Anonymous

We pay our servers to do thier job. It is difficult to define a job from the servers prespective as he/she may view it as just the waitering task. The job of the waiter should be looked at from a more broad perspective. It should encompass the vision and mission of the organisation. eg: if the vision/mission is to provide high standards of service to ensure customer satisfaction, then it is the servers job to complete all tasks to help the organisation achive this goal. This may mean that they might have to keep the restaurant clean, even wash dishes when required (eg: if dishwasher is sick) as they are all important in providing high standards of service.

It is important to reiterate to servers the importance of multitasking. Labour costs are the single biggest cost of a food service operation and as operaters if we have to hire more and more people to do tasks which can be done by the exsisting staff, the costs blow out of hand. Profits falls and lay offs will follow. The staff should be assigned resonable extra tasks after consulting them and they should be comfotable doing them. This sort of working culture should be adopted and it should be the norm. Ask people during interviews what are thier views and where they see themselves after a year. Providing servers with thier Job Description also helps in defining thier roles. Servers should do the jobs that are assigned to them by thier supervisor (as long as they possess the skill to do them or they are shown how to do them)Servers who want to do only the job they feel they should do are a liability. At the end of the day its about attitude and if they have the wrong attitude they will spell trouble.

I have had expriences with servers who regularly say that they will do only "thier" work and leave the rest to others. In my opinion this is the wrong attitude to bring to any work place. More so in the service industry where you work to make customers happy and bring them back. This sort of behavior is contagious and will spread to other servers working around them.

You should take her aside and explain to her the importance of the work she is doing and how it directely effects the ability of restaurant to provide good guests service. Give her resonable goals to achive and talk to her about being positive about her work. Meanwhile brief all staff and allocate extra tasks for them to complete on a daily basis. This will soon develop into a work culture where all new staff will comply with.

Ashwin

Anonymous

I agree they need to do more but when there are different standards of practice in different companies.

The real problem I feel steams from them only being paid a minimum wage and if they have to pool tips what is there incentive to be the best.

Also so many companies besides star-bucks allows its supervisors to pull from the tip pool to not have to give a more fair salary to them.

It is the system that is in place that is the start of the problem.
As when you look at what is a tip - to provide proper service is a big joke as you should as a paying customer get this to begin with. I feel thomas Keller has it right where he's service staff do not get tipped but a salary.

It comes to greed, you pay peanuts you get monkeys, its the operators fault.
Yes the cost are going up but why do people have to pay twice for things.

Anonymous

As a former HR consultant and small business owner, including a restaurant, I believe the problem is one many small business owners fail to address, particularly restaurant owners-the lack of a policy and procedure manual that specifically spells out the duties and responsibilities of each position, company operations and expectations, time off, sick leave, and so on. If you are operating without a policy manual and job descriptions, you are in a day to day debate as to what the work environment is and what is expected of each employee.
Minimum wages, tip pools, etc., are not the issue. Job duties and company policies should not be up for debate or for individual discretion based on what the individual perceives as duties covered by the pay. Spell it out to begin with and the problem goes away-or the employee goes away.
Richard Lowder
Restaurant Resources Online

Anonymous

We pool tips, as owner - servers & bartenders want to do the work, they are all young adults, and make great money. They all seem to want to imrpess me also as their employer. Also, they know if they dont do their jobs as intended, they probably wont last long. $500 to $700 weekly aint a bad gig.
I gave each a 100 pennies sat around a table, and asked for .32 cents each for food cost, .25 each for payroll and on and on, they each ended up w/ .09 cents each, showed them how much out of a $1.00 I usually put in my pocket. They freaked...Best lesson I have ever done...Try it Al Vino, Centennial, Colorado

Anonymous

2 simple thoughts. 1. I agree with above, this server sounds like they have a bad attitude, and is not functioning in the spirit of teamwork to get the job done. 2. My policy over the years has always been to consider the task that is being assigned as side-work and ensure that it is related to their function as a server in some way (scrubbing the walk-in floor probably not a good example) and that it is a reasonable task to demand for their position and their earnings of the night. Have pre-established side-work tasks, from hard to easy. The better the earnings, the harder the tasks assigned, etc.

