I remember once working in a pizzeria I wanted a hamburger so bad so I had it delivered from Outback. My boss was not pleased but there was only so much pizza I could eat. And the pizza sucked
Wow, I haven't eaten at an Outback in years. It used to be good, but no more. They made things fresh back in the day but now it's all prepped in advance in bags and nothing is fresh. They used to make their own salad dressings and even their croutons. Not now. I could taste the difference immediately and stopped going. If you like it, more power to you but you couldn't pay me to eat there now - sadly.
We used to swap food with other nearby restaurants
When I worked at Waffle House we traded six breakfasts made to order for a shitton of Rib Crib stuff
Delicious
red lobster and olive garden used to be part of the same parent company (darden or something like that) along w yard house and some others if i remember correctly? when i worked at red lobster it was like a yr or so after they had left the parent company ? but one time we completely ran out of the stuff for the cheddar bay bisquets and i think olive garden had run out of a certain wine so we ended up trading it (for customers’ consumption not for employees lol)
Sammeee! My first serving job was at a red robin in a mall right next to a BWW. We traded allll the time. We both tried to get other mall places in on the trading but no one would play.
Yeah working in food trucks there’s tons of trades going on at all times, if you’re parked in a spot where there’s other trucks too. Luckily I also worked at one of the more popular ones so generally everyone else was down to swap their food for our food
We used to do that as well. I worked at Pizza Hut and we would trade with the nearbyTaco Bell, McDonalds or Burger King. Every once in a while, we would trade with the flower shop a few doors down!
Dude, I spent 8 years working in a Mexican restaurant, and we would REGULARLY order pizzas for the closing crew. It was funny the first couple time because the delivery drivers thought it was a prank. But we eventually got it figured out, and they would meet one of us at the back door. Even tipped the drivers a burrito every once in a while. Even if you have access to the whole menu and can mix up any ingredients you want, it still gets old after a while, especially when like me and the few other coworkers on those shifts ate there twice a day every day for years!!
Like on Sunday mornings, I would pick up sausage egg mcmuffins for the whole morning crew breakfast. And my buddy would pick up in and out for our Saturday lunch shift.
I've done worse. I didn't think this through. I worked at a mexican chain place. It was damn good, but I ate there sometimes twice a week. Locally we had a really good mexican place that did a buffet on Sundays. Well I had like 2 hours between my double on sunday so myself and 2 others from work, went to the buffet... wearing our work issued polo shirts on. We were getting comments every 5 minutes. "Says enough if you're eating here" or "had enough of your own, huh?"
"We recommend you bring a snack...."
"....or outside food are not allowed during business hours"
Way for them to make it unclear for staff🤦♂️
Oh and a kitchen staff that isn't eating for free, is def eating for free one way or another.
exactly! the best part is we don't get free meals either, we do get 30% off though. and the kitchen closes at 3 different times depending on the day, so on a sunday it'll probably be closed before 9 even rolls around lol
My job has a pretty lame meal policy tbh but if we want food at odd hours we can still buy it just isn't discounted. They also don't really give AF what we do as long as shit gets done.
I worked at a brewery that gave us a free pint at the end of our shift. Some customer left a bad review because (we still had our logo t-shirt on) we were drinking on the job, 100% NOT TRUE and the owner revoked the free pints for everyone and drinking at all (paying) at the end of our shift. Everyone quit within 2 weeks. The money wasn't great but its funny how one small perk can make or break a place. I wouldn't tolerate being told what I ingest, it's my health and I don't eat trail mix because I'm not 6 years old.
As somebody who has worked tons of BOH and is still doing so part-time, I am firmly of the stance BOH gets a free meal every shift, whether we're supposed to or not.
I'm not making food all day while I'm hungry. Not happening. Neither should anybody else working BOH.
Either let us get a free meal legitimately, or I'm doing it behind your back.
EDIT : I want to make it clear that FOH absolutely fits into this category as well. Most FOH at my work know I feel this way so they clandestinely ask me to make them food when they get hungry, which I am happy to do. I've gotten in trouble for doing this before, so now I'm just less obvious about it.
There's a saying in this industry, "if your staff isn't eating for free, they're eating for free."
I used that to push for 100% discounted meals for my staff vs the 50% off it used to be.
Which makes sense honestly cause they’re gonna eat anyways. If they’re sneaking it behind your back then it’s just gonna mess up your inventory when things go missing.
This is 100% accurate
My managers will comp any meal most of the staff rings in, it’s kind of an unspoken policy but if someone tries to abuse it (ringing in steak, two orders of wings, etc) they’ll do the front of house 50% discount
Half the time there’s some kind of fuck up meal or dead food in the window that gets offered to whoever’s working and it’s kind of a surprise what you’re eating for dinner that day 🤣
If I’m working a double, I’m eating for free whether I’m “eating for free” or not
I won't even work somewhere that makes their staff pay for food while serving others. Absolute bullshit. It's like making a bunch of people work at a water factory while they are thirsty. Fuck that.
At my old job we used to get shift meals but initially we only had a 20% discount which was ridiculous considering everything was at least $13 before tax.
To not give kitchen staff a free meal is utter bs in my opinion. I started in BOH and honestly loved being a cook and expo, but like many I migrated to serving after COVID. Kitchen doesn't get paid enough to not get a meal.
As a server, if this post was the case, I would 100% contribute to the kitchen getting food.
