Topic check! :)
 

The thread is about server shortages in the food or restaurant business. It has been veering off that topic. If you want to discuss sociological, legal, political or economic ramifications/reason in general please find or start an appropriate thread in OMNI.

Thanks!

cblaisd & iluv2fly, Co-Moderators

We've been served! Back to getting or not getting service!

David

We had dinner at the closest Miller’s Ale House tonight. The place was packed, as usual, with no apparent shortage of servers or bartenders. We sat at the bar which afforded a view into a well staffed kitchen.

Contrast that with Home Depot next door. There was a single cashier in the garden center along with three self service check-outs. Many of us were there to buy heavy bags of stone, mulch, dirt and fertilizer. No loading assistance was available. I was one of 6 seniors toting heavy bags from pallet to trunk. No immediate heart attacks observed.

We are going to a robot burger eatery tomorrow. It’s in Westlake mall of Daly City where most other eateries are human-staffed including cheffed. Thankfully they also have chicken tenders and salads (for me). I believe we order on our phones; I just downloaded the app. I cannot believe this is happening.

Danger, danger, Will Robinson!

:D

Is there a robot to complain to when your burger is over cooked?

Just make sure the burger meat is cow-based and you'll be fine.

David

I hope the app provides some tasty hot cluck for your buck.

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Ate at Red Lobster for the first time this year. Mid-day lunches during the week are usually like old folks day. Had 3-4 servers working a dozen tables. I rarely eat any of their AYCE deals, but decided to try their $17.99 shrimp special. Their grilled skewers of shrimp were especially good. None were bad at all, I got an order of each of the 4 types. The Coconut shrimp was a bit too sweet for me.

The garden salad I got as my side, was just the right size. For some reason, I really like their salads. The rice under my shrimp skewers was tasteless.

Usually this location has a couple of college students or mid 20’s servers. Other than the hostess, everyone I saw was in their 30’s and 40’s.

Lunch at a local deli. Two servers covering the entire room. I don’t know what time our server started but she said she had 10 1/2 hours left to go on her shift. Both servers were moving fast and service was excellent. Most tables are two-tops. It’s hard work with an average tip probably no more than $5 a table. But attitudes were exceptional.

How many tables in the room and are they 2 seat / 4 seat mostly or some larger tops?

David

A dozen tables maybe, no more than 15, plus a counter with 4-6 stools. A few tables would seat 4 but this being retirement-land, all tables are occupied by couples with maybe one single. No table seats more than 4.

In addition to a full sandwich menu, breakfast is served all day. We were in and out in about 50 minutes.

sounds like $30/hour for tips if it’s steady and busy. Or if only 6 hours are full busy and other 6 hours are half busy, I’ll still venture $20/hour for tips. Isn’t that decent there?

Yes, it beats the $12-13 fast food wage. I have no idea how steady business is. It was our first visit.

Went to get pizza before the baseball game and noticed the now ubiquitous "help wanted" sign; the restaurant was staffed by a single cashier and one pizza cook. It wasn't very busy, but I could see where if I had gotten there with any kind of a queue, it probably would have been a long wait.

Recently, at least it doesn't too bad in SF right now, and Harris's Steakhouse & House of Prime Rib both seem very well staffed, at least for now. Morton's, though, a little on the light side, at least from untrained eyes, since, aside from eating, I know absolutely zero about the restaurant business.

This is what isn't computing for me. An average of $25/hour in most parts of the country is well above the "living wage" so many are complaining about. We went to a small Mexican joint Saturday night. I can't remember for sure but I think the tip was around $18 (we had a couple margaritas), and we were there for just over an hour. The restaurant seemed well staffed so not sure how many tables our server had. But even if she only had 3, it's very likely she made $50/hour that night in tips at least from 5-9 pm. I realize that Wednesday night might not be as lucrative, but if you can average even $25/hour, that's not bad. It's becoming clearer to me that a "living wage" won't solve the problem, in fact it may make the shortage worse if servers feel they're taking a pay cut. I'd love to see a move to a non-tipping experience at restaurants, but that may not be practical given how much servers make in tips. Not to mention that many don't claim 100% on taxes...

You need to remember that not everyone will tip, and of those who do, not everyone tips well. I've known people who have tipped $2 on a $90+ tip, etc. Plus, servers may have to tip bartenders and hosts, so the $50/hour in tips they receive is reduced.

