Why Did a Hot Take on Bartender Guest Shifts Spark a Social Media Firestorm?

The source of the pain came from the appropriately-titled Hospitality Hot Takes, a typically lighthearted Instagram series where Los Angeles-based bartender and content creator Saeed “Hawk” House asks bartenders their snappy opinions on the state of the industry. On August 17, House dropped a video featuring Kate Gerwin, in which the influential owner of Happy Accidents in Albuquerque and soon-to-be-open Bad Apple in Houston went scorched earth on guest shifts.

Each barb within the video’s near-three-minute run time was pointed and piquant: They exist for bars to chase awards and for bartenders to hang out with friends. Brands waste money on them instead of putting funds toward job retention. They alienate regular customers. At one point during the interview, Gerwin said “I wanna see ‘em go away.”

Reactions to the video were swift and abundant. Plenty of people championed Gerwin’s opinion. Others pushed back, with some accusing her of hypocrisy based on her long record of participating in guest shifts around the world. The impetus behind most of her talking points isn’t necessarily new or out of left field, but her remarks caused what looks like, in retrospect, a simmering pot to boil over. But how much of a mess is there to clean up in its wake?

Why Now?

House usually isn’t one to speculate on which of his hot take videos may generate buzz. His chat with Gerwin was slightly different. “The moment I filmed it, I knew it was going to be a little hot,” he says. “But I wasn’t prepared for what was to come after it was posted.”

He wasn’t wrong. The post has generated 285,000 views, 12,200 likes, and 782 comments as of this writing. It’s the highest number in each category of any post within the series: his hot takes average around 13,000 views per day, and the most popular posts usually pick up 1,000 – to 2,000 likes and 100 to 200 comments. Part of his gut instinct stemmed from knowing who he was interviewing. “If it was someone else, I don’t think it would have done much,” he explains. “But because it was Kate, and because she’s done so many guest shifts, it generated much more heat.”

Gerwin also didn’t expect her take to go viral, even if she also knew it was spicy. She suspects part of the reason why it did also has something to do with who she is and not necessarily what she said — but not in the way House speculates.

“If it was a man that said it, the hot take wouldn’t have tracked,” she says. “Last year, a well-known male industry figure made a public comment about World’s 50 Best, saying ‘welcome to the circle jerk,’ and nobody said a single word.”

Regardless of the reason why, the hot take went viral and generated its fair share of even hotter comments. While Gerwin admits to not fully watching the finished product, she’s also aware the snap reactionary nature of hot takes means the main point she wanted to get across was likely lost in the fervor. As the heat cools over time, she hopes the root of her point becomes clearer. She doesn’t inherently hate the idea of guest shifts. She despises the purpose behind some of the industry’s more prominent guest shift events.

A Gateway to a Bigger Issue

Gerwin’s not shy about discussing how guest shifts fueled her global travels over the years. She also knows this makes her an easy target for claims of hypocrisy. But she also says these very travels make her well-qualified to call out the elements that make guest shifts problematic.

“People say ‘why should you be the one talking about it?’ Well, I’m the authority on the subject because I do more guest shifts than anyone. I’m the person that should be talking about this,” she says. “And I know that I’m calling out my own benefit. I have way more to lose, and I am putting some of my own perks at risk, such as getting flown to places around the world.”

Gerwin’s guest shift globetrotting has indeed provided her a glimpse behind the curtain. She says she’s gathered enough experiential intel along the way to develop disdain for how some bars use guest shifts as nothing more than leverage to gain favor with awards organizations. The lion’s share of her ire is toward 50 Best, the awards group that recently rebranded as The 50. She views the group as a ‘pay-for-play’-driven collective that’s created an unsavory ecosystem among bars who desire the attention generated by a bright red 50 Best scarf.

“There are bars that are ‘50 Best chasers,’ and we know who the chasers are,” she says. “There are some bars I’ve done guest shifts in, and those shifts have never happened without a 50 Best judge in attendance.”

“I wasn’t prepared for what was to come after it was posted.”

These ‘chasers,’ according to Gerwin, hold guest shifts strictly to gain favor with the journalists, bartenders, and cocktail aficionados who make up 50 Best’s judging collective. In order to fund these guest shifts that gain exposure to voters, bars get brand sponsorship. To Gerwin, this creates a systemic pattern she finds ultimately damaging to the bar community writ large. “Brands are spending money on these guest shifts, while they’re also laying off brand ambassadors and other brand employees,” she says. “That’s a problem.”

Gerwin also states this type of accolades-driven guest shift, coupled with 50 Best’s lack of official criteria behind the voting process, can lay the groundwork for shady activities.

“There are also vote swaps that happen — ‘do a guest shift at my bar and we’ll get you a vote for 50 Best’,” she says. “I’ve been approached by people that have never been to my bar to ask if I wanted to do a guest shift in exchange for a vote swap. I told them no. It’s corrupt and mind-numbingly disgusting.”

Gerwin notes this pattern of guest shift behavior is a far bigger issue in Europe and Asia than it is in the U.S., primarily because a 50 Best listing isn’t comparable to the domestic clout that a Tales of the Cocktail nomination can deliver. Still, it’s a big enough issue to compel her to potentially bite the hand that feeds her global guest shift opportunities, partially because she feels that people like her speaking out on the subject is the only way to bring the broken parts of guest shift culture to light.