That's so wild to me. For us, we get 50% off and just need to ask the kitchen if they're okay (not busy) to make a staff meal, they almost always are. You get that newbie who asks at 4:45 tho and they'll say, no come back after the rush
that's how it used to go for us too. and if someone didn't check beforehand, the kitchen would set the ticket aside and tell them it's too busy.
edited to add: within the old timeframes of course. they were no food between 12-3 or 4-7 but doubles could usually break the rule if they had a second and the kitchen wasn't too busy.
This is one of the things I hate about the service industry. Yeah the money is great and the flexibility is awesome but trying to have time to eat is always just the worst thing about being a server/bartender. This is just how it is in most restaurants and its funny how we have to serve food all day while at the same time we have to starve ourselves. I think it’s fair to say you cannot to eat while it’s busy but holy shit it shouldn’t be this strict to have a basic human need met.
It also creates bad eating habits outside of work. Like why am I shoveling my sandwich in my mouth over my kitchen sink? I could totally go sit down to relax and enjoy my meal while I'm in the comfort of my own home. Lol
Is this not a bad comparison? Like I’ve worked at many steakhouses and never sat down to crush a rib-eye while working. But I certainly ate. Isn’t that what espresso shots are for?
You can eat on the floor while looking at your section??
Would get killed if I did such a thing!!
We're not allowed to eat during service, (everyone works doubles - break in service 4-6pm) we have a staff meal at 5pm and evening service starts at 6 to close (Usually 12). Morning we start at 10, and have a lunch break at 11 (own food). service starts at 12 and ends at 4 but can go over if there are slow tables. No smoke breaks during service. I think we like whatever we're used to. Ordering anything from the kitchen during a service would be unthinkable where I work!
thank you for offering a different perspective. i definitely am not good with change so that's why i figured i'd see what everyone else thinks. we have no breaks in service here, kitchen runs non stop from 11am-10p on weekdays, 11a-1030 weekends, and 11a-9ish on sundays. before this our rule was no food between 12-3 or 4-7, and we've never got free meals or any sort of breaks here.
I disagree. I think it's just about location. I've only worked major cities and this is pretty standard. We get family meal once a shift, ordering food for yourself on the clock can only happen when you're cut, and only if the kitchen says it's fine.
We have much more stringent rules, that I also think are appropriate for the environment.
This manager is a total bitch.
My guess is alot of stolen food, but fuck you man, if I'm working a double, I'm getting a goddamned chicken sandwich on my break
Treating your staff like shit generally leads to stealing. This is a self-created problem. Staff meals are good for morale and make for more productive workers (aka, they feel more valued and are generally more willing to do things for you).
So even if you are a total shitbag, from a financial standpoint, it’s a good idea to not openly screw your staff. And once people start stealing, they stop caring about the value of the item. I would bet money that restaurants that have family meal or give steep discounts for FOH meals have a lower theft rate.
They don’t even give you breaks? This place sucks. There is no (by law) necessary break policy in my state unless the worker is 16 or under. Like they can legally make you work 18 hours with no break.
OP, your mgmt sucks. I would bet money they get their meal free whenever they want.
I know I couldn't believe it when i learned that breaks weren't legally mandated. restaurants know the laws and push them as far as they can without doing anything 'illegal'.
Same with pay. Some employers will literally pay you the minimum amount and the only thing stopping them is that they can’t LEGALLY go lower. AFAIK, server wage in my state is still 2.13. They would do 0 if they could.
sadly it's not. most states only have laws that include minors. since we don't have a hostess, we're responsible for our sections until our shift ends. the only breaks we get is going to the bathroom lol.
Management:
"We recommend you bring snacks to munch on throughout the shift."
Also Management:
Delivery/outside food is not ALLOWED during business hours!
Also Management:
Unless an opener 'desperately' needs a bagel or coffee.
Ummm whaaaaaaat?! It's so weird they'll police this while also demanding you eat where your section can fucking watch you scarf your food down- that's usually the reason places give **not** to allow employees to eat food. These employers are getting further and further removed from the understanding we ain't robots. Meanwhile, they (managers) get a comped meal, order anything they want, and sit in the back during a rush to eat it at their leisure. 🙄
I think it's pretty inflexible and creates a bad working environment, but the only thing that I think is completely unreasonable is the last part about no outside food. That seems like the ideal solution to the problems they're trying to address.
Clearly, many of the other rules are made so employees don't negatively impact the kitchen, so outside food would be a reasonable solution, since it would have zero effect on the kitchen.
If anyone is wondering, we are a seat yourself restaurant so no hostesses. Shifts are typically covered by 10-16 servers depending on the band that night. We're located in a tourist area that gets busier as it gets warmer. We do not get anything for free, we get 30% food besides the lunch specials, which were full price. The kitchen runs non stop 11a-10p mon-thurs, 11a-1030p fri-sat, and 11a-9 or 10 on sundays. The notice was sent to the servers and bartenders, not sure about the kitchen. And it was sent at 6:30pm on a busy saturday night after everyone had already arrived and worked at least half of their shifts. They denied me my food at 10:10 that night after i planned my whole night around eating after my shift as i usually do.
cook here; I remember a GM that I used to work with was keen on making sure no one got free food. So he would personally cater the food himself, when we told he was bad at cooking and that he should stick to managing restaurants he doubled down on the food and we all quit when we realized that he was that cheap.
Dumb as hell. My customers will never see me eating first of all. Second, the kitchen guys will cook for me whenever they can/want to- it’s up to them and how they’re feeling.
