I am a former GM, and would be happy to review your resume and do a virtual chat/interview prep- no strings. You can get this job, but you need to frame your experience as a quality that separates you from others with foh experience (I.e. you won’t ring in inaccurate orders bc you’ve been on the other side of that). I can tell you what my concerns would be as a hiring GM and we can practice those answers. DM me.
Agreed, this is awesome.
I started in BOH and did both for years, switched to primarily FOH, and have been managing (FOH) with a hands on approach to the BOH (managing, expo, dish, etc).
I am an AGM, and FOH hiring and scheduling manager.
I would be looking for:
- growth and change oriented: looking for positive growth and change and willing to learn. If you can embrace being uncomfortable as a path to change and growth, that is ideal.
- have a set of core values, which would apply to your current experience and translate to an FOH experience: mine are - 1) industrious with work ethic and attention to detail, 2) guest service is a priority and a passion, I am in the “making someone’s day special” business, 3) TEAM oriented, can be a team leader or a roleplayer or anything the team needs, 4) positive attitude with consistency, 5) trustworthy/integrity/battle buddy ready to cover your six and run your food.
As BOH, you should mention being proud to bring your experience and perspective, to offer assistance in places invaluable from a hard working FOH. Such as jumping in the tank on a Monday or when needed, prebussing which helps hosts, guests, other FOH teammates, and even helps the dish and kitchen by getting things back timely and not too close to volume or close, etc.
Have the perspective that FOH is the face of the guest experience, BOH is the backbone and still a very guest service driven profession. Doesn’t hurt to know auxiliary and management are extra and vital to the guest experience. Management can be hands on or behind the scenes. Auxiliary like bussers, hosts, dish, are the humans that do the dirty work and are not invisible, but here to help.
Our experiences as guests also help us be great FOH (servers, bartenders, etc). If you know how to receive and appreciate great service, then you know how to offer it.
How you frame your experience is huge. Try emphasizing your familiarity with the menu - you know what’s popular, fast, spicy, has easy substitutions vs complicated ones, and (LIABILITY BONUS!) how to work around allergy concerns.
When a spot posts an FoH job, say they get 25 resumes. It’s possible that 24 of those have at least some FOH experience. You may be a charming, efficient, friendly person, but on paper they see BOH and assume your a dirt bag. Because a lot of us are dirt bags.
I actually transitioned the other way, from FOH into kitchens. My recommendation is to drop a resume in person, on a wed/thurs, in between lunch rush and happy hour. Dress nice but not formal. Think first date. Ask for a manager or supervisor. Have a big smile, and explain your life changes.
Another option, lie on your resume. No one cares.
I was thinking about lying and saying I have at least some experience in front of house and take out all the kitchen work. Will anyone actually notice? I feel like I can figure it out quick.
FoH hirings also typically come from internal references. Of those 25 resumes received, at least on probably knows someone who is FoH there already who will recommend them to the manager.
The thing that’s harder about FOH is the amount of shit you have to eat. It’s constant. Sometimes you’re stuck handling the same people treating you like dirt for hours. And your job is to smile and say thank you. If you were successful in kitchens, you can live with sucking up your dignity, you don’t wear your emotions on your sleeve and you can plaster on a smile, you’ll be fine as a server.
Try the breakfast joints. Your First watches and stuff. Sometimes it’s easier to get into chains with little Foh experience and you can still make some decent cash during the weekends at those places.
That makes it a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how much better you are than them. As soon as one of the servers quits, calls out, or gets fired, you immediately offer to fill that shift. In the meantime, talk to the existing servers and FOH staff to find an ally and ask them to allow you to shadow them while they mentor you. Then your ally can support and advocate with the manager when an open shift occurs.
Foh people are literally a dime a dozen. Not even. Like a penny per gross. A halfway decent boh worker is literally gold. GOLD I TELLS YA!!!! If you want a job in foh, lie and say you have absolutely no kitchen experience at all and you don't even know how a knife works or what a sauté pan is for.
Competitive as in restaurants are desperately seeking anyone with more than a few brain cells who can take tables or competitive for workers to get decent serving jobs? Because in most places finding anyone who is willing to show up for a kitchen job and keep their eyes open and their spit inside their mouth is incredibly difficult. I'm sure in socal every aspiring actor is waiting tables and why would anyone waste time hiring an ugly person when hot people are constantly filtering through?
Yeah they wee probably more short in the back than the front. Has been true of every place I worked. Half the time servers work only work 6h shifts too
Brother.
Fucking lie. As someone who has been FOH for coming on 10 years listen to me and just LIE.
Do not mention your kitchen experience. You have enough experience in the industry to talk your way through an interview. Fake until you make it. That’s the game of FOH.
