Are all Restaurants Understaffed now (2021)?

[Neonmoon 38129]

Seems like a lot of restaurants rely on slave labor for their business model to work. 

[ChickenSandwich 9832]

Actually many survive on Part Time labor with a high hourly rate. 

[Gourmand 7774]

Seems like a lot of restaurants rely on slave labor for their business model to work. 

And in jobs where they're not paying stupid low wages and instead offer a salary, well by god you better work 12+ hrs a day and weekends to earn that very average salary and you're exempt from OT rules of course.

One ugly aspect of the restaurant business that reality TV shined a light on is the abusive, disrespectful behavior previously rampant in chef and management interactions with staff. That crap is anachronistic and counterproductive and gets people fired now. But the twisted restaurant biz norm of demanding salaried employees sacrifice their work/life balance is equally problematic and counterproductive because when you burn out your management employees, you undermine the bottom line because they are the ones safeguarding your workplace culture.If they're overworked, they will never be at their best and that will always trickle down to the rest of the staff.

[Gourmand 7774]

Actually many survive on Part Time labor with a high hourly rate. 

No they don't, unless you think $13-15/hr is a "high" hourly rate.

[Deej 76759]

47 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Seems like a lot of restaurants rely on slave labor for their business model to work. 

I think people who were actually slaves might disagree. 

[LABEVO 928]

 

[workswithseed 2101]

5 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

Seems like a lot of restaurants rely on slave labor for their business model to work. 

What the fuck? You seriously believe that?

[DaysOff 7947]

Seems like a lot of restaurants rely on slave labor for their business model to work. 

Fun fact. American capitalism grew in parallel with literal slavery for quite some time. May take a while to unwind that business model.

[Landomatic 3813]

Some of y'all seriously need to open your own restaurants.

[Enchubben 5510]

Slightly related: Fucking trash company sucks ass and is continuously missing service due to shortage of drivers. After enough complaints, owner writes an email to our neighborhood blaming COVID, winter storm trash and of course UE:

“Finally, the labor pool has tightened tremendously over the last months. The demand for qualified drivers coupled with the timing of stimulus checks, added unemployment benefits, and the timing of tax returns has created a true strain on the labor market. We continue to expand our avenues for recruiting and hiring, we are seeing rising wages as we work to retain our staff, and we have even implemented hiring bonuses for new employees and recruiting bonuses for our team if they bring employees on. The process is arduous but moving forward.”

[HenryJames 66041]

1 hour ago, Landomatic said:

Some of y'all seriously need to open your own restaurants.

And name it Shaggy?

[DonkeyCigars 144]

To touch on the feelings of FOH restaurant workers, I feel like we are slowly moving away from what we want as an experience in most fast and casual restaurants. I think the Chili's model someone up thread outlined where we order on a kiosk app and pick up the food at the window and we don't have high school kids messing up your order or going MIA or bothering you too much, is the way.

When I am going through a drive-thru, between the hours of 8a - 6p, I'm 99% of the time on a conference call, either passively participating or actively listening/talking. After I place my order, I don't want anything more than a quiet transaction of take my credit card and hand me the food. The same with the casual food places I haunt, and they've gotten used to me by now and I tip over the top so they know it's not personal, but at first it was like can't you see I'm busy, just take my order and leave me alone and please don't try and talk to me, I just need to eat.

You know how the Sprinkles in University Park has a cupcake ATM so you don't have to go inside? I think we need that for QSR and Casual Restaurants because people aren't going for a human experience, just for food and convenience. Automate that food wall, Mr. Gorbachev. 

That said, there will always be a need for the upper end waitstaff and sommeliers and folks like that to serve guests who are looking for food experiences where the goal is to communicate and connect with other humans. Think of dinners with clients, business folks, family events, etc. where you aren't on your phone or it is rude to multi-task.

[Gourmand 7774]

8 hours ago, workswithseed said:

What the fuck? You seriously believe that?

 I did bi-monthly payroll for seven years, would you like to see the receipts? Lots of $2.13s and $5s and $12 rates. 

[Deej 76759]

1 hour ago, DonkeyCigars said:

You know how the Sprinkles in University Park has a cupcake ATM so you don't have to go inside? I think we need that for QSR and Casual Restaurants because people aren't going for a human experience, just for food and convenience. Automate that food wall, Mr. Gorbachev. 

We used to do that. 

 

[CooterBrown 18006]

13 hours ago, LABEVO said:

 

What's ironic is that the "party of capitalism" will bitch about this.  Success isn't success unless you're stomping down on someone while you do it.

