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Hope they don't do their corned beef in house, because looooool your brining schedule just got hosed up son
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Nov 3, 2015 23:47
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I had a day like that when a small sandwich shop I worked at got featured in the LA morning news. We held off prepping until the day it aired because nobody is going to drive an hour and a half north of LA in the middle of AM rush hour on a weekday, right? The rush will definitely come tomorrow. Wrong. Line out the door from an hour before we opened to two hours after we closed. We were out of absolutely everything in the restaurant except some kinds of beer and grilled chicken for salad (no other ingredients for salad). I made fancy grilled cheeses for 14 straight hours and it's up there with like top 5 worst days of my life. The good news is we alienated so much of our potential customer base that day that the rest of the week was pretty slow.
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Nov 4, 2015 03:39
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Reiz posted:I had a day like that when a small sandwich shop I worked at got featured in the LA morning news. We held off prepping until the day it aired because nobody is going to drive an hour and a half north of LA in the middle of AM rush hour on a weekday, right? The rush will definitely come tomorrow. Your managers are morons. If we got featured in any local news outlet, I'd be all "PREP FOR APOCALYPSE" regardless of the day it was featured.
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Nov 4, 2015 03:44
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Their business plan was very transparent. Work really hard themselves like every day of the year and pay a minimum amount of staff while also breaking various labor laws like putting people on indefinite lunches if business slowed down. Serve actually pretty good food, make a decent amount of money, and use all the law breaking you've done to make your books look really good so you can sell the place as a franchise. Most ownership was ex cheesecake factory "R&D" or other higher ups in the chain restaurant business. I quit after a few months and started to work in IT -- they cashed out and sold the place to a third party shortly after I left who suddenly realized that the reported food costs were completely wrong and that it's actually impossible to make a profit if you pay your employees. It's been closed for a while now and the owners all moved to different states and poo poo. The whole thing is really sketchy, good food though. I definitely agree about the prep though. I would have rented a cooled truck or some poo poo to keep all the extra food we would have needed that week. Probably hire a catering company to bring out some extra kitchen equipment too. I guess it's just easier to take your $9k in sales, pay ~400 bucks in labor and say gently caress it we're selling this place in a few months anyway. 12 rats tied together fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Nov 4, 2015 |
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Nov 4, 2015 03:54
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My serving gig wants me to work Sundays. It's laughable that they expect me to either go to one day off per week or completely rearrange my life outside of this PT job in order to accommodate the needs of a place where the mgmt intentionally hampers my ability to make money. I've also heard that Sunday afternoons are terrible for pay esp. during football season, but that's almost moot compared to my other reasons. Any other servers of the opinion that self-seaters should be considered nonexistent by staff until they approach the host stand and ask for a table like the rest of the human race does? Reiz posted:I had a day like that when a small sandwich shop I worked at got featured in the LA morning news. We held off prepping until the day it aired because nobody is going to drive an hour and a half north of LA in the middle of AM rush hour on a weekday, right? The rush will definitely come tomorrow. We never get that busy but this is how we run every day. Everyone up to the GM stands around for up to 30 minutes at a time gossiping and socializing after the basic opening duties are done. When we get busy, everyone suddenly realizes all the stuff they spent most of the morning not doing needs to be done, stat, in order to take care of the orders that have just been rung up. It's tragic yet comical to watch day after day, people screwing themselves with procrastination while I turn up Leonard Cohen and whisk the peach cobbler. I mean how do you not prioritize necessary prep over preaching your personal opinions on the filthy poors/uncivilized minorities/why borderline slave-labor employment practices are a Good Thing.
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Nov 4, 2015 05:53
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Vorenus posted:We never get that busy but this is how we run every day. Everyone up to the GM stands around for up to 30 minutes at a time gossiping and socializing after the basic opening duties are done. When we get busy, everyone suddenly realizes all the stuff they spent most of the morning not doing needs to be done, stat, in order to take care of the orders that have just been rung up. It's tragic yet comical to watch day after day, people screwing themselves with procrastination while I turn up Leonard Cohen and whisk the peach cobbler. I mean how do you not prioritize necessary prep over preaching your personal opinions on the filthy poors/uncivilized minorities/why borderline slave-labor employment practices are a Good Thing. gently caress, it's not particularly hard to talk and prep at the same time unless you're doing something fiddly. People who had to put their poo poo down while they ran their mouths annoyed the hell out of me.
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Nov 4, 2015 06:48
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But the wild hand gestures are integral to making their point!
