Mobile bartending has its perks

For as long as she’s been able to, Megan Libe has tended bar. While she started out in brick-and-mortar establishments, she opened her own mobile bartending business, The Tipsy Traveler’s, in 2021.

By far, the most common type of client is wedding venues, a fact that makes for a wild change of pace from traditional bars. Libe said that change was a positive one; She hasn’t looked back.

“All the weddings are different, it is so nice being able to see the different types of people and what they do for the biggest day of their life,” she said. “I don’t want to be stationary and just work at a random bar, because it’s not the same … it’s a totally different atmosphere.”

The Tipsy Traveler’s may be recognizable for its trailer, popping up at vendor events for miles around her home in Keota, but most of its business happens at venues which have all the equipment and drinks they need, lacking only someone to serve it.

Libe has about a dozen self-scheduling employees around the state to help the business cover a broader area, but typically works events herself. She’s effectively an independent contractor, but for bartenders.

The service isn’t cheap, either. Libe said her business was “a luxury service.” The lowest-cost (and most popular) package is $900, and covers a 4-hour cash bar with beer and wine provided by the client, while Libe brings liquor. For an open bar, the tab is based on consumption, but can hover around $5,000.

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Thanks to the nature of weddings, most of Libe’s gigs have a few obvious upsides. The crowd is generally happy, work usually ends well around 11 p.m. instead of 2 a.m., and frequent changes of scenery keep things fresh.

It also pays. The Tipsy Traveler has done a total of six figures in business so far in 2023, before accounting for taxes or input costs.

Still, Libe warned it wasn’t for everyone. The schedule, while self-managed is challenging at best and concentrates on weekends. The work also involves heavy lifting, loads of legally required paperwork, extensive rapport-building with venues, and an onslaught of appointments from June to October, wedding season.

“If it was easy, everybody would do it,” she said. “It was hard even getting referrals at first, and I kind of wondered, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t keep doing this,’ but you’ve just got to keep going. A lot of people think things are going to happen overnight, and it’s not going to … it’s not as easy as you think it is, and it took me a really long time to get where I’m at.”

Despite all the work, Libe has chosen to keep her day job as a dispatcher and office assistant at Holmes Livestock Logistics in Kalona.

“My current job is a small business too, and they are so flexible and so good to me, that I don’t see that I really need to quit them right now,” she said. “My ultimate, five-year goal is to open a wedding venue of my own.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com