Academy:Bar expert FAQ

The Raise the Bar Academy: Bar expert is aimed at people of all educational levels with at least one year’s experience in the HoReCa sector and who have a strong desire to learn and perfect their skills.

The participants must be able to speak and write in Croatian and must be employable in the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Slovenia. The program is carried out in the Croatian language.

The program is intended for candidates who:

– are employable in the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Slovenia
– are able to speak and write in Croatian
– have at least one year of experience in the hospitality sector
– may or may not be employed
– wish to undergo a further educational program for bartenders, waiters, baristas and managers of hospitality establishments.

Candidates can apply for participation in the educational program via the application form.

If applications for the new generation are currently open, you can find information about the deadlines here.

After completing the application form, the Coca-Cola expert team, comprising the Human Resources expert, Premium Spirits expert and Raise the Bar team representatives, will shortlist the candidates based on the score awarded for all parts of the application. This will be followed by brief interviews with the shortlisted candidates and a final decision on the participants.

The educational program is divided into theoretical and practical parts, and it lasts for a total of up to ten weeks. Classes are held on weekdays (Monday-Thursday) from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM in Zagreb.

All the participants in the educational program who have successfully passed the exams in the theoretical, bartender and practical parts of the educational program, as well as the bar management program, will receive a certificate on the completion of the educational programs issued by Coca‑Cola HBC Croatia which attests to their high level of skills and knowledge.

The program will cover subjects corresponding to the needs of employers from the hospitality sector and tourism, which follow the latest global trends.

The educational program will cover the following:

– the role and responsibility of waiters and bartenders
– bar management (operations, team management/employees/hiring/relations, experiences and guest satisfaction, trends/innovation, proactivity/delegating/multitasking, standardization, planning/objectives, profit control, monitoring)
– rules of behavior and serving guests in bars and restaurants
– the proper use of bar equipment, ice, fruit and glasses
– gaining knowledge on fermentation and distillation
– the history, classification, production and tasting of spirits (vodka, gin, akvavit, genever, rum, cachaça, whiskey, tequila, mezcal, cognac, armagnac, calvados, pisco, grappa)
– the history, classification, production and tasting of liqueurs, beer, wine, coffee and coffee beverages
– the history, classification, production and tasting of mixed drinks (tonics, ginger beer/ale, soda, etc.)
– preparing personal syrups, liqueurs and shrub
– the proper use of all bar techniques
– learning recipes for 88 classic cocktails or modern classics.

The certification process comprises several key steps, each of which must be successfully performed to reach the next step and, finally, to obtain the certificate on the completion of the educational program.

The steps are as follows:

Step I: passing the final theoretical exam

Step II: passing the bartender exam

Step III: completed practical classes

Step IV: bar management exam.

Participants who have attended 90% of the classes and workshops, who have passed the weekly and final exams and completed the practical section will be awarded a certificate after the completion of the Coca-Cola program.

The certification process comprises the following elements:

– attendance of classes and workshops (> 90%)
– weekly exams in theoretical knowledge and weekly exams in recipes
– final theoretical exam
– final exam on recipes
– final bartender exam
– final bar management exam
– opinion of the mentor on the completed practical section of the program.

You can send a letter of recommendation for your employee and, in addition to the formal criteria for participation in the program, it will be one of the elements that may affect the selection of candidates.

Candidates who do not have a letter of recommendation but prove to be appropriate during the selection process will be given the opportunity to participate in the educational program regardless of the lack of such a letter. The result of the candidate selection process is a crucial factor for making a final decision on the participants in the educational program.