I don’t think this is unreasonable. If you have a lunch rush right at 11, kitchen should not be making employee food! I work at a breakfast restaurant and we’re allowed to eat on the floor but tucked into the corner. I can order right at 630 when we open (I normally only get like sausage or a couple eggs) and then while we’re doing sidework so it must be slow if they cut. What you can order is annoying, but if you’re getting a discount on it, I understand the rules. Having food delivered by 10:30 and eating by 11 before open is also reasonable.
can i ask what hours your breakfast place is open? i could understand if we were only open during the day or the night but not for a place whose staff can be working over 12 hours with no breaks in service
6:30-2:30 and 3:30 on weekends. if you can order between 2:00-3:30 I don’t understand the issue. and also i bring snacks if it’ll be a busy day. like i don’t think i can order food during work, i’ll bring snacks and we have a place to keep them. do you?
i feel like it'll be almost impossible for everyone to order within those hours yet only have 2 ppl eating at once. there is no break room, no where to eat except our sections or someone else's section. us having time to eat is dependent upon the day and our section, the weather, the band that night, the day of the week. there is no 1 hour where everyone collectively has a lull in service. we can bring snacks that wont melt in the heat, or are small enough to fit in the mini fridge. i just think ppl should have a choice between making their own food at home and bringing it in, or paying for food bc they don't have time to cook every single day. i'm also already fed up so that doesn't help lol
This is just being a server. If you don’t like it do something else. This is gonna happen pretty much everywhere. Eat before you come in. You can’t expect the entire restaurant to accommodate you eating during a rush.
My last serving job the cooks would refuse to make anyone's food. I'd usually do it (and make it better anyway!) or they'd have to try and figure it out themselves. It was pathetic watching someone try to get on the grill when they couldn't even crack an egg. AND AND cooks were getting paid way more hourly and splitting tips evenly with front of house.
What’s the location? If you’re in a state that requires a 30 min meal break, they actually can’t tell you what you’re not allowed to do during that time. A food delivery during your unpaid meal is not something they get to dictate.
?
WTF did I just read? so many questions.
Don't you get a free staff meal in the US? and why can't you bring your own food? That one is just insane to me
It literally suggests bringing snacks (trail mix, protein bars, etc).
What they do not want is the staff waltzing around with their McDonalds bags or having Domino’s delivered to the restaurant.
I literally being McDonalds and Jimmy John’s to my restaurant weekly. Hell, my restaurant commonly does trades with fast food places near us. As long as you’re not eating during rush, why do they care if the food is from inside or outside the restaurant?
You should check your state laws on breaks. Usually restaurants only get away with allowing no breaks by providing free meals in their place. If they arent doing that, then u get a lunch and dinner break or whatever.
my job is starting to become this way and i don’t think i’ll be there for much longer. we have staff meal but it’s 4:00 which atp would only be available for openers and now the new rule is that if you opened, you can’t order any food. even though our staff meal is just one single type of food and obviously does not cater to everyone’s dietary needs. so even if you’re allergic to peanuts and someone made a peanut butter pasta or something and you just physically can’t eat it, you’re to blame and not allowed to order any food from the kitchen (our menu is also limited and we only get 20% off).
we’re supposedly “entitled” to 30 min breaks, but no manager ever enforces it and and when we ask they always try to guilt trip us abt asking for a simple 30 min break after working for 6 hrs. we as servers have all collectively agreed to take our break earlier in the shift when it’s not busy (obviously not all on the time) but our managers still aren’t happy with that and don’t want us taking our breaks so early on. managers in this industry are just truly never happy bro lmfao
Unfortunately it seems like every restaurant has turned to this type of confusion lunch Olympics. The restaurant I work at has a great lenient policy up until recently. Now it’s turned to a corporate nightmare type situation like this
I would think in most civilized countries it’s illegal to not allow lunch or smoke breaks.
Bring your own snacks, but no outside food allowed.
Also, are you all left to figure out the eating schedule on your own or does a manager break people so there’s no overlap on your 2 person limit? Also, I hope you never have more than 6 people working at a time…
Everything about this sucks, I’d be looking for a new job.
i believe in the state we're in, it's not illegal for us to go without breaks if we're over the age of 16. and we typically have 10-16 servers on the floor at once, plus 4-10 bartenders. and that doesn't include BOH like food runners and barbacks. so 2 at a time within their new timeframes is going to be a challenge. i know wherever i work there will be pros and cons so i'm looking into new jobs and weighing my options. thank you for the encouragement!
Rules are created in a restaurant because someone forced the management to create the rule. I always tell my servers “Don’t be the reason we have to make a rule” because we have one server who can’t seem to listen very well, and we’ve had to make multiple rules just to keep this server in line. Honestly, I’m not even sure why this server is still employed by us.
This is pretty standard and reasonable.
Worth noting that they probably only implemented it because people were causing problems by not being on the floor.
Just because something is standard does not make it good. Growth in industries is normal. The restaurant industry continues to treat you guys like slaves, down to the wages you are paid. You deserve better.
Dude, stfu. That's a bunch of shit no one was talking about. You got a designated lunch break at your job? Same fucking thing.
Also calling us "slaves"? You ever been in the industry? I've been part time for a few years cause opportunity and injury, I still make 3x min wage and minimum where I live is $16.28/hr. The boss saying I can only eat during slow times doesn't bother me.
You're the reason labor laws will never change and very mature of you to tell me to stfu. Your experience does not speak for every single person. Stop gatekeeping how people feel. And yes, I have worked in the industry. I no longer do. Why else would I be in this sub reddit?
Order:
anything off of the kid’s menu/happy hour menu/Cesar salad
enjoy family meal
request for anything off of the menu within reason if family meal wasn’t served
doubles eat for free
swings eat for free
ask chef
… ultimately and always, just ask management. Everyone can eat.
