Best Beverage Catering

BBC did a great job for by wife’s 50^th birthday at Nimble Vineyards in Healdsburg. Everything went smoothly all night and the bartenders did a great job.

I have been waiting months to write this review. Best Beverage is a price gouging, monopoly of a business. I think I need to open a beverage catering company. Competition keeps you honest, fair and competitive! Free market, baby
Hosted a fundraising gala event at Pavilion by the Bay and they are the preferred and ONLY beverage catering company of the venue. We were forced to go with them.
Was charged an extra BS 20% service and site fee on top of their already exorbitant per person fees. We have used them in years past for the same event and were never charged that in the past. Unfriendly, inflexible employees were of no help.
We were basically forced to use them because they are a monopoly and the ONLY bar service for our venue, and still got charged 20% for a site fee. Even though they are the ONLY catering company allowed to serve there!~ Weird right? Yeah, I thought so too.
Definitely WILL NOT use them for this gala event we hold every year in the future or for my wedding. And sadly, I cannot recommend them either.
In the service industry, you have to be service and customer oriented. Best Beverage unfortunately, is not.
Very unhappy. Beware ! They will nickel and dime you. Dont let a shitty company ruin an important event.
Also, was charged for «premium» package for an obscure brand of vodka that certainly was NOT PREMIUM. Their website lists «premium» vodka as hangar one– we got some BS icelandic vodka that costs $ 10 a bottle. Shady
Basically, avoid this company. Save yourself LOTS of money

We went with BBC through our venue, Brownstone Gardens (it was the only beverage service provided, so we didn’t really have a choice). I didn’t really have a personally bad experience with them, but I have heard from SEVERAL of my guests that the people serving were extremely rude. It’s not surprising that their tip jar was running on empty for most of the night. What I felt was the most unprofessional was that when my MAID OF HONOR went up to get a drink during cocktail hour, one of the bartenders said, «Ugh…are we going to have to listen to this music ALL night?» First of all, we are paying you for a service, so you should be grateful. Secondly, how DARE you comment on your client’s choice of music during HER event. We all know from experience that you aren’t always going to enjoy your work day. That’s life. However, if you are being paid to do your job, my feeling is that you keep your opinions to yourself until after the event is over. Go talk to your friends about it later, but the fact that I, the bride, heard about this shows how unprofessional and tactless your company is. I hope Brownstone is able to find another company to do business with because I’m not sure I would have booked with them if I had known this is the treatment I would receive. Learn to be more professional and respect your PAYING clients. No one needs to know how you really feel. Just shut up and pour the drinks.

Terrible customer service!!! This company worked a concert event I attended at The Warfield in San Francisco. The drinks were over priced, which I was expecting ($ 10 for Skyy vodka + $ 2 to add Red Bull). The bar tender made me my drink which was a Red Bull vodka and I took a sip and told him that I couldn’t taste any alcohol. I asked him to top off my drink, he said no. I asked him to make me a new drink because I was unhappy with it and he said he would charge me for it. I asked to speak to the manager, and he said he was. His name was Aaron. I was very disappointed with his customer service and if I knew this company was working at a venue I had to go to, I would NOT buy a drink because of their poor customer service.

Unfortunately we were forced to use Best Beverage Catering for a wedding at The Bentley Reserve. They nickeled and dimed us at every turn, their math was just plain nonsensical, and their pricing was so outrageous that we opted to use our own alcohol, which was returnable, if unopened. At the end of the evening, we observed a bartender packing up over a case of unopened premium hard liquor, and another case of partially used liquor. Both cases disappeared..
For future personal or business events, I will never use Best Beverage Catering or use a venue that requires the exclusive use of Best Beverage Catering. They are expensive and abuse the trust they are afforded by both the venue and the customer.

We used bbc for our wedding at the bently reserve in downtown San Francisco ca. Bbc was the only contracted beverage company available through the bently. Zach was our contact. Unlike some of the other reviews, he was pretty chill. He responded to our emails quickly and was very accommodating to our needs. On the day off the event, there setup was nice. The workers were dressed nice. Most of them were cool. There was one lady who was being kind of annoyed because we kept asking for shots. But overall, bbc took care of us. A tad on the pricey side, but we enjoyed their services.

My wife and I were forced to use Best Beverage, given the monopoly they hold at the Bently Reserve.
Similar to some others reviews, we had an awful experience with Best Beverage. They overcharged, we received terrible service and they stole our alcohol at the end of the night.
What a bunch of criminals.

