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We had a form for all stagiers that was not only a liability release but also made them acknowledge that it was completely voluntary and there was no expectation for compensation or future hiring.
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Oct 19, 2013 10:42
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I'm pretty sure even if a restaurant has such a form it in fact offers them very little protection against civil or criminal liability. At least in California.
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Oct 19, 2013 18:50
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I spend most of my time looking at technology venture investments, but my boss has a lot of investments on the side including a piece of a restaurant chain. They're planning to expand aggressively in 2014 and need to get their operations really dialed in before they do so. So I'm digging through the financials and metrics, and working with the CFO/COO to get a handle on things. So restaurant goons - aside from the really obvious things e.g. average check size, number of covers, etc., what would you track and optimize for if you were running a restaurant chain? (also the average hourly wage numbers make me  )
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Oct 19, 2013 21:43
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Admirable Gusto posted:I spend most of my time looking at technology venture investments, but my boss has a lot of investments on the side including a piece of a restaurant chain. They're planning to expand aggressively in 2014 and need to get their operations really dialed in before they do so. So I'm digging through the financials and metrics, and working with the CFO/COO to get a handle on things. All of the small things that will cripple your bottom line over time: Ice machine efficiency Electrical use Fridge temps/efficiency Portion accuracy on items that change in price often, milk/butter etc Overall appliance and light use. General product loss on containers that cannot be re-used, ie ketchup in a disposable container. Those are a few things than can be tens of thousands of dollars in difference.
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Oct 19, 2013 23:40
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Admirable Gusto posted:I spend most of my time looking at technology venture investments, but my boss has a lot of investments on the side including a piece of a restaurant chain. They're planning to expand aggressively in 2014 and need to get their operations really dialed in before they do so. So I'm digging through the financials and metrics, and working with the CFO/COO to get a handle on things. Hourly labor, seasonal profit ranges for your area. Do they have spread hours in CA?
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Oct 20, 2013 00:40
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crackhaed posted:We had a form for all stagiers that was not only a liability release but also made them acknowledge that it was completely voluntary and there was no expectation for compensation or future hiring. That form is worthless anywhere that you would need to have them sign it, both on the liability front and on the "oh yeah I totally wanted to not get paid" front. In most of North America, it's super illegal to have someone intern for you if you're benefiting from it. It's just a matter of time before your company eats poo poo for doing it because the restaurant industry is so awful about treating its employees like human beings.
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Oct 20, 2013 00:47
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Admirable Gusto posted:I spend most of my time looking at technology venture investments, but my boss has a lot of investments on the side including a piece of a restaurant chain. They're planning to expand aggressively in 2014 and need to get their operations really dialed in before they do so. So I'm digging through the financials and metrics, and working with the CFO/COO to get a handle on things. Food Cost Food Cost Food Cost. Booze Cost/Accountability. Also, what does "planning to expand aggressively" mean? What markets? How do they intend to maintain brand consistency? How do you track customer satisfaction? Do they have one location that has a proven track record? What standards do FOH and BOH managers have to maintain?
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Oct 20, 2013 01:18
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Thanks everyone  reserve - I don't think spread hours are a thing in CA Wroughtirony posted:Also, what does "planning to expand aggressively" mean? What markets? How do they intend to maintain brand consistency? How do you track customer satisfaction? Do they have one location that has a proven track record? What standards do FOH and BOH managers have to maintain? I apologize for being vague, for obvious reasons. The chain has a mid-single digit number of locations. Each location operates at a slight loss except for the flagship, which has been around for the longest, is at capacity and operates at a slight profit. Once you layer in overhead costs for the chain (central commissary kitchen, administration, marketing, etc.) the whole enterprise is quite unprofitable. But it's not all bad - the newer locations are growing rapidly and we expect them to turn profitable (ex. overhead) by the end of this year The plan is to roughly double the number of locations in adjacent markets along the coasts, which will be a multi-million dollar undertaking. Right now the Founder personally trains the Head Chef of each location, and travels between locations to ensure standards are kept up. This will become increasingly hard to do the more locations there are. Also, the Founder started as a Chef and appears to have less of a grasp on FoH operations It's funny that you mention customer satisfaction because it was a recent round of awful Yelp reviews (for the flagship, no less) that caught the attention of the investor group. We're going to start a weekly operations review that goes over not only the operational metrics pertaining to each restaurant / the chain in aggregate, but also customer issues (whether expressed in person or via social media) As to actual codified standards that the managers have to maintain, the answer is i) I don't know and ii) that's a good point that I need to bring up at our next meeting. Can you give me an example of some of the standards that you've seen in the past?
