Doesn’t it just sound great, learning bartending from a state certified school, and getting a certified bartending license or certificate.  Sadly it means nothing.

Years ago private secondary educational schools such as bartending schools were licensed under the Bureau for Private Post Secondary and Vocational Education, a branch of the Department of Consumer Affairs.  Their goal was to set a minimum standard for these schools.  The bill had a lot of fluff but little substance.  Basically the minimum standard it set was being able to file a complaint if you wanted your tuition back. 

There are no “State certified” bartending schools in California. 
One of Governor Schwarzenegger’s early cost cutting measures was to disband the Bureau for Private Post Secondary and Vocational Education:  The Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act  became inoperative on June 30, 2007 and was repealed on January 1, 2008. Currently, in California, there is no regulatory body with oversight of private postsecondary schools. Currently no approval is required.

Bartending Licenses or certificates mean nothing to an employer.
When you finish your studies at Elite Bartending School you will not receive a “bartending license” or “Bartending certificate,” because there are no standards  set by the state of California for Bartending.  Each school has set their own standards for a student to obtain a “license.”  One could print a certificate on their own computer and it would have the same meaning.  It looks nice, but it’s worthless.

Having a Bartending License or Bartending Certificate on your resume to a prospective employer actually could cost you a job. 
Having a license or certificate basically tells a bar owner that you have never bartended in a real setting and are completely untested.

Elite Bartending Institute’s sister company has been running a successful bar for over nine years and we still get a laugh when a graduate of bartending school comes in for a job interview proudly listing them as licensed or certified on their resume.  Bars and restaurant managers know that bartending students have never been behind a real bar with real customers throwing drink orders at them, and most prospective employers look to hire experienced bartenders behind their bar.

The only way to learn bartending is to bartend!
No book, no colored water in a bottle, no fake customers, can teach you bartending.  Only experience will. 
And that is what we offer our students:  Real experience behind a real bar, serving real beverages, to real customers.