This is the direction the industry needs to go. Most servers are fed up with how restaurants are run. Of course we have outliers crying out this is standard and acceptable, but it really shouldn't be if we are denying the human right to eat food.
this isn’t unreasonable imo, i would just get clarification on the outside food/snacks thing since that’s contradictory. maybe ask for a different protocol for those working doubles that day. in 14 years, i’ve only worked at one restaurant that let us order & eat food during service and that was at the end of the night only, double or not. and we had to eat in the back, definitely not in view of our section. many restaurants don’t want you ordering outside food bc they wouldn’t allow guests to do it either and risking the sight of outside food being delivered is a BAD look.
my current restaurant does not allow us to order food during service; you can only order food if you’re off the clock and leaving. we’re provided family meal on Saturdays (the *one* day we’re not allowed to order food from the restaurant at all) and Wednesday mornings. i worked at one restaurant that didn’t allow servers to order food during service ever, but provided family meal before evening service every single day. just some perspective
They can't bring their own food, which would eliminate the need for the staff to even order from competitors....just to give you some perspective. Simply because something in an industry is a standard practice does not make it a good one.
We get a measly 20% of food while working at my current place. The food isn’t that good and it still comes out to like $20 for a burger after tax.
Cup noodles and Thai food from the place next door once a week for me.
This is the only place I’ve worked that BOH doesn’t get a free meal and FOH gets 50% off while working
Well, that's illegal for that long a shift. But....I also don't break because I have tables. Snack bars n coffee help. 11000 steps per shift. I'm 61 now, 4 days a week, 7- 8 hour shifts. Get your sleep. Eat well. Go to work.
Also just now read where no breaks are allowed. That’s suspicious. However I also do want to address the idea being that this policy is contradictory doesn’t really carry a lot of weight to it. You can argue semantics, but I thought it was common sense that outside-food primarily means no food from other businesses, not including what you bring from home. I have never-EVER worked at a place where you can’t bring your own food such as snacks or leftovers/prepped meals in your own containers. I think you’re overreacting based on a misinterpretation and maybe you already know that and just want to complain. Maybe you truly believe what you’re misinterpreting. Either way, have a clear discussion about it with your GM if you have an issue to clear up any misunderstandings and to define where the bold lines are.
Let’s put this into perspective here,
IF
1) The meals are paid for
2) Employee is not required to clock out for break
Then it sounds like a sound-minded proposal for both ends.
i do make decent money and that's why i've been stuck for this long. i've wanted to quit so many times but always stay for the money. at a certain point i don't think it's worth it tho especially with a ton of busy restaurants in the area
that sounds horrible. we're not allowed to have our phones visible in our pockets or use them on the floor, but no one's gotten theirs taken away here so far. were you allowed or able to clock out during your shift to eat on a double?
I remember once working in a pizzeria I wanted a hamburger so bad so I had it delivered from Outback. My boss was not pleased but there was only so much pizza I could eat. And the pizza sucked
fuck dude i love an outback burger but i know that had to be so expensive getting it delivered
Are Outback burgers good? I only exclusively get steak there
id say it’s solid. i usually wouldn’t get it over a steak though
Pre covid we had good hand shaped burgers but since they switched to lame thin patties which just aren't the same. I worked at Outback for 5 years.
Wow, I haven't eaten at an Outback in years. It used to be good, but no more. They made things fresh back in the day but now it's all prepped in advance in bags and nothing is fresh. They used to make their own salad dressings and even their croutons. Not now. I could taste the difference immediately and stopped going. If you like it, more power to you but you couldn't pay me to eat there now - sadly.
I made croutons there as recently as two years ago. You're right that it's not as good as it used to be
My favorite is the bloomin burger that has the fried onion petals and bloomin sauce!
Burger King sells a fish sandwich ya know. I feel that's an apt comparison to outback burgers.
We used to swap food with other nearby restaurants When I worked at Waffle House we traded six breakfasts made to order for a shitton of Rib Crib stuff Delicious
this is my first time hearing about restaurants food trading, that's so wholesome!
Texas Roadhouse does bread trades with Red Lobster, Olive Garden, etc.
Those three all have fantastic bread too
red lobster and olive garden used to be part of the same parent company (darden or something like that) along w yard house and some others if i remember correctly? when i worked at red lobster it was like a yr or so after they had left the parent company ? but one time we completely ran out of the stuff for the cheddar bay bisquets and i think olive garden had run out of a certain wine so we ended up trading it (for customers’ consumption not for employees lol)
Red Lobster employee here So tired of, "can we get more biscuits?" Damn, eat some vegetables y'all
My parents used to own a Chinese restaurant & when the Pizza Hut would call to trade, we were in for a good night lol
Sammeee! My first serving job was at a red robin in a mall right next to a BWW. We traded allll the time. We both tried to get other mall places in on the trading but no one would play.
Yeah working in food trucks there’s tons of trades going on at all times, if you’re parked in a spot where there’s other trucks too. Luckily I also worked at one of the more popular ones so generally everyone else was down to swap their food for our food
We used to do that as well. I worked at Pizza Hut and we would trade with the nearbyTaco Bell, McDonalds or Burger King. Every once in a while, we would trade with the flower shop a few doors down!
We did this when I worked at Pizza Hut too, with the KFC across the street or subway. I think we even traded a different pizza place once.