“50 Best’s parent company William Reed generated more than £80 million in revenue last year, so they don’t care about changing the judging process even if it’s corrupt,” she says. “To them, 50 Best is a money-making machine. Guest shifts are part of that machine.”

Of course, extrapolating this fuller context from a rapid-fire hot take is simply not possible. Gerwin understands this, and part of this understanding involves her reiterating that she’s not on some crusade to stop all guest shifts. Despite her “I wanna see ‘em go away” chirp in the video, she’s a strong supporter of guest shifts held for fundraising or events designed to build and uplift communities. Her primary intention behind her comments is to spark a conversation within the industry about how to best jettison the baggage that can weigh down guest shift culture.

A Chance for Deeper Reflection

Pushing aside Gerwin’s chief issue still leaves crumbs of guest shift criticism to discuss: They’re held so industry friends can hang out together. They’re designed to placate the ego of the visiting bartender with enough clout to be an industry known commodity. The money brands use to sponsor the events may be better spent on their own human capital during crummy economic times. These talking points sparked deeper reflection among the people who participated in the comments, not to mention the host.

“Kate’s comments made me think about why I do my guest shifts — am I doing it just for the ego, or is it because I am legitimately excited to dust off some of my bartending skills, serve people, and be creative?” says House. “Also, is my brand-sponsored shift coming at the cost of someone else’s job?”

“Guest shifts have absolutely been used to climb a popularity ladder, where I believe some folks may feel this is disingenuous or like guest shifts are an unapproachable ‘cool kids club,’ explains Kapri Robinson, bar consultant, bartender at Allegory in Washington D.C., president of the BIPOC advocacy group Chocolate City’s Best, and comment thread participant. “I think breaking down those walls for guest shifts is important. Just the feeling that there’s an inner circle that makes guest shifts feel unattainable or unwelcoming should be dismantled altogether.”

“With guest shifts, everyone is running around in the same, small circle. If you’re in a small circle like that, you just go back and forth. You don’t really give yourself a chance to break out of that circle and go to smaller places to see what they do.”

At the same time, there’s enough room to consider some of the positive elements that can come from a guest shift when they’re done with a more noble cause in mind. “Guest shifts can be a nuanced thing, which can make it a good thing,” explains Mike Guzmán, creative director of Blue Door in Charlotte, N.C and, like Robinson, a voice in the comment thread. “Bringing guest bartenders to our backyard is important to expand our community. Plus, it can give our local guests an opportunity to have drinks they may otherwise never get a chance to drink.”

For Guzmán, hosting an occasional guest shift at his bar can be crucial in a city like Charlotte, a secondary market that’s still trying to figure out how to build a robust cocktail bar scene. He sees them as an opportunity to satiate the community’s increasingly ravenous hunger for knowledge, which is why he requests all guest shift participants to host an education-focused seminar in the afternoon before they get behind the stick. The difficult part for him, and other bartenders in similar markets, is getting bars from larger markets to commit.

“With guest shifts, everyone is running around in the same, small circle,” he says. “If you’re in a small circle like that, you just go back and forth. You don’t really give yourself a chance to break out of that circle and go to smaller places to see what they do. That’s why it was so great to see Cobra from Columbus, Ohio win their Tales’ award for Best U.S. Restaurant Bar. We need more of that.”

Even if that circle is small, the footprint left by those engaging in guest shifts within the circle is quite large. These special shifts afford bartenders opportunities to not only travel the world, but to bring the world to their home. While guest shifts involving long-haul plane rides and international border crossings can produce jaded feelings because of the awards circuit, they can nonetheless provide something positive for those that wish to connect and grow professionally and beyond.

“Personally, guest shifts were the reason I got to see the world,” Robinson says. “Guest shifts were not something I thought was possible for me in this industry, but they are something that opened doors not only for me but also for my team to travel and learn.

“Not only that, but we were able to host a few awesome bars and bartenders at Allegory that then became long-standing relationships in our futures,” she continues. “That exchange, and being able to show off Washington D.C. as part of the exchange, I believe is worth one night of having another bar behind our bar.”

A Study in Duality

In the Hospitality Hot Takes comments section, the phrase “two things can be true” made multiple appearances. Gerwin even said it during her interview. If her hot take does indeed spark a long-lasting conversation of guest shifts, this dichotomy seems like a fitting mantra to anchor such chatter. A guest shift held solely for award-chasing ambition may rankle individuals, but they’re as likely to continue as the guest shifts put on for community-driven reasons. Speaking for or against guest shift culture will likely need some sort of qualification.

This oddly enough brings us back to the shishito pepper. The guest shifts held to cajole votes may be akin to that one spicy outlier in a bowl, which may leave an unpleasant taste behind. The rest of the bowl, however, may be comparable to the guest shifts which aim to build community and promote genuine camaraderie within the industry. These shifts, when executed properly, can be quite good — and perhaps good enough to keep them on the bar world’s menu for the foreseeable future.