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Business Spotlight: Bartender for Hire ready for its closeup

Bartender for Hire founder Dane Drebin got a crash course in entrepreneurship in late September — and the experience will be streamed on the Internet for all to see.

Drebin, of Gig Harbor, spent the week of Sept. 19 as one of 55 cast members on season six of The Blox, a streaming program that brings startup entrepreneurs together for a week of intensive training and competition.

The Blox bills itself as “the largest competition TV show on the planet for startups.” Drebin describes it as a mix of MTV’s “The Real World” and ABC’s “Shark Tank.”

Dane Drebin of Gig Harbor discusses his business, Bartender for Hire, in front of one of the many cameras that captured the action during his appearance on a streaming reality show called The Blox.

The sixth season of The Blox will be available on Facebook, the app of parent company BetaBlox and other platforms at a date to be announced. Drebin is not permitted to discuss specifics of his appearance, but he said participating has already changed how he runs his business.

“The best thing was, I just found a ton of (things to improve) in my business,” Drebin said. “It was like a therapy session — the most stressful therapy session of your life.”

Bartender for Hire background

Drebin has worked as a bartender at Anthony’s in Gig Harbor for about 13 years, and still picks up several shifts a week there. But for years he dreamed of working for himself, so Drebin founded Bartender for Hire on Jan. 1. 

Think of it as sort of like Uber, only for hiring bartenders to staff private events. 

Clients contact Bartender for Hire. If Drebin can work the event himself, he does. Otherwise, he has a roster of about 40 bartenders who work on an independent contractor basis — much like a ride-share service.

Dane Drebin of Gig Harbor talks business during filming of The Blox.

How did all this get started? A customer from Drebin’s day job asked him to work a private, in-home party in the Canterwood neighborhood. That led to more side gigs.

“I was making so much more money at these,” Drebin said. “I wasn’t even charging that much. Just the tips alone.”

The idea “snowballed.” He asked friends if they wanted to help out at those early events and “it just grows and grows.”

Bartender for Hire’s growth

Since then, Bartender for Hire has worked everything from kids’ birthday parties to funerals to charity auctions. Drebin has gone as far as Montana for a job, but more typically finds gigs at venues in Gig Harbor, Tacoma and Kitsap County.

Small to medium-sized house parties are a staple of the business, especially as the holiday season gets going.

Clients provide the booze, but Bartender for Hire can bring the actual bar if requested. The service charges about $350 per bartender for about a 5-hour shift, but the fee can vary widely based on a number of factors.

Those include what will be served (just beer and wine versus more complicated mixed drinks, for instance), how many guests are attending and how far the bartenders need to travel.

The idea seems to be catching on, Drebin said. Bartender for Hire worked more than 50 events this summer, and the pace of bookings has accelerated.

And Drebin is certain that things he learned during his weeklong learning blitz on The Blox will help his business grow even more.

Appearing on The Blox

The Blox brings start-up and small business owners together for an intensive, weeklong bonanza of learning, competition and networking. About 60 entrepreneurs participated in the recently-posted season 4.

A panel of experienced business owners coach the entrepreneurs and judge nightly competitions among them. Each of the five days of the competition focuses on a different aspect of operating a business, from marketing to fundraising.

Participants spend time in classrooms, get one-on-one mentoring from the coaches and make presentations based on what they’ve learned. The host of the show is Wes Bergmann, a longtime reality TV star who got his start on MTV’s “Real World” back in 2005.

Dane Drebin of Gig Harbor with Wes Bergmann, host of The Blox.

“It’s basically a college-level course on business,” Drebin said. “A crash course.”

Participants fly to Kansas City for the competition. They all stay in the same building, dorm room-style. Coaches provide the instruction and serve as judges of the competitions.

It’s a business boot camp.

“It was the most intense thing I’ve ever done,” Drebin said. “It was 14-hour days, cameras in your face all the time, basically.”

Networking opportunity

Drebin has watched the show previously and applied for it on something of a whim. He never really expected to earn a place on the program, right up until when he was offered one.

The 2006 Peninsula High grad, while limited in how much he could share about his experience, said he learned a lot on the show. Even better, he met a lot of people — from host Bergmann to the four judges/coaches to the fellow entrepreneurs against whom he competed.

“I got to meet a bunch of cool people,” Drebin said. “I consider them all family now, which is crazy after only spending a week with them.”

Dane Drebin of Gig Harbor with a few of his fellow competitors on The Blox, a streaming reality show focused on entrepreneurship.