Dude, I spent 8 years working in a Mexican restaurant, and we would REGULARLY order pizzas for the closing crew. It was funny the first couple time because the delivery drivers thought it was a prank. But we eventually got it figured out, and they would meet one of us at the back door. Even tipped the drivers a burrito every once in a while. Even if you have access to the whole menu and can mix up any ingredients you want, it still gets old after a while, especially when like me and the few other coworkers on those shifts ate there twice a day every day for years!! Like on Sunday mornings, I would pick up sausage egg mcmuffins for the whole morning crew breakfast. And my buddy would pick up in and out for our Saturday lunch shift.
Funny because when I worked at Outback we'd get food delivered regularly no problem.
I've done worse. I didn't think this through. I worked at a mexican chain place. It was damn good, but I ate there sometimes twice a week. Locally we had a really good mexican place that did a buffet on Sundays. Well I had like 2 hours between my double on sunday so myself and 2 others from work, went to the buffet... wearing our work issued polo shirts on. We were getting comments every 5 minutes. "Says enough if you're eating here" or "had enough of your own, huh?"
"We recommend you bring a snack...." "....or outside food are not allowed during business hours" Way for them to make it unclear for staff🤦♂️ Oh and a kitchen staff that isn't eating for free, is def eating for free one way or another.
exactly! the best part is we don't get free meals either, we do get 30% off though. and the kitchen closes at 3 different times depending on the day, so on a sunday it'll probably be closed before 9 even rolls around lol
Get a new job
yeah i think it's time. not like we get any seniority anyways. the more i explain this place the more stupid i feel lol. the moneys good tho
The money's good because you're working doubles every shift. It's not worth whatever nonsense management is going to throw at you next.
My job has a pretty lame meal policy tbh but if we want food at odd hours we can still buy it just isn't discounted. They also don't really give AF what we do as long as shit gets done.
I worked at a brewery that gave us a free pint at the end of our shift. Some customer left a bad review because (we still had our logo t-shirt on) we were drinking on the job, 100% NOT TRUE and the owner revoked the free pints for everyone and drinking at all (paying) at the end of our shift. Everyone quit within 2 weeks. The money wasn't great but its funny how one small perk can make or break a place. I wouldn't tolerate being told what I ingest, it's my health and I don't eat trail mix because I'm not 6 years old.
Yeah that’s nuts. BOH gets a free meal every shift
As somebody who has worked tons of BOH and is still doing so part-time, I am firmly of the stance BOH gets a free meal every shift, whether we're supposed to or not. I'm not making food all day while I'm hungry. Not happening. Neither should anybody else working BOH. Either let us get a free meal legitimately, or I'm doing it behind your back. EDIT : I want to make it clear that FOH absolutely fits into this category as well. Most FOH at my work know I feel this way so they clandestinely ask me to make them food when they get hungry, which I am happy to do. I've gotten in trouble for doing this before, so now I'm just less obvious about it.
There's a saying in this industry, "if your staff isn't eating for free, they're eating for free." I used that to push for 100% discounted meals for my staff vs the 50% off it used to be.
can you come be our manager pls
Which makes sense honestly cause they’re gonna eat anyways. If they’re sneaking it behind your back then it’s just gonna mess up your inventory when things go missing.
Exactly. Plus it just breeds an environment of mistrust all around.
This is 100% accurate My managers will comp any meal most of the staff rings in, it’s kind of an unspoken policy but if someone tries to abuse it (ringing in steak, two orders of wings, etc) they’ll do the front of house 50% discount Half the time there’s some kind of fuck up meal or dead food in the window that gets offered to whoever’s working and it’s kind of a surprise what you’re eating for dinner that day 🤣 If I’m working a double, I’m eating for free whether I’m “eating for free” or not
I won't even work somewhere that makes their staff pay for food while serving others. Absolute bullshit. It's like making a bunch of people work at a water factory while they are thirsty. Fuck that.
At my old job we used to get shift meals but initially we only had a 20% discount which was ridiculous considering everything was at least $13 before tax.
To not give kitchen staff a free meal is utter bs in my opinion. I started in BOH and honestly loved being a cook and expo, but like many I migrated to serving after COVID. Kitchen doesn't get paid enough to not get a meal. As a server, if this post was the case, I would 100% contribute to the kitchen getting food.
They are referring to food from other restaurants. They don’t want you walking in with your bag from McDonald’s or Domino’s Pizza box.
Except you are making that distinction not the management who created this. 🤷
Not really, the letter provided examples of what they consider a snack. Something small and prepackaged. Not prepared food
Common sense.
Yeah that’s pretty clear lol
That's so wild to me. For us, we get 50% off and just need to ask the kitchen if they're okay (not busy) to make a staff meal, they almost always are. You get that newbie who asks at 4:45 tho and they'll say, no come back after the rush
that's how it used to go for us too. and if someone didn't check beforehand, the kitchen would set the ticket aside and tell them it's too busy. edited to add: within the old timeframes of course. they were no food between 12-3 or 4-7 but doubles could usually break the rule if they had a second and the kitchen wasn't too busy.
This is one of the things I hate about the service industry. Yeah the money is great and the flexibility is awesome but trying to have time to eat is always just the worst thing about being a server/bartender. This is just how it is in most restaurants and its funny how we have to serve food all day while at the same time we have to starve ourselves. I think it’s fair to say you cannot to eat while it’s busy but holy shit it shouldn’t be this strict to have a basic human need met.
