Hi everyone. This might be a long one, but I appreciate all the help that I can get!

I recently started at this wine bar/restaurant job back in July and loved my manager and co-workers at first. They made me feel like I was joining a small family and reminded me of my first serving job in my hometown. However, it's been starting to become toxic and unbearable to the point I just want to simply quit and walk out.

I'm a female, as are the rest of my coworkers and general manager. My general manager LOVES to micro-manage all of us, but particularly myself. One time, she had to bartend because our bartender called out a couple of hours before, and it was one of the worst shifts I have ever had. She would yell at me every chance she could get and micro-manage me when I was in the middle of doing something (she has the worst social awareness, too). On top of that, she is one of the laziest managers I have ever worked with. She often spends her time in the office, and when she has to come out to help us, it's either chaotic or stressful to even deal with her.

Last thing, we hired this girl who was going to be a bartender/server. She and I typically work together on Tuesday nights, where I'm a server, and she's a bartender. One Tuesday night, she started giving me attitude because I was asking her for help with some inside tables (I was the only server working that night, and I was taking care of our patio, which was entirely filled). She did the same thing on a different night, but this time, she didn't want to help me open a bottle of wine for a table as I had to close several tables during a rush. This led me to talk with my GM, who spoke with her but ridiculed me that I didn't "prioritize" my tables.

Things eventually got better between the bartender and I after she apologized to me and explained that she was being bitchy, but her shit attitude came back this week. She got mad at me because she had to do "a lot of dishes" (we don't have a dishwasher on Tuesdays, and we had a decent-sized rush just the two of us), and other guests started noticing that she was treating me poorly, and demanding me to do things in not a very nice way. I ended up texting her last night, apologizing to her if I did something to upset her and saying that I would like to work on our relationship so there's no bad blood between us. But she never responded to my message and completely ignored me.

I am now stuck on whether or not I should just leave and find something else or stick it out until I move, which won't be until sometime next year. I really like all the benefits and our customers, but not sure if it's worth it anymore.

Does anyone have any advice for cleaning rust spots on non-stick surfaces or is my equipment just fucked? I manage a kitchen for a tavern in Lake Lure, NC and we're cleaning up from the aftermath of hurricane Helene. We got off pretty easy compared to others (stay strong, Chimney Rock and Asheville) but apart from some floor damage, our hotdog roller and panini press accumulated some moisture. The press I can clean and cover in foil, no prob. But I'm worried the rollers may be beyond saving.

I have a question! Im getting too tired with brainstorming with myself..

Im planning to buy a restaurant business. I have prior restaurant management being a co-owner / operator. Not veteran in the field but i know the basics plus i intend to get a manager on board with me when i start.

I am presented with 2 deals

The first one is a $500k business that nets $250k, 2x multiple, averages at around less than 3mil in revenue. It is a very large restaurant & bar and employs more than 25 employees. The rent is also nearly 15k/month. I’m not sure if im going to be able to handle this kind of volume / size. And the rent scares me, but it is a turnkey business where I can start seeing profit right away.

The 2nd one is a business that nets not more than 50k/year and would be lucky if even that. I fully intend to pump another 200k to improve the looks & feel of this restaurant, offer deli food, loads of promotions and daily deals for the first few months to get the locals’ attention. The business is 20yrs old and quite popular, albeit not having the best reviews. This has been managed by a very old person and last social media post was 8 yrs ago. Lots of room to scale up the business.. rent is not cheap at 6k but given the size and location its not that bad. So its an investment of $250k, and not guaranteed profit.

Which one should i go for?

For context, I was watching a YouTube video on making seitan, a meat replacement product, and in the video the person used methyl cellulose as an ingredient.

Now apparently this is a relatively common ingredient in processed/commercial food, just probably not in a "regular" restaurant.

Does anyone have knowledge or experience of using such "unusual" ingredients in their restaurant, and how one fields question about such?

I don't own a restaurant, just curious.

I have a trial shift tomorrow at a restaurant, I will be a dishwasher but will need to help in the kitchen a bit as well. What is the best way I can show my skills, or make them hire me?

So a pretty successful chef made famous in netflix’s Culinary Wars is on the hot bed right now with scandals involving his past, mostly with his ex-wife claiming that she lobbied her connections who are investors in michelin starred restaurants by gifting them Chanel handbags in exchange for letting him work there (as a stage).

I feel like networking to get a job even not in culinary industry isn’t something bad or absurd, but specifically mentioning that this person bought the investors some brand name sounds a bit ridiculous to me. Could anyone in the industry share a piece of their thoughts or experiences?

hey guys,

I was wondering if there any automation needed in the restaurant space. ??? or perhaps customer assistance like an ai chatbot that can take order from the customer to your restaurant ?? what do u think?