My husand and I were forced to use Best Beverage at our wedding at the Bently Reserve in Fall 2013.
Similar to some others reviews, we had an awful experience with Best Beverage. Because they have a monopoly, they overcharge, nickel and dime at every turn (a $ 200 surcharge to «set up on time»?), provide terrible service and act unethically. If they were forced to compete with other vendors, they’d be out of business. Or, perhaps they would lower their prices, provide transparency in their pricing (rather than «x» fixed cost and «y» service charge) and provide a decent service. But, they don’t have to, and, as such, the customer suffers. In the end, several bottles of left-​over alcohol suddenly went missing. It was quite clear their staff had stolen them.
I would give this business no stars if I could.

We had these guys run the open bar at our wedding and they did a great job. Everyone loved how friendly they were, and they accommodated most of our needs.
Just make sure you tell them long beforehand if you want specific drinks to be available. I wanted to have an Old Fashioned at my wedding, but they didn’t have bitters. I was satisfied with the Manhattan they made me, but still a bit disappointed.
I think they keep the mixers and such to a basic minimum, which is understandable.
They also had a very good sense of when to cut certain guests off. We had one or two guys that were hitting the shots a little too hard and they were stopped at the right time with no uncomfortable situations arising.

I’ve used them for 2 events, and tried to use them for a third.
The first event was great; our rep and the bar crew were awesome. When I went back to them last year, the pre-​sales support was somewhere between lackluster and unhelpful. But I thought, «Hey, maybe it’s just this new rep.» Nope! The bar crew was ok, but they weren’t nearly as good as the last one. Even though we had fewer attendees, we ended up with very long lines.
This year I dealt with the same rep, and service was even less impressive. When I said that there were problems the last time, there was no interest in fixing them. After a fair bit of back and forth I was ready to give up, but I thought I’d give them one more chance; it could still just be a bad rep. I emailed the person listed as the SF manager, but I never got a reply at all.
At this point, they’re dead to me. Apparently they have enough business that they don’t need mine. This year we went with Barbary Coast Beverage Catering, who were much better both before and during the event. We’ll definitely be using them again next year.

We used Best Beverage for our wedding at the SF Film Centre. The Film Centre has an exclusive contract for beverages with Best Beverage. As such, they pretty much have all the leverage over you. If you want an open bar, be ready to PAY. We got the 2^nd least expensive package for 120 people for 6 hours, and they wanted to charge us $ 4,000!
They nickel-​and-​dime you for pretty much everything too. Extra charges include substituting a liquor in one of the packages, providing table glassware, and setup.
The good is that they did a great job at the wedding, and had an adequate supply of drinks. Our rep was responsive during the planning process, but wouldn’t budge on the price (maybe she didn’t have the authority to do so), but we contacted a higher-​up at Best Beverage through our venue coordinator, and we finally got them down to $ 3,300. But knowing that you’re locked in if you’re at the Film Centre, they should have been a little more willing to budge on the price.

Ok, first of all let me say this, our wedding was the San Francisco Film Centre this past September and they require that you use them as your bar service.
The plus side: you can provide your own beverages which severely reduces your cost when you have them just serve.
The minus: I couldn’t choose my own bar-​tending service so I have no idea if their price is competitive or if they are the best in SF.
I was tagged with Madeline to assist with preparation for our wedding. At first she seemed competent but as the wedding date drew near and she kept asking more and more questions that we had already answered I was beginning to question that. As the bride, I had to bow out of the bar service, and pass it to my husband and parents because I couldn’t deal with all of the questions any more.
However, on the day of, they set up the bar exactly as we requested. Everyone loved the bartenders. And, everything went off without a hitch.

My venue uses BBC so we had them as our wedding bartenders and they were fabulous. Super friendly and chill. They worked quickly and calmly through all the madness and drunks wanting drink after drink! They were well prepared and had more than enough of everything needed.

