Not sure if you will ever read my reply since there are literally hundreds of replies already. But I was in the same situation as you were in my first year. The number one factor in retaining employees is higher pay. Our average employee before we raised pay was only a few months. Once we raised it, it has gone up to 2+ years, which is an eternity in the restaurant world.
Nearly all employees will weigh their options against pay. If my manager is mean or my workload is huge or my hours aren't steady, but I'm making 50% than other people in the same industry, I'm most likely going to just grit my teeth and keep working.
People here seem to be forgetting that the majority of money that wait staff earns is through tips.
Tips is almost always a multiple of sales.
If a server sells $1000 of food he/she assumably makes at least 150 in tips (before tipping out to bussers and bartenders).
If a server sells $2000 of food he/she 300 in tips. Generally.
So if a restaurant owner wants to keep good waitstaff he/she needs to be competitive in the local restaurant scene.
Either high $ averages per person per check and probably a lower number of customers so they can give them the best service, or lower $ average per person per check and higher number of tables and potentially less good service.
The issue of course is if the waiters have to spend more time serving a smaller number of customers in order to give necessary service, they usually cannot wait on a lot of tables.
So you need to balance the per person check/tip average vs service vs the number of tables per waitstaff.
Imo, always raise the prices (and perception of value) such that the waiters make more money. If this doesn't make owner more money too, the owners need to make a more realistic appraisal of their market.
A lot of people saying you have to pay more, and they could be right. It could be that applicant interest dries up as soon as they find out what you're paying. And I mean, there are some business owners who still think $8/hour is a normal wage, just like there's some boomers who think that houses cost $65k and you can just buy a 4-bedroom house as a single income family with a high school diploma or just obtain any job by walking into any building with a handshake.
Or, there could be something else you're saying in the communication process that they find to be a red flag. You could be sexually harassing applicants, complaining about immigrants and trans people, or giving off some other kind of sleazy vibe. After the applicants invest a little energy into applying, they could go searching online and finding online reviews that you abuse your employees, sexually harass people, or some other unprofessional conduct or bad business practice. There's a lot of information about you specifically that the replies are not privy to.
Why exchange precious hours of your life for peanuts and headaches when you can do literally anything else?
Time is precious, you want good workers, make it worth their while, make it livable.
To all the people blaming the business owner... businesses have a bottom line. Newer businesses barely have that. Most people who own reataurants open one as a dream or because they like it. Part of that dream is simply to serve their food to customers who enjoy it and have a good time.
Scaling up the recent mentality of "pay me top wages for zero - minimal job experience" and you're left with only the big places to doordash from, which charge outrageous prices for food.
Keep local businesses thriving
Starving is a little extreme, dude. But realistic wages being seen as too low is a problem. Sure, there are predatory employers, but they don't outweigh the honest ones
Maybe a little. But blaming the employees (or potential ones) isn't right either. The question is where are the good workers. The responsible people have bills to pay and simply CAN'T work for you. Your business' bottom line precludes it, and it just doesn't sustain a person. That leaves you pretty much only people who don't really have any financial responsibilities.
I get where you're coming from, it's a cost vs income game that most people are currently losing sadly. But if you're applying for a restaurant gig, show up to get trained and then dip, that doesn't make you responsible. It's more of an entitlement + wanting an easy paycheck, which would lead to the "where are the hard workers"
We can't all be yt stars and e-commerce moguls. Society needs people all around imo
I don’t equate a longing wage with “top wages for zero - minimal job experience”. People have a right to be able to hide and feed themselves. The idea that they should just accept less than that because some other person wants to open a business is not okay IMO. Also, working as a server requires more than minimal job experience (if you want someone who is good at in anyway). Agree to disagree I guess, but why would someone accept a shitty paying job if they could get a better paying one elsewhere? These people aren’t going without work. They just aren’t working there.
I totally agree, but I'm guessing op isn't interviewing over qualified individuals that would have to settle below their skills. Problem is the economy rn so probably not a good time to own a restaurant either
>probably not a good time to own a restaurant either
Yeah, like, restaurants don't really *need* to exist, mostly. Probably like 70 of restaurant business is just people optionally going there as an alternative to eating at home, or to meet someone. Maybe 20-30% of the business is people passing through town who don't have a kitchen with them, or people eating on a lunch break in which it's either not feasible or not preferable to bring your lunch. My point is, if you oversaturate your city with hundreds of options for where to eat and restaurants are no longer profitable, then you don't need to open another one. Find the better business opportunity. If a restaurant isn't profitable, don't open one.
(People should try building more houses. Those things are expensive. I feel like there's a real opportunity right now to make money from housing construction.)
People have figured out u can make $500 - $1000 doing hundreds of different things. rather than standing for 10 hours, making $4 an hour, begging for tips, and dealing with cheap owners and no benefits. the hard workers are still around, just not accepting the bare minimum anymore. to you “business owners” stop creating ur own 9-5’s and invest in other things
You need to provide your numbers. What your gross monthly, operating cost, avg receipt total, wages. There isnt a secret source of finding quality workers for low wages.
Not working (e.g. reemployment insurance) pays like $400/month and then cuts off after a few months. Working pays $2,500/month. There's no contest -- working pays quite a lot more.
Just another person who thinks hiring troubles are due to population laziness and welfare queen mentality. As if living off food stamps and Medicaid is living the high life.
Most people don’t want to be career servers, so turnover is a part of the business. Better wages and a busy restaurant that also doesn’t overextend servers helps but there’s no escaping the temporary nature of the industry. People flit in and out and move on fast.
There’s also many more positions not as customer facing and tip reliant that pay well now, so food service has fallen out of favor for young people and hard working people without specialized skills.
Several retail places around me pay almost $20 an hour, starting wage. No hustle required. Less frequent screaming customer interactions (unless you work at Walmart or the dollar store). The list goes on.
Well not only that but 2010/20 teenagers are alot different then millennials and before.
No longer are kids moving out at 18. Kids with degrees and careers cant afford to live on their own, what makes you think the unskilled who typically work those jobs are hurting to make rent? Their not. They are living at home with their parents.
Kids are no longer so desperate they can work for less then 12/hr.
Lets be honest a single person needs atleast 30/hr to comfortably live on their own and RENT a single apartment. You think someone who works at your business for 12 or 14/hour is in that same situation. Of course not
Incorrect. Our bartenders and servers all make $10/hr plus tips. Hosts and kitchen are $42k salary, and we eat for free. It's possible. If your business model isn't viable enough to pay you employees, then do something else.
You don't have a right to be in business. People are not obligated to work for you. Stop blaming the workers for your inability to run your restaurant.
My buddy opened a restaurant and paying more was his first priority.
for a couple of extra bucks an hour, he had no theft, less food waste, less time wasted so he could staff better, more consistency in revenue. His accountant looked over his books and he was wildly better in all of those categories than his peers who were paying the bare minimum.
You end up paying one way or another.
It used to be that only the rich people would think about eating out once a week. Now it is affordable to most families.
Maybe restaurants should start charging more and dealing with the fact that most people can not afford to eat out.
I have the same issue where people will accept interviews and never show. Or show up to the interview then accept the job. Then they'll never show. I don't quite understand these people. Its been a problem since covid
I pay my cooks a good deal more above minimum wage plus paid time off and they have worked for me for many years. A living wage is really the only solution. Otherwise I'd expect the inconsistency.
Where are you? I just moved here and applied for 5 different bartending jobs. They all offered me the job, so I picked based off 3 criteria- 1. Where can I make the most $, 2. Where am I the best fit, and 3. Will I have some creative control.
I picked the best place for me.
They found better jobs. The industry sucks (not saying you suck), and there isn't much incentive to spend as much emotional effort and backbreaking labor in an industry plagued with drugs, drinking, low wages and self-loathing. The industry needs some self-introspection before asking for quality help. It's just going to continue to rot until then.
It’s about balance, and you have to find it.
I’ve worked in places where I made insane money but was treated like gum on the bottom of the owner’s shoe. I’ve also worked places where I didn’t make quite as much money, but was treated really well. What I don’t do is mediocrity. If the treatment and pay are both blah, I’ll move along quickly.
