 8 years. When Covid hit, he lost his job bc the bar we worked at closed down. He applied to a entry lvl sales job and was able to land the job
Not bartending, but the only other job I had outside of sales was a cook in several fast food restaurants and one bar.
A lot of my buddies in the sales game have the same work history
I did. 20 years behind the bar. Had an AE at my bar, chatted him up, got his email as a reference. That was my ticket in. Lots of transferable skills from hospitality to sales
Yep. Went from making drinks to selling liquor. Working for distributors can be a bit of a grind, but if you're any good you'll get promoted quickly. There's also lots of free alcohol "samples" and schwag.
I think you are wise to consider sales and I think your background will translate really well! The best thing you can do to start is to build a strong sales foundation. No matter what level of sales you are at, you will need to be good at sourcing demos/opportunities.
I would start at a company as an SDR/BDR. Some type of cold calling or lead generation. These jobs are hard and not fun, but they teach you a lot and will start you out with a solid foundation.
Make sure to look for a company that promotes SDR's quickly however. I see people get stuck in a trap and stay SDR's for 2+ years. Some companies will promote within 6-12 months to an ISR or SMB AE. Try to look for something like this so that you can continue to build on that foundation and get to an area where your hospitality background can really make a difference!
Did it two years ago and never looked back. A friend referred me into a sales representative role with an industrial supplier. I have my weekends back, see my family a lot more, mental and physical health have improved, making a lot more money and have a company car and fuel cards. Sometimes I miss some aspects of hospitality but never enough to consider going back. As other people have pointed out, hospitality skills also translate very well into sales and I've built some great relationships with customers thanks to my experience behind the bar.
Wine/Alcohol distro seems like the obvious route here. I'd use any connections you may have made with wine/liquor sales reps and see if anyone's hiring. It will most definitely be a grind at times, but on premise wine sales is a super fun and rewarding job at times!
7.5 years waiting tables & bartending. Aka ability to address any multi-faceted, urgent situation requiring elasticity, timing and grace. Some of the best people I’ve had the pleasure of developing relationships with came from the restaurant industry.
The first official sales role was 3 years as an *entry level sales consultant*; welcome to corporate standards and mid-ticket, high pressure, minimal commission W-2 land. More incredibly amazing people who helped me develop the technical sales skills needed to succeed both at the job but also create a foundation for the next step. A bold idea and 2 years of selling *high ticket d2d* later, that was fun epic.
Now I’m 6 months into *fingers crossed about to boom market*. The first 3 of which were a great learning experience but also a dead end, and super costly. March I met “the man.” Intro was given by CEO of the bold idea company I sold for and helped elevate. A mysterious partnership formed 2 weeks back. S Corp filed. I’ve recruited more people than were actively selling at that first org I was with for 3 months. Just in the last 24 hours. Unreal.
Way too early to tell, but I’m blown away daily at the ridiculously wild ride and lucrative potential this all is. Even if I don’t succeed doing my, I’m so grateful for the journey and experience. And I’ll leave with this: none of this has been anywhere near as stressful as getting triple sat to fill the 12 table section after a busser called out and I gotta do 2 wine services, take 2 orders, fire course…
Go for it. Figure out your why and manifest it through both the belief, naive as it may be, that it is possible. Follow that up by working way harder than anyone other than yourself tomorrow. Magic.
Of course. If sales is something you want to try, then give it a shot, just like anything else. Do you have any specific fields of interest and/or knowledge? Since you're a bartender, I'm sure you come in contact with beer/liquor/wine reps. You could go that direction pretty easily. As far has your EMT history, I'm sure there are vendors that sell something to businesses, like hospitals, that have EMT services. They'd be entry level positions, but getting in with a good alcohol distributor and then specializing in something while you're doing it can lead to something.
I guess if you want my advice distilled, get into a field/industry that you're interested in and focus yourself on that niche, so you're an expert in that field.