BAR SERVICE ONLY REVIEW
(e.g. I provided alcohol, BBC provided licensed/​insured bartenders, glassware, soda/​juice/​mixers, garnish, napkins, etc)
Drinks: ⁵⁄₅ I used BBC’s bartending services for my wedding on 6÷23÷12. The bartenders from BBC poured great drinks, and made good use of the types of alcohol that I provided. They asked for my list of alcohol in advance, and did a great job of bringing the appropriate mixers/​juices to go with it. They chilled my white wine and beer, and even served shots chilled rather than just straight up (which some bars in SF will do unless you specifically request chilled). With what they had, they made any drink that my guests requested — in one instance, someone asked for a mojito but since they had no mint, they were good about suggesting and making something else comparable. My guest was happy and made mention of it to me. My closest friends even took pictures with one of the bartenders, (Brian, I believe) since he was so friendly and accommodating to their many, many drunken requests.
Service: ⁵⁄₅ — Zach Holt was my contact, and he was extremely professional and prompt with all of his responses via email. In fact, BBC was probably one of my easiest vendors to deal with. Here’s how it worked: I requested a bar service only package, provided him with the date/​location/​hours of service, the type of glassware I needed, and gave an estimated headcount of my guests. Zach took that info and provided a per person cost, calculated everything out including tax/​tip, and then gave me a total cost.
To counter a few negative reviews posted, I’d point out that the majority of them chose not to ever use their services. I was not in a situation where I was required to use their services as a preferred vendor, nor did BBC provide the alcohol for me since my venue allowed BYOB. But having actually done a comparison to other vendors, they offered competitive pricing on their bartending services. And most importantly, the customer service and the actual day-​of service turned out to be great.
Also, Zach was very quick to make edits to my contract, which I did on multiple occasions due to headcount, going back and forth adding or removing different types of glassware, etc. Whenever I updated glassware, or if I had a different headcount, he updated the contract quickly and accurately. He was very clear about the pricing, and it always added up. I never had any questions/​concerns with any of the numbers, and he didn’t nickel and dime me over a few extra glasses, or napkins, garnish, sodas, etc (which were all included in the package).
Value: ⁴⁄₅ — The cost of their services was not hands down the cheapest, but I would also say that it was not easy to find a service that would be willing to do service only, that is also licensed/​insured. I did a lot of research on multiple comparable vendors, and most only did packages with alcohol + service combined. Either that, or they are licensed to serve alcohol but not insured — meaning that you have to cover any liability with insurance (which is extremely costly and difficult to obtain). And notably, my venue required proof of liability insurance, so that was a must-​have. Taking all of that into consideration, it was a very reasonable value.

Our best decision was to buy these guys out from the contract that they have with the Bently. We were working through our wedding planner so we did not have direct contact with Zach, but that is who was working on our contract. From the beginning they were so overpriced that we decided it was worth it to shop around. The savings were huge even including the buyout.
Further they are not knowledgeable on business matters if you do use these guys, please make sure that you check all of your numbers twice or three times. They first tried to overcharge us by over $ 500, then they were using the wrong tax rates for the city of SF and the invoice just didnt add. They have things they call «flat fees» but then they are based on percentages, there are also minimums, which are just charged in addition to your calculated amount (even if you are over their min?) it was all so confusing!
Then once we told them we were going to buy them out, they said a check had to be in their office before the Friday of the event, per the contract. Just what a bride wants to deal with 2 days before the wedding, a vendor who is doing NOTHING for you, demanding payment and citing «contracts» I still have no idea what contract he was discussing, as we never signed a contract with BBC and our contract with the Bently signed in late 2010 never mentioned the date in which BBC had to be paid by. It all just left such a bad taste in my mouth. So instead of running around to FedEx to overnight a check, i let them charge my credit card… which they charged a convenience fee on.

Zach Holt was the only contact I had with BBC, and was so unprofessional and such a douchebag we simply bought out their contract, after requesting the venue find a secondary beverage vendor. It was worth it to never deal with them. Their pricing was outrageous, and it appears Zach’s attitude is well known throughout SF.
If you’re roped into dealing with them due to venue exclusivity, I’d recommend the buyout– even with another vendor you’ll still pay less altogether than using them for beverage service.
If you’re not required to use them, i’d go with anyone else. And whatever you do, ask for someone else besides Zach. How they keep him employed is beyond me.

THE BEST! Zach Holt was our contact for a wedding at The Bently Reserve in San Francisco. He was spot on in his estimate of how much wine to order. They poured great drinks and their staff was terrific. Other people recommended us to contact Zach Holt and we are so glad we did.
Their prices are very fair and 15 minutes before our event was over, they ran out of Gentlemen’s Jack… immediately they got more and continued to pour. FIVE STARS!!!

BBC provided bartending for our wedding last Saturday. Overall they were great.
Communication beforehand was a bit rough for a time, but after checking around a bit I found that it was a great value (for an open bar including glassware). They let us customize our choices a bit and told us some options for cutting costs. At the wedding our bartender was friendly, efficient, and professional. The drinks were well made. Yay.

I work with BBC on a regular basis for my job, and they’re my go-​to bar service for all licensed events.
Chelsea and Zach are amazing to work with, they get the job done flawlessly, but make sure we have fun while making it happen.
I definitely recommend them.

Attended an event at the california academy of sciences where a new drink was being promoted. Not many people heard of SmartEnergy Cocktails, and the bartenders were very good at explaining and helping people make decisions on their drink selection.
A lot of times the bar staffs at these events are uptight, and not very helpful. I am a huge fan of the service and presentation the BBC provided. I can see I am not the only one!