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Nov 4, 2015 07:38
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Day 2 of 7 and we beat yesterday's number handily. We locked someone in as expo and pushed out incredible amounts of consistent product. I don't think we had a ticket time over 30-40 minutes. Compare that to last year when ticket times exceeded an hour and a half which I cannot even fathom given how hard we went tonight; the old crew must have been loving terrible. We ran out of goddamn fries again but the owner was back with more from the supply store (Sam's Club in fact lol) within 30 minutes. Compare that to the day KM taking hours to run that same errand yesterday, and only bought a dozen bags which of course were gone in less than an hour. Now I'm on-call for tomorrow and odds are someone's not showing up which means I'm working every one of the seven days, and every night I'm so beat up I can barely walk home. I'm hoping things taper off at least a little soon because if it doesn't we're going to be sooooo hosed by like Thursday.CommonShore posted:Sounds like your menu should have only one item. Mezzanon posted:Can I get a picture of this Reuben?  This is the money shot from our local rag when we won Best Reuben in Omaha, birthplace of the probable original Reuben sandwich. We're mere steps away from the former site of the Blackstone Hotel and we purport to have the original recipe as the basis of our sandwich (I'm only being cagey because I haven't seen proof of this myself). There's nothing mind-shattering or even particularly innovative in our process but it's a drat good Reuben, certainly the best I've had. And given the kind of volume we have even on slow days (our standard par level is 192 sandwich sets at all times) our consistency is commendable. Chef De Cuisinart posted:Hope they don't do their corned beef in house, because looooool your brining schedule just got hosed up son
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Nov 4, 2015 09:09
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That is a loving incredible looking sandwich though, good on you.Vorenus posted:My serving gig wants me to work Sundays. It's laughable that they expect me to either go to one day off per week or completely rearrange my life outside of this PT job in order to accommodate the needs of a place where the mgmt intentionally hampers my ability to make money. I've also heard that Sunday afternoons are terrible for pay esp. during football season, but that's almost moot compared to my other reasons. I think I've almost perfected the polite-yet-withering "Did the host forget to bring menus when she sat you?"
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Nov 4, 2015 09:34
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Kenning posted:I think I've almost perfected the polite-yet-withering "Did the host forget to bring menus when she sat you?" that's pretty good but honestly how does someone seat themselves without the host interjecting if that's expected? I wouldn't blame the customer, I'd blame the workflow / entry layout
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Nov 4, 2015 09:41
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Some of those self-seaters could have been prevented, but lots of people just blow past the host stand and head upstairs to seat themselves. Considering that often one person in a party will arrive first and the rest of their party will come meet them it can make it difficult to tell the self-seaters from the late-comers. Many self-seaters will make gestures as though they know what they're doing, and everything is fine.
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Nov 4, 2015 10:23
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Same thing happens in my club, the host at lunch is also your server and bartender since there's only 2 staff for the shift period, and my coworker is also the host, server and bartender. We can both be in the middle of something, and I'll let the front desk know we're slammed and to hold any new tables until one of us can go greet them and properly set them a table. It's a tossup if the desk even mentions anything to the members that walk in or if the members just ignore them. There's a sense of entitlement when you're paying dues that goes beyond most normal customer shittiness and its a wonder that any of our members are polite and gracious. The regulars at least know how this place works, but the idiots who are in once or twice a year to pay down their minimums are awful.
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Nov 4, 2015 15:20
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I cannot stomach the taste or smell of sauerkraut but that otherwise does look like quite a tasty sandwich. Kenning posted:That is a loving incredible looking sandwich though, good on you. I'm appropriating this for myself, this is perfect. mindphlux posted:that's pretty good Part of it is the entryway, part of it is that we only have two hostesses who are competent and neither of them worked last night. I actually don't much mind the self-seating as long as it doesn't occur with very awkward timing (it did) and the guests are snobby, soulless Generation X'ers (they were). These are the same hostesses who like to skip people in the rotation for an hour on a packed evening, then seat that person two six-tops in a 60 second period, and then wonder why that server gets a murderous look in their eyes.
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Nov 4, 2015 16:51
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SHUPS 4 DETH posted:We do, in fact. But thankfully we don't have a brining schedule, just cooking them in-house every day. The scent of corned beef permeates my very existence.
