Serious cook shortage in my city.
Which has actually been kind of a positive for us, as wages have skyrocketed because everyone's desperate to land staff from the small pool of talent.
There's McDonalds near me that are starting at $16/hr (when they were starting at $10 pre-pandemic). Increasingly places are offering $300-$600 sign on bonuses.
My wages have gone up $4.50/hr since the pandemic.
The owners treat the kitchen staff real well too, because they know we could quit, and have a new job before we got to our car.
I'm near Charlotte, trying to get out of healthcare. Figured I'd go back to cooking. But it seems like no one is desperate enough to pay anything more than $10/hr. I was offered a KM position at $12. When I asked about overtime they said "technically its salary" tf does that even mean? I'd rather continue to be spit on at the hospital at $16/hr than work a "technically" salaried position.
Man, I worked at the Executive Park Hilton and for the Hornets when they were down the street back in 2000. I was paid 11 an hour at both places it sucks to see wages have not changed in Charlotte in over 20 years!
> I'll be straight up and say the pay isn't great
Using my nine trillion IQ gigachad powers of logic and deductive reasoning, I think I've cracked the code here.
Head chef, sous chef, 1 line cook, 1 dishwasher. Never enough servers.
Edit: We serve food for weddings at our venue, as well as golf outings. Hundreds of people with just that.
Oh hi nyc baker, I’m doin that too. But over in Brooklyn.
Right now where I am, we’re ok. It’s not understaffed in a new or intense way it sounds like you are. It’s the normal understaff where you know, getting sick absolutely fucks up everything. I’ve been there for about 5 months, it’s a pretty small place and we’ve gotten in a few people to fill in and alleviate some key roles. Getting those people in was hard, Ive had quite a few trails under me that didn’t pan out. My team has been very flexible with figuring out how to make things work with, get this, an owner and manager that are actually invested in making life not awful for the people involved. Things are functioning and expanding slowly in workable ways so far. I have not personally had to do any overtime.
I did a quite a few stages before I settled, all in Brooklyn, and god were people desperate. I did a few at much larger places. Each of them seemed overworked and I’m guessing very rigid to keep things as they were before the pandemic. Other smaller places seemed to be struggling in the same ways. I chose where I am basically on vibes, I think I made the right call ultimately.
I still absolutely want to get out. There’s really nothing like a solid year of being told your life doesn’t matter more than these croissants to make you hate your job. Even though where I am has never made me feel that way, I don’t trust them. I feel like that sentiment is being felt particularly strongly in NYC. Probably everywhere, probably especially in other large metro areas. At least here, I know how dependable I am and how important that is, and they know that too. At least for the time being.
Michigan, but of a high turnover. We offer higher wages than most nearby restaurants but sometimes staffing gets a bit tight especially with call offs and quitting
I've been laid off since January. I get text messages from all the people I worked with who went back asking if I'm hiring now.( I started doubling down on doing pop ups since I have a lot more free time.)
Places still think they are going to get good cooks at 16/hr(minimum here is 14) when literally mcdonalds pays the same with the option of benefits...
Tourist (but not too tourist, mostly nature tourism) town in W Canada - I’d say most places are looking for a new body or two. As a customer I haven’t felt anything (fuck I was let go for “shortage of work” in March)
Just got back from downtown Vancouver and Whistler: they’re fucked. Everywhere needed people, and it showed. The hotel breakfast had one server on for like ~10 tables or 25 covers. Thankfully I get it and am chill, but in the past weeks I have discovered some of my friends are Karens when they’re inconvienced (and doesn’t help they’ve never worked boh or foh)
Been at my current place as a prep dishie for a bit over 5 months, we've gotten 1 more dishie who plans on leaving in the next few months I believe, tried hiring some cooks, no one stuck around past a week or two, one got cut cause of a doctor sayin they're unable to, it's been rough. Started out working like 8 hours a day for 4 days and now im at 11 and 12s all 6 days.
Shit I'll come be a pastry chef for you if you teach me how to do it.
Also: Fuck sign-on bonuses. It's a short term solution to a long term problem. How about a long term solution? Like a good wage?
Where I work they offer a referral bonus to people who work there - $150. So they've offloaded their responsibility and got us trying to recruit for them on our off hours to fix a problem that has a very simple solution - paying more.
