Former FCP employee here, still kinda in the bullpen for when they need me, but for the most part I've hung up my bartender's towel.
My 7+ years working for FCP were some of the best employment years of my life. Each establishment truly has its own culture and identity. The friendships I made, the connections I made in the industry...they're immeasurable. I wish Andy would have covered that side of FCP as well, how well they take care of their employees. I'd say most service industry jobs require you to have a pretty close knit group to maintain success, but the fact that FCP has maintained that success for so long and over a diverse collection of establishments makes it even more impressive.
Also, management and ownership at FCP are relentless workers. They're passionate about what they're doing and they're not just in it for money. They truly care about Des Moines and they really care about making downtown better.
Obviously, I don't know everything about the ins and the outs of all of FCP's establishments, but if anyone has questions about el Bait Shop, let me know!
Here are some of the most common questions I'd get when behind the bar:
Do you serve Bud Light?
Yup. It's the most popular beer on the Bait Shop wall. Keeping the price of BL higher than most other establishments allows Bait to keep the costs down on their other beers.
Have you tried every beer on the wall!?
No, but during my time there, I probably could have told you about each beer on the wall. Beers rotate sometimes multiple times a week, so it would be pretty difficult to try all of the beers on the wall at a particular moment.
Certainly those beers sit for awhile, right? There's no way you go through enough beer to keep it all fresh!
Most of the kegs behind the wall are 1/6 barrels which is right around 60 pints, or right around 90 10oz glasses. Depending on the time of year, they can go through 50+ kegs a week. The beer lines are cleaned regularly, so you're always getting what you should be tasting. If you've ever been to a bar that doesn't usually serve craft beer, but they've got it on draft and it tastes different, it's probably because they've either got dirty lines or the beer's been hanging out in that line for awhile.
How can you find a beer on the wall with so many different beers!?
Most of the wall is grouped by brewery, however, some of the wall is organized by popularity. More popular beers are closer to the server station. Once you get used to the system, it's pretty easy to figure things out. I haven't been behind the bar in about 8 months, but I bet if I got back there tonight, I could have it down within the hour.
What's the best beer on the wall!?
The best beer is the one in front of you. It irked me when people asked me what my favorite beer was. There are so many different styles of beer, everyone has different tastes, everyone has different palates. Being said though, if a customer gave me an idea of what type of beer they usually enjoy, I could find them something either comparable, or something new I thought they'd enjoy.