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by CooterBrown

[Neonmoon 38129]

2 hours ago, Landomatic said:

Some of y'all seriously need to open your own restaurants.

What are trying to say? Use your words

[workswithseed 2101]

1 hour ago, Gourmand said:

 I did bi-monthly payroll for seven years, would you like to see the receipts? Lots of $2.13s and $5s and $12 rates. 

If you did, then when did the employer have to pay up to minimum wage bill passed? Was that always a thing? Never worked in the service industry so I never had to worry about such things. 

[Gourmand 7774]

If you did, then when did the employer have to pay up to minimum wage bill passed? Was that always a thing? Never worked in the service industry so I never had to worry about such things. 

I don't understand your question.

[workswithseed 2101]

Just now, Gourmand said:

10 minutes ago, workswithseed said:

If you did, then when did the employer have to pay up to minimum wage bill passed? Was that always a thing? Never worked in the service industry so I never had to worry about such things. 

I don't understand your question.

I'm wondering when did the law pass that if someone doesn't make minimum wage through tips that the employer must compensate. You said that you that their were lots of $2.13s. I'm wondering if that was recently passed to make that happen.

[Gourmand 7774]

I'm wondering when did the law pass that if someone doesn't make minimum wage through tips that the employer must compensate. You said that you that their were lots of $2.13s. I'm wondering if that was recently passed to make that happen.

Congress passed the tip wage credit law in 1983.

[irishtexan 11518]

It's always fun when people who are completely ignorant of the very basics of food-service industry economics and compensation models chime in with hot takes. It's the American way!

[cactusflinthead 27598]

4 hours ago, Landomatic said:

Some of y'all seriously need to open your own restaurants.

From the replies to the story on the ice cream place

 

[CooterBrown 18006]

16 hours ago, Gourmand said:

And in jobs where they're not paying stupid low wages and instead offer a salary, well by god you better work 12+ hrs a day and weekends to earn that very average salary and you're exempt from OT rules of course.

Fortunately, there are federal labor laws that define what jobs can be salaried and exempt from overtime pay. Other than maybe chefs and management, there aren't any front or back of the house restaurant jobs that would be exempt from overtime pay.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10232]

14 hours ago, LABEVO said:

 

Not in the restaurant business, but how does one more than double payroll expense, not raise prices and not see an effect on the bottom line?

[Gourmand 7774]

20 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Fortunately, there are federal labor laws that define what jobs can be salaried and exempt from overtime pay. Other than maybe chefs and management, there aren't any front or back of the house restaurant jobs that would be exempt from overtime pay.

Correct, and those BOH workers are happy to get OT if they can, but most establishments do everything possible to avoid it. It typically falls on chefs and managers to step in and do whatever it takes because they are very much in FOH/BOH jobs, just with more responsibility and higher pay.

The important takeaway is that even with salary exempt positions the norm is to make unreasonable demands on them while paying them far less than they deserve. There's something inherently flawed about an industry that normalizes your managers working 60+hr per week every week and expecting them to do a great job and oh by the way we will start you off at $40K. So they're screwing over the hourly by paying $12-13/hr, they get almost all of their FOH pay subsidized by customers through the tip wage credit law, and those that actually earn a salary will not have a life outside of their job. Sounds like a winning labor model for employee retention!

 

 

[Enchubben 5510]

56 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Not in the restaurant business, but how does one more than double payroll expense, not raise prices and not see an effect on the bottom line?

In the case of ice cream - you target Nancy Pelosi - volume.

Kidding aside - none of these examples indicate how many openings there were, how many accepted an offer, or what their prices are compared to competitors. I think this scenario will work for some businesses/restaurants and not others.

Do agree with @DonkeyCigars that outside of high end dining - I am just as happy to order off an app or kiosk at a table.  When I do go eat outside of business dinners, its mostly because they make something I can't or don't want to make, the atmosphere, and not having to clean. The actual customer service is wayyyy down the list.

 

[HornOnTheBayou 8921]

1 hour ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Not in the restaurant business, but how does one more than double payroll expense, not raise prices and not see an effect on the bottom line?

All the time, our customers ask us, “How do you make money doing this?” The answer is simple: Volume.

[CooterBrown 18006]

1 hour ago, Gourmand said:

Correct, and those BOH workers are happy to get OT if they can, but most establishments do everything possible to avoid it. It typically falls on chefs and managers to step in and do whatever it takes because they are very much in FOH/BOH jobs, just with more responsibility and higher pay.