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Oct 20, 2013 02:54
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Spread hours are definitely a thing in CA, but if you pay more than the $8/hr state minimum wage you might not have to pay the split shift premium. Minimum wage in SF is $10.55/hr so it very rarely applies here. http://iweb.calrest.org/iweb/Downloads/IISPLITSHIFT.pdf You need to maintain managerial control and accountability as you expand, especially if you serve alcohol and the founder has less of a grasp of FOH operations. People will steal alcohol, food, money and whatever else they can get their hands on and not think twice about it. Also, what kind of accountability is there in the financials? Is it a public company or were they audited by an outside firm? Each location operating at a slight loss except for the flagship for a slight gain makes me wonder where did the money to build the other four locations come from?
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Oct 20, 2013 06:32
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Ill never understand how owners reaction to an unprofitable chain is to open more locations
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Oct 20, 2013 08:12
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Admirable Gusto posted:Thanks everyone LOL. It's gonna fail. A: Ice machine efficiency? Wut?
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Oct 20, 2013 08:42
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Well, I finally got a Serious Restaurant Job. I'm only bussing until I learn the menu, but food running/serving/expo will come with time. Boss man was on top chef this season. I come from a quick service/casual background, with just a tad of fine dining thrown in here and there, so an intense rear end kitchen/serious cooks is a new thing for me. I can definitely see myself getting used to it though.
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Oct 20, 2013 16:07
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I'm pretty close to actually having my first job out of the industry in loving forever, fingers crossed.
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Oct 20, 2013 16:20
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pile of brown posted:Ill never understand how owners reaction to an unprofitable chain is to open more locations Seriously. If the current locations haven't got it together, it makes no freaking sense to open even more.
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Oct 21, 2013 01:32
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dino. posted:Seriously. If the current locations haven't got it together, it makes no freaking sense to open even more. Quoting this for truth. If your current locations aren't profitable after overhead, adding -more overhead- is not going to change that.
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Oct 21, 2013 04:30
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:LOL. It's gonna fail. A place I worked, between the water bill and electric bill it was almost 14000$ at the end of the year for a few degrees difference. Spread that across a few places.
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Oct 21, 2013 08:18
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Liquid Communism posted:Quoting this for truth. If your current locations aren't profitable after overhead, adding -more overhead- is not going to change that. This is like trying to save a romantic relationship by having a child. Not gonna end well.
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Oct 21, 2013 16:06
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The Midniter posted:This is like trying to save a romantic relationship by having a child. Not gonna end well. Yup. I mean, isn't the whole -point- of franchising to replicate a profitable concept and methodology as a shortcut around the potential disaster that is opening any restaurant? Sounds like they seriously need to focus on getting their existing business squared away, unless they have literally unlimited backing funds.
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Oct 21, 2013 18:15
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It's okay, they just need 25 more locations before economies of scale make this profitable
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Oct 21, 2013 18:19
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EAT THE EGGS RICOLA posted:It's okay, they just need 25 more locations before economies of scale make this profitable I swear to god, if I hear one more investor who thinks s/he knows what's going on say, "But when you buy in larger quantities, your overhead will go down, right?" And I'm like "No, you dumb cuntweasel, that works on scales like Trader Joe's versus the locally owned health food store."
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Oct 21, 2013 23:41
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Liquid Communism posted:Yup. I mean, isn't the whole -point- of franchising to replicate a profitable concept and methodology as a shortcut around the potential disaster that is opening any restaurant? Per this and everyone else who chimed in, I am going to tell the investors to put the expansion plans on hold until the per location economics work out. Cost efficiency is obviously incredibly important, as is in general establishing proper standards that each location has to adhere to. The more I look into the restaurant industry, the more respect I have for the people who actually make money in it, especially if they're trying to do more than just sling burgers (no disrespect to any quick service peeps; that's hard too)
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Oct 21, 2013 23:59
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I don't understand how restaurants are viable businesses, honestly. I would sooner invest in a Broadway show than a restaurant.