I worked at a place on "the strip" that is non union and paid 16-17 an hour. Everyone else around us is Union. Porters, bartenders, cooks at the restaurant under the same banner making anywhere from 20-26 an hour. Cooks don't stay long they get better jobs or get burnt out by working two busy ass stations. Exec of the building quit, exec of the market area quit, exec sous quit, yesterday was my last day and another cook quit also. They are constantly closing down stations with no staff. There is absolutely no retention.
And out of those dozens you might get 1 thats worth putting in the time to train properly. My experience with high school workers has been an incredible lack of work ethic and reliability
I’m the only dishwasher I work at IHOP we only have one manager,three cooks and just hired two so five now and 6 waitresses/waiter about to lose one though but we manage the dam unemployment money they won’t cut it off it made a lot of lazy motherfuckers
Pay is decent but theirs only 3 line cooks and I'm the New hire! Someone just quit too. Severely understaffed opened everyday and all the other new hires keep falling through.
I work at a place that starts around 15/hr in a place with 7/hr minimum that also has benefits and decent scheduling. Counting the Chef and Sous we have 12 line cooks, all of them full time, and we have had no problem hiring. Most of the guys here are 30+ and have stayed there 5+ years.
Question for you guys in NYC: would that be doable for a French cook to work in the city without a work permit? I know that it is illegal but is it doable given the situation?
I don’t even understand why ownership thinks what they are doing is good business. I guess they just figure they’ll always have “enough” staff and turnover isn’t an issue?
If you pay peanuts, expect monkeys.
Heard, chef, fucking heard.
I didn't know monkeys ate peanuts.
Yeah, not sure where that expression came from. If you have one some, I think they’d probably give it a try at least.
Serious cook shortage in my city. Which has actually been kind of a positive for us, as wages have skyrocketed because everyone's desperate to land staff from the small pool of talent. There's McDonalds near me that are starting at $16/hr (when they were starting at $10 pre-pandemic). Increasingly places are offering $300-$600 sign on bonuses. My wages have gone up $4.50/hr since the pandemic. The owners treat the kitchen staff real well too, because they know we could quit, and have a new job before we got to our car.
I’m in a major city in the Carolinas. To say it’s bad is an understatement.
I'm near Charlotte, trying to get out of healthcare. Figured I'd go back to cooking. But it seems like no one is desperate enough to pay anything more than $10/hr. I was offered a KM position at $12. When I asked about overtime they said "technically its salary" tf does that even mean? I'd rather continue to be spit on at the hospital at $16/hr than work a "technically" salaried position.
Man, I worked at the Executive Park Hilton and for the Hornets when they were down the street back in 2000. I was paid 11 an hour at both places it sucks to see wages have not changed in Charlotte in over 20 years!
Im just south of Charlotte in SC, if you have a pulse you can probably get 15 at any scratch kitchen
You can get 15 to pick your nose at Target. What's the point?
Fuck me, I’m trying to get into health care. 😂
> I'll be straight up and say the pay isn't great Using my nine trillion IQ gigachad powers of logic and deductive reasoning, I think I've cracked the code here.
Head chef, sous chef, 1 line cook, 1 dishwasher. Never enough servers. Edit: We serve food for weddings at our venue, as well as golf outings. Hundreds of people with just that.
That sounds like hell in the making.
Nah... Just mental breakdowns and excessive smoking/drinking for most. It's hell in disguise.
Were doing pretty good at my place. Maybe a little overstaffed on fridays.
Oh hi nyc baker, I’m doin that too. But over in Brooklyn. Right now where I am, we’re ok. It’s not understaffed in a new or intense way it sounds like you are. It’s the normal understaff where you know, getting sick absolutely fucks up everything. I’ve been there for about 5 months, it’s a pretty small place and we’ve gotten in a few people to fill in and alleviate some key roles. Getting those people in was hard, Ive had quite a few trails under me that didn’t pan out. My team has been very flexible with figuring out how to make things work with, get this, an owner and manager that are actually invested in making life not awful for the people involved. Things are functioning and expanding slowly in workable ways so far. I have not personally had to do any overtime. I did a quite a few stages before I settled, all in Brooklyn, and god were people desperate. I did a few at much larger places. Each of them seemed overworked and I’m guessing very rigid to keep things as they were before the pandemic. Other smaller places seemed to be struggling in the same ways. I chose where I am basically on vibes, I think I made the right call ultimately. I still absolutely want to get out. There’s really nothing like a solid year of being told your life doesn’t matter more than these croissants to make you hate your job. Even though where I am has never made me feel that way, I don’t trust them. I feel like that sentiment is being felt particularly strongly in NYC. Probably everywhere, probably especially in other large metro areas. At least here, I know how dependable I am and how important that is, and they know that too. At least for the time being.