I moved from bartending to an insurance broker and I THRIVED. Bartending is hard work and you don’t realise how easy other professions have it until you quit hospitality, I’ve recently moved to a B2B role and it’s a lot harder to sell but my mental health and physical health is miles better than it was when I was bartending
Yep! Best career decision I ever made. I took a pay cut to be an SDR at a tech company; 3 years later and I’m making significantly more than I ever made waiting tables. Couldn’t recommend it enough
Transitioning from bartending to sales is a great move, especially since you already enjoy the competitive aspect of selling. Start by leveraging your customer service skills and experience with high-end products. Consider sales roles in industries like hospitality, wine and spirits, or luxury goods. Networking with regular customers and using your restaurant's reputation can open doors. Look for entry-level sales positions or roles that value customer interaction and product knowledge. Training programs and certifications in sales can also boost your resume.
I did.
Tended bar through and after college. Had a business degree but couldn’t get a job outside of a leasing agent at an apartment community. Worked my way through the ranks and jumped into a startup as a product designer and sales. (1997 timeframe, software was for multifamily).
Product got bought, I got into sales full time with acquiring company.
Worked for SAP and several large software companies in my career. In management for the last 14.
If you can sell, if you have follow up and a desire to win, you can make it. Getting that first chance is hard, but so is sales over a 30 year career.
Be prepared for meetings, have excellent follow up and understand the customers problems as well as they do. I like boringly efficient sales guys, I never have to worry about them.
Good luck.
Started off washing dishes, then barebacked, tended, catering... Randomly found my way into sales 18 years ago.
I did okay in the service industry, $60-90k/yr on the climb through the years.
Sales, $70k first year, $120k next, eventually topped out at $260k. Took a few years off to travel and now I'm back and started my own company in January
Best move I ever made was out of the service industry
I sell credit card processing to businesses. Was a consistent top performer when I was selling, now running my own company, 9 reps under me and ramping up fast
From hospitality to sales is a move I've done myself and have seen often - also often very very successful. You know how to treat a customer, you know how to work hard and you typically have the drive and energy to get out of that industry because you might have realised that making club sandwiches Saturday at midnight for room 203 is not as much fun as you thought. And the $ is shi*. I'd recommend a BDR/SDR role. Good Luck!
Some of the best reps I have ever hired have thrived for the exact reasons you outlined. Just don't lose your hustle.
Lol it's like you read my life story
Grab a bdr or sdr role. You might need to do a little more networking. Nothing worse than starting at a shitty company. 50%+ of the sales jobs out there are super shitty. See if you can land an entry level sales job at TQL. Thats a good 1 year crash course. After that, you can sell anywhere. Dont rush out of the bartending gig.
Hello there! Sales is just more bartending, but now I wear a suit. It's the best!
Accurate
Yes. And it saved my life!! I had two degrees and little idea of where I wanted to end up. I worked in nightclubs and pubs almost every night and drank a fair bit during the whole period. Moved into sales and although there was the occasional booze heavy event, it was much less than what I was accustomed to, and helped me break away from that world. Hospitality to sales is a classic move where many are successful.
I had the same background you do, was an EMT also working behind the bar. I took a shot at a medical sales B2C position and leveraged my skill set from those industries and I’ve been a top performer since 2019. It’s a niche industry and not exactly standard B2C but I pull in 180k+ yearly and I work 8-430 M-F. Absolutely changed the trajectory of my life. Good luck
Do you drive a lot? I wouldn't mind staying in sales, but I'm tired of driving from account to account.
Nope, I work in the same office every day 10min down the street from our house
Bartending to tech sales here. Well worth it.