I'd assume the non-tippers and good tippers balance each other out. Good point about the tip-outs though. And of course there's a difference between a cheaper Mexican restaurant in my example and if we had gone to a steakhouse, where I'd expect our tip to have been more like $40-50.

I think some days, they do balance out, other days, servers will have a run of non-tippers, and won't see much after tip outs.

I recently moved and picked up a bartending job to make a few bucks and occupy time while getting my main gig going in my new location. If the restaurant I'm at were busy all the time I could make well over $50/hr in tips but with ups/downs in volume I average about $20/hr (+ my hourly wage). The place is kind of an average sports bar type place. Upscale places I know servers/bartenders can my hundreds a night or more and, of course, there are low end places where they make little or nothing. With all the credit card tips these days tipped employees aren't able to avoid much of their taxes.

I dropped by Shake Shack recently for pick up and noticed, of course, a help wanted sign offering $20 an hour to anyone willing to apply. If restaurant servers are making a similar wage along with the added 5% o 6% healthcare benefits, while only speaking for myself, I'm returning to reducing my tips accordingly in the Bay Area. While I certainly don't mind tipping and appreciate our tipping culture, it was meant to help make ends meet, not to rocket an average wage up to $30 per hour.

Definitely the case. And a good example of why I dislike the living wage argument as long as tipping is in place. There are two industry scenarios -- either this is an entry level or part time job, or it's a career. If it's the former, occupied by high school and college students, aspiring actors, people who want a second gig, a living wage isn't necessary. For those people that see it as a career, the $20/hr is not a bad entry level job. They aren't supposed to stay there for their whole career, but aspire to move to higher end restaurants where their hourly wage increases. As I think I've written before, I had friends in college who made more working 2-3 shifts per week at a high end restaurant than I did my first 5 years out of college in a professional job. Several worked at Bob Chinn's (famous in the Chicago area) where a table of 4 with drinks could typically have a before-tax dinner check of $200-$250. I recall on busy weekends they would bring home thousands of dollars, and this was in the early 90's. They had all climbed the ladder, starting out in lower paying server jobs in high school, which enabled them to get hired at a higher end restaurant.

Dinner tonight at the nearest Italian place. We sat in the bar and the restaurant was packed. The bartender had to cover the bar, half the tables (4-5) and takeout. Needless to say, service was poor. Not his fault though so we didn’t penalize him.

Sigh my beloved arizmendi bakery is closed 8 more days. I’ll get a cookie for my child elsewhere Sigh
i often get corn cherry scone, chocolate chip cookies, other bread treats. Their pizza is good and I rarely get it because I still can cook pizza even if I’m not currently cooking much pizza.


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It's kind of crazy. We've had a mass exit from my company in the last few months. What at first looked like it was mainly a hospitality industry issue (and a little bit retail) now has to be viewed in terms of the broader job marketplace. Surprisingly, the restaurants we've been to in the last month or so seem to have been well staffed, but now we're starting to see it hit other local businesses.

On a side note, the famous Bob Chinn's recently announced it was shutting down for about a month. They said it was due to the new Cook County requirement to prove vaccination for restaurant entry. I believe that was the final straw, but it seemed like they had been struggling with both staffing and supply chain for a while now. Hopefully they get things figured out and reopen -- and restore the quality they were once known for. But it wouldn't surprise me if they don't. These other issues layered on top of staffing issues may be the end of a lot of restaurants.

Our nearest neighborhood sit down chain restaurant has reopened after, I think, a year’s closure. It’s a Beef O’Brady’s. I don’t know the facts, but the rumor was everyone quit due to lack of business and low pay. The restaurant has been taken over by a franchisee from a nearby town. We will be trying it out Thursday night. I have no idea what to expect but will keep expectations low. I’m not a huge fan of the concept but I want this place to be successful because it’s the nearest bar to my house where I can sit and order food when I’ve had enough to drink, and they actually serve something I would consider drinking and eating.