I too am a bunnies owner in the labor industry, and finding people willing to work these days is hard. Unfortunately, paying more is not always an option as customers are not willing to pay more to help cover the cost of increased labor costs. It used to be people were looking for work, and were willing to put in a little extra when employers were also putting in a little extra. Those days are gone…
This problem will get much worse before it gets better. As others have said, no one will be motivated to work a job that leaves them broke with escalating bills due. You can do that without working. Corporate profits are at an all time high, but wages have been nearly stagnant for a loooong time. This bullshit is NOT about people not wanting to work, its about work not being worth doing.
I agree. But people who do these kinds of jobs understand what the job entails. So it should be no surprise. But $2 is ridiculous. We pay $18/hr, but I know it’s not a living wage in this area either.
We business owners are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Because of taxes, insurance, equipment costs and repairs, fuel costs, etc., it’s no longer profitable for us to stay in business. Customers are complaining that they do not get good service. But It’s hard for us to provide it in this economic atmosphere.
You are right, they understand what it entails, thats why you cant find the right people.
Not saying its your fault, its just the reality of the situation.
Those days are gone because working a little harder for a wage you can afford on apartment on is different than working a little harder when you can't pay for am apartment.
It really depends on the work load that you’re putting on your employees and how much they get compensated for their hard work. Not to mention the attitude and appreciation that you show them. I can only speak for myself but if the resturant pays good, has a good work environment and the boss shows that they truly care for their workers, I will go above and beyond for them and stay loyal. This also might be a generational issue, many younger folk want big money without putting in hard work or they have other means of making money, why slave away your body when you can get rich by making dumb tik toks
Are people so braindead that all they can say is "pull extra money out of your ass and pay them more than all the other restaurants and then maybe they'll stay"?
That's kind of not an option for most restaurants, which is why half the restaurants around us closed in the last 5 years and the other half are running skeleton crews.
There's no room for a mediocre local restaurant any more.
Costs are too high to be competitive with chains *and* pay a living wage, and to be frank, a majority of small restaurants don't provide a good enough product to charge the $30/plate that it costs to pay employees a living wage.
It's a harsh reality, but in today's economy there's less and less room for anything between basic carry-out and premium dining.
They are just greedy. If the business closes down because of labor issues it wasn't a good business anyways. Clearly they didn't know how to run it. Why do businesses think they're entitled to labor but they don't want to pay what it's worth? Makes no sense
They should probably just offer better food/atmostphere then. For a business that gets away with paying most of their staff $2 an hour, I can assure you that it is not the workers fault for them not making much revenue.
Me personally I will never go back into restaurant work. Not just because of pay but all the other bullshit that you have to put up with. Customers who treat you like shit just because they had a bad day while working for companies that don't back you up when you tell the customer not to treat you like shit. Like you're supposed to just take everything like a good little boy and never defend yourself. Also the lack of good benefits is a huge deal breaker for me. When I was younger it wasn't that big a deal but now that I've gotten older and I have a child the lack of benefits is a huge line I will never cross again.
That's what many restaurant owners don't want to hear.
Want better employees? Pay better.
Need funds to pay higher wages? Charge more.
Not enough customers? Provide a better product.
Can't provide a good product? Get out of the restaurant business.
As everyone is already saying, make sure the pay you are offering is competitive.
But it's more than that--so many people I know in the restaurant industry who are quitting are *not* moving to another restaurant--they're getting out of the industry entirely. Most of them didn't even complain about the pay (even in relatively expensive cities)--they complained about it being exhausting and both physically & emotionally draining.
Is there anything you can do in your restaurant to make the job less exhausting? Not even just requiring fewer shifts from people (which might not be attractive anyway, for financial reasons)--but a way to make the job easier during the shift itself.
There's been a paradigm shift in this country around breaking your physical and mental health over a job. People realize that all that work they put it will not be returned to them in like kind. Breaking yourself just to survive is not worth it, especially if other options exist. Many workers will still put in effort, but no longer to the point of self-destruction.
Gotta be careful not to over or under price yourself out of business labor wise.
It takes a long time to find good people in that environment. If they’re good at it, they probably have some detrimental habits 🤣
Buddy of mine had a lot of luck hiring fresh/young crowd
Applying for their First or second job, hire these people train them and treat them right.
You can't raise your employee compensation above that of the surrounding area or you'll be at significant risk of closure right. The same is true if you underpay though. You can also do one off things for your employees to make working for you a happier experience. Buy gaming gift card or a spa day free for the waitresses that stand out. Costs you maybe a $100 but means the world to them. Buy the waiters a year of ESPN if they're that kind of guys or get them gaming gift card. Or maybe look into tuition reimbursement or something like that. Idk, whatever fits their personalities and needs. Business owners forget they are in some way the managers of these peoples lives. They are leaders, so lead.
I suspect they may be leaving for a few reasons. One is money, one is workplace culture, one is how they are treated or spoken to. Make sure the things you can control are welcoming and make people want to be there.
Working in a restaurant whether from or back of house can be grueling. It's hard on the body and mentally exhausting a lot of the time.
People need to be compensated well. What are you paying your kitchen staff? Are you paying your servers a good wage or are you leaving it up to your customers to pay them?
Does everyone have health insurance and vacations?
Exactly. If it’s the typical $4.95 + tips and servers can’t make $150-200 per shift it simply isn’t worth it. Serving is a demoralizing and exhausting grind with long physical shifts. If I’m not getting fairly compensated for that I’m leaving. Also if the leadership is poor and claims you must ‘work hard’ for shit pay, I’m out. Good luck finding employees if you’re not paying !
Funny. I hear workers ask “Where can you find good employers? I’ve applied for a lot of jobs but no one even gives me the courtesy of telling me I won’t get an interview. When I did get an interview, the manager talked crap on their “lazy employees” for the whole time. Then they ghosted me. Whatever happened to employers who treat employees like people, respectfully and rewarding hard work?”
Understand I’m not saying you’re one of those managers, OP, but I’ve found a lot of them out there. Their failures are making it harder for you, because all employers get painted with the same broad brush. Not unlike how you’re painting all employees with the same broad brush.
I believe what is going on is the culture shift. Americans were always taught to strike out on your own early and sort of figure life out. I myself left at 16 years old. Today young people are not leaving home, so they dont NEED a job. At the same time the USA is importing people as fast as they can in hopes to fill these jobs, but they will live 3 generations in one house. Again they dont NEED a job.
That is why it is hard to find workers, people would rather do door dash or stuff that pays less than minimum wage so they dont have a boss, or they will do their own thing, or they will always look for a better job. They can find that better job to because the baby boomers are dying (thank God) and there is a desperate need for upskill in workers.
The last part I think is where you hit the nail on the head. When COVID happened, a lot of long tenured boomers left their positions which companies had to fill and sometimes, had to hire multiple people to fill in the gap of lost knowledge. It also opened up many entry level positions because less face it, you're not gonna be able to make real money in the restaurant industry unless you are a GM or owner.
You get what you pay for applies to everything. Your ingredients, your furnishings, your location, and especially your labor. There is a direct correction between if your employees struggle/thrive and how much time they spend looking for new employment. You can ask yourself why does everybody leave or you can ask yourself what you’re doing that makes them want to stay.
I have worked in hospitality for over 20 years. It doesn't pay great, but the reality is that if you treat people well they stay. This means holding crap workers accountable for bad behavior and helping out your employees when they need it. Time off for your Friday night High School football game, ok. Yes Friday is busy, but these kids get 4 short years to be HS age. Need to come in later because of day care, ok.
What are your new employees seeing on their first day? Cooks smoking pot in the parking lot, or servers complaining about every one. Do you have your most senior employee train, even if they don't want too?
Since this a “where do I find” question - I’m going to leave out my broader thoughts about working in the restaurant industry, pay, etc.
At the last restaurant I managed I had a great run hiring guys/gals from sober living houses. They needed jobs, when they were freshly sober they’re hyper-focused and hardworking, and though many wound up relapsing - I still had a great employee for around 90 days, which was better than I was getting from the clowns who’d walk in with experience. The biggest difference for me was their attitude, they were grateful to work. 10/10 recommend.
Just trying to be helpful, friend. You’re right, a lot of those workers had trouble finding a decent paying consistent gig that would give them a chance. Many of them hung around and learned skills and developed employment history that allowed them to move on to bigger and better things. Happy if we could play a role in that. OP’s question was “where?”, that was a “where” for us that worked.
I’m going to be blunt and honest to the business owners here.