Curious to know how businesses are dealing with staff issues when folks call out last minute? How do you handle efficiently? How much does it hurt? Any intel would be great :)

So yesterday night, I had chinese food at around 8 pm, and come 3 am, (until literally now, 7 pm) I was projectile vomiting.

I don't want anything from them, just maybe warn them? the ONLY other thing I ate that day, was a donut from dunkin donuts at 9 am, but 6 other coworkers also ate them, so i'm 100 percent sure it was either food poisoning or a food bug that was already making progress, though I felt absolutely fine when I layed down at 11 pm.

Hi I am very curious about this … at a lot of counter service restaurants you get the typical pop up to tip.

If you work in a counter service, fast food or restaurant that utilizes this method to receive tips (specifically in Arizona) can you please explain how the tip is split? For example do cooks and dishwashers receive any or does it all go the person at the front counter.

For context I am a Chef but In the last 15 years I have only worked in fine dining/traditional style restaurants.

So I’ve been working in hospitality for years, and besides all the bullshit, I kinda love this industry.

A few days ago there was a customer who ordered our tomato soup, but she had some unclear allergies. The chefs really wanted to understand her allergy, to see if the woman was able to eat it. The woman asked me “but the tomato soup is vegetarian right? So in that case I’m always safe”. So I headed back to the kitchen where they told me they use chicken bouillon for taste. Already for 10 years is stated as a vegetarian soup, while apparently it’s not. And I was not allowed to tell the customer.

As a vegetarian myself, I got quite mad. I don’t want to serve ‘vegetarian soup’ while it’s not. Besides everyone’s morals, I also don’t think it’s legal in case of allergies. The chefs told me they don’t agree with using it as well, but I had to complain to the owner. I’m a person who’s complaining a lot in this restaurant because I see things happening which is not normal (racism, not following the law, now this soup case), so I’m scared to complain. Any advice what I can do without them knowing it was me? I don’t want to risk my job but I think something should change. I know the owner won’t listen.

For the last 7 months, I've worked at a Marco's franchise pizzeria under one of the best fathers I've known in my life, Ben. We'll call him Obiwan for the sake of conjecture.

Obiwan has worked for this franchise tirelessly, despite the owner's emotional decision-making process. After I started, he fired a shift leader for calling in after that shift leader started a second job to make ends meet. As anyone in the restaurant industry knows, money flows north of the people in operations.

I took that as a sign of who my owner was. The shift leader worked hard but was cast away without a second glance. That goes against everything my mentors ever taught me about being a leader. The people at my table either eat or starve with me, but we're in this together. The job itself was easy. I'm a 20-year restaurant vet with 15 of it being in Italian food. From penne to pizza to linguine carbonara, I have honed my skills on the constant struggle of understaffing, even before COVID. COVID made me lose my family, my son who I loved, and my girlfriend who I cared for. But our son was an accident. I was never under any illusions about the amount of free time I would ever have, especially from a family-first company. The harder a company advertises family first, the less time you'll have with yours, but the more time they'll have with theirs.

During our time together, Ben told me about his father, a successful workaholic who was never there for a son who wanted his father. Ben is the father of three gorgeous kids who never get to see their father, and I watched it crush him over time. In the last two weeks, I worked every day to take pressure off Ben. Where I lost my family, he's retained his, and I would be damned if he would lose time with his loved ones because my management style has always been Servant of the People. Remember, my motto at the core is if we get jumped, we get jumped together. The people at my table eat bread with me, or we starve as one.

Moving forward, I worked every day in the last two weeks, even deleting my own overtime for that broke owner with a sob story because I work for the squad. If paying me means closing the doors with people relying on their check, I'll take the L every time because, again, the people at my table deserve everything.

Now, I've worked the previous two weeks straight, coming in early and staying late, giving up the precious moments I have to see the first woman I've cared about in 3 years. I fell asleep driving home and flipped my car. I rolled, pulled myself out without injury, but was arrested for suspected DUI and spent two days in jail.

They fired me. This is not my sob story. I stand on my two feet and accept the consequences of my actions. What I cannot abide is now Obiwan is trapped in 7 days open to close with no hope of interviews or job applications to escape.

Which brings me here. I'm asking for help because Ben deserves to break the cycle and be the amazing father he is. He deserves to be debt-free and choose his next career without his children and wife suffering the penalty. I would like to get myself a used car out of this because I only fell asleep due to hours and workload, but it's so much more important to me that Ben can take care of his kids. Because I'll never see mine, and children are the future, but we never have enough time for our loved ones in this wage slavery that is capitalism. I'm not a beggar, but anything that can be paid forward would make his life.