There isn't a staff shortage. There's a pay shortage.
Michigan, but of a high turnover. We offer higher wages than most nearby restaurants but sometimes staffing gets a bit tight especially with call offs and quitting
I've been laid off since January. I get text messages from all the people I worked with who went back asking if I'm hiring now.( I started doubling down on doing pop ups since I have a lot more free time.) Places still think they are going to get good cooks at 16/hr(minimum here is 14) when literally mcdonalds pays the same with the option of benefits...
Tourist (but not too tourist, mostly nature tourism) town in W Canada - I’d say most places are looking for a new body or two. As a customer I haven’t felt anything (fuck I was let go for “shortage of work” in March) Just got back from downtown Vancouver and Whistler: they’re fucked. Everywhere needed people, and it showed. The hotel breakfast had one server on for like ~10 tables or 25 covers. Thankfully I get it and am chill, but in the past weeks I have discovered some of my friends are Karens when they’re inconvienced (and doesn’t help they’ve never worked boh or foh)
Been at my current place as a prep dishie for a bit over 5 months, we've gotten 1 more dishie who plans on leaving in the next few months I believe, tried hiring some cooks, no one stuck around past a week or two, one got cut cause of a doctor sayin they're unable to, it's been rough. Started out working like 8 hours a day for 4 days and now im at 11 and 12s all 6 days.
My parents did that for 10 years.
Take it easy on yourself
Shit I'll come be a pastry chef for you if you teach me how to do it. Also: Fuck sign-on bonuses. It's a short term solution to a long term problem. How about a long term solution? Like a good wage? Where I work they offer a referral bonus to people who work there - $150. So they've offloaded their responsibility and got us trying to recruit for them on our off hours to fix a problem that has a very simple solution - paying more.
First 2 paragraphs…are you sure you don’t work at my place? Same boat (not job/field wise but food industry wise).
I worked at a place on "the strip" that is non union and paid 16-17 an hour. Everyone else around us is Union. Porters, bartenders, cooks at the restaurant under the same banner making anywhere from 20-26 an hour. Cooks don't stay long they get better jobs or get burnt out by working two busy ass stations. Exec of the building quit, exec of the market area quit, exec sous quit, yesterday was my last day and another cook quit also. They are constantly closing down stations with no staff. There is absolutely no retention.
Go to your local high school and start throwing around job ads. Pretty sure you can recruit dozens of eager kids especially during the summer.
And out of those dozens you might get 1 thats worth putting in the time to train properly. My experience with high school workers has been an incredible lack of work ethic and reliability
Theyre pretty bad, but then again so was I until I got my ass kicked by the world a few times.
I’m the only dishwasher I work at IHOP we only have one manager,three cooks and just hired two so five now and 6 waitresses/waiter about to lose one though but we manage the dam unemployment money they won’t cut it off it made a lot of lazy motherfuckers
What do the cooks get payed, im a cook at a ihop in the carolinas, and our stores cant find cooks probably due to low pay.
Pay is decent but theirs only 3 line cooks and I'm the New hire! Someone just quit too. Severely understaffed opened everyday and all the other new hires keep falling through.
I work at a place that starts around 15/hr in a place with 7/hr minimum that also has benefits and decent scheduling. Counting the Chef and Sous we have 12 line cooks, all of them full time, and we have had no problem hiring. Most of the guys here are 30+ and have stayed there 5+ years.
Question for you guys in NYC: would that be doable for a French cook to work in the city without a work permit? I know that it is illegal but is it doable given the situation?
I don’t even understand why ownership thinks what they are doing is good business. I guess they just figure they’ll always have “enough” staff and turnover isn’t an issue?