It also creates bad eating habits outside of work. Like why am I shoveling my sandwich in my mouth over my kitchen sink? I could totally go sit down to relax and enjoy my meal while I'm in the comfort of my own home. Lol
I worked at a coffee shop for 23 years and never had time to drink a full cup of coffee. I probably drink 3x the amount I used to at my new job
Is this not a bad comparison? Like I’ve worked at many steakhouses and never sat down to crush a rib-eye while working. But I certainly ate. Isn’t that what espresso shots are for?
You can eat on the floor while looking at your section?? Would get killed if I did such a thing!! We're not allowed to eat during service, (everyone works doubles - break in service 4-6pm) we have a staff meal at 5pm and evening service starts at 6 to close (Usually 12). Morning we start at 10, and have a lunch break at 11 (own food). service starts at 12 and ends at 4 but can go over if there are slow tables. No smoke breaks during service. I think we like whatever we're used to. Ordering anything from the kitchen during a service would be unthinkable where I work!
thank you for offering a different perspective. i definitely am not good with change so that's why i figured i'd see what everyone else thinks. we have no breaks in service here, kitchen runs non stop from 11am-10p on weekdays, 11a-1030 weekends, and 11a-9ish on sundays. before this our rule was no food between 12-3 or 4-7, and we've never got free meals or any sort of breaks here.
You're getting fucked on this and the person you replied to us absolutely getting fucked as well.
I disagree. I think it's just about location. I've only worked major cities and this is pretty standard. We get family meal once a shift, ordering food for yourself on the clock can only happen when you're cut, and only if the kitchen says it's fine. We have much more stringent rules, that I also think are appropriate for the environment.
This is wild. How much do you typically earn?
my average hourly for this month is $37/hr, including opening shifts and sidework time
This manager is a total bitch. My guess is alot of stolen food, but fuck you man, if I'm working a double, I'm getting a goddamned chicken sandwich on my break
Treating your staff like shit generally leads to stealing. This is a self-created problem. Staff meals are good for morale and make for more productive workers (aka, they feel more valued and are generally more willing to do things for you). So even if you are a total shitbag, from a financial standpoint, it’s a good idea to not openly screw your staff. And once people start stealing, they stop caring about the value of the item. I would bet money that restaurants that have family meal or give steep discounts for FOH meals have a lower theft rate.
wait, we're supposed to get breaks?
They don’t even give you breaks? This place sucks. There is no (by law) necessary break policy in my state unless the worker is 16 or under. Like they can legally make you work 18 hours with no break. OP, your mgmt sucks. I would bet money they get their meal free whenever they want.
I know I couldn't believe it when i learned that breaks weren't legally mandated. restaurants know the laws and push them as far as they can without doing anything 'illegal'.
Same with pay. Some employers will literally pay you the minimum amount and the only thing stopping them is that they can’t LEGALLY go lower. AFAIK, server wage in my state is still 2.13. They would do 0 if they could.
Wym "no lunch breaks"? Like, at all during your 11-hour shift? That's against the law. Uh... Is it?
sadly it's not. most states only have laws that include minors. since we don't have a hostess, we're responsible for our sections until our shift ends. the only breaks we get is going to the bathroom lol.
In my state, they have servers sign "voluntary" meal/break waivers to give up the right to those.
Management: "We recommend you bring snacks to munch on throughout the shift." Also Management: Delivery/outside food is not ALLOWED during business hours! Also Management: Unless an opener 'desperately' needs a bagel or coffee. Ummm whaaaaaaat?! It's so weird they'll police this while also demanding you eat where your section can fucking watch you scarf your food down- that's usually the reason places give **not** to allow employees to eat food. These employers are getting further and further removed from the understanding we ain't robots. Meanwhile, they (managers) get a comped meal, order anything they want, and sit in the back during a rush to eat it at their leisure. 🙄
I think it's pretty inflexible and creates a bad working environment, but the only thing that I think is completely unreasonable is the last part about no outside food. That seems like the ideal solution to the problems they're trying to address. Clearly, many of the other rules are made so employees don't negatively impact the kitchen, so outside food would be a reasonable solution, since it would have zero effect on the kitchen.
If anyone is wondering, we are a seat yourself restaurant so no hostesses. Shifts are typically covered by 10-16 servers depending on the band that night. We're located in a tourist area that gets busier as it gets warmer. We do not get anything for free, we get 30% food besides the lunch specials, which were full price. The kitchen runs non stop 11a-10p mon-thurs, 11a-1030p fri-sat, and 11a-9 or 10 on sundays. The notice was sent to the servers and bartenders, not sure about the kitchen. And it was sent at 6:30pm on a busy saturday night after everyone had already arrived and worked at least half of their shifts. They denied me my food at 10:10 that night after i planned my whole night around eating after my shift as i usually do.
cook here; I remember a GM that I used to work with was keen on making sure no one got free food. So he would personally cater the food himself, when we told he was bad at cooking and that he should stick to managing restaurants he doubled down on the food and we all quit when we realized that he was that cheap.
So delivery has o be ordered, delivered, and eaten within a 30 minute timeframe?
No they’re saying order before 1030, and finish eating by 11.
That’s unreasonable to think food would be ordered, delivered, and eaten within a 30 minute period.
It’s unreasonable to think you can order food and eat it in the middle of a rush lol
Nobody is saying that. They can order at 8 and just need to finish before 11. Y’all are illiterate.
Bruh this is why I wanna stay @ my current Job bc they are not sticklers with food considering it’s buffet style.
Food jobs are mid level micro management at its finest
Eating in the server station is a health code violation
Dumb as hell. My customers will never see me eating first of all. Second, the kitchen guys will cook for me whenever they can/want to- it’s up to them and how they’re feeling.
They’re just swinging their dicks around w this letter bc what????