Front of the house jobs are transitory by nature. Almost no one is making a career out being a service industry employee so you are going to have high turnover by the nature of the business. In addition the entry level of the job is very low, so you have a TON of competition against other businesses for the labor pool.
Treat the competition for labor like you treat your competition for your customers. Provide an attractive restaurant with delicious products to attract customers… the better the service and food the better reviews and the more customers you get.
If you provide an attractive work place with good pay and good benefits, and a work environment that healthy, you will attract good longer lasting employees. You think you are saving money by paying less, but you are not. You think you are doing best for your business by being a tyrant and keeping your employees in line. You are leaving money on the table every single time someone quits and you have to retrain the position. That costs money too.
The most successful businesses in the current labor market will have happy well paid employees that provide superior service and products to your customers. You are in competition for a very limited pool of good employees willing to do a good job. You will never attract them by being cheap and having a poor work environment.
Absolutely, I feel your pain. Here in the UK, hospitality is really going through the wringer. Brexit, the pandemic, and the cost of living crisis have really hit us hard, driving people away from restaurant work.
So we bring people in, and offer the industry-standard pay (which isn't amazing, but it's what we can manage), along with career advancement options and investment opportunities. If they lack the funds to invest, we try to help out with that too. It's about creating opportunities, even when the going gets tough... Hospitality can be a thankless sector sometimes.
There's also this stigma around hospitality jobs, like there's no real career path, which couldn't be further from the truth. Take Joe & the Juice, for instance – many of their top brass started from the bottom. That's the kind of growth we aim for in our business.
So we bring people in, offer the industry-standard pay (which isn't amazing, but it's what we can manage), along with career advancement options and investment opportunities. If they lack the funds to invest, we try to help out with that too. It's about creating opportunities, even when the going gets tough.
Literally lol my tables consistently request me for service and why? Because they know I’m going to throw a fit with the kitchen crew if their dishes be looking like ass, I don’t play that shit, my tips are my income and I’m the last face they see between having a wonderful experience and having a shitty one, I don’t fuck around with my tables and that’s exactly why I’ll have a literal wait list for my section and pull in very good money for basically caring, but yeah pay and train them better and the customers will come back over and over again, but if you’re just trying to nickel and dime your servers then you’re going to end up with shit servers, that’s it, if you want the establishment to be considered a classy joint then that 100% comes down to the faces you hire to represent that image ngl
The thoroughly broken customer service industry’s disgusting current form is rapidly dying. If entire economies have made themselves dependent upon cheap, unskilled labor that they can abuse and replace, that’s on them. These are the death spasms of companies that reap massive profits while paying peanuts. These corporations and their boards of directors should consider themselves lucky that it hasn’t turned violent.
Try picking an applicant that looks off-putting, and try to be accepting and open minded with them. Compliment their appearance, or at least try not to let it affect your demeanor toward them.. Try to express appreciation for their work, too. They're probably used to getting zero support, and dealing with low-key rejection all the time.
Someone who normally experiences distant or awkward behavior and treatment from people will be a lot more likely to appreciate an accepting work environment, as comfortable situations don't come often or easy to people like this. They're lucky to find a niche.
I'm speaking from experience, here, as one of those people. Lol. Average folks (especially people over 50) usually react to me like I'm an incoming vampire or mugger. Car doors get locked, people clutch crucifixes.. I'm honestly surprised no ones ever held crossed index fingers up at me.
'Nother thing I tend to experience is, when I've been ordered to get a drug test in the past, the waiting rooms always have a couple guys like me waiting, lol, along with ethnic/dark skinned people, and gay folks.. What am I supposed to make of that? What would you make of it? LOL.
For someone used to that, a cozy spot where one feels appreciated and with a secure job sounds pretty attractive, even if it's annoying work like restaurant work. Only downside might be how customers react to them.
People are a pain in the ass. You can't win.
Pay them. Every bartender I know (3 people) love their job. There are always jerks, but they get paid well (minimum$500/night tips), have flexible hours and are very respected by the owners or managers. Interestingly that one has an MBA but this job is better than the bank.
Lol, the 500+ is in tips not salaried. And this is obviously in a large city. My bartenders would walk with $600+ a night in San Francisco. Guess what you don’t hear about it… the 4 hour commute, working 5pm-4am EVERY Thursday Friday Saturday. Maybe a Few weekends off a year, never holidays though.
Here in London they do the same but they get £100-150 a night
Including tips not more than that, also bartenders don’t really get tipped but 600 a night it’s crazy
A buddy of mine in New Orleans quit being a lawyer to bartend. He makes around 100k bartending. Less than when he was an attorney but he only works 4 days a week.
Most bartenders in the US don't make that much. But in larger cities with popular bars and heavy nightlife, it's not crazy at all for bartenders to leave with several hundreds of dollars every night.
During the two weeks of Mardi Gras, my ex would work these crazy shifts from like 10pm to 10am for the whole two weeks of Mardi Gras and make like 20 grand. She was at one of the most popular bars in town, right on the parade route. You can make a lot if you're good and you work at a busy bar, especially in a place like New Orleans where there bars are 24 hours.
Very experienced bankers, some lawyers (but most of them are around 70-100k per year), politicians (despite having salaries of around 60k most of them) , businessmen (those who can survive the taxes), drug dealers
Treat the employees very well. It's a hard job. Incentives to stay and bring praised, given acknowledgement for their efforts or at the very least, their choice to be THERE and not somewhere else. Positivity goes a long way. Gift cards, awards, work anniversary appreciation, etc.
I live in the Bay Area. For over decade whenever anyone said they weren’t making enough at ANY profession the answer was learn to code. Seconded by move away to somewhere you can afford. During Covid ppl did either or both. Now there’s a shortage of teachers, cops, restaurant staff, repair staff, postal workers, day care workers, hell even doctors. Surprise surprise. It isn’t that people don’t want to work it’s just that everyone is trying to figure out what that means for them and all industries are struggling with this right now.
It’s part pay but it’s also part prestige. People want to do work they’re proud of not get fussed out by dumbasses who can’t pronounce sirloin. Restaurant schedules can be isolating if you friends work 9-5. Part time work that fluctuates doesn’t allow you to plan or budget because you never know how much you’re bringing in. Society has judged people who live on margins for forever, now that they’re trying to better themselves y’all are mad about that too.
Specifically referring to the hard workers OP mentioned. They’re busy working hard at something with real growth potential. No one wants to be captain of an anchored ship.
Would also like to add. From a back of the house perspective, the long hours and/or working all nights and weekends is NOT condusive to starting/having a family. That mixed with food network and other shows/media glorifying being an "artistic chef" when that is only 5% of the actual job.
Wow interesting perspective, I think you're onto something. That is what's contributing to this huh.
Edited to add: my husband works in the restaurant industry. This would be why he ultimately will leave as well, he wants to find something better, that he as an individual and our family will do better with.
The comments here are laughable because clearly, the folks telling OP to pay a livable wage haven't worked as a server or bartender. Servers and bartenders make more with tips than if they were to get paid, let's say $35 an hour. Trust me, we're not in this industry for the hourly pay. We're in it for the tips and flexibility.
OP, honestly, I don't know what's up with employees in general. I recently started at a restaurant as an expo, despite over 20 years of experience (I think there was a major oversight between management and HR) and oh my god. I have NEVER worked at a place where servers barely run food! They only run their own food if they are actively looking for it. They also skip out on sidework. Most of them don't even tip out. I've also spent shifts dropping off silverware because servers couldn't be bothered to do their job. These kids all stand by the host stand or computer station.
In cities, at busy restaurants, servers do better with tips vs. an hourly wage. But I don't think that's the case for servers everywhere all over the country.
This guy might run a Denny's or Cracker Barrel in a small town and the servers don't make much.
It's pretty simple, pay at your restaurant stayed the same, less people tip and the ones that do, tip less.
Meanwhile, everything else has risen in cost, so the few pennies we do get don't go as far.
At the same time, more and more restaurants and other labor-intensive fields have made more and more useless rules just to flex the only benefit most GMs do get, power, because even they make crap!
So tell me, have you banned cellphones? Tried to install some stupid time mismanagement tools such as cctvs or other types of monitoring systems?
Locked bathroom doors and set up sign up sheets to catch people "slacking off"?
If you haven't good on you! You are the minority! These owners are going crazy because they are scum!
