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The truth behind the restaurant industry [quiz]

Most of us enjoy the occasional meal out with friends and loved ones, but what many of us don’t think about when we eat out is the well-being of a restaurant’s employees. While the common image of a “restaurant employee” is the server, there are others in the restaurant industry who also face the hardships of working in the restaurant industry: discrimination, low wages, and lack of benefits. All these contribute to a dark side of the restaurant industry, and some restaurants are fighting to change the status quo. Do you know the truth behind the restaurant industry?

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Headline Image Credit: Public domain via Pixabay.

Recent Comments

  1. Craig Darash

    As a retired restauranteur who made a great living moving through the ranks starting as a dishwasher I can say your quiz is quite biased. Are there idiots for owners/managers yes. There are far more idiots that are staff. They have no investment but want it all.
    Our gov’t with its rules and regs have screwed the industry while promoting chains at the expense of mom and pops.
    Nothing is perfect. Staff that always complains about management to the tune of being forked might try doing there job correctly and in some cases it is the simple case of bad chemistry, no one’s fault, just time to move on.

  2. Daniel

    Craig Darash…you are critical of “a biased quiz”, then add the delightfully unbiased “There are far more idiots that are staff” (can you smell the sarcasm?). In my 20 years experience in restaurants and bars, I have found that the adage “The fish rots from the head down” to explain most disfunction in a restaurant. If any large part of your staff are “idiots”, an idiot must be doing the hiring. I’ve seen owner/managers who had no business in the business, make rookie mistakes, and blame everyone but themselves. A good leader admits their own failings, takes ultimate responsibility for everything that occurs under their watch, and doesn’t make the claim of “staff having no investment” in the business (this is ridiculous because I know of no one who is working within the hospitality industry, and not need the income, hence everyone is “invested” in that the well-being of the restaurant IS their interest. A GREAT boss in the restaurant industry knows he does only as well as the weakest member of their staff. I know of many unqualified people who persisted at running places where they were the biggest obstacle present. Saying government regulation is hindering is stupid. Those regulations were in place long before you opened your first place, so if you didn’t do the research and then realized “Oh, this isn’t fair.”…who’s fault is that?

    Management that is continuly hiring staff that complains, might want to look to what the common denominator is.

  3. Skye Barkschat

    This is something I want to share with my cousin who got his degree as a cordon bleu chef, but now works at a chain restaurant & hates it there!

  4. James Clary

    Daniel,
    While I agree with most of your comment, that is that the ultimate responsibility for any operation is and should be upon its leader, calling the idea that government regulation is a hindrance to our business “stupid”, is well, stupid. I opened my first restaurant in 1989 and no amount of “reading” could have prepared me for the inane, obscure and obtuse actions of bureaucrats. Often, regulations that NO ONE has ever heard of were enforced at the whim of an inspector. I’ll give you just 1 example; I had an inspection by Fire Marshall. After finding all in compliance (fire extinguishers and Ansul system up to date, exit lights working, etc.) he says to me, “Where are the Braille exit signs?” Huh? Yea. I had to pay $200 for exit signs in Braille so if a blind person was dining in my restaurant and there was a fire, he was to “feel” the walls to find sign directing him to exit.
    Minor issue, but I had much more serious problems with liquor control and the department of revenue in spite of my being totally within the law.
    In addition, since 1989, numerous new regulations and taxes are added every year making it much more costly and difficult to operate. The ADA and ACA are two such pieces of law that have seriously impacted the costs of operators. Or how about Congress removing the ability of pharmacietical companies to entertain doctors? That law alone cost my business $100,000 in annual sales.
    I sold out in 2006 and my customers often ask me why I haven’t opened another restaurant. My answer is always the same; our government has made it too difficult to operate. I could make money, but the risk vs reward has tilted way too far.

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