In the News:

Bartender goes big with event company;
VIP Bartending built from suave staff, hard work, can-do attitude

When Dave Bawden first started his business, VIP Bartending and Event Planning, he put his real name on the business card -- and everyone promptly forgot it.

But soon, he noticed how in his line of work everyone is always hailing him to "get" them things -- be it another martini, or someone to check their guests' coats. So the new name on the business card, something like an alter ego, is "Dave Gets."

"It gets people talking to you," explains Bawden.

Bawden got his service industry start managing small restaurants like Bread Garden and Starbucks. On a whim, and at the encouragement of some regular customers, he took a course in bartending and found his passion.

"I absolutely loved it," he says. It also gave him a serious entrepreneurial itch, and he resolved to follow in the footsteps of his father, who also owned his own business.

"After I finished the course I said, you know what? I'm going to be a millionaire," says Bawden.

In the beginning, Bawden admits things were slow to take off. After all, it was sales, not marketing, at which he excelled.

"I got some basic black-and-white business cards made up, and I took out an ad in the Yellow Pages, and I sat back and waited for the phone to ring," he says. It didn't.

But after pounding the pavement, sitting down to lunch with successful business people to get their suggestions, and making connections all over town, those calls started coming in, and Bawden soon had gigs at Holt Renfrew, the Vancouver Aquarium and KPMG.

Soon, at the request of his clients, he began expanding his services. These days, his company offers everything from bartenders to coat checkers to valet parkers to VIP promo girls on hand to distribute appetizers and brochures.

As the company grew, Bawden remained particular about his staff, insisting they have the personality to match their expertise, and that they show up to work groomed and clean-cut. He maintains a relatively small number of employees, between 40 and 50, as opposed to larger companies that boast rosters in the hundreds -- but with those small numbers, he can make sure the staff of his boutique company are up to his standards.

"The staff are what makes you great," says Bawden, who notes the biggest complaint he hears about competing companies is the messy state, or bland personalities, of their staff.

Bawden's wish list for the future includes expansion into high-growth, party-loving locales like Squamish and Whistler. He will also continue to expand his company's offerings, depending on what his clients ask him for -- which, these days, is simply "more."

"People, they want more for their buck now," says Bawden.

North Shore News, Sunday, December 21, 2008 Page: 39
Source: North Shore News