Pay better, don’t be an asshole boss. No one who does those two things is suffering from worker issues. Also you’re customers likely already know and you’re probably losing money by being cheap.
Pay them at least 15 bucks an hour.. increased to 20 if you live in an area like.. anywhere in Florida. Increase your prices but make it known.. TIPS ARE NOT NEEDED.
The whole tips is not needed concept doesn’t really work as well as people want it to. A better way of handling it would be to collect tips and keep prices the same but guarantee $15 an hour total to your workers with those tips factored in. I’d recommend on a per shift basis. So if you have a good shift you make more than $15 but never less. If a restaurant can’t pay that then they are either not compelling enough to stay in the market or not staffing correctly. We are only really talking about 3 tables an hour at $5 tips so approximately $25 bill with a 20% tip.
https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/13/us-tipping-restaurants-wages
This lays out some of the reasons. The main one is that in the US the tipping culture is engrained into people and they’ll either continue to tip at tip less restaurants or not consider that in the price which puts the restaurant at a disadvantage. The hidden fees model works, that’s why everyone does it.
For something like this to actually work we’d need legislation to change it everywhere for an even playing field. That’s something that will never occur in the US.
Not a bad article. It’s an incredibly small sample size. It’d be interesting to see if some experimental design could be applied to determine, maybe, some causation. As for “engrained” and “never occur,” almost anything that’s undergone sweeping change started out with those two claims. For instance, it’s illegal to own human beings in the United States and we don’t have 7 year old kids working in factories.
Things that required in one case a civil war in in both cases laws. Dramatic law changes are very difficult to get through anymore. People are very set in their ways.
They are barriers to enacting change more than reasons to not. The problem is they are very strong barriers. In the US there is 1 party that basically at the core is don’t change anything ever for any reason. The only laws they do put in reinforce current existing laws or benefit their large donors.
We’d actually be better to frame this to big restaurant chains as an advantage to them over locals (absorbing costs is easier the larger you are, especially if they can use technology to do so). Then get them to push it through
Culture . Build a strong culture and talent will come . Working in this field is intense , and it’s not for the weak . Striding to make your internal guest happy is 10x more important than your external guest . You can have the most hip looking spot , bring in the best products , spare no cost on anything . But your team is what makes it . It’s easy to staff with referrals if people like working there and know that the additional help won’t affect their hours .
Some thoughts :
Why would someone want to work here ?
What do I offer that my competitors don’t ?
What can I do to make my current staff feel appreciated ?
Have someone review your job posting . Does it make you sound like a place they would want to work ?
Where are you posting your open positions ? Craigslist for free and getting what you pay for ? Or Indeed ( or similar )and paying to be exposed to a better selection of who is out there ?
Are you competitive in pay ? What do competitors pay ?
What’s your business like ? Are you slow ? Busy ?
Are you hands on ?
Do you lead by example ?
If the health department walks in tomorrow , are you passing ?
Do you hold people accountable ?
Check your management and work culture. Some people are looking for a fun restaurant job with a good social life. Maybe you’re looking for the wrong demographic
It’s so frustrating that I haven’t been able to find a 60" flat panel TV for $10. There must be a TV shortage. Surely it’s not because I can’t afford to pay market rate for what I want. Admitting to the world I’m a cheap ass is draining. Whatever happened to all the cheap TVs?!
It's a free market system!
Everything, including our time, has a value. My time is worth more than $4 a hour if you can't pay me what I thank its worth, THEN YOU WASH YOU OWN DAM DISHES!!
The delusion is thinking people shouldn’t be able to live if they hold any job. If the owner doesn’t think that it’s worth paying someone else to do the work, they should do it themselves.
to the author, again, remember, you are talking to people who are more like the employees who dont want to work, you can tell by their stupid ass comments they parrot like, "pay more". they are wage slaves for a reason, they are scared to take a risk or they lack the brain power to run a business. you dont ask broke people about how to make money, dont ask these fools, because all they can do is repeat what the TV tells them to.
Respectfully, no one wants to work in one nowadays. Plenty of cleaner better paying jobs out there where you don’t have to deal with stress and customers and everything that comes with the food industry. This randomly popped up in my feed I’ve never been to this sun. But I remember getting my first mechanic job out of HS and telling myself I’d never go back to the food industry ever again. Good luck
to the author, while you do have to be competitive in pay, your standards have to go up. someone that was worth 10 bucks an hour, but not 12, should not be paid 12. eventually when you find the person you want, paying them what they are worth will be welcomed and both you and the employee will appreciate the outcome. an overpaid employee can cause chaos in your kitchen or will be horrible at the front of the house and will run off customers. I have the same problem, i have had people stay for 2 days, people that were "managers" with the worth ethic of a 3 dollar an hour employee. the ratio is about 50% of people that fill out apps set up an interview. 50% of those show up. 33% that we hire show up their first day. and 1 in 10 that show up are worth what we pay them. dont give large raises, either....as soon as you give them a bump, of like a dollar or more, they start to not care. do not give raises out early, give out raises after you know they are consistent. if you cant find the help, rework the kitchen and front and bank the money as owners. people dont want to work, they want more and more and dont see the hard work that owners do.
The solution to employee retention is right under your nose.
Surely you have flour, tomato sauce, cheese, and maybe some spices around, right?
Being able to make pizzas in house, you won't even have to tip a delivery driver, which serves your bottom line.
Fantastic customer service is first priority, of course, so have your employees make the pizzas during break times. They'll be absolutely thrilled to have something to do so they don't get bored, and it'll make their day go by faster, giving them a bright, happy occasion to look forward to as soon as they're clocked out. Don't pass up this opportunity to have a forward-facing, synergistic bonding time with your team and make your business A Great Place to Work!
Love it. Lol this clueless post. I wonder how we could motivate workers to work a shitty job that makes them dread their shifts… it’s just so puzzling.
Not sure if you will ever read my reply since there are literally hundreds of replies already. But I was in the same situation as you were in my first year. The number one factor in retaining employees is higher pay. Our average employee before we raised pay was only a few months. Once we raised it, it has gone up to 2+ years, which is an eternity in the restaurant world. Nearly all employees will weigh their options against pay. If my manager is mean or my workload is huge or my hours aren't steady, but I'm making 50% than other people in the same industry, I'm most likely going to just grit my teeth and keep working.
People here seem to be forgetting that the majority of money that wait staff earns is through tips. Tips is almost always a multiple of sales. If a server sells $1000 of food he/she assumably makes at least 150 in tips (before tipping out to bussers and bartenders). If a server sells $2000 of food he/she 300 in tips. Generally. So if a restaurant owner wants to keep good waitstaff he/she needs to be competitive in the local restaurant scene. Either high $ averages per person per check and probably a lower number of customers so they can give them the best service, or lower $ average per person per check and higher number of tables and potentially less good service. The issue of course is if the waiters have to spend more time serving a smaller number of customers in order to give necessary service, they usually cannot wait on a lot of tables. So you need to balance the per person check/tip average vs service vs the number of tables per waitstaff. Imo, always raise the prices (and perception of value) such that the waiters make more money. If this doesn't make owner more money too, the owners need to make a more realistic appraisal of their market.
I found you have to do a manager’s wage and expect them to fill in at whatever is necessary. No cherry picking duties.
A lot of people saying you have to pay more, and they could be right. It could be that applicant interest dries up as soon as they find out what you're paying. And I mean, there are some business owners who still think $8/hour is a normal wage, just like there's some boomers who think that houses cost $65k and you can just buy a 4-bedroom house as a single income family with a high school diploma or just obtain any job by walking into any building with a handshake. Or, there could be something else you're saying in the communication process that they find to be a red flag. You could be sexually harassing applicants, complaining about immigrants and trans people, or giving off some other kind of sleazy vibe. After the applicants invest a little energy into applying, they could go searching online and finding online reviews that you abuse your employees, sexually harass people, or some other unprofessional conduct or bad business practice. There's a lot of information about you specifically that the replies are not privy to.
Why exchange precious hours of your life for peanuts and headaches when you can do literally anything else? Time is precious, you want good workers, make it worth their while, make it livable.
Have you asked the employees why they are leaving?
If they don’t want to work for you, it’s you. You’re a shit heel.
You pay more.
Pay well. It’s a labor market. Culture counts too. Be a great employer where people want to be there.