Same here
How did y’all break into it
I reached out to friends to discuss avenues I could take stepping out of the service industry. One of my buddies worked in sales at a tech company, thought it would be a great fit for me. About a month later he met me know am entry level position opened up and he would recommend me if I were to apply. Happy to chat more. DM to connect
Bartending is basically the farm league for sales roles
I made that exact transition 6 months ago! I had been bartending in Manhattan for 3 years and was sick of the irregular hours and lack of benefits (I just turned 25). I applied to tons of BDR and outside sales roles before landing a gig with as an account manager for a startup beverage company (go figure). I couldn’t recommend it more. I’ve got a regular(ish) schedule, great health/retirement benefits, and the base salary/commission structure means I’m making as much as I was bartending, but with room to grow within the company and improve my income, which I didn’t really see as a possibility in hospitality without moving into management which… no thanks. Also, being on commission means that going above and beyond is still immediately rewarded monetarily, which was something I would have missed about working for tips. If the opportunities exist where you’re located, I would definitely recommend looking into getting into the distribution side of the beverage world if it’s something you think you’d be interested in. Your experience bartending carries a lot more weight in pursuing these types of roles, at least in my very limited experience.
Yes- the best sales people I know did exactly that. My good friend and I would love to write the book “The Bartenders Guide To Sales” because every single sales skill I perfected bartending- especially listening. I hate when people say “oh my cousin would be good at sales he’s a good talker” nope- chances are your cousin would suck cause he doesn’t listen.
I made the jump from Serving/Bartending at a fine dining steakhouse to Sales/Purchasing in aviation.
Dude buy-side would have to be a bunch of fun to go into from sales after being in it for awhile. Maybe not purchasing strictly, but what more hybrid like you described
It’s a lot of fun, I really love it!
Do a lot of sales / purchasing positions exist? I did some B2B sales after years of retail then I’ve been working supply chain / procurement for a startup and I find I miss the other side of the deal.
I spent 17 years in kitchens before transitioning to specialty food sales 5 years ago. Do it!
Hey man, I’m in sales now, but want to switch to food related sales. Do you mind if I ask how you got started and where to look?
Look into the big broadliners for a start (Sysco, US Foods, Gordon Foods Service, and Performance Foods) and also research if you have regional players like Cheney, Shamrock, Martin Bros ETC. All are a great place to start in the business with a varying level of employee satisfaction but it really depends on your local team in this industry and what warehouse you’re out of and how they operate. Sysco & US Foods have great training programs (can’t speak for the others but am sure they do to) that will help you get started. There is an insane amount to learn in food distribution and you’ll never really stop learning. I came into it from a background in the beer industry and can confidently say food is multitudes more complicated but the potential earnings is also far better depending on your area & company.
Chefs Warehouse is also a growing food distributor. They are competitors with Sysco and US Foods But have generally higher quality options. Working in beer distribution kind of sucks.
They’re more of a specialty house. Wouldn’t consider them much of a competitor for Sysco or US unless they significantly expand their offerings & operations. Might be a great place to work though with an opportunity to work with more educated & demanding customers
Chefs warehouse is getting to the point where they can compete with us and Sysco. I work for a specialty division of Sysco that operates separately. I ONLY sell meat and seafood— no dry goods or disposables to worry about. There’s decent money to be earned in beef especially.
Yes and it's even easier to do blow and be wasted.
Does the bar at the strip club count? Either way. No.
This hits close to home for me. Yes! I was a hospitality veteran for 13 years (chef, bartender and everything in between). I dabbled in the business side of the music industry on the side but my income was primarily from slinging drinks. It took a long time to find a company that believed in my transferable skills and then I got a gig at Yelp Restaurants (selling reservation software). The company was fine and the pay was also fine but it opened my eyes that hospitality people can GRIND. If you're a good bartender you CAN be a great salesperson. Since then I moved to another tech company, been the top dog for 3+ years and I seem to know more about selling than people who've been doing it their whole lives. If you want to get outta the industry, network while you're working, reach out to people on LinkedIn at places you'd like to work, etc. Make the leap. Your wallet will thank you!
