I always find this thread interesting. Mostly because the average person doesn’t realize that serving is a CAREER. Not just merely just a means to an end. Markedly: making some extra money during college, adding a bit of income to an otherwise part time job, etc. etc. etc.

It’s the career servers that are in short supply. People who’ve decided “hey I can make 35-55 (and beyond) a year.” And turn a year by year partially self made business out of serving. Especially when cash can be untaxable.

It’s those who are committed to serving as a career or a main source of income who most of us consider “good servers” and there’s a surplus of jobs who need “warm bodies.”

I always find this thread interesting. Mostly because the average person doesn’t realize that serving is a CAREER. Not just merely just a means to an end. Markedly: making some extra money during college, adding a bit of income to an otherwise part time job, etc. etc. etc.

It’s the career servers that are in short supply. People who’ve decided “hey I can make 35-55 (and beyond) a year.” And turn a year by year partially self made business out of serving. Especially when cash can be untaxable.

It’s those who are committed to serving as a career or a main source of income who most of us consider “good servers” and there’s a surplus of jobs who need “warm bodies.”

Uptowner,
Lots of places hire people like my grandson and granddaughter, as a matter of fact, they both work for a Hal Smith place, one at Pub W and the other at Matty McMillen's Irish Pub. If they can't get enough full time employees, hopefully they can get good part-timers. I doubt you would notice the difference between a career server and my part-time grandkids. No, that's not a grandad talking, I have observed them and they both understand that good service means more income and that is more than enough reason to give good service. There's always the chance that they will make a mistake now and then that hopefully a career server wouldn't make, but some career servers also make mistakes. Also, there's a difference between a $10 per hour part-time employee and a $2.18 per hour part-time server. The $10 person can work real hard or skate by and still get paid $10 per hour, and the server knows to make $10 and up, they have to earn it by providing good (or better) service. By the way, even though my granddaughter is going to college for a different career, this is her fourth year as a part-time server. My grandson is just a rookie, he started this summer at Hollie's Flatiron Steak House and was retained when they decided to change it to Matty's.
C. T.

Uptowner,
I was eating lunch at the Pepperoni Grill at Penn Square and our server noticed my company badge. This was in the day when the company name was on the badge. I was an IT supervisor for Hertz and our server told me (and my friends) that he had just graduated from CSU with a degree in computer science and was interested in an entry level programming position and wanted to know what the starting salary was. When I told him he got this funny look on his face and said that he couldn't afford to take the pay cut. So, a part-time server working his way through college is probably still in the server business, maybe even in management because it can pay pretty well if you are a good server.
C. T.

I always find this thread interesting. Mostly because the average person doesn’t realize that serving is a CAREER. Not just merely just a means to an end. Markedly: making some extra money during college, adding a bit of income to an otherwise part time job, etc. etc. etc.

It’s the career servers that are in short supply. People who’ve decided “hey I can make 35-55 (and beyond) a year.” And turn a year by year partially self made business out of serving. Especially when cash can be untaxable.

It’s those who are committed to serving as a career or a main source of income who most of us consider “good servers” and there’s a surplus of jobs who need “warm bodies.”

People don't realize that a professional server can make close to 80-90k per year at a place like The Ranch. They build up a following that will always request him/her or will tip plus 20% on high per person average meals. i left my requested usual server at the ranch 25% on an $800 tab the other night because he is always spot on every time I come in. It was my son's 16th birthday and he wanted the Ranch and he wanted Justin has that is all he really know of service at the Ranch because that is who we always get.

Uptowner,
I was eating lunch at the Pepperoni Grill at Penn Square and our server noticed my company badge. This was in the day when the company name was on the badge. I was an IT supervisor for Hertz and our server told me (and my friends) that he had just graduated from CSU with a degree in computer science and was interested in an entry level programming position and wanted to know what the starting salary was. When I told him he got this funny look on his face and said that he couldn't afford to take the pay cut. So, a part-time server working his way through college is probably still in the server business, maybe even in management because it can pay pretty well if you are a good server.
C. T.