Anonymous

Waiters on a general basis get paid more than minimum wage. And on some days, service is slow, so they do nothing unless you direct them to do other duties (inventory, organizing waiters'stations, and so forth...).
that employee has a bad attitude, and I believe her service isn't be the best.... she better shape up, or, she will be unemployed real soon!!!

Anonymous

Side work should be viewed as similar to a chef's mise en place - what do you need to have ready to do your job correctly? Stocking, polishing, folding napkins all are necessary to carry out service. Making sure there is accountability when it comes to side work is crucial. Side work is the main topic of every single staff meeting we hold. This isn't because my staff is not properly trained - but human nature dictates that we will try to get by doing the least amount of work necessary until we are held accountable.

Anonymous

The first you need to do is "write it down!" We have checklists and job descriptions for every position in our small restaurant. New employees get these with their EMployee Handbooks upon hiring. That way, everyone knows what's expected of them. The hard part...motivating them to do it! When things are slow, gently remind what "needs to get done!" Even if you don't have lots of managers, tell (or should I say "ask") them nicely your self. Hand out lists or post something on the bulletin board like "daily side work." It's never going to be perfect; you just have to keep trying! Contests only work with sales goals. Don't let anyone fool you--it is part of their job--like it or not! And by the way, after you prepare the lists, have a meeting with them so they understand. If they don't comply, then let them go. It's okay...

Anonymous

I let my servers know that we are both partners in the business. It is my job to provide the tools, staff, atmosphere, and food anf it is their responsibilty to make the customer enjoy his visit here. If that means to wash walls, roll silverware, run others food, or to assist a fellow employee, it is in their best interest to ge it done. A good experience for a customer should be the only goal. That customer won't enjoy his experience is he is served dirty silverware, looks at dingy walls, as well as not being properly waited on. It is your responsibility to find "partners" or servers that but into that philosophy.

Anonymous

Side work should be clearly stated by a supervisor for dining room areas, napkins, silverware, cracker bowls, Ice pitchers/Tea, etc. Hire a cleaning service to come in at night and clean your place. Don't leave it up to the waiters in between slow times. I am presently working for a country club where the service is excellent, the hourly wage is $5.00hr plus an automatic 15% service charge on sales. It really works and the side work is minimal in the kitchen. I will now insert a letter I wrote a year ago or so. I still feel the same way! I graduate in May with a BSHES in Hospitality and have focused on this issue in the industry.

Please, for the love of God, give up tipping! Let's give the servers training as commissioned Sales Representatives. Increase your menu cost by 20% and start salespeople on 10% commission and increase with the amount of sales. Training and supervision a must! Hey, maybe even some benefits! Increase sales, everyone is happy, especially the customer who has just been waited on by a knowledgeable associate of the business. It's so simple! If I want an order taker, I'll go by the fast food joint!

Sincerely,
Miss Janet

Anonymous

We try to stress that each server is presented with an area to run their own little business with all the benefits and non of the risks. Therefore how well they do the extras will reflect on their business. We do have minimal expectations written and check-lists posted and assigned daily. So far so good.
Cindy

Anonymous

Having been in restaurant management for over thirteen years, I am sick and tired of hearing operators complaining of staff that do not want to do 'side work' or 'other duties. Waitstaff should be hired as food and beverage professionals, that, when not serving customers, should be training on how better to serve customers, or learning more about the products they sell. Sure a little spot clean between service should be ok, but operators that expect waiters to be general cleaners, dishwashers or handymen should get what they deserve - disgruntled employees who hate coming to work, and have no interest in improving your business.
How many operators have staff that think that Champagne is any wine with bubbles, who wouldn't know that real Cheddar comes from England and not sprayed out of a can in America, that capuccino is all about the colour of the coffee and nothing to do with the foam as Starbucks would have you believe.
All staff love to be knowledgeable in front of their customers, give them the right training and in no time they will selling dishes because you only use the finest Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil, or your veg is all organic or your chicken is all free range and corn fed.
Everyone complains about the skills shortage and how hard it is to find staff that actually know something about F&B, but who is bothering to teach the staff they already have. If your business is in such a state that you cannot afford a full-time cleaner to do the general clean, and a runner to take care of the cutlery/napkins/cruets etc, so that your waiters have the time to do some training, then you shouldn't be in business. Teach your staff and watch them and your business grow.
And as for the guy (Anonymous of course) who lets his staff know they are 'partners' in his business? Unless you are giving them a share in your profits they are not your partners, they are your staff and they should not be made to do the work (eg. cleaning walls????)that you are too cheap to employ somebody for!