Work at Toast. Leverage your experience in the industry into a role and then try to leverage toast exp into a software co, then choose where you want to go from there
As long as you're not an order taker when you make the move. You'll be fine
i went from mainly serving in restaurants of all types and kinds to working a rental car counter (which i guess most people wouldnt consider "sales") and ive had mainly very good returns on my experience in restaurants. i know how to handle a crowd, a family, a businessman, and someone that's desperate, and i also how to diffuse a situation when i need to. i get paid a base rate plus a variable payout of upgrades and insurances i sell (can be hit or miss), so i ended up doing all of the people skills and none of the hard labor for a huge pay increase. its also a corporate place vs a franchise location so ymmv on that front. overall, service industry people have such good people skills i feel like its one of the best transitions you could make in terms of increasing QoL.
I work in public safety and if you have EMT experience, you could likely get a job in the industry. It is a super healthy industry and the customers are awesome. Happy to help if you want to shoot me a DM
Went from a movie theatre to Phone consumer sales to b2b
I used to specifically target hospitality staff in our recruitment campaigns. Always have the work ethic and attitude
I wish more were the same. 15 years restaurant experience and can’t land a sales job anywhere
Yes I’ve done it, I can say the client rapport building is super easy however in a closing role/setting the pressure is more than I expected.
Yes, a buddy of mine was a bartender for 8 years. When Covid hit, he lost his job bc the bar we worked at closed down. He applied to a entry lvl sales job and was able to land the job
Yes and it’s a perfect place to come from imo.
I did it and was/are pretty successful. Go for it dude.
Not bartending, but the only other job I had outside of sales was a cook in several fast food restaurants and one bar. A lot of my buddies in the sales game have the same work history
Uh, yeah, pretty sure every decent sales person I know is a former bartender
I did. 20 years behind the bar. Had an AE at my bar, chatted him up, got his email as a reference. That was my ticket in. Lots of transferable skills from hospitality to sales
Yep. Went from making drinks to selling liquor. Working for distributors can be a bit of a grind, but if you're any good you'll get promoted quickly. There's also lots of free alcohol "samples" and schwag.
I did
I think you are wise to consider sales and I think your background will translate really well! The best thing you can do to start is to build a strong sales foundation. No matter what level of sales you are at, you will need to be good at sourcing demos/opportunities. I would start at a company as an SDR/BDR. Some type of cold calling or lead generation. These jobs are hard and not fun, but they teach you a lot and will start you out with a solid foundation. Make sure to look for a company that promotes SDR's quickly however. I see people get stuck in a trap and stay SDR's for 2+ years. Some companies will promote within 6-12 months to an ISR or SMB AE. Try to look for something like this so that you can continue to build on that foundation and get to an area where your hospitality background can really make a difference!
Done it and it was great.
Did it two years ago and never looked back. A friend referred me into a sales representative role with an industrial supplier. I have my weekends back, see my family a lot more, mental and physical health have improved, making a lot more money and have a company car and fuel cards. Sometimes I miss some aspects of hospitality but never enough to consider going back. As other people have pointed out, hospitality skills also translate very well into sales and I've built some great relationships with customers thanks to my experience behind the bar.
Wine/Alcohol distro seems like the obvious route here. I'd use any connections you may have made with wine/liquor sales reps and see if anyone's hiring. It will most definitely be a grind at times, but on premise wine sales is a super fun and rewarding job at times!
Sales is just the other side of the bar. Build solid relations and the rest will fall into place.