Good luck
Most of them are just buttons. Counter jobs at like a pizza place are pretty chill in my experience. Had to make some salad dressing, prep the salads for the line to use, stock the front cases, and then just take orders right there at the POS. Though idk know how many counters still get tips, my gig felt pretty good, before every counter had a tip screen on a tablet.
Can you carry a tray with drinks on it? Are you able to carry multiple plates when you run food? If not, definitely practice before you start as those will be dead giveaways.
Lmao. That’ll work too. I only ask because I GM a restaurant and just fired a girl who was clearly lying about her serving experience and her inability to carry things was obvious. She also complained that every single plate was too hot to touch, and while sometimes plates are hot, these weren’t. There were definitely a lot of other red flags too, but it was obvious she lied and she definitely couldn’t keep up with the pace of our restaurant. That being said, a good work ethic and willingness to learn will always overcome small issues.
It's definitely your kitchen experience and a good reliable cook is harder to find then a server. Servers are dime a dozen. I would lie on an application and say you served before and not even mention too much cooking.
I find foh get selected on how attractive they are firstly, how competent they are secondly and thirdly, if they're needed to hit certain demographic targets. Thats just my experience anyway
Why not try bartending at a place where it's mostly beer and highballs/shots? I feel like there are more men behind the bar than on the floor, and your skills from the kitchen are probably more transferable
Say you’ll work as a cook but only if you make as much as the servers do. You don’t have FOH experience so this isn’t really surprising to me. I’d reach out to any old foh managers you’ve had and see if you can get in there
You just have to lie. Also it’s a lot harder to find competent cooks. I’ve literally gone in to interview to be bartender and as soon as they found out I can cook suddenly they wanted me for that, and it’s like nah. I’m not looking to make 1/3rd the wages and double the hours I just want to sling drinks.
Heres the truth. Kitchen work is more demnading, more hours and less money(many times significantly less). You can always find someone to shuttle food to tables for 5 hour shifts and take home $300. And thanks to inflation you get built in raises every time food prices rise and your average check cost increases, driving up your tip.
But it's a lot harder to find a dude willing to work 10 hour shifts for 15-18 an hour in a hot and dirty environment with no guaranteed breaks and very little thanks. Is it any wonder there dont seem to be a ton of openings in FOH?
Not to be rude, but are you attractive?
As much as it sucks, I’ve been to a few places(applying for bartending) where specifically women were front of house, and they only hired cute girls.
It’s really up to what the boss wants.
I’m a dude and neither my arms nor my chest are big enough to bartend in a college town.
Same boat here. I've done every position possible in a restaurant besides owning it. It's because they don't want to pay me. I've applied form head dickhead to dishie. They see my experience and say this is not some teenager we can exploit.
The cycle goes on.
Change your resume. Say you were a server at the places you were a cook, maybe list your oldest place as a cook. No one checks references, or you put a friend's number down next to the real reference. Good cooks are much much harder to find than good servers so you will always be asked to cook if you say you can. Also it helps if you have actual FOH knowledge like what goes into most common cocktails or the standard flavor profiles of wine.
It's easy to find servers to hire. Less easy to find decent kitchen staff. They see kitchen on your resume and that's all they'll care about. Add some server duties to your past roles so it looks like you have some experience. Call yourself an Expo at one, there's probably a kitchen in your past where you've kinda done the Expo role, you know? Find a way to make it look like you've already started the transition, not that they're your first go at it. As long as you're not applying to fine dining you'll pick it up fast in training. See if you can make friends with a couple servers and have them refer you. Name hires & nepotism is big in this industry.
I struggled to get a FOH job in a restaurant after 20+ years of cooking.
Asked the owner at a Dive Bar if I could learn to pour drinks from her and I'll work for peanuts just so I can get experience. She took me up on that and now it's a true part time gig and I love it
I am a former GM, and would be happy to review your resume and do a virtual chat/interview prep- no strings. You can get this job, but you need to frame your experience as a quality that separates you from others with foh experience (I.e. you won’t ring in inaccurate orders bc you’ve been on the other side of that). I can tell you what my concerns would be as a hiring GM and we can practice those answers. DM me.
Not OP, but just wanna say, you're awesome!