First of its Kind "Cava Digital Kitchen" to Debut in Sandy Springs, Georgia
 

Cava is introducing a new type of restaurant that doesn't need Servers according to this article:andLink: Tomorrow's News Today - [EXCLUSIVE] First of its Kind "Cava Digital Kitchen" to Debut in Sandy Springs (February 23, 2022)
pizza takeout places

I'm a little unclear on this. Does the customer walk up to a counter to get their food when it's ready?
If so, this seems like a typical fast-casual setup but without the human cashier. Even Panera now has cell phone or kiosk ordering and you just pickup at the counter, although they still have a human cashier as an option. Am I understanding the setup correctly?

Sounds like it. All ordering is done via app or call.... then you go pick it up....

all the fast food places here now have apps although they also have in-store ordering as well.

Thanks, but, no thanks.

Read about a survey yesterday, and forgot who did it. But they found 72% of people who quit during the "great resignation" regretted it. The context was that the grass wasn't always greener in the new job.

Not necessarily related in any way, but in November last year we were personally seeing server/staff shortages everywhere. We didn't go out much in December because COVID struck the household, but in 2022 we haven't seen it at all, and have in fact had really good service the last few times we've gone out. Maybe restaurants have figured out how to deal with it, maybe now the extra federal benefits and holidays are over, or maybe the "regret" mentioned above. Or maybe all three and a few other factors, but I almost forgot it was a thing until I saw a new post here a few days ago. Wondering what people are seeing in other areas?

I feel kind of bad for service staff, but at the same time, I have no plans to dine out or have drinks out anytime soon... the one time I went for drinks during covid, the place I went to had nearly doubled their prices (not sure whether supply chain scarcity / "covid tax" / etc.)... so screw that.

We're definitely eating out less often due to inflationary prices. Yesterday, I picked up two Reubens with chips from a local deli for lunch, as I figured we should eat corned beef...$37...and that wasn't holiday pricing. It's not stopping us from going where we want, just doing it less often. I haven't yet seen it impact drink prices, but it's not like booze has ever been cheap in the Chicago area anyway. But I would refuse to eat anywhere that makes up some kind of surcharge, whether it's attributed to COVID, inflation, health care rules, etc. Fortunately it's not common here.

while I enjoyed the joys and value of at-home cooking during pandemic, I definitely just better appreciate restaurant dining & drinking. My last dive bar bill was $29 for 2 pints, one g&t, and a $10 tip because my friend and I were the ONLY patrons at 6p! Then a mad dash for book club with more drinking.
but I’m tipping 25% more than ever before - I used to just do 20%.

I kind of miss the greater value of take-out that we did a couple times a week at the height of the pandemic. Pouring your own beer and wine at home is a big money saver. But I can’t resist the pleasure I get from sitting at a bar. We will usually engage nearby drinkers in conversation. And almost inevitably end up ordering food as well. However, we are doing it once a week now, on average. We were already generous tippers and little changes that, except poor service attributable to the server (not the kitchen or other patrons or management, for example).

My wife has dinner out planned for my birthday, the first one since months before COVID started (if not close to a year before), to a rural restaurant that's (long been) only open for 1 sitting per evening just 4 days a week (so the "A" team is always on). We haven't been there in nearly 7 years so interesting to see the changes.

This is why I don't feel bad for the servers. I think generally people are being more generous and the servers are making money. I know I'm tipping a little more, just because we're so happy to be sitting inside a restaurant (it's been all over the place here over the last two years). The only time I feel bad for the servers is when they're being required to enforce mask rules or vaccine mandates. You could tell they were not comfortable with it, even when customers were trying to be totally compliant with the rules. Hopefully, those things are behind us now.

Of course, except for the 1 in 10 zealots out there, who would want or enforce this with any enthusiasm? For the life of me, I still find it astonishing the FA Union wanted the Fed mask Exec Order, and can only assume that during the spur of the moment, they were incapable or unwilling to understand the notion of unintended consequences.

From today's NumLock News:

During this past session of state legislatures, at least 10 states introduced or passed bills that in some way are designed to help the restaurant business. About 90,000 restaurants in the U.S. closed from March 2020 to May 2021, and those that endured are working against inflationary pressures as well as decreased foot traffic in many downtowns. The National Restaurant Association’s projections put 2022 restaurant sales at $898 billion, which would be up from the $864 billion in sales logged back in 2019. However, that’ll happen when they’re short-staffed: Employment will rise by 400,000 this year to 14.9 million jobs, which is still down half a million since 2019.