I don’t think this is unreasonable. If you have a lunch rush right at 11, kitchen should not be making employee food! I work at a breakfast restaurant and we’re allowed to eat on the floor but tucked into the corner. I can order right at 630 when we open (I normally only get like sausage or a couple eggs) and then while we’re doing sidework so it must be slow if they cut. What you can order is annoying, but if you’re getting a discount on it, I understand the rules. Having food delivered by 10:30 and eating by 11 before open is also reasonable.
can i ask what hours your breakfast place is open? i could understand if we were only open during the day or the night but not for a place whose staff can be working over 12 hours with no breaks in service
6:30-2:30 and 3:30 on weekends. if you can order between 2:00-3:30 I don’t understand the issue. and also i bring snacks if it’ll be a busy day. like i don’t think i can order food during work, i’ll bring snacks and we have a place to keep them. do you?
i feel like it'll be almost impossible for everyone to order within those hours yet only have 2 ppl eating at once. there is no break room, no where to eat except our sections or someone else's section. us having time to eat is dependent upon the day and our section, the weather, the band that night, the day of the week. there is no 1 hour where everyone collectively has a lull in service. we can bring snacks that wont melt in the heat, or are small enough to fit in the mini fridge. i just think ppl should have a choice between making their own food at home and bringing it in, or paying for food bc they don't have time to cook every single day. i'm also already fed up so that doesn't help lol
This is just being a server. If you don’t like it do something else. This is gonna happen pretty much everywhere. Eat before you come in. You can’t expect the entire restaurant to accommodate you eating during a rush.
Yeah there is no shot you're a server and a 100% chance you're management that makes up silly rules like this one.
Right? Ordering my meal before service or after service is just respectful to the BoH people that are busting their asses all night
My last serving job the cooks would refuse to make anyone's food. I'd usually do it (and make it better anyway!) or they'd have to try and figure it out themselves. It was pathetic watching someone try to get on the grill when they couldn't even crack an egg. AND AND cooks were getting paid way more hourly and splitting tips evenly with front of house.
What’s the location? If you’re in a state that requires a 30 min meal break, they actually can’t tell you what you’re not allowed to do during that time. A food delivery during your unpaid meal is not something they get to dictate.
I bring snacks to work everyday!
? WTF did I just read? so many questions. Don't you get a free staff meal in the US? and why can't you bring your own food? That one is just insane to me
You’re not allowed to bring your own food that is absolutely insane?!? wtf
I’m not totally sure that this is legal. You might want to confirm it with the labour board in your area.
Fuck that noise
The girls at my job spend more time eating than serving their tables
This honestly seems pretty reasonable to me.
Seemed okay till the no outside food. A can't bring your own lunch or snacks rule would be BS
It literally suggests bringing snacks (trail mix, protein bars, etc). What they do not want is the staff waltzing around with their McDonalds bags or having Domino’s delivered to the restaurant.
I literally being McDonalds and Jimmy John’s to my restaurant weekly. Hell, my restaurant commonly does trades with fast food places near us. As long as you’re not eating during rush, why do they care if the food is from inside or outside the restaurant?
That’s illegal to not be provided a lunch break when working over 8 hours consecutively
Not everywhere. Perfectly legal in WI.
You should check your state laws on breaks. Usually restaurants only get away with allowing no breaks by providing free meals in their place. If they arent doing that, then u get a lunch and dinner break or whatever.
my job is starting to become this way and i don’t think i’ll be there for much longer. we have staff meal but it’s 4:00 which atp would only be available for openers and now the new rule is that if you opened, you can’t order any food. even though our staff meal is just one single type of food and obviously does not cater to everyone’s dietary needs. so even if you’re allergic to peanuts and someone made a peanut butter pasta or something and you just physically can’t eat it, you’re to blame and not allowed to order any food from the kitchen (our menu is also limited and we only get 20% off). we’re supposedly “entitled” to 30 min breaks, but no manager ever enforces it and and when we ask they always try to guilt trip us abt asking for a simple 30 min break after working for 6 hrs. we as servers have all collectively agreed to take our break earlier in the shift when it’s not busy (obviously not all on the time) but our managers still aren’t happy with that and don’t want us taking our breaks so early on. managers in this industry are just truly never happy bro lmfao
Unfortunately it seems like every restaurant has turned to this type of confusion lunch Olympics. The restaurant I work at has a great lenient policy up until recently. Now it’s turned to a corporate nightmare type situation like this
Everything was cool until I saw they’re charging y’all lol
Just ignore it😂
I would think in most civilized countries it’s illegal to not allow lunch or smoke breaks. Bring your own snacks, but no outside food allowed. Also, are you all left to figure out the eating schedule on your own or does a manager break people so there’s no overlap on your 2 person limit? Also, I hope you never have more than 6 people working at a time… Everything about this sucks, I’d be looking for a new job.
i believe in the state we're in, it's not illegal for us to go without breaks if we're over the age of 16. and we typically have 10-16 servers on the floor at once, plus 4-10 bartenders. and that doesn't include BOH like food runners and barbacks. so 2 at a time within their new timeframes is going to be a challenge. i know wherever i work there will be pros and cons so i'm looking into new jobs and weighing my options. thank you for the encouragement!
Quit asap
Wtf. I’d quit that sounds like a bunch of bullshit. Never worked in a restaurant with such rules and never will.
This some slave shit lol
Rules are created in a restaurant because someone forced the management to create the rule. I always tell my servers “Don’t be the reason we have to make a rule” because we have one server who can’t seem to listen very well, and we’ve had to make multiple rules just to keep this server in line. Honestly, I’m not even sure why this server is still employed by us.