The important takeaway is that even with salary exempt positions the norm is to make unreasonable demands on them while paying them far less than they deserve. There's something inherently flawed about an industry that normalizes your managers working 60+hr per week every week and expecting them to do a great job and oh by the way we will start you off at $40K. So they're screwing over the hourly by paying $12-13/hr, they get almost all of their FOH pay subsidized by customers through the tip wage credit law, and those that actually earn a salary will not have a life outside of their job. Sounds like a winning labor model for employee retention!

 

 

Yep. I'm of the opinion that salaried jobs should have any hours over 40/week be paid at the hourly rate.  This is not uncommon for federal contracts.  When I was in consulting, our FEMA and DOD contracts stated that we had to pay all employees for every hour worked regardless of position.  You'd quickly find that employers become much more efficient when they don't have the luxury of putting their inefficiencies on the backs of salaried staff.

 

 

 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10232]

2 hours ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

All the time, our customers ask us, “How do you make money doing this?” The answer is simple: Volume.

And how does employee pay raise increase volume? (other than obvious new/advertising bump he's getting now)

[Chopper 17230]

20 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Not in the restaurant business, but how does one more than double payroll expense, not raise prices and not see an effect on the bottom line?

Believe it or not the issue is more complicated than a single sentence quotation on twitter can capture. Did you watch the interview? The business owner discusses fewer employees calling out sick, reduced turnover because employees aren't working multiple jobs, and increased revenue either as a result of increased goodwill and/or better customer service. Also the average wage wasn't doubled - that's the starting wage. He wasn't asked about his average wage.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Chopper

[ouflak 60]

15 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

And how does employee pay raise increase volume? (other than obvious new/advertising bump he's getting now)

Presumably from the side effects of the moral boost of being just plain better employees. This increases loyalty, attitude towards customers, and attention to the detail and quality of their own work.

[cactusflinthead 27598]

 

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

On 5/20/2021 at 8:36 AM, HenryJames said:

And name it Shaggy?

No thanks, I’ll avoid that shitty restaurant 

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

On 5/20/2021 at 11:53 AM, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Not in the restaurant business, but how does one more than double payroll expense, not raise prices and not see an effect on the bottom line?

pm in&out. I believe all their employees start off at 15/hr and they’re still on the cheaper end of product cost for consumer

Edited May 24, 2021 by BurntOrange&White

[immamac 42839]

Went to pluckers tonight in oak hill. Our server was super nice, but really was awful at her job. It felt like she had never waited tables at a restaurant before or something. I still tipped 20%+, but damn was it just weird. I think it's more of a rust/newcomer thing and once 3 months goes by it'll be more normal. 

 

[4th&Five 41525]

Sounds like most of my Pluckers experiences the last decade. 

[Js1 85311]

People ask fundamental and basic questions about a job and employers are OUTRAGED

 

[Guest]

 

 

Lolz.   The restaurants just need to nut up and meet a steroided, falsely inflated labor market driven by a competitor who has endless resources and no bottom line.

cheapskates and profiteers is all they are.  Fuckers.

[Don Johnson 4753]

Increase wages for who?  I was told all the former restaurant employees went out - during the middle of a pandemic - and found higher paying jobs with full benefits and better hours.

[gyroprotagonist 2592]

saw on twitter that McD's was offering new employees an iphone if they hired on and stayed 6 months

Other industries adapt to the labor market.  Bite the bullet and pay people what it takes right now.  Fuck, it's not like you can't fire them later and hire cheaper replacements in 3-6 months.  Get some good pub out of it like the places cited above.  

I used to work for a electronics mfg company where we were always trying to retain and hire capable operators that did a lot of the processes that we could not automate.  every 6 months some other company would land a big project and need to staff up and offer higher wages to do so.  We would lose people and even have to offer more to keep our best.  The big issue to the bottom line comes from when we would have to universally raise the wage floor for everyone.  As the cost of hiring new operators rises, the disparity between them and the most senior operators grew.  right before a mass exodus, mgmt would raise the floor to keep the majority from leaving.   

tldr, i think these places are more worried about raising the wages of existing employees than just offering $15/hour to attract new ones. 

[Gourmand 7774]

13 hours ago, immamac said:

Went to pluckers tonight in oak hill. Our server was super nice, but really was awful at her job. It felt like she had never waited tables at a restaurant before or something. I still tipped 20%+, but damn was it just weird. I think it's more of a rust/newcomer thing and once 3 months goes by it'll be more normal. 

