Bartender

Contract: Full-Time

Location: Shoreditch, London
Salary: £17-20ph based on experience
Contract: Full-Time

Everyone at Kong shapes a guest's day; the best bartenders make a packed Friday night look effortless. It never is. It comes from being prepared, staying two steps ahead and helping everyone around you deliver their best.

Our drinks programme has been developed with Marcis Dzelzainis of Idyll Consultancy, formerly of Satan's Whiskers and Sager + Wilde.

There’s plenty happening behind the scenes: batching, infusions, house cordials and Chinese ingredients, all designed so a great cocktail can arrive at the pace of a pint.

Kong will be fast-paced and demanding, with best-in-class service, regular queues, and a large team to lead and grow with humility and care.

You won’t do it alone: on busy nights, fellow managers and 40–50 Kongers will be with you, all pulling the same way. You’ll be trusted to do the right thing, protect the standards, and pursue hospitality beyond the expected.

Who we hope to find

• You’ve spent a few years in good, busy bars and have some experience leading a shift.The practical bits
• You know what excellent service looks like once ten things are happening at once. Classics are second nature to you, and you can hold your own talking spirits, beer or wine.
• You’re curious. There’s a lot here to learn, from the drinks programme to Andrew's food, and we’ll teach it properly.
• You have high standards without needing to tell anyone about them.
• And you like people, genuinely, not as a performance.

The practical bits

• A team meal with every shift.
• A competitive salary, tronc included, paid monthly.
• Eight-day pre-opening training programme
• Full-time across five days, with Monday to Sunday availability.
• Your rota published at least six days ahead - room to plan a life around it.
• Kong is open from early till late, so shifts come in every shape: mornings, middles and evenings, not an endless run of late closes. Flexibility required across a 15-hour operational day, 8am-11pm.
• Proper paid holiday — the usual allowance, at your usual rate. And we close on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
• No costumes here. Our dress code is smart-casual — jackets and trainers are absolutely fine.
• You’ll need the right to work in the UK. We check the paperwork for every role, the same way for everyone.
• Students, including Student visa holders eligible to work in the UK, are very welcome to apply for our host, server, and bar roles.

How we take care of our team

Growing from within

• Training starts on day one, and it doesn’t stop there. We aim to promote 80% of our roles from within, so as Kong grows, the people who built it grow with it.

Financial

• Free weekly wage advances and emergency cash.
• Access to our savings support & financial health planning tool.
• A monthly allowance to eat at Kong the way a guest does.
• Whenever you’re off duty, you and up to three guests get 50% off during the day and 25% off in the evening

Health and headspace

• Every manager is fully trained in first aid, for bodies and for minds.
• Someone to talk to in confidence when life gets heavy.
• Maternity and paternity leave that treats a growing family as the good news it is.

Time together

• The whole house together through the year: a big New Year celebration and a summer festival.
• Long service, properly marked. After four years with us, we take you from one Kong to the other: a trip to Hong Kong with our co-founder, Chef Andrew Wong

We’re building the opening team now. If you’re the bartender people want beside them when the bar gets busy, we’d love to hear from you.