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Oct 22, 2013 04:49
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Does anyone have any recommendations for programs or apps for tracking boh inventory? I have a friend who is taking over a catering company and is definitely trying to run the operation in a more efficient manner. Similarly are there time sheet apps where one could have employees clock in and clock out and therefore payroll could be managed without paper?
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Oct 22, 2013 18:33
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Kenning posted:I don't understand how restaurants are viable businesses, honestly. I would sooner invest in a Broadway show than a restaurant. On the whole? They aren't in a lot of cases. It's why the industry has absurdly high 2-year failure rates, and why even many of the 'successes' are only succeeding in keeping the doors open and the lights on, not making anything that could be considered a worthwhile profit for investors. I like to use the bakery I work for as an example. We're very well known locally, provide desserts for many of the fine dining and higher end casual places here in town, and our Chef/owner has cooked with most every chef in town. At the end of the day, though, we're still barely pulling profit, and that's running with only 4 people to cover 12am-6pm six days a week. The business pays for his bills, so he's content to run it forever, but it's not going to be making anyone but the bank and our suppliers rich. Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Oct 23, 2013 |
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Oct 23, 2013 05:32
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CEO/owner of corporation I've been crushing my soul for just gave away the promotion/job I've been working towards to his new-never-worked-in-the-industry-has-a-degree-in-art therapy-son-in-law.  Anyone hiring a line cook that's spent the past year being an operations & spirits manager and barely cooked at all?
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Oct 23, 2013 13:56
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We're hiring an outlets(restaurant & bar) supervisor. But it's in Austin, and I couldn't guarantee you the job. Kitchen's actually full for once.
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Oct 23, 2013 23:45
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:We're hiring an outlets(restaurant & bar) supervisor. But it's in Austin, and I couldn't guarantee you the job. Kitchen's actually full for once. Got an email to shoot at or should I just fly over on Monday? (Only half a joke)
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Oct 24, 2013 03:06
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Fuzzy Pipe Wrench posted:Got an email to shoot at or should I just fly over on Monday? (Only half a joke) If you want to apply, here's the listing.
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Oct 24, 2013 03:59
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:A: Ice machine efficiency? Wut? When it comes to energy use, people like to obsess on lighting because its immediately noticeable, but generally its going to account for one of the smallest fractions of your power bill even if you're using horribly inefficient incandescent lighting. Its things using electricity to change temperatures which are the huge power hogs, cooling things down always takes more power than heating that same thing up, and anything changing the temperature of water is going to guzzle the most power. Liquid water has one of the highest specific heat capacities of any material in existence, which basically means it takes tons of energy to change its temperature. To put this in perspective, heating and cooling concrete is like 5 times more efficient than heating or cooling water. So yeah an Ice Machine is probably the biggest energy guzzler in a restaurant, unless its beaten out by the sheer volume of a big walk-in freezer/fridge. The water-heater is probably going to follow after that, and is going to be closely related to how much hot water your dishwasher/sanitizer is using. Then you probably get into air conditioning and heating the building, followed by cooking appliances like steamers, fryers, grills, ranges, and ovens.
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Oct 24, 2013 16:10
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So I twisted the gently caress out of my ankle last night (not at work, unfortunately) but I don't think I'll be able to serve for a little while. Anybody have experience with sort of stop-gap income programs like temporary disability or whatever? This sucks.
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Oct 25, 2013 20:55
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Kenning posted:So I twisted the gently caress out of my ankle last night (not at work, unfortunately) but I don't think I'll be able to serve for a little while. Anybody have experience with sort of stop-gap income programs like temporary disability or whatever? This sucks. I have used short term disability insurance for a month from aflac, and it paid out pretty quickly. It depends on your coverage, but I got 90% of my wages, and since I claimed all my tips, that was included as well
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Oct 25, 2013 21:58
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Kenning posted:So I twisted the gently caress out of my ankle last night (not at work, unfortunately) but I don't think I'll be able to serve for a little while. Anybody have experience with sort of stop-gap income programs like temporary disability or whatever? This sucks. Alternatively, look into programs like Amazon's Mechanical Turk. I know there are a ton out there, some better than others, but you could do them all from a laptop while sitting. Some you can even automate pretty well with a bit of scripting. SA probably has a thread on it somewhere, if you look around.
