March is Women’s History Month.

Let’s Celebrate with Tropical Cocktails!

Bartending has long been considered a male-dominated profession. Since the inception of craft cocktails, which is often considered to have begun with Jerry Thomas, an American Bartender than owned and operated saloons in New York City, male characters have predominately flooded the history books. There are few instances where you hear of women called out by name who were bartenders or impacted the industry in an impactful way. And it’s understandable. In the United States, it wasn’t until Prohibition that it became far more common to see the acceptance of women imbibing in bars. Now, I’m not saying that women were never permitted in bars because, in urban cities, there were ladies entrances to many bars, and depending on the state, barmaids may have been found working in the bar. During World War II, women began owning and operating bars and female bartenders became a much more integrated part of the bartending community.

Women continued experiencing discrimination over the years, whether by their male counterparts, the unions, or the customers. Still, women continued to persevere. During the 1960s, with a massive cultural shift that came with the Civil Rights Movement and the Equal Pay Act, it became far more acceptable to find women working in the bar environment.

Over the years, it’s important to mention a few women who persevered and pushed for equality and the advancement of women in this space during the so-called “dark ages.” Ada Coleman, the head bartender at The Savoy for twenty-three years, was only one of two women ever to hold the position. Sunny Sund, Donn Beach’s wife, is also often not given the credit she deserves for actually being the brains behind The Beachcomber’s operations.

Nowadays, women make up over 60% of bartenders working in the United States. And although we’ve made tremendous strides into advancing and promoting gender equality over the past 150 years in craft cocktails and bartending, we still have room for improvement. For instance, although women make up a large percentage of bartenders these days, women are still underrepresented in high-paying, higher-profile bartending positions, and fewer women are represented in the cocktail competition circuit.

When we opened our first cocktail bar, Counter-Intuitive, in February 2015, there had already been many advancements towards the equality of female bartenders in the industry. However, it was still challenging to find women that wanted to work in craft cocktails in Phoenix. As an employer, many times, you are limited to the pool of candidates that apply. As owners Rich Furnari and Jason Asher experienced, the collection of females seeking out work in the craft cocktail community was sparse.

Jason Asher explains, “Every time we’ve opened a new concept, we conduct interviews day after day, and still only a tiny percentage are women. We strive to have a balanced staff, diverse within themselves, from different backgrounds, experiences, ages, and gender. Diversity forges growth, at a personal level, and for our business.” He continued explaining, “We’re always elated when we find a female that wants to work for us, especially one who is driven and motivated to learn and grow with us. Over the years, this has become a little easier.”

Most recently, when Barter & Shake conducted interviews to staff their concepts inside Century Grand, the owners had felt like they hit the jackpot. “We already had a few strong female bartenders working at UnderTow and were able to hire a few more with the new concept. The women that work alongside us every day are assets to the business, and we couldn’t offer the same experience of the level of service without them,” says Rich Furnari.

To celebrate March being National Women’s History Month, International Women’s Day (Monday, March 8th, 2021), and National Equal Pay Day (Wednesday, March 24th, 2021), we wanted to share five influential women who continue to be movers and shakers in the Tropical Cocktail Bar community. Some of these women are frontrunning influencers at a national level, and others have directly impacted UnderTow and the customer’s experience with us. Either way, we think these women all deserve a nod for their continued hard work to push the envelope and pave their path. See below for the five women we’d like to highlight this month.

Kristina Jonas

Kymm! Bang

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