 

Unfortunately that's been the trend for years now, not just at Pluckers. I'm an exceptionally forgiving customer and always tip very well because I'm in the industry and get it (good for you for tipping well btw), but it blows my mind how inept so many younger servers are at doing the job. Most of it comes down to a lack of common sense, head-on-a-swivel awareness coupled with a total lack of urgency. Good ones are getting harder and harder to find, and the pros that can work a huge section and don't mind more tables are the ones that can make bank.

[CooterBrown 18006]

24 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

Good ones are getting harder and harder to find, and the pros that can work a huge section and don't mind more tables are the ones that can make bank.

Good ones are also not working at Plucker's dealing with handsy assholes in untailored NFL jerseys, downing discounted pitchers of Bud Light that'll leave a dollar tip.

 

[Gourmand 7774]

4 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Good ones are also not working at Plucker's dealing with handsy assholes in untailored NFL jerseys, downing discounted pitchers of Bud Light that'll leave a dollar tip.

 

Very true

[LCHorn 2616]

3 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Good ones are also not working at Plucker's dealing with handsy assholes in untailored NFL jerseys, downing discounted pitchers of Bud Light that'll leave a dollar tip.

 

I’ll just say that’s elevated fashion in light of what I saw this lot wearing at John Mueller BBQ’s grand opening and before he fell into disfavor.  

[Deej 76759]

1 hour ago, LCHorn said:

I’ll just say that’s elevated fashion in light of what I saw this lot wearing at John Mueller BBQ’s grand opening and before he fell into disfavor.  

 

[ChickenSandwich 9832]

5 hours ago, gyroprotagonist said:

saw on twitter that McD's was offering new employees an iphone if they hired on and stayed 6 months

Other industries adapt to the labor market.  Bite the bullet and pay people what it takes right now.  Fuck, it's not like you can't fire them later and hire cheaper replacements in 3-6 months.  Get some good pub out of it like the places cited above.  

I used to work for a electronics mfg company where we were always trying to retain and hire capable operators that did a lot of the processes that we could not automate.  every 6 months some other company would land a big project and need to staff up and offer higher wages to do so.  We would lose people and even have to offer more to keep our best.  The big issue to the bottom line comes from when we would have to universally raise the wage floor for everyone.  As the cost of hiring new operators rises, the disparity between them and the most senior operators grew.  right before a mass exodus, mgmt would raise the floor to keep the majority from leaving.   

tldr, i think these places are more worried about raising the wages of existing employees than just offering $15/hour to attract new ones. 

Not all restaurants are Taco Bell, 

or a multimillion dollar chain restaurant that’s closer to an Amazon warehouse employer/worker than an independent restaurant server. 
 

They have never paid $2.13 + tips to their employees. 

Edited May 24, 2021 by ChickenSandwich

[gyroprotagonist 2592]

9 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Not all restaurants are Taco Bell, 

just wait

 

[horn4life 3760]

Seasonal places in Florida like to staff with migrant White Euro workers during the busy period.  Shit tons of summer destinations do NOT have the local labor supply.  Often simply because the cost of living is so high, there are not enough workers geographically located to fill mostly low paying jobs.  In fact the WSJ was saying that nearly ALL sectors are offering lower starting salaries than before the Pandemic.  

I have been lucky enough to never have been on unemployment but you are a complete dumb ass if you think the extra unemployment benefits are the "real problem."  I could spend a few minutes explaining your stupidity, but that would be a waste of my time.  Like trying to teach a rock to swim. 

I think that a lot of folks realized they had a shit quality of life, and basically low paying shitty jobs.  Without any insurance, no real benefits, and they ask themselves, "Why the fuck would I want to work there?"  Low wage workers have leverage right now, tiny as it may be.  The lack of a new supply of low wage workers has a LOT to do with immigration.  

Sorry for the cloakroom like response, but shit jobs are not sought after at this juncture.

 

Edited May 24, 2021 by horn4life

[RollLeft 5044]

On 5/20/2021 at 8:41 AM, DonkeyCigars said:

...I feel like we are slowly moving away from what we want as an experience in most fast and casual restaurants. I think the Chili's model someone up thread outlined where we order on a kiosk app and pick up the food at the window and we don't have high school kids messing up your order or going MIA or bothering you too much, is the way.

When I am going through a drive-thru, between the hours of 8a - 6p, I'm 99% of the time on a conference call, either passively participating or actively listening/talking. After I place my order, I don't want anything more than a quiet transaction of take my credit card and hand me the food. The same with the casual food places I haunt,

So many places outside the U.S. have gone this way, or a hybrid, for some time.  Tokyo comes to mind.  It has its place and i'm fine with it.  Then again it can be an insult to tip there.

[Landomatic 3813]

No CR, but...

Politics, how do they work?