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Nov 4, 2015 18:12
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Yeah, we're planning to do pastrami in house and I'm guessing 50lb of brisket a week. Granted I'll keep 50lb in the freezer "just in case", but if we were to get a run on Reubens I'd be reaching for the sysco saurkraut and find a decent pastrami through a vendor. Also, if you make your saurkraut in house, there is no way to speed that up. At least with pastrami/corned beef you can do injection brining.
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Nov 4, 2015 18:55
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pile of brown posted:What does this mean? Is your corned beef just boiled brisket that you don't brine? Or it comes in pre-brined and you just cook it off? The brining process is almost certainly what he was asking about when he asked if you "do your own" corned beef. Sorry yes they come pre-brined/seasoned and we braise them for 6 hours. With our volume it would be goofy to do our own sauerkraut beyond mixing it up with the other good poo poo in the kraut mix. And it's not Sysco kraut but it's a national brand. Libby's maybe? I can't recall at the moment. Chef De Cuisinart posted:Yeah, we're planning to do pastrami in house and I'm guessing 50lb of brisket a week. Granted I'll keep 50lb in the freezer "just in case", but if we were to get a run on Reubens I'd be reaching for the sysco saurkraut and find a decent pastrami through a vendor. I can't recall how much each corned beef weighs right now but I'm guessing 6-12 lbs (?) and we cook 6-8 a day during non-festival regular business, and double that during the ramp-up to big events. I'm guessing we have a real sweetheart of an arrangement with Omaha Steaks to keep us waist-deep in corned beef like we always are. SHVPS4DETH fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Nov 4, 2015 |
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Nov 4, 2015 20:03
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:if we were to get a run on Reubens I'd...find a decent pastrami through a vendor. Sorry, we all know that only corned beef makes The One True Reuben™. Don't even get me started on "turkey" Reubens...
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Nov 4, 2015 21:20
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The Midniter posted:Sorry, we all know that only corned beef makes The One True Reuben™. Don't even get me started on "turkey" Reubens... As long as you don't call it a reuben I'm okay with whatever, at the end of the day. Turkey breast instead of corned beef, cole slaw instead of sauerkraut? That there's a rachel.
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Nov 4, 2015 22:20
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The Midniter posted:Sorry, we all know that only corned beef makes The One True Reuben™. Don't even get me started on "turkey" Reubens... Let Me Tell You about how a surprising amount of people have the gall to order reubens without kraut. The kraut mixture that is the thing that separates it from all others and makes it more than just corned beef and swiss with 1000 island dressing on rye that any idiot could make at home. Thus making it Not A loving Reuben. Also being annoying as gently caress because the sandwich sets have the kraut mix in them and we don't have loose corned beef on the line but that's neither here nor there, frankly! Eat the loving sandwich the way it's intended and be a babby about something else. I kinda get it though, because boiled cabbage made the midwestern way is enough to put someone off sauerkraut for life and stinks up the whole house besides. But it's totally different, maaan
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Nov 4, 2015 22:37
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Using turkey instead of corned beef is stupid. Using coleslaw instead of kraut is a sometimes food.
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Nov 5, 2015 00:06
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Got in a weird argument with the owner about dining-room etiquette. We had a table of 3 (early to mid 20's, two ladies and a guy) get sat at a booth in the dining room. One of the guests at this table takes their shoes off, walks outside to their car, grabs something, walks back in, goes to the bathroom, and then sits back down at the booth, resting their (in my opinion filthy) socks on the seat next to them. I ask the owner if I can politely ask the woman to keep her shoes on while in the dining room (I'm thinkin cleanliness/liability issues, etc. and also I just plain think it's hosed up) Owner says that we have to pick our battles and it's not worth embarrassing or alienating a customer. I disagree and just think we should have a flat "wear shoes in a restaurant it's a loving business Jesus." Policy. Thoughts?
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Nov 5, 2015 01:33
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Turkeybone posted:Using turkey instead of corned beef is stupid. Negative. Coleslaw goes on pulled pork. Never the twain shall meet.
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Nov 5, 2015 01:37
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Mezzanon posted:Got in a weird argument with the owner about dining-room etiquette. We had a table of 3 (early to mid 20's, two ladies and a guy) get sat at a booth in the dining room. One of the guests at this table takes their shoes off, walks outside to their car, grabs something, walks back in, goes to the bathroom, and then sits back down at the booth, resting their (in my opinion filthy) socks on the seat next to them. If she'd just kicked off her shoes while at the table, but wasn't putting them on seats I wouldn't say anything because women's shoes are often uncomfortable. But no, she shouldn't be walking around the restaurant barefoot or in socks. They make signs that expressly state that for a reason.