Thank you for your time.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ben-break-free-and-be-with-his-family?utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&lang=en_US&attribution_id=sl%3A1c600b39-aac5-48f7-89de-a75aaf5489bf

Shift4 just announced their partnership with Mesh, which enables Shift4 merchants to accept crypto payments globally, with Mesh’s API converting crypto into local currencies.

Restaurant and business owners, what do you think about accepting crypto as a form of payment?

Cheers!

Source: https://thepaypers.com/cryptocurrencies/mesh-and-shift4-partner-to-enable-global-crypto-payments-for-merchants--1270749

Running a restaurant has its own set of financial challenges, but with the right strategies, it is possible to turn a good restaurant into a profitable one. I came across this insightful blog post from Matthew Accounting that digs deep into how financial management can make a big impact on your bottom line.

The article talks about everything from tracking expenses and controlling costs to making smarter financial decisions for long-term success. If you’re looking to fine-tune your restaurant’s finances or just want to learn some new strategies, this read is definitely worth a look!

How do you all handle finances in your restaurants? Let’s swap tips and tricks!

so im a host and I requested off on halloween for plans. halloween being one of our slower days, and i was denied my request ! the manager never even responding to my message/saying anything in person :,)

i want to preface this with i KNOW every position in the restaurant is important but hear me out-

ive been thinking about it since i got scheduled and ive been planning on just calling in. is that a horrible idea? we only have 3 reservations in the books , 1 of which are during the hours of my shift. and i was checking up on last years covers (amount of people) for halloween and it was only 91 the ENTIRE day !! and this year its supposed to be stormy and cold out so i really just cant imagine a scenario the restaurant would be in ruins without a host.

as well as I worked our busiest weekend of every year and i know i will be working thanksgiving or christmas . i just want my one holiday i enjoy celebrating the most D:

advice appreciated !

Hey Reddit! I'm a huge food lover and story collector, and I’m starting a side project to interview restaurant owners about their journeys, motivations, and the highs and lows of the industry. With notoriously slim profit margins, I'm fascinated by what drives chefs and owners to commit to the culinary world.

I want to ask questions that dive deep—everything from revenue insights, startup costs, and profit margins (for those who are open to sharing), to unique behind-the-scenes stories like secret menu items, funny customer requests, and the inspiration behind certain dishes. Imagine it like a restaurant wiki. Something you look up before going to the restaurant with your friends or a date. The audience is either someone who is curious about their local restaurants or someone who wants to be involved in the restaurant industry. 

I imagine this could be a blog, a podcast, or even a video series if there’s enough interest. My goal is to create something that’s both fun and valuable for fellow food lovers and aspiring restaurateurs alike. Does this sound like something you’d find interesting? Any must-ask questions you’d suggest?

Went to a lovely lunch date at my favorite Italian spots recently. I was craving my favorite pasta dish, but I knew I wasn’t hungry enough to eat the whole thing. I was trying to share a couple appetizers and share one pasta dish with my sister, when I was told there is a $9 charge to share a meal. Their excuse is “it’s additional dishes they have to wash”. Is this normal in the restaurant industry?

Then they charge a “1% restaurant charge”, and a “3% charge if you pay with a card” on top of the tax and gratuity.

I went to cals wood fired grill for dinner tonight with a friend. She ordered Hamburg cooked rare w extra cheese, and I ordered well done. Waitress gave my friend the one w extra cheese, and started eating before me. I cut mine in half and saw I was served the rare burger. I sent it back and got the same cut in half burger back on a new uncut bun, cooked well done. It didn’t feel right. I had to cut the bun but not the burger the second time around. I hardly ate it but paid anyway. What should I have done differently, if anything?

You guys, I'm so upset. I used to LOVE Pizza Hut's cheesy white sauce in the place of tomato sauce. I just found out today that they are doing away with the white sauce. It's not even on the menu any longer in a lot of locations or on line. It was great while it lasted. Ah well

So I went out to dinner the other night to a nice prime rib restaurant, and after the dinner was over, we received boxes to take our leftovers with, and the person I was eating with, decided to steal and take the ramekin holding the horseradish and creamy horseradish and put it in the box to take home and didn’t take the horseradish out of the dish. Am I wrong for giving that person a hard time stealing that ramekin from that restaurant or does that happen so often that in general, restaurants don’t really care and expect theft of dinnerware?

Hi guys, I applied to twin peaks and they called me back today but I was at work until 5 pm. I worked today Monday and tomorrow, so I wouldn’t be able to go in and put a face to my name until Wednesday.

Is it bad if I try going at like 9-10 PM today (Monday)? They close at midnight (idk if a manager will even be there at 9-10 PM but the restaurant is not too far from my house. Any advice would be appreciated:)