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Oct 26, 2013 10:52
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Cercies posted:I have used short term disability insurance for a month from aflac, and it paid out pretty quickly. It depends on your coverage, but I got 90% of my wages, and since I claimed all my tips, that was included as well How expensive is carrying AFLAC, anyway? That kind of thing would be useful to me, because I can't exactly keep up production with pretty much any limb injured.
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Oct 26, 2013 20:41
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Shooting Blanks posted:Alternatively, look into programs like Amazon's Mechanical Turk. I know there are a ton out there, some better than others, but you could do them all from a laptop while sitting. Some you can even automate pretty well with a bit of scripting. Get-Paid-To site MEGApost. Earning Swagbucks and such for Amazon and PayPal gift cards, or straight-up cash from other sites, can take a little pressure off when hours are slim. I can give you referral links, if you'd like.
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Oct 27, 2013 02:32
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I'm so loving tired. I'm 25, and I can't even close my hands all the way. I've been doing this since I was 16. I haven't left this state since I was 18, and I've only gotten one Christmas off since then, as well. It's rewarding to have a skill, but I can't keep this poo poo up, and I'm scared that if this food truck doesn't take off, I'm going to be one of these half-crazy middle-aged guys who dies at his prep table after calling a server a dumb bitch because she doesn't know what vinegar goes on the spinach salad. It's doing well, but the guys like that whom I've met are basically what gets my rear end up after 4 hours of sleep.
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Oct 28, 2013 02:49
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So I've been at my first industry job for a few weeks (big chain coffee store) and it's terrible. gently caress it, going back to an office job. I'm too old and can't keep up with the young kids in speed. Also the drinks suck and the beans are ground a day in advance  Nobody knows how to do coffee properly. They make a french press and then just leave the grounds in there. It's bitter as gently caress after 10 minutes. Mu Zeta fucked around with this message at 13:30 on Oct 28, 2013 |
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Oct 28, 2013 11:27
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Plan Z posted:I'm so loving tired. I'm 25, and I can't even close my hands all the way. I've been doing this since I was 16. I haven't left this state since I was 18, and I've only gotten one Christmas off since then, as well. It's rewarding to have a skill, but I can't keep this poo poo up, and I'm scared that if this food truck doesn't take off, I'm going to be one of these half-crazy middle-aged guys who dies at his prep table after calling a server a dumb bitch because she doesn't know what vinegar goes on the spinach salad. It's doing well, but the guys like that whom I've met are basically what gets my rear end up after 4 hours of sleep. Mu Zeta posted:So I've been at my first industry job for a few weeks (big chain coffee store) and it's terrible. gently caress it, going back to an office job. I'm too old and can't keep up with the young kids in speed. No Wave fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Oct 28, 2013 |
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Oct 28, 2013 13:51
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Mu Zeta posted:So I've been at my first industry job for a few weeks (big chain coffee store) and it's terrible. gently caress it, going back to an office job. I'm too old and can't keep up with the young kids in speed. I really can't imagine giving up an office job for a food industry job, every time I'd hear some one complain about a soul-sucking desk job I'd just get jealous.. I just got my first non food related job (other than occasional Saturday afternoons proctoring standardized tests for $100 stipends) this fall and its practically heaven. Its only a part time front desk job on campus while I finish up my degree, and wouldn't be anywhere near enough to support myself if I hadn't moved back in with my parents (ugh), but its so loving nice to not have to get up before 5 am (or staying up past midnight to close) to stand on my feet in a scorching kitchen all day juggling dozens time-sensitive tasks and cleaning everything.
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Oct 28, 2013 19:53
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I just want my CHANCE to be a waiter or bartender so I can call things awful and go back to a desk job, but I can't drat well get one. Searching for a job while you have one is hard, even with cut hours I got now -- it's blatantly clear I will be losing money every month now on rent and expenses thanks to that, but the guy is still more concerned with hiring attractive women as people quite left and right (another 2 quits this week) than he is with running a business intelligently. That he trusts none of his employees really doesn't help either. It appears you need to either be a very savvy and determined human, or a very gross and loving stupid one, to run a restaurant.
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Oct 28, 2013 20:52
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Black August posted:It appears you need to either be a very savvy and determined human, or a very gross and loving stupid one, to run a restaurant. Welp here's your new thread title.
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Oct 29, 2013 02:11
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