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Nov 5, 2015 01:41
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What percentage, roughly, of dinner customers order an app and what percentage order dessert?
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Nov 5, 2015 02:17
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Mezzanon posted:Got in a weird argument with the owner about dining-room etiquette. We had a table of 3 (early to mid 20's, two ladies and a guy) get sat at a booth in the dining room. One of the guests at this table takes their shoes off, walks outside to their car, grabs something, walks back in, goes to the bathroom, and then sits back down at the booth, resting their (in my opinion filthy) socks on the seat next to them. no shirt no shoes
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Nov 5, 2015 02:40
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bunnielab posted:What percentage, roughly, of dinner customers order an app and what percentage order dessert? 7%
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Nov 5, 2015 02:42
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bunnielab posted:What percentage, roughly, of dinner customers order an app and what percentage order dessert? its like 90% app 45% dessert for my place,
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Nov 5, 2015 03:02
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bunnielab posted:What percentage, roughly, of dinner customers order an app and what percentage order dessert? 60-70% app and 0% desserts at my bar food gig (we don't have desserts, we have cocktails)
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Nov 5, 2015 03:33
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In the sports bar I'm at, I'd say ~75% apps and 10% desserts. Most people don't have room for dessert after packing away a day's worth of sodium and 1500 calories in a single sitting. What's the profit on the dollar for the average restaurant? Vorenus fucked around with this message at 06:45 on Nov 5, 2015 |
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Nov 5, 2015 06:02
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At my last gig (Latin American cuisine done California style) it was like 75% app, and probably 60% dessert. We had a loving incredible dessert selection at that place though. At my current barbecue restaurant it's maybe 25% app and like 5% dessert people get loving stuffed on ribs and don't have room.
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Nov 5, 2015 07:15
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Vorenus posted:In the sports bar I'm at, I'd say ~75% apps and 10% desserts. Most people don't have room for dessert after packing away a day's worth of sodium and 1500 calories in a single sitting. man that can swing wildly depending on the restaurant. Some restaurants make money on food, some exclusively make it on alcohol sales and cut razor thin on food. E: for my last steak house, 75% APP 20% Dessert? Although most of those desserts where birthday or anniversary comps.
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Nov 5, 2015 07:15
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Depressing.
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Nov 5, 2015 07:15
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P-p-p-phone post!
bloody ghost titty fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Nov 5, 2015 |
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Nov 5, 2015 07:16
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Lollllll making money on food
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Nov 5, 2015 09:04
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I make money on food.
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Nov 5, 2015 09:14
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Sure, so does my restaurant, but like, who the gently caress does that to float the business? Why waste your effort? The pour cost on the volume portion of my bar program is ~6-14% and my prices are cheap for SF. When they hired me, they wanted me to trim to a goal PC of 19-21%. We're at 7mil so farthis year in private dining alone. Do you think the 400 covers we did tonight is where we pay our bills? gently caress no. And this is a fine dining restaurant in SF with a daily changing menu.
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Nov 5, 2015 09:31
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Hotels man, food sells much more than alcohol. Last night bar did 1600 in bev sales, 220 in food. Restaurant did 350 bev sales, 4500 food. Sure, our margin on alcohol is great, but the volume isn't there. e: and that doesn't even count banquet sales, where most of our clients are govt employees, so they don't do alcohol.
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Nov 5, 2015 15:59
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Interesting. I ask because I have a huge sweet tooth and am constantly let down by deserts. I figured that most places don't sell many so there is little reason to invest a ton in them. I am definitely falling into the "coffee after dinner" thing and I like something with it.
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Nov 5, 2015 16:03
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Mezzanon posted:Got in a weird argument with the owner about dining-room etiquette. We had a table of 3 (early to mid 20's, two ladies and a guy) get sat at a booth in the dining room. One of the guests at this table takes their shoes off, walks outside to their car, grabs something, walks back in, goes to the bathroom, and then sits back down at the booth, resting their (in my opinion filthy) socks on the seat next to them. I agree with the owner. Leave the customer be, clean the booth afterward, talk poo poo about her for weeks, but don't alienate her. Just not worth it.
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Nov 5, 2015 16:44
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The Midniter posted:I agree with the owner. Leave the customer be, clean the booth afterward, talk poo poo about her for weeks, but don't alienate her. Just not worth it. Rebuttal - what if she's grossing out people at neighbouring tables?
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Nov 5, 2015 16:49
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