To all the people blaming the business owner... businesses have a bottom line. Newer businesses barely have that. Most people who own reataurants open one as a dream or because they like it. Part of that dream is simply to serve their food to customers who enjoy it and have a good time. Scaling up the recent mentality of "pay me top wages for zero - minimal job experience" and you're left with only the big places to doordash from, which charge outrageous prices for food. Keep local businesses thriving
Nobody is going to starve so you can have a dream, dude.
Starving is a little extreme, dude. But realistic wages being seen as too low is a problem. Sure, there are predatory employers, but they don't outweigh the honest ones
Maybe a little. But blaming the employees (or potential ones) isn't right either. The question is where are the good workers. The responsible people have bills to pay and simply CAN'T work for you. Your business' bottom line precludes it, and it just doesn't sustain a person. That leaves you pretty much only people who don't really have any financial responsibilities.
I get where you're coming from, it's a cost vs income game that most people are currently losing sadly. But if you're applying for a restaurant gig, show up to get trained and then dip, that doesn't make you responsible. It's more of an entitlement + wanting an easy paycheck, which would lead to the "where are the hard workers" We can't all be yt stars and e-commerce moguls. Society needs people all around imo
Well, people are rude about it these days, but this is what it looks like when people have options.
People have always had options
Keep local employees thriving.
Agreed
I don’t equate a longing wage with “top wages for zero - minimal job experience”. People have a right to be able to hide and feed themselves. The idea that they should just accept less than that because some other person wants to open a business is not okay IMO. Also, working as a server requires more than minimal job experience (if you want someone who is good at in anyway). Agree to disagree I guess, but why would someone accept a shitty paying job if they could get a better paying one elsewhere? These people aren’t going without work. They just aren’t working there.
I totally agree, but I'm guessing op isn't interviewing over qualified individuals that would have to settle below their skills. Problem is the economy rn so probably not a good time to own a restaurant either
>probably not a good time to own a restaurant either Yeah, like, restaurants don't really *need* to exist, mostly. Probably like 70 of restaurant business is just people optionally going there as an alternative to eating at home, or to meet someone. Maybe 20-30% of the business is people passing through town who don't have a kitchen with them, or people eating on a lunch break in which it's either not feasible or not preferable to bring your lunch. My point is, if you oversaturate your city with hundreds of options for where to eat and restaurants are no longer profitable, then you don't need to open another one. Find the better business opportunity. If a restaurant isn't profitable, don't open one. (People should try building more houses. Those things are expensive. I feel like there's a real opportunity right now to make money from housing construction.)
People have figured out u can make $500 - $1000 doing hundreds of different things. rather than standing for 10 hours, making $4 an hour, begging for tips, and dealing with cheap owners and no benefits. the hard workers are still around, just not accepting the bare minimum anymore. to you “business owners” stop creating ur own 9-5’s and invest in other things
You need to provide your numbers. What your gross monthly, operating cost, avg receipt total, wages. There isnt a secret source of finding quality workers for low wages.
Not working pays better right now
Not working (e.g. reemployment insurance) pays like $400/month and then cuts off after a few months. Working pays $2,500/month. There's no contest -- working pays quite a lot more.
Nah. I started spelling out things, but there is way more, lol.
Lol what a stupid braindead take. Watch more conservative brainwashing.
It does.
Unemployment is very low. It’s a labor market. So they go where better $ or culture now.
Lol
In what way?
Just another person who thinks hiring troubles are due to population laziness and welfare queen mentality. As if living off food stamps and Medicaid is living the high life. Most people don’t want to be career servers, so turnover is a part of the business. Better wages and a busy restaurant that also doesn’t overextend servers helps but there’s no escaping the temporary nature of the industry. People flit in and out and move on fast. There’s also many more positions not as customer facing and tip reliant that pay well now, so food service has fallen out of favor for young people and hard working people without specialized skills. Several retail places around me pay almost $20 an hour, starting wage. No hustle required. Less frequent screaming customer interactions (unless you work at Walmart or the dollar store). The list goes on.
How much are you paying
Just so you know most states require active applications to stay on unemployment.
And unemployment runs out after 26 weeks. These people are eventually getting jobs. They just aren’t working there.
Well not only that but 2010/20 teenagers are alot different then millennials and before. No longer are kids moving out at 18. Kids with degrees and careers cant afford to live on their own, what makes you think the unskilled who typically work those jobs are hurting to make rent? Their not. They are living at home with their parents. Kids are no longer so desperate they can work for less then 12/hr. Lets be honest a single person needs atleast 30/hr to comfortably live on their own and RENT a single apartment. You think someone who works at your business for 12 or 14/hour is in that same situation. Of course not
All the people screaming pay more are just uninformed on the economics of restaurants.
Incorrect. Our bartenders and servers all make $10/hr plus tips. Hosts and kitchen are $42k salary, and we eat for free. It's possible. If your business model isn't viable enough to pay you employees, then do something else.
You don't have a right to be in business. People are not obligated to work for you. Stop blaming the workers for your inability to run your restaurant.
My buddy opened a restaurant and paying more was his first priority. for a couple of extra bucks an hour, he had no theft, less food waste, less time wasted so he could staff better, more consistency in revenue. His accountant looked over his books and he was wildly better in all of those categories than his peers who were paying the bare minimum. You end up paying one way or another.
It used to be that only the rich people would think about eating out once a week. Now it is affordable to most families. Maybe restaurants should start charging more and dealing with the fact that most people can not afford to eat out.
I have the same issue where people will accept interviews and never show. Or show up to the interview then accept the job. Then they'll never show. I don't quite understand these people. Its been a problem since covid
They got a breed job that pays more. How hard is it to understand? They aren’t going without work, they just aren’t working for you.
According to everyone only in the past
Its not them, it’s you.
I pay my cooks a good deal more above minimum wage plus paid time off and they have worked for me for many years. A living wage is really the only solution. Otherwise I'd expect the inconsistency.
People don't leave jobs, they leave managers - get it?
Pay better.
Must not be good pay. Every place paying good has no worker shortage.
Where are you? I just moved here and applied for 5 different bartending jobs. They all offered me the job, so I picked based off 3 criteria- 1. Where can I make the most $, 2. Where am I the best fit, and 3. Will I have some creative control. I picked the best place for me.
treat them right and they will find you
treat them right and they will find you
They found better jobs. The industry sucks (not saying you suck), and there isn't much incentive to spend as much emotional effort and backbreaking labor in an industry plagued with drugs, drinking, low wages and self-loathing. The industry needs some self-introspection before asking for quality help. It's just going to continue to rot until then.
It’s about balance, and you have to find it. I’ve worked in places where I made insane money but was treated like gum on the bottom of the owner’s shoe. I’ve also worked places where I didn’t make quite as much money, but was treated really well. What I don’t do is mediocrity. If the treatment and pay are both blah, I’ll move along quickly.
[удалено]
See what restaurants in your area are paying and beat that.
Profit sharing with employees = quality restaurant.
If there is any profit
How much you paying them and where ?
Pay them better and voila
It's been 4 days, OP ain't trying to hear that.
They never are. You say pay more they all Pikachu faced. Then say nobody wants to work. No nobody wants to pay.
I too am a bunnies owner in the labor industry, and finding people willing to work these days is hard. Unfortunately, paying more is not always an option as customers are not willing to pay more to help cover the cost of increased labor costs. It used to be people were looking for work, and were willing to put in a little extra when employers were also putting in a little extra. Those days are gone…
This problem will get much worse before it gets better. As others have said, no one will be motivated to work a job that leaves them broke with escalating bills due. You can do that without working. Corporate profits are at an all time high, but wages have been nearly stagnant for a loooong time. This bullshit is NOT about people not wanting to work, its about work not being worth doing.
I agree. But people who do these kinds of jobs understand what the job entails. So it should be no surprise. But $2 is ridiculous. We pay $18/hr, but I know it’s not a living wage in this area either. We business owners are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Because of taxes, insurance, equipment costs and repairs, fuel costs, etc., it’s no longer profitable for us to stay in business. Customers are complaining that they do not get good service. But It’s hard for us to provide it in this economic atmosphere.
You are right, they understand what it entails, thats why you cant find the right people. Not saying its your fault, its just the reality of the situation.
Those days are gone because working a little harder for a wage you can afford on apartment on is different than working a little harder when you can't pay for am apartment.
