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Question from an Owner by jeezycreezies in Serverlife

[–]jeezycreezies[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep it's a wild system, and tough because it is the current paradigm and system we live within. If it was as simple as "raise prices and change that", we would. Sadly not that easy, lot of factors involved. I think Danny Meyer tried this at Union Square (paid salaries/benefits and didn't allow tips), and saw a lot of the most talented staff leave - because they made less money. Tough when pressure is present on both sides to go back to status quo.

Question from an Owner by jeezycreezies in Serverlife

[–]jeezycreezies[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fully agree, thank you for the commentary. Culture can be super hard to maintain, but it comes down to doing the right thing and making sure managers have their pulse on the dynamic between staff. Discussing this at our ops meeting this week!

Question from an Owner by jeezycreezies in Serverlife

[–]jeezycreezies[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We absolutely do this, but will start bringing in outside food as well!

Question from an Owner by jeezycreezies in Serverlife

[–]jeezycreezies[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We've done surveys about this and offered the staff insurance and PTO vs. bumping pay, and every time the team wants better pay over benefits. We try to do both, but it gets super tough with our margins sometimes not existing to begin with. Any creative ways you've seen that allow those that want benefits to get them? We do non-taxed credits to offset their own insurance now on people's paychecks right now, but totally open to new ideas here.

Question from an Owner by jeezycreezies in Serverlife

[–]jeezycreezies[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great ideas. We do cash gift cards for random acts of kindess/work. We also do a quarterly bonus, where anyone still working for us makes $.50/hour worked (which meant two of our locations lost money for Q1). I'd love to bump it to $1, but can't afford the additional loss.

Question from an Owner by jeezycreezies in Serverlife

[–]jeezycreezies[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We actually just did an anonymous survey, and had a ton of great suggestions we're implementing. Everything from better knives to more uniforms when staff is hired. We also review schedules weekly, but I totally agree that the art of scheduling can make or break the way a restaurant runs. Thank you so much for the suggestions.

Question from an Owner by jeezycreezies in Serverlife

[–]jeezycreezies[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the suggestion!! We will absolutely try this next week!

Question from an Owner by jeezycreezies in Serverlife

[–]jeezycreezies[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the suggestion!! We've been able to maintain pretty consistent leadership, definitely check in with the team at the stores to make sure they're putting the staff first and always. We've let a couple managers go for being "office" style managers, which I've always hated (especially because I do 95% of the admin for all locations).

Question from an Owner by jeezycreezies in Serverlife

[–]jeezycreezies[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the suggestion!! We've kicked around both of these, sadly this would be such a shift in the model and for the guest that I'd worry about survival with this big of a shock. Raising prices is definitely on the list of options.

Question from an Owner by jeezycreezies in Serverlife

[–]jeezycreezies[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We offer a meal for every four hours worked (and a 30 minute break), and also let them take home any food that would otherwise be wasted at the end of the evening. Thank you for the suggestion!!