Cocktail Bar Prep

Job Description

Job Description

About Us

Intermezzo Coffee & Cocktails has been on Central Ave for nearly ten years — a dual-daypart room that runs as a coffee bar by day and a cocktail bar after five. Bar Mezzo, our sister concept, opened in October 2024 as a darker, nightlife-forward craft cocktail bar with a serious drink program and DJs on weekends.

Both bars run ingredient-driven menus: house-made syrups and cordials, clarified cocktails, fat-washed spirits, force-carbonated bottles, frozen drinks, etc. None of that happens without a prep program that's organized, consistent, and on time.

That's this job.

We're hiring one full-time Bar Prep Specialist to own the production side of both cocktail programs. Your time will split roughly 50/50 between the two venues. You'll work daytime hours, largely ahead of service.

This is a specialist role. Neither venue runs a kitchen — there is no line, no ticket rail, no food service. If you've worked as a prep cook, the discipline transfers directly, but everything you make here goes into a glass. You're the reason both bars can open with everything they need, every day.

• Produce house syrups, cordials, oleos, tinctures, infusions, and shrubs to spec
• Run clarifications (milk and centrifuge-style), fat-washes, and other multi-day preparations
• Batch cocktails and cocktail bases, including mixes for our frozen machine
• Force-carbonate and bottle pre-batched drinks
• Juice, peel, dehydrate, and prep garnishes to par
• Work from a dependency-ordered prep list — sub-recipes first, finished product second — and plan backward from service dates so nothing lands late
• Maintain par levels at both venues and flag shortfalls before they become 86s
• Label, date, and rotate everything; own FIFO across both walk-ins
• Track yields and log production so we can hold recipe costs where they belong
• Keep prep areas, equipment, and storage to health-code standard
• Receive and put away product; communicate low inventory to management
• Support new menu development — test batches, scaled recipes, and yield notes with the bar team

Required

• 1–2 years of kitchen or bar prep experience
• Comfort with recipes by weight and volume, and the math to scale them up or down
• Real attention to detail — same product, same spec, every single time
• Reliability. This role runs on a schedule other people depend on.
• Ability to work independently with a task list and no one standing over you
• Able to lift 50 lbs, stand for full shifts, and work in walk-in and warm kitchen-style conditions
• Must be 21 or older
• Weekend availability is required

Nice to Have

• Experience with craft cocktail production specifically
• Familiarity with a gram scale, refractometer, immersion circulator, or centrifuge
• Basic spreadsheet comfort for prep sheets and yield logs
• Genuine curiosity about ingredients — you taste things and have opinions

Primarily daytime weekdays, 3-5 days — approximately 32 hours per week.

• $15-18 per hour, depending on experience + 3% of tips

Reports to the General Manager overseeing both venues, with day-to-day direction from the lead bartender at each location.

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