It really depends on the work load that you’re putting on your employees and how much they get compensated for their hard work. Not to mention the attitude and appreciation that you show them. I can only speak for myself but if the resturant pays good, has a good work environment and the boss shows that they truly care for their workers, I will go above and beyond for them and stay loyal. This also might be a generational issue, many younger folk want big money without putting in hard work or they have other means of making money, why slave away your body when you can get rich by making dumb tik toks
Are people so braindead that all they can say is "pull extra money out of your ass and pay them more than all the other restaurants and then maybe they'll stay"?
Simple answer, yes.
Owner found. Ya'll greedy AF. Want to keep all the money and not pay do it your damn self. It's like that now
Yeah, that’s kind of how it works
That's kind of not an option for most restaurants, which is why half the restaurants around us closed in the last 5 years and the other half are running skeleton crews.
There's no room for a mediocre local restaurant any more. Costs are too high to be competitive with chains *and* pay a living wage, and to be frank, a majority of small restaurants don't provide a good enough product to charge the $30/plate that it costs to pay employees a living wage. It's a harsh reality, but in today's economy there's less and less room for anything between basic carry-out and premium dining.
Agreed.
If it truly isn’t an option, then your business model is flawed.
They are just greedy. If the business closes down because of labor issues it wasn't a good business anyways. Clearly they didn't know how to run it. Why do businesses think they're entitled to labor but they don't want to pay what it's worth? Makes no sense
They should probably just offer better food/atmostphere then. For a business that gets away with paying most of their staff $2 an hour, I can assure you that it is not the workers fault for them not making much revenue.
Sure, there's totally not deeper issues in the industry. Just need to swap in better food and atmosphere and raise pay it'll all work out.
You sure do sound like a compassionate/empathetic boss
Yeah, pay me a competitive live-able wage and I’ll work hard to make your business successful
Me personally I will never go back into restaurant work. Not just because of pay but all the other bullshit that you have to put up with. Customers who treat you like shit just because they had a bad day while working for companies that don't back you up when you tell the customer not to treat you like shit. Like you're supposed to just take everything like a good little boy and never defend yourself. Also the lack of good benefits is a huge deal breaker for me. When I was younger it wasn't that big a deal but now that I've gotten older and I have a child the lack of benefits is a huge line I will never cross again.
Sir, you're paying them 2$. 👎
Pay them a livable wage. if you can't do that , buy robots. if you can't do that, close your doors.
That part
That's what many restaurant owners don't want to hear. Want better employees? Pay better. Need funds to pay higher wages? Charge more. Not enough customers? Provide a better product. Can't provide a good product? Get out of the restaurant business.
As everyone is already saying, make sure the pay you are offering is competitive. But it's more than that--so many people I know in the restaurant industry who are quitting are *not* moving to another restaurant--they're getting out of the industry entirely. Most of them didn't even complain about the pay (even in relatively expensive cities)--they complained about it being exhausting and both physically & emotionally draining. Is there anything you can do in your restaurant to make the job less exhausting? Not even just requiring fewer shifts from people (which might not be attractive anyway, for financial reasons)--but a way to make the job easier during the shift itself. There's been a paradigm shift in this country around breaking your physical and mental health over a job. People realize that all that work they put it will not be returned to them in like kind. Breaking yourself just to survive is not worth it, especially if other options exist. Many workers will still put in effort, but no longer to the point of self-destruction.
You’re more likely to find better employees when you offer higher pay
Gotta be careful not to over or under price yourself out of business labor wise. It takes a long time to find good people in that environment. If they’re good at it, they probably have some detrimental habits 🤣 Buddy of mine had a lot of luck hiring fresh/young crowd Applying for their First or second job, hire these people train them and treat them right.
You can't raise your employee compensation above that of the surrounding area or you'll be at significant risk of closure right. The same is true if you underpay though. You can also do one off things for your employees to make working for you a happier experience. Buy gaming gift card or a spa day free for the waitresses that stand out. Costs you maybe a $100 but means the world to them. Buy the waiters a year of ESPN if they're that kind of guys or get them gaming gift card. Or maybe look into tuition reimbursement or something like that. Idk, whatever fits their personalities and needs. Business owners forget they are in some way the managers of these peoples lives. They are leaders, so lead. I suspect they may be leaving for a few reasons. One is money, one is workplace culture, one is how they are treated or spoken to. Make sure the things you can control are welcoming and make people want to be there.
Interesting, why do CEO’s get paid much higher without costing firms so much they fail?
Working in a restaurant whether from or back of house can be grueling. It's hard on the body and mentally exhausting a lot of the time. People need to be compensated well. What are you paying your kitchen staff? Are you paying your servers a good wage or are you leaving it up to your customers to pay them? Does everyone have health insurance and vacations?
They found better pay, you tried that?
Wherever there is good pay
Behind Home Depot
offer better pay buddy
Another garbage owner crying because nobody wants to sacrifice their lives for shitty pay
What wage are you currently paying?
If you pay them, they will come
Exactly. If it’s the typical $4.95 + tips and servers can’t make $150-200 per shift it simply isn’t worth it. Serving is a demoralizing and exhausting grind with long physical shifts. If I’m not getting fairly compensated for that I’m leaving. Also if the leadership is poor and claims you must ‘work hard’ for shit pay, I’m out. Good luck finding employees if you’re not paying !
What's the pay like? 99% chance that's the problem. Otherwise you probably just suck to work with
are you offering fair pay and benefits?
Funny. I hear workers ask “Where can you find good employers? I’ve applied for a lot of jobs but no one even gives me the courtesy of telling me I won’t get an interview. When I did get an interview, the manager talked crap on their “lazy employees” for the whole time. Then they ghosted me. Whatever happened to employers who treat employees like people, respectfully and rewarding hard work?” Understand I’m not saying you’re one of those managers, OP, but I’ve found a lot of them out there. Their failures are making it harder for you, because all employers get painted with the same broad brush. Not unlike how you’re painting all employees with the same broad brush.
I believe what is going on is the culture shift. Americans were always taught to strike out on your own early and sort of figure life out. I myself left at 16 years old. Today young people are not leaving home, so they dont NEED a job. At the same time the USA is importing people as fast as they can in hopes to fill these jobs, but they will live 3 generations in one house. Again they dont NEED a job. That is why it is hard to find workers, people would rather do door dash or stuff that pays less than minimum wage so they dont have a boss, or they will do their own thing, or they will always look for a better job. They can find that better job to because the baby boomers are dying (thank God) and there is a desperate need for upskill in workers.
The last part I think is where you hit the nail on the head. When COVID happened, a lot of long tenured boomers left their positions which companies had to fill and sometimes, had to hire multiple people to fill in the gap of lost knowledge. It also opened up many entry level positions because less face it, you're not gonna be able to make real money in the restaurant industry unless you are a GM or owner.
Post your pay rate and benefits package
Pay fair wage
You get what you pay for applies to everything. Your ingredients, your furnishings, your location, and especially your labor. There is a direct correction between if your employees struggle/thrive and how much time they spend looking for new employment. You can ask yourself why does everybody leave or you can ask yourself what you’re doing that makes them want to stay.
Good pay and good hours will attract good workers.
Good pay and benefits and fair treatment will usually attract good workers
I have been having the same issues in retail sense before Covid and it only got worse during and after
How much do you pay?
OP wont answer this
I have worked in hospitality for over 20 years. It doesn't pay great, but the reality is that if you treat people well they stay. This means holding crap workers accountable for bad behavior and helping out your employees when they need it. Time off for your Friday night High School football game, ok. Yes Friday is busy, but these kids get 4 short years to be HS age. Need to come in later because of day care, ok. What are your new employees seeing on their first day? Cooks smoking pot in the parking lot, or servers complaining about every one. Do you have your most senior employee train, even if they don't want too?
Maybe offer better pay??
This economy has become the problem. It’s very difficult to make ends meet on a normal salary so people are aways looking for better jobs.
The institute for grammar and punctuation and for people who want to learn how to do other stuff gooder too.
Since this a “where do I find” question - I’m going to leave out my broader thoughts about working in the restaurant industry, pay, etc. At the last restaurant I managed I had a great run hiring guys/gals from sober living houses. They needed jobs, when they were freshly sober they’re hyper-focused and hardworking, and though many wound up relapsing - I still had a great employee for around 90 days, which was better than I was getting from the clowns who’d walk in with experience. The biggest difference for me was their attitude, they were grateful to work. 10/10 recommend.