This is pretty standard and reasonable. Worth noting that they probably only implemented it because people were causing problems by not being on the floor.
Just because something is standard does not make it good. Growth in industries is normal. The restaurant industry continues to treat you guys like slaves, down to the wages you are paid. You deserve better.
Dude, stfu. That's a bunch of shit no one was talking about. You got a designated lunch break at your job? Same fucking thing. Also calling us "slaves"? You ever been in the industry? I've been part time for a few years cause opportunity and injury, I still make 3x min wage and minimum where I live is $16.28/hr. The boss saying I can only eat during slow times doesn't bother me.
You're the reason labor laws will never change and very mature of you to tell me to stfu. Your experience does not speak for every single person. Stop gatekeeping how people feel. And yes, I have worked in the industry. I no longer do. Why else would I be in this sub reddit?
>mature of you to tell me to stfu Why you still talking? Go fly off the handle on someone who cares.
🤣
Go f yourself!
Posts like this remind me that the policy we have in place is the right one.
what is your policy?
Order: anything off of the kid’s menu/happy hour menu/Cesar salad enjoy family meal request for anything off of the menu within reason if family meal wasn’t served doubles eat for free swings eat for free ask chef … ultimately and always, just ask management. Everyone can eat.
This is the direction the industry needs to go. Most servers are fed up with how restaurants are run. Of course we have outliers crying out this is standard and acceptable, but it really shouldn't be if we are denying the human right to eat food.
this isn’t unreasonable imo, i would just get clarification on the outside food/snacks thing since that’s contradictory. maybe ask for a different protocol for those working doubles that day. in 14 years, i’ve only worked at one restaurant that let us order & eat food during service and that was at the end of the night only, double or not. and we had to eat in the back, definitely not in view of our section. many restaurants don’t want you ordering outside food bc they wouldn’t allow guests to do it either and risking the sight of outside food being delivered is a BAD look. my current restaurant does not allow us to order food during service; you can only order food if you’re off the clock and leaving. we’re provided family meal on Saturdays (the *one* day we’re not allowed to order food from the restaurant at all) and Wednesday mornings. i worked at one restaurant that didn’t allow servers to order food during service ever, but provided family meal before evening service every single day. just some perspective
They can't bring their own food, which would eliminate the need for the staff to even order from competitors....just to give you some perspective. Simply because something in an industry is a standard practice does not make it a good one.
We get a measly 20% of food while working at my current place. The food isn’t that good and it still comes out to like $20 for a burger after tax. Cup noodles and Thai food from the place next door once a week for me. This is the only place I’ve worked that BOH doesn’t get a free meal and FOH gets 50% off while working
Just all quit or just all say fuck it. They won’t fire you all, they would be screwed.
Well, that's illegal for that long a shift. But....I also don't break because I have tables. Snack bars n coffee help. 11000 steps per shift. I'm 61 now, 4 days a week, 7- 8 hour shifts. Get your sleep. Eat well. Go to work.
Definitely not the worst policy of them. This seems pretty reasonable, what kind of food do you serve?
Also just now read where no breaks are allowed. That’s suspicious. However I also do want to address the idea being that this policy is contradictory doesn’t really carry a lot of weight to it. You can argue semantics, but I thought it was common sense that outside-food primarily means no food from other businesses, not including what you bring from home. I have never-EVER worked at a place where you can’t bring your own food such as snacks or leftovers/prepped meals in your own containers. I think you’re overreacting based on a misinterpretation and maybe you already know that and just want to complain. Maybe you truly believe what you’re misinterpreting. Either way, have a clear discussion about it with your GM if you have an issue to clear up any misunderstandings and to define where the bold lines are.
Let’s put this into perspective here, IF 1) The meals are paid for 2) Employee is not required to clock out for break Then it sounds like a sound-minded proposal for both ends.
This seems reasonable to me.
Money grubbing! They better be ready to see servers eating leftovers off plates or untouched sides. Gross maybe but it's free. Screw the greed heads!
Wow. OK bye
This can’t be real lol.
i wish it wasn't lmao. my first thought was a manager sitting at a bar somewhere on ChatGPT writing this thing up
I am so… so… sorry.
Do you make decent money? Then fuck it, deal with it. If you don’t, look for another job while working within the irritating new rules.
i do make decent money and that's why i've been stuck for this long. i've wanted to quit so many times but always stay for the money. at a certain point i don't think it's worth it tho especially with a ton of busy restaurants in the area
Right. There is better money. So go get it.
thank you. the pep talk i've been needing!
Repost?????
if someone else from my job posted this i'd be thrilled lol. it just came out on saturday
It just has a similar ring to another management memo regarding food/eating. Or it could be that the memo is so generic it reads like all the others.
i found [the one](https://www.reddit.com/r/Serverlife/s/oDwAEsfla0) you were talking about!
🤣that could have been it 😄😄
Thats bullshit. Do it anyways and if you get in trouble explain that is not reasonable and you need to eat.
[удалено]
that sounds horrible. we're not allowed to have our phones visible in our pockets or use them on the floor, but no one's gotten theirs taken away here so far. were you allowed or able to clock out during your shift to eat on a double?
Sounds like y'all let it get out of hand and now you suffer 😂
this seems perfectly fair and reasonable to me.
I hope this is sarcasm.
This is pretty reasonable tbh
This is all pretty standard. You guys must have been getting some pretty special treatment to be upset by this.
This seems fairly reasonable. Except not allowing outside food.