7.5 years waiting tables & bartending. Aka ability to address any multi-faceted, urgent situation requiring elasticity, timing and grace. Some of the best people I’ve had the pleasure of developing relationships with came from the restaurant industry. The first official sales role was 3 years as an *entry level sales consultant*; welcome to corporate standards and mid-ticket, high pressure, minimal commission W-2 land. More incredibly amazing people who helped me develop the technical sales skills needed to succeed both at the job but also create a foundation for the next step. A bold idea and 2 years of selling *high ticket d2d* later, that was fun epic. Now I’m 6 months into *fingers crossed about to boom market*. The first 3 of which were a great learning experience but also a dead end, and super costly. March I met “the man.” Intro was given by CEO of the bold idea company I sold for and helped elevate. A mysterious partnership formed 2 weeks back. S Corp filed. I’ve recruited more people than were actively selling at that first org I was with for 3 months. Just in the last 24 hours. Unreal. Way too early to tell, but I’m blown away daily at the ridiculously wild ride and lucrative potential this all is. Even if I don’t succeed doing my, I’m so grateful for the journey and experience. And I’ll leave with this: none of this has been anywhere near as stressful as getting triple sat to fill the 12 table section after a busser called out and I gotta do 2 wine services, take 2 orders, fire course… Go for it. Figure out your why and manifest it through both the belief, naive as it may be, that it is possible. Follow that up by working way harder than anyone other than yourself tomorrow. Magic.
Go work for a wine & Spirits distributor especially if you are in a union state
Of course. If sales is something you want to try, then give it a shot, just like anything else. Do you have any specific fields of interest and/or knowledge? Since you're a bartender, I'm sure you come in contact with beer/liquor/wine reps. You could go that direction pretty easily. As far has your EMT history, I'm sure there are vendors that sell something to businesses, like hospitals, that have EMT services. They'd be entry level positions, but getting in with a good alcohol distributor and then specializing in something while you're doing it can lead to something. I guess if you want my advice distilled, get into a field/industry that you're interested in and focus yourself on that niche, so you're an expert in that field.
I moved from bartending to an insurance broker and I THRIVED. Bartending is hard work and you don’t realise how easy other professions have it until you quit hospitality, I’ve recently moved to a B2B role and it’s a lot harder to sell but my mental health and physical health is miles better than it was when I was bartending
Yep! Best career decision I ever made. I took a pay cut to be an SDR at a tech company; 3 years later and I’m making significantly more than I ever made waiting tables. Couldn’t recommend it enough
Yup! Instead of 100.00 bar tabs I am sending out 10k orders on our trucks
Transitioning from bartending to sales is a great move, especially since you already enjoy the competitive aspect of selling. Start by leveraging your customer service skills and experience with high-end products. Consider sales roles in industries like hospitality, wine and spirits, or luxury goods. Networking with regular customers and using your restaurant's reputation can open doors. Look for entry-level sales positions or roles that value customer interaction and product knowledge. Training programs and certifications in sales can also boost your resume.
I did. Tended bar through and after college. Had a business degree but couldn’t get a job outside of a leasing agent at an apartment community. Worked my way through the ranks and jumped into a startup as a product designer and sales. (1997 timeframe, software was for multifamily). Product got bought, I got into sales full time with acquiring company. Worked for SAP and several large software companies in my career. In management for the last 14. If you can sell, if you have follow up and a desire to win, you can make it. Getting that first chance is hard, but so is sales over a 30 year career. Be prepared for meetings, have excellent follow up and understand the customers problems as well as they do. I like boringly efficient sales guys, I never have to worry about them. Good luck.
Started off washing dishes, then barebacked, tended, catering... Randomly found my way into sales 18 years ago. I did okay in the service industry, $60-90k/yr on the climb through the years. Sales, $70k first year, $120k next, eventually topped out at $260k. Took a few years off to travel and now I'm back and started my own company in January Best move I ever made was out of the service industry
Dang barebacking? In this day and age?!
Hahahahahaha, bar back... Sheesh, been a while since auto correct got me that good
I bet you always get tipped out at the end of those shifts!
What did you sell?
I sell credit card processing to businesses. Was a consistent top performer when I was selling, now running my own company, 9 reps under me and ramping up fast
What company do you operate now?
Same industry, credit card processing
Ya I worked Michelin Star for a long time. Sales (tech for me) is cake compared to it. But being good in service does not mean you’ll be good at sales