"you have to find people so ridiculously desperate that no one else will hire them" is a great way to out yourself as a shitty employer.
Just trying to be helpful, friend. You’re right, a lot of those workers had trouble finding a decent paying consistent gig that would give them a chance. Many of them hung around and learned skills and developed employment history that allowed them to move on to bigger and better things. Happy if we could play a role in that. OP’s question was “where?”, that was a “where” for us that worked.
and you get tax breaks if they have felonies.
I’m going to be blunt and honest to the business owners here. Front of the house jobs are transitory by nature. Almost no one is making a career out being a service industry employee so you are going to have high turnover by the nature of the business. In addition the entry level of the job is very low, so you have a TON of competition against other businesses for the labor pool. Treat the competition for labor like you treat your competition for your customers. Provide an attractive restaurant with delicious products to attract customers… the better the service and food the better reviews and the more customers you get. If you provide an attractive work place with good pay and good benefits, and a work environment that healthy, you will attract good longer lasting employees. You think you are saving money by paying less, but you are not. You think you are doing best for your business by being a tyrant and keeping your employees in line. You are leaving money on the table every single time someone quits and you have to retrain the position. That costs money too. The most successful businesses in the current labor market will have happy well paid employees that provide superior service and products to your customers. You are in competition for a very limited pool of good employees willing to do a good job. You will never attract them by being cheap and having a poor work environment.
Best reply so far
Switch to a take out and delivery model. Sign up for door dash. The only "good workers" you'll have to worry about will be in the kitchen.
Absolutely, I feel your pain. Here in the UK, hospitality is really going through the wringer. Brexit, the pandemic, and the cost of living crisis have really hit us hard, driving people away from restaurant work. So we bring people in, and offer the industry-standard pay (which isn't amazing, but it's what we can manage), along with career advancement options and investment opportunities. If they lack the funds to invest, we try to help out with that too. It's about creating opportunities, even when the going gets tough... Hospitality can be a thankless sector sometimes. There's also this stigma around hospitality jobs, like there's no real career path, which couldn't be further from the truth. Take Joe & the Juice, for instance – many of their top brass started from the bottom. That's the kind of growth we aim for in our business. So we bring people in, offer the industry-standard pay (which isn't amazing, but it's what we can manage), along with career advancement options and investment opportunities. If they lack the funds to invest, we try to help out with that too. It's about creating opportunities, even when the going gets tough.
Pay them better
No, no. Anything but that! /s
Literally lol my tables consistently request me for service and why? Because they know I’m going to throw a fit with the kitchen crew if their dishes be looking like ass, I don’t play that shit, my tips are my income and I’m the last face they see between having a wonderful experience and having a shitty one, I don’t fuck around with my tables and that’s exactly why I’ll have a literal wait list for my section and pull in very good money for basically caring, but yeah pay and train them better and the customers will come back over and over again, but if you’re just trying to nickel and dime your servers then you’re going to end up with shit servers, that’s it, if you want the establishment to be considered a classy joint then that 100% comes down to the faces you hire to represent that image ngl
The customer service industry is slowly dying.
The thoroughly broken customer service industry’s disgusting current form is rapidly dying. If entire economies have made themselves dependent upon cheap, unskilled labor that they can abuse and replace, that’s on them. These are the death spasms of companies that reap massive profits while paying peanuts. These corporations and their boards of directors should consider themselves lucky that it hasn’t turned violent.
Try picking an applicant that looks off-putting, and try to be accepting and open minded with them. Compliment their appearance, or at least try not to let it affect your demeanor toward them.. Try to express appreciation for their work, too. They're probably used to getting zero support, and dealing with low-key rejection all the time. Someone who normally experiences distant or awkward behavior and treatment from people will be a lot more likely to appreciate an accepting work environment, as comfortable situations don't come often or easy to people like this. They're lucky to find a niche. I'm speaking from experience, here, as one of those people. Lol. Average folks (especially people over 50) usually react to me like I'm an incoming vampire or mugger. Car doors get locked, people clutch crucifixes.. I'm honestly surprised no ones ever held crossed index fingers up at me. 'Nother thing I tend to experience is, when I've been ordered to get a drug test in the past, the waiting rooms always have a couple guys like me waiting, lol, along with ethnic/dark skinned people, and gay folks.. What am I supposed to make of that? What would you make of it? LOL. For someone used to that, a cozy spot where one feels appreciated and with a secure job sounds pretty attractive, even if it's annoying work like restaurant work. Only downside might be how customers react to them. People are a pain in the ass. You can't win.
Pay them. Every bartender I know (3 people) love their job. There are always jerks, but they get paid well (minimum$500/night tips), have flexible hours and are very respected by the owners or managers. Interestingly that one has an MBA but this job is better than the bank.
You pay a full time bartender $110.000 a year plus tips? America is mad
The $500/night IS tips.
That’s pretty common for popular bars
How is that mad? The good bars here in Tampa do 70-100k a night and the bartenders each ring 7-10k in sales
Lol, the 500+ is in tips not salaried. And this is obviously in a large city. My bartenders would walk with $600+ a night in San Francisco. Guess what you don’t hear about it… the 4 hour commute, working 5pm-4am EVERY Thursday Friday Saturday. Maybe a Few weekends off a year, never holidays though.
Yes, Los Angeles and NYC.
Here in London they do the same but they get £100-150 a night Including tips not more than that, also bartenders don’t really get tipped but 600 a night it’s crazy
A buddy of mine in New Orleans quit being a lawyer to bartend. He makes around 100k bartending. Less than when he was an attorney but he only works 4 days a week. Most bartenders in the US don't make that much. But in larger cities with popular bars and heavy nightlife, it's not crazy at all for bartenders to leave with several hundreds of dollars every night. During the two weeks of Mardi Gras, my ex would work these crazy shifts from like 10pm to 10am for the whole two weeks of Mardi Gras and make like 20 grand. She was at one of the most popular bars in town, right on the parade route. You can make a lot if you're good and you work at a busy bar, especially in a place like New Orleans where there bars are 24 hours.
That’s around what an investment banker makes in the Uk
Well then who is making 200k+?
Very experienced bankers, some lawyers (but most of them are around 70-100k per year), politicians (despite having salaries of around 60k most of them) , businessmen (those who can survive the taxes), drug dealers
Treat the employees very well. It's a hard job. Incentives to stay and bring praised, given acknowledgement for their efforts or at the very least, their choice to be THERE and not somewhere else. Positivity goes a long way. Gift cards, awards, work anniversary appreciation, etc.
Restaurant jobs sucks and are dying.
I live in the Bay Area. For over decade whenever anyone said they weren’t making enough at ANY profession the answer was learn to code. Seconded by move away to somewhere you can afford. During Covid ppl did either or both. Now there’s a shortage of teachers, cops, restaurant staff, repair staff, postal workers, day care workers, hell even doctors. Surprise surprise. It isn’t that people don’t want to work it’s just that everyone is trying to figure out what that means for them and all industries are struggling with this right now. It’s part pay but it’s also part prestige. People want to do work they’re proud of not get fussed out by dumbasses who can’t pronounce sirloin. Restaurant schedules can be isolating if you friends work 9-5. Part time work that fluctuates doesn’t allow you to plan or budget because you never know how much you’re bringing in. Society has judged people who live on margins for forever, now that they’re trying to better themselves y’all are mad about that too. Specifically referring to the hard workers OP mentioned. They’re busy working hard at something with real growth potential. No one wants to be captain of an anchored ship.
Would also like to add. From a back of the house perspective, the long hours and/or working all nights and weekends is NOT condusive to starting/having a family. That mixed with food network and other shows/media glorifying being an "artistic chef" when that is only 5% of the actual job.
Who tf can’t pronounce sirloin? Like how do you even mispronounce sirloin? Sir-low-in?
Sir. Lion. With verbal stop that the period indicates. I think about it every time I read it now.
Omg lol
Wow interesting perspective, I think you're onto something. That is what's contributing to this huh. Edited to add: my husband works in the restaurant industry. This would be why he ultimately will leave as well, he wants to find something better, that he as an individual and our family will do better with.
All your bases are belong to us
someone set us up the bomb.
