The restaurant industry: school me.

[BurnoutBinLaden]

Some preamble first: I would like to apologize for the thread I started when my dad lost his job. It demonstrated a shocking level of entitlement from me, and has resulted in fallout in my home life. There was an incident between me and my parents this past weekend directly related to the thread. I won't go into details but I was given a harsh dose of reality and I am now fully willing to take out student loans or work my way through school.

Now that that's out of the way...

In 2011 I did a one day course for Foodsafe Level I. My parents ran restaurants, I've been in kitchens before, I thought I'd love back of house work.

However...I stumbled upon a thread where kitchen staff shared their experiences. The consensus was that BOH got shafted pay wise compared to FOH staff and there was little upward mobility. Many of the poor experiences were at franchise chains like Cactus Club or Joeys, but I was still shocked.

I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to take SIR and World Host at no cost. (As well as cashier training and Industrial First Aid). I'm strongly considering trying to look for FOH work once I get my SIR at a bare minimum.

What I would like to know:
-Does kitchen work still suck in the year 2013?
-Any RSers who have FOH experience (whether that be host, server or expo/busser), what secrets can you share about getting the job and ensuring I keep it? Anything from who to talk to, to what days are best to apply. (Assuming applying in person is superior to applying online)
-Have I missed the boat for the major hiring pushes? "We're always looking for the right people" sounds like a BS PR gimmick, pardon my cynicism.
-I am black, but not in the best shape. Is this a double whammy of disadvantages for FOH hiring?
-How useful or useless are World Host and Industrial First Aid in the hospitality industry?

Thanks in advance for your advice. I'll check this thread throughout the week