Buying your first round of bar supplies can be a hefty monetary investment. However, most of these supplies will last for several years, if not longer. Glassware is the glaring exception to this rule; glasses seem to break constantly. Sometimes this is due to the inevitable: a group in celebrating a raucous 21st birthday, a clumsy server, or an overzealous flair bartender. Those reasons can’t entirely be helped, but unfortunately, more often than not, your glassware is breaking so quickly because of improper care. By avoiding these simple mistakes, you can cut down on your glassware costs.

1) Putting a Frozen Drink in a Hot Glass If you don’t have enough glasses to support your rushes, then the bartender has probably taken to throwing glasses into the glasswasher and running it continuously throughout the night. Then they grab a glass from the washer and pour the drink into it. While pouring a martini or a beer into a hot glass may annoy your customers, it won’t cause too much damage to your glassware. However, filling a glass right out of the dishwasher with a frozen drink can be a catastrophe. If the glass doesn’t crack or break right then, it will still be left with a significantly weaker structure. Just make sure you have enough glassware initially, and you won’t even run into this problem.

2) Using Glassware to Scoop Ice While servers in a hurry might be tempted to scoop ice into the drink glass, this can damage your glassware in the long run. The ice bangs the outside and inside of the glass this way, making it more likely to crack. Besides, this unsanitary practice may be mentioned in your local health codes, so save your glassware and a potential health inspector hassle by just using an ice scoop.

3) Stacking Glasses Most bars store their glasses in stacks, and most servers gather dirty glasses by stacking them on top of each other. Stacking glassware saves quite a bit of space and time, but takes a toll on your glasses. The friction of stacking and unstacking leaves the glass much more fragile, making it break considerably more quickly than it would otherwise. Tall stacks of glasses are also very unstable and can tip over easily, breaking the entire stack. You don’t let your staff use your other bar supplies in a way that will break them easily, don’t let them carry stacked glasses.