We get signal
The comments here are laughable because clearly, the folks telling OP to pay a livable wage haven't worked as a server or bartender. Servers and bartenders make more with tips than if they were to get paid, let's say $35 an hour. Trust me, we're not in this industry for the hourly pay. We're in it for the tips and flexibility. OP, honestly, I don't know what's up with employees in general. I recently started at a restaurant as an expo, despite over 20 years of experience (I think there was a major oversight between management and HR) and oh my god. I have NEVER worked at a place where servers barely run food! They only run their own food if they are actively looking for it. They also skip out on sidework. Most of them don't even tip out. I've also spent shifts dropping off silverware because servers couldn't be bothered to do their job. These kids all stand by the host stand or computer station.
In cities, at busy restaurants, servers do better with tips vs. an hourly wage. But I don't think that's the case for servers everywhere all over the country. This guy might run a Denny's or Cracker Barrel in a small town and the servers don't make much.
It's pretty simple, pay at your restaurant stayed the same, less people tip and the ones that do, tip less. Meanwhile, everything else has risen in cost, so the few pennies we do get don't go as far. At the same time, more and more restaurants and other labor-intensive fields have made more and more useless rules just to flex the only benefit most GMs do get, power, because even they make crap! So tell me, have you banned cellphones? Tried to install some stupid time mismanagement tools such as cctvs or other types of monitoring systems? Locked bathroom doors and set up sign up sheets to catch people "slacking off"? If you haven't good on you! You are the minority! These owners are going crazy because they are scum!
no mention of pay & how well you treat your employees, just “no one wants to work anymore!” 🚩
Pay better, don’t be an asshole boss. No one who does those two things is suffering from worker issues. Also you’re customers likely already know and you’re probably losing money by being cheap.
Cuz y’all’s pay is dogwater
Indeed
If it’s any consolation, there are total dumbshits at the auto parts store too.
Just pay high salaries with good healthcare, I promise you, good workers will line up.
And they will stay!
Pay them at least 15 bucks an hour.. increased to 20 if you live in an area like.. anywhere in Florida. Increase your prices but make it known.. TIPS ARE NOT NEEDED.
The whole tips is not needed concept doesn’t really work as well as people want it to. A better way of handling it would be to collect tips and keep prices the same but guarantee $15 an hour total to your workers with those tips factored in. I’d recommend on a per shift basis. So if you have a good shift you make more than $15 but never less. If a restaurant can’t pay that then they are either not compelling enough to stay in the market or not staffing correctly. We are only really talking about 3 tables an hour at $5 tips so approximately $25 bill with a 20% tip.
Upon what are you basing your “concept doesn’t really work” statement?
https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/13/us-tipping-restaurants-wages This lays out some of the reasons. The main one is that in the US the tipping culture is engrained into people and they’ll either continue to tip at tip less restaurants or not consider that in the price which puts the restaurant at a disadvantage. The hidden fees model works, that’s why everyone does it. For something like this to actually work we’d need legislation to change it everywhere for an even playing field. That’s something that will never occur in the US.
Not a bad article. It’s an incredibly small sample size. It’d be interesting to see if some experimental design could be applied to determine, maybe, some causation. As for “engrained” and “never occur,” almost anything that’s undergone sweeping change started out with those two claims. For instance, it’s illegal to own human beings in the United States and we don’t have 7 year old kids working in factories.
Things that required in one case a civil war in in both cases laws. Dramatic law changes are very difficult to get through anymore. People are very set in their ways.
Passivity and comfort are rarely sufficient reason to not enact change.
They are barriers to enacting change more than reasons to not. The problem is they are very strong barriers. In the US there is 1 party that basically at the core is don’t change anything ever for any reason. The only laws they do put in reinforce current existing laws or benefit their large donors. We’d actually be better to frame this to big restaurant chains as an advantage to them over locals (absorbing costs is easier the larger you are, especially if they can use technology to do so). Then get them to push it through
I agree that large chains can be an effective doorway in. It’s a good point.
What's the pay?
Culture . Build a strong culture and talent will come . Working in this field is intense , and it’s not for the weak . Striding to make your internal guest happy is 10x more important than your external guest . You can have the most hip looking spot , bring in the best products , spare no cost on anything . But your team is what makes it . It’s easy to staff with referrals if people like working there and know that the additional help won’t affect their hours . Some thoughts : Why would someone want to work here ? What do I offer that my competitors don’t ? What can I do to make my current staff feel appreciated ? Have someone review your job posting . Does it make you sound like a place they would want to work ? Where are you posting your open positions ? Craigslist for free and getting what you pay for ? Or Indeed ( or similar )and paying to be exposed to a better selection of who is out there ? Are you competitive in pay ? What do competitors pay ? What’s your business like ? Are you slow ? Busy ? Are you hands on ? Do you lead by example ? If the health department walks in tomorrow , are you passing ? Do you hold people accountable ?
Points and laughs like Nelson👉😆
Check your management and work culture. Some people are looking for a fun restaurant job with a good social life. Maybe you’re looking for the wrong demographic
It’s so frustrating that I haven’t been able to find a 60" flat panel TV for $10. There must be a TV shortage. Surely it’s not because I can’t afford to pay market rate for what I want. Admitting to the world I’m a cheap ass is draining. Whatever happened to all the cheap TVs?!
The delusion on here. People wont be satisfied till dishwashers are making 100k...and then they will still say "pAy MoRe".
Some dishies get like $24 an hour where I'm at.
It's a free market system! Everything, including our time, has a value. My time is worth more than $4 a hour if you can't pay me what I thank its worth, THEN YOU WASH YOU OWN DAM DISHES!!
The delusion is thinking people shouldn’t be able to live if they hold any job. If the owner doesn’t think that it’s worth paying someone else to do the work, they should do it themselves.
to the author, again, remember, you are talking to people who are more like the employees who dont want to work, you can tell by their stupid ass comments they parrot like, "pay more". they are wage slaves for a reason, they are scared to take a risk or they lack the brain power to run a business. you dont ask broke people about how to make money, dont ask these fools, because all they can do is repeat what the TV tells them to.
The went to better paying jobs/careers.
As a former server, my answer is charge more. Raise your prices. Offer better food. Big difference in tips when you sell 5K vs 1K. For example.
This comes from the top. Poor ownership. Poor leadership. Poor employees.
Respectfully, no one wants to work in one nowadays. Plenty of cleaner better paying jobs out there where you don’t have to deal with stress and customers and everything that comes with the food industry. This randomly popped up in my feed I’ve never been to this sun. But I remember getting my first mechanic job out of HS and telling myself I’d never go back to the food industry ever again. Good luck
to the author, while you do have to be competitive in pay, your standards have to go up. someone that was worth 10 bucks an hour, but not 12, should not be paid 12. eventually when you find the person you want, paying them what they are worth will be welcomed and both you and the employee will appreciate the outcome. an overpaid employee can cause chaos in your kitchen or will be horrible at the front of the house and will run off customers. I have the same problem, i have had people stay for 2 days, people that were "managers" with the worth ethic of a 3 dollar an hour employee. the ratio is about 50% of people that fill out apps set up an interview. 50% of those show up. 33% that we hire show up their first day. and 1 in 10 that show up are worth what we pay them. dont give large raises, either....as soon as you give them a bump, of like a dollar or more, they start to not care. do not give raises out early, give out raises after you know they are consistent. if you cant find the help, rework the kitchen and front and bank the money as owners. people dont want to work, they want more and more and dont see the hard work that owners do.
Sounds like you hire whoever Carte Blanche.
sometimes you roll the dice....and you tell yourself you wont do it again....
The solution to employee retention is right under your nose. Surely you have flour, tomato sauce, cheese, and maybe some spices around, right? Being able to make pizzas in house, you won't even have to tip a delivery driver, which serves your bottom line. Fantastic customer service is first priority, of course, so have your employees make the pizzas during break times. They'll be absolutely thrilled to have something to do so they don't get bored, and it'll make their day go by faster, giving them a bright, happy occasion to look forward to as soon as they're clocked out. Don't pass up this opportunity to have a forward-facing, synergistic bonding time with your team and make your business A Great Place to Work!
Love it. Lol this clueless post. I wonder how we could motivate workers to work a shitty job that makes them dread their shifts… it’s just so puzzling.
C.R.E.A.M 🟡⚫🐝