Perhaps I read it wrong, but I believe that was Uptowner's entire point. The young lad in your example learned something that day, and what he learned is what Uptowner said...some people can make a very good living doing this. Restaurants need to seek out these people, but as this thread exists to point out, there are more "warm bodies" than there are "career servers". This unfortunately affects all companies. I'm sure you'd admit Hertz hired a mix of good people, some people who were fairly good and willing to do the job for that level of pay, and some people who were just there to fill the seat for 8 hours.

Slightly off topic (and yet also exactly on topic) the last time I went to Cattlemen's, I saw servers of both types. One was clearly there only to take your order, bring you your food, take away empty plates and maybe keep your glass full, then bring you the bill at the end. The other one was there to make sure you were taken care of and had a good time. Take a wild guess which one ended the night with more cash in pocket.

People don't realize that a professional server can make close to 80-90k per year at a place like The Ranch. They build up a following that will always request him/her or will tip plus 20% on high per person average meals. i left my requested usual server at the ranch 25% on an $800 tab the other night because he is always spot on every time I come in. It was my son's 16th birthday and he wanted the Ranch and he wanted Justin has that is all he really know of service at the Ranch because that is who we always get.

I know there’s oil titans who eat at the ranch 2-3 times a week sometimes and usually at least once.

The problem is we need more high paying jobs to fund a higher quality guest. The people who take positions at the Prime Steakhouses, places like The Metro and The Hutch, etc. are far more likely to stay because they are getting people with plenty of money to blow to come in and go big. One of the things that makes working at places like that so nice is that your weekdays are better than your weekends, which means you don't take a financial hit by taking off a weekend to go to the lake with your friends. You don't lose *as much* lifestyle being a career server in a place like that. However, places that don't have a $50+ per person average - you're going to get more turnover in a place like this because OKC doesn't have enough of the $75k/year single crowd or $130k/year married crowd who can come in on a regular basis the way the $200k+ crowd is coming in to places like the Ranch. Your bad nights are really really bad and you basically need your weekend shifts, because that's when volume makes up for the lack of quality.

Without that increase, It's worth taking a slight pay cut to go from $40k/year no benefits to $33k/year w/ benefits including PTO and having the advancement opportunities that just aren't really there in the restaurant business.

Stile99,
Your right and I agree with Uptowner, I was just posting an experience that I had as an example.
C. T.

^^^^^^^^
Yep. I’ve gotten to know the owners of the Kirby’s group a bit over the years (strong Oklahoma ties, by the way), and the guy who is in charge of it all is a longtime friend, who served as the first GM of Mickey’s for years. In fact they have actually for many years considered the OKC Mickey’s location to be their flagship/signature store, despite having been founded in Dallas and having a number of Texas locations.

There is no company I am aware of in OKC that puts such a focus on service excellence; none. I’ve had many conversations about it with past GMs and the now longtime-present GM, who is a close friend of mine.

Although just like anywhere else, employees move back and forth between restaurant groups, the staff longevity in that one is incredible. And I think it’s worth noting that one of Hal Smith’s main corporate trainers (HSRG is one of the best examples for training locally) spent years at Mickey’s (and fair to point out was at HSRG before that).
The owners were pretty easy to deal with on my end. I had to coordinate efforts with them and their design architect (Design Collaborative Dallas) while the building construction was going on.


Worthy Cook,
So, what restaurant are you talking about? Their Irish Pub. I would be interested in knowing since my grandson works there (making some money while going to UCO).
C. T.
A friend of mine from elementary school is the kitchen manager there. I stopped by there and saw him when I was back in town last August.

Had dinner at Louie's tonight and our server was, well, useless. So much to the point we discussed this thread. I've been in hospitality most of my working years, and have more understanding but tonight was a trip. His co-workers more than carried his load.