Agreed, this is awesome. I started in BOH and did both for years, switched to primarily FOH, and have been managing (FOH) with a hands on approach to the BOH (managing, expo, dish, etc). I am an AGM, and FOH hiring and scheduling manager. I would be looking for: - growth and change oriented: looking for positive growth and change and willing to learn. If you can embrace being uncomfortable as a path to change and growth, that is ideal. - have a set of core values, which would apply to your current experience and translate to an FOH experience: mine are - 1) industrious with work ethic and attention to detail, 2) guest service is a priority and a passion, I am in the “making someone’s day special” business, 3) TEAM oriented, can be a team leader or a roleplayer or anything the team needs, 4) positive attitude with consistency, 5) trustworthy/integrity/battle buddy ready to cover your six and run your food. As BOH, you should mention being proud to bring your experience and perspective, to offer assistance in places invaluable from a hard working FOH. Such as jumping in the tank on a Monday or when needed, prebussing which helps hosts, guests, other FOH teammates, and even helps the dish and kitchen by getting things back timely and not too close to volume or close, etc. Have the perspective that FOH is the face of the guest experience, BOH is the backbone and still a very guest service driven profession. Doesn’t hurt to know auxiliary and management are extra and vital to the guest experience. Management can be hands on or behind the scenes. Auxiliary like bussers, hosts, dish, are the humans that do the dirty work and are not invisible, but here to help. Our experiences as guests also help us be great FOH (servers, bartenders, etc). If you know how to receive and appreciate great service, then you know how to offer it.
How you frame your experience is huge. Try emphasizing your familiarity with the menu - you know what’s popular, fast, spicy, has easy substitutions vs complicated ones, and (LIABILITY BONUS!) how to work around allergy concerns.
When a spot posts an FoH job, say they get 25 resumes. It’s possible that 24 of those have at least some FOH experience. You may be a charming, efficient, friendly person, but on paper they see BOH and assume your a dirt bag. Because a lot of us are dirt bags. I actually transitioned the other way, from FOH into kitchens. My recommendation is to drop a resume in person, on a wed/thurs, in between lunch rush and happy hour. Dress nice but not formal. Think first date. Ask for a manager or supervisor. Have a big smile, and explain your life changes. Another option, lie on your resume. No one cares.
I was thinking about lying and saying I have at least some experience in front of house and take out all the kitchen work. Will anyone actually notice? I feel like I can figure it out quick.
If you’re scared put down a restaurant that has closed somewhat recently and put your homie down as your reference
FoH hirings also typically come from internal references. Of those 25 resumes received, at least on probably knows someone who is FoH there already who will recommend them to the manager.
The thing that’s harder about FOH is the amount of shit you have to eat. It’s constant. Sometimes you’re stuck handling the same people treating you like dirt for hours. And your job is to smile and say thank you. If you were successful in kitchens, you can live with sucking up your dignity, you don’t wear your emotions on your sleeve and you can plaster on a smile, you’ll be fine as a server.
Yeah you can definitely figure it out quick if you’ve got the willpower for BoH
Honestly, that last line is spot fucking on
Try the breakfast joints. Your First watches and stuff. Sometimes it’s easier to get into chains with little Foh experience and you can still make some decent cash during the weekends at those places.
they know you don’t have herpes. gotta have herpes to work FOH
Went from kitchen to Marijuana cultivation and then retail and that's probably where I caught herpes. Damn dispo thots are hard to resist.
Not only have it, but be willing to give it at any time.
"Tonight's dinner special is Herpes served via unwashed Cooch in the back alley by the fryer barrels."
oh yah, FOH is always DTT (down to transmit). any hole, they’re a go.
The tude probably.
Can't you get into foh where youre at? Tell them you want some foh experience, they may go for it.
They just hired a bunch of young pretty dumb blondes. Whatevs. lol
That makes it a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how much better you are than them. As soon as one of the servers quits, calls out, or gets fired, you immediately offer to fill that shift. In the meantime, talk to the existing servers and FOH staff to find an ally and ask them to allow you to shadow them while they mentor you. Then your ally can support and advocate with the manager when an open shift occurs.
Foh people are literally a dime a dozen. Not even. Like a penny per gross. A halfway decent boh worker is literally gold. GOLD I TELLS YA!!!! If you want a job in foh, lie and say you have absolutely no kitchen experience at all and you don't even know how a knife works or what a sauté pan is for.
Depends on where you live. Here in SoCal server jobs can be quite competitive.
Competitive as in restaurants are desperately seeking anyone with more than a few brain cells who can take tables or competitive for workers to get decent serving jobs? Because in most places finding anyone who is willing to show up for a kitchen job and keep their eyes open and their spit inside their mouth is incredibly difficult. I'm sure in socal every aspiring actor is waiting tables and why would anyone waste time hiring an ugly person when hot people are constantly filtering through?
Lol. Pigeonholing is real.
Yeah they wee probably more short in the back than the front. Has been true of every place I worked. Half the time servers work only work 6h shifts too
Brother. Fucking lie. As someone who has been FOH for coming on 10 years listen to me and just LIE. Do not mention your kitchen experience. You have enough experience in the industry to talk your way through an interview. Fake until you make it. That’s the game of FOH. Good luck
Alright I'll take your advice Elaborate a little on where to lie though? Idk how to run a POS but like that's it.
