Connect
To Top

Meet Austin Gagnon of Elite Bartending School and Event Staffing in Miami Beach

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Austin Gagnon.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Austin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am from upstate New York originally, and moved to Miami to finish out my degree in Psychology at Barry University. When moving here I needed a way to make full time money working part time. I quickly landed a server job and finished my first year of college working as one.

In the summer of 2003 I went back home for the summer, and was randomly offered a job as a bartender at a friend of a friends very popular high-volume bar. Not knowing how to bartend, I got destroyed.

At the end of the night, I thanked him for the opportunity but told him I didn’t know the skills to keep up in his bar. He offered to train me, and over the course of that summer did so. When I moved back for college in the fall I still had a long way to go to get decent behind the bar, but now I had at least the confidence to pursue bartending in Miami, I knew the potential $$ that could be made. Over the next few years I landed a few part time gigs at long gone establishments such as Club Deep, and BED Nightclub. The money was great and 2 or 3 nights would put me through college. I never really liked working the nightclub scene however and started pursuing other opportunities. In the spring of 2005 I landed a job behind the bar at The Clevelender on Ocean Drive in South Beach. When I look back now, it was at this point that started shaping me into and Elite Bartender. I worked at the “old school Clevelander” (before the renovations) for 3 years. Working there was excellent money, and really built me into a machine behind the bar. I had the idea for Elite Bartending School and Event Staffing in the fall of 2008 right around the time The Clevelander was to close for 2 years for renovations. I could have always fallen back on my degree (which I used every night I worked lol) but it would have been a huge pay cut.

So, I decided to dedicate my energy into developing a top-notch school. I was always a skeptic about “Bartending Schools” before this time, because most just teach a history lesson with a curriculum that is dated and not practical. I decided why not do it right and do the program in a real bar to teach high volume bar training and mixology. I dove into a project that I thought would take 3-6 months to get open. It ended up taking me two years. As a school I am fully licensed and regulated by the Florida Department of Education.

The process to do so was rigorous and challenging, As I went through the process doing things like writing a textbook I was running out of funds. Through my connections at The Clevelander I started working a lot of part time events such as Ultra Music Festival, Calle Ocho, Bang Music Festival (Long Gone) to name a few.

As I was doing so I got the idea to open an event staffing company to go along with Elite Bartending School and using only my students and alumni to work them. There are many synergies between the two, and my goal was to not only do small events, but also get my hands on some of the bigger events that I was working. I realized that some of the events I was working needed over 100 bartenders and the current event staffers were having a hard time sometimes filling their quota.

Anyways, finally in the Spring of 2009 we opened our first location on South Beach. When the Clevelander re-opened again in 2009 I still would work their part time along with teaching at the school. I worked at The Clevelander until January 2012 and left as the school as getting very busy. Since 2009 we have staffed around 100 students annually at Ultra Music Festival.

We are also the primary bartender staffing company for major events such as The South Beach Seafood Festival, The Las Olas Food and Wine Festival, and Art Basel events to name a few. We only use our students at all of our events. We opened other locations in Ft. Myers and The Florida Keys since then as well. Focusing on our same goal, delivering students a practical high-volume education and awesome job placement and event staffing opportunities. When students graduate they can log in through our website to get job leads, and also sign up to work and all of our events, no matter the school district they are in. In 2016 I began the process of Franchising Elite Bartending School and Event Staffing and also trademarked the name and logo. I have been a legal Franchise since January 2017. I am in the process of closing on Franchises in Manhattan and Jew Jersey. I look forward to offering my Franchisees a business opportunity that is proven and with very low cost.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The challenging process of developing a school to the quality that meets the obligations to be a post-secondary licensed school regulated by the Florida Department of Education.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Elite Bartending School and Event Staffing story. Tell us more about the business.
Elite Bartending School was established in Miami, Florida in 2007. We are a State Licensed Bartending School fully regulated by the Florida Department of Education. In building Elite Bartending School our founders wanted to put together a school unlike any other of its kind, providing a stellar education which was current and providing students with a challenging, and applicable hands on experience behind real bars. Most schools out there today teach students a history lesson with minimal challenge. We are not that school. We train our students in practical bartending. Getting them ready for the always changing bartending scene that cities like Ft. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and Key West areas demand. We have become the primary example for other Bartending Schools, leading the industry in producing thousands of today’s top bartenders over the years. With our doors open for over 6 years out of our original location here in Miami Beach we are excited to head West and offer the program at Celsius Nightclub in Historic Downtown Ft. Myers. Like in all of our locations, we have always felt doing the program out of an actual bar setting makes for the most ideal classroom in which to learn bartending. Elite Bartending School’s program is very hands on; doing all lectures and practicing directly at and behind the bar.

This provides the ultimate hands on experience for our students and provides all students with amazing nationwide job placement opportunities. All students have access to all of our Job Placement and event staffing opportunities in not only Southwest Florida, but also in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and The Florida Keys. We also continue to work with many bartending schools all across the country providing job placement for those who have a plan to move out of the area.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I have been lucky enough to meet some incredible people in my bartending journey. I have always tried to surround myself with people in the business who are smart and business savvy. I think that working in these many events and big festivals years back and not knowing that I would someday be in charge of staffing and/or bar production for them is kind of ironic and I guess I am very lucky for that. I always knew developing practical hands on school in real bars would work.

When I started Elite, I was $200 cheaper than any other school to get the admissions boost I needed because I was the new business in town, now we have multiple locations, are at least $200 higher in tuition price than our competitors, and are the nation’s only active Bartending School Franchise.

Pricing:

  • 40 Hour State Licensed Miami Program $650.00
  • Bartender Rentals start at $35.00 an hour/Mobile Bar Rentals start at $250.00 (includes full bar setup)
  • Mixology/Team Building Workshops (designed for for an interaction) starts at $50 pp per hour

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in