Ashley Nichols
Ho Chi Minh City , Viet Nam

Anonymous

I started 19 years ago with a small restaurant with 3 employees. Now I have Two large restaurants with 55 combined employees. The side work depends on you situation. When you are small and getting started you dont have the money pay professional cleaners to come in and do everything. In the begenning i cleaned my own floors and my crew and i did everything. As we grew we hired out more cleaning, but there is still a responsibility to take care of your restaurant, your section, your setup for you shift and the person coming in after you.
No matter how much you cleaning you can afford to hire out you still need a waitstaff that has enough respect for you as an owner/manager and for the restaurant that they are willing to do their fair share of sidework. They need to keep the place clean and ready for a rush for the customers who they expext a tip from.

Sean
Cool Cat Cafe

Anonymous

As a hostess/server/assistant manager/general manager/server. Side work is part of the job, not asking them to or being asked to do heavy cleaning. But doing a running job to keep me doing my job. IE remaking tea, coffee, rolling silver ware, refilling salt pepper. Keeping my area clean, sweeping the floor in my station. But not the whole place. NOT CLEANING THE KITCHEN, DISHPIT, WALKIN'S ETC. But cleaning the counter where we make the beverages is ok, sweeping the server station floor. refilling the to stuff, that kind of thing, most of the side work is done while we wait for that last table to leave anyway. Most of it takes no more than 15 min to do.
However as a manager you need to put it in writting and to hold everyone accountable. Get rid of the chafe. They do not wnat to do the job then find some one that will.

Anonymous

We try to drive home the point with the servers that they are independent contractors at our restaurant. We give them the vessel and the tools but that their earning potential is limited only by themselves. We do have set opening and closing sidework posted with a laminated cover and the closer from each shift assigns the sidework. It's pretty basic - condiments, restocking, basic service station cleaning. Additionally, we have weekly "Beautification" - i.e., Mondays we do Salt and Pepper shakers, Tuesdays are for cleaning chair legs, Fridays we soak coffee cups, Saturdays we burn the ice, etc. We also let our servers know that if they cannot complete sidework, we will hire more servers, thereby taking money from their pockets. And when we have the one or two servers who do nothing more than what is required of them, we have a closed door chat with two managers present and basically tell them to start pulling their weight, this is how we do things here because it works for us and if you don't like it, don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.
As managers we believe that we would never ask an employee to do something that we, ourselves, wouldn't do.
And you might want to remind a stubborn, jaded server like the one mentioned above that they make WAY more than minimum wage - our servers routinely make $25-50 and hour in season or on a big party.

Anonymous

The most common side work for Servers are things like: Breaking down and cleaning the equipment - soda machine/dessert fridge/salad station/coffee/tea/shake machine/etc... - also restocking supplies, cleaning, sanitizing, and polishing, pulling expired items, and ensuring state health codes are followed). Specifically: 1) Closing a drink ally from one side to the other(2) Closing the salad area; (3) Cleaning the dessert area. As a Server, the money we earn is from our tips, so I think it is important to consider giving Servers the opportunities to replenish the needs their guests will have while keeping the side work manageable. Maybe the mid-shift Server can do their side work during a slow period and at the end of their shift - complete the table work - Tip Outs are a show of gratitude just like when we receive our tips.

Liz Comatis

WOW! Thanks for all the input everyone! With our busy season (I hope!) coming up, we are in the process of redesigning our side work book and re-establishing some guidelines. Again, thanks to everyone who supplied me with ideas and information!
Liz

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