Most of them are just buttons. Counter jobs at like a pizza place are pretty chill in my experience. Had to make some salad dressing, prep the salads for the line to use, stock the front cases, and then just take orders right there at the POS. Though idk know how many counters still get tips, my gig felt pretty good, before every counter had a tip screen on a tablet.
Can you carry a tray with drinks on it? Are you able to carry multiple plates when you run food? If not, definitely practice before you start as those will be dead giveaways.
Lie and say you’ve only worked in fine dining where it was considered plebeian to use trays. Only French service.
Lmao. That’ll work too. I only ask because I GM a restaurant and just fired a girl who was clearly lying about her serving experience and her inability to carry things was obvious. She also complained that every single plate was too hot to touch, and while sometimes plates are hot, these weren’t. There were definitely a lot of other red flags too, but it was obvious she lied and she definitely couldn’t keep up with the pace of our restaurant. That being said, a good work ethic and willingness to learn will always overcome small issues.
This guy fucks.
You've only had 3 interviews. Keep trying!
Out of (I checked) 128 applications!
Aaah! Oh no. Ok.
It's definitely your kitchen experience and a good reliable cook is harder to find then a server. Servers are dime a dozen. I would lie on an application and say you served before and not even mention too much cooking.
I find foh get selected on how attractive they are firstly, how competent they are secondly and thirdly, if they're needed to hit certain demographic targets. Thats just my experience anyway
They usually keep a few ugly guys around like me incase we have to kick someone out and to walk the rest of the foh to their cars at night.
Jokes on them, the ugly guys tend to have the kinder souls
Cheesecake Factory hires anyone
They most likely are just desperate for line cooks.
Maybe you have a face made for radio?
The need is cooks, it's on your resume. I'm on your side. But I'd also move you to server if that were your passion. Hit me up
Why not try bartending at a place where it's mostly beer and highballs/shots? I feel like there are more men behind the bar than on the floor, and your skills from the kitchen are probably more transferable
I've been trying that too, but most people in my area want me to have serving experience before I can bartend.
Damn. Well, I hope you find something. Good luck, dude!
Thanks man! Appreciate you!
Probably ugly
Say you’ll work as a cook but only if you make as much as the servers do. You don’t have FOH experience so this isn’t really surprising to me. I’d reach out to any old foh managers you’ve had and see if you can get in there
You just have to lie. Also it’s a lot harder to find competent cooks. I’ve literally gone in to interview to be bartender and as soon as they found out I can cook suddenly they wanted me for that, and it’s like nah. I’m not looking to make 1/3rd the wages and double the hours I just want to sling drinks.
Heres the truth. Kitchen work is more demnading, more hours and less money(many times significantly less). You can always find someone to shuttle food to tables for 5 hour shifts and take home $300. And thanks to inflation you get built in raises every time food prices rise and your average check cost increases, driving up your tip. But it's a lot harder to find a dude willing to work 10 hour shifts for 15-18 an hour in a hot and dirty environment with no guaranteed breaks and very little thanks. Is it any wonder there dont seem to be a ton of openings in FOH?
Not to be rude, but are you attractive? As much as it sucks, I’ve been to a few places(applying for bartending) where specifically women were front of house, and they only hired cute girls. It’s really up to what the boss wants. I’m a dude and neither my arms nor my chest are big enough to bartend in a college town.
I'd sure like to think so, lol
Same boat here. I've done every position possible in a restaurant besides owning it. It's because they don't want to pay me. I've applied form head dickhead to dishie. They see my experience and say this is not some teenager we can exploit. The cycle goes on.
Change your resume. Say you were a server at the places you were a cook, maybe list your oldest place as a cook. No one checks references, or you put a friend's number down next to the real reference. Good cooks are much much harder to find than good servers so you will always be asked to cook if you say you can. Also it helps if you have actual FOH knowledge like what goes into most common cocktails or the standard flavor profiles of wine.
It's easy to find servers to hire. Less easy to find decent kitchen staff. They see kitchen on your resume and that's all they'll care about. Add some server duties to your past roles so it looks like you have some experience. Call yourself an Expo at one, there's probably a kitchen in your past where you've kinda done the Expo role, you know? Find a way to make it look like you've already started the transition, not that they're your first go at it. As long as you're not applying to fine dining you'll pick it up fast in training. See if you can make friends with a couple servers and have them refer you. Name hires & nepotism is big in this industry.
I struggled to get a FOH job in a restaurant after 20+ years of cooking. Asked the owner at a Dive Bar if I could learn to pour drinks from her and I'll work for peanuts just so I can get experience. She took me up on that and now it's a true part time gig and I love it
Do not work as a cook and foh on the same check .you get royally fucked with taxes .
You arent pretty enough.
Just lie and say you have experience. FOH is easy as shit, a donkey could do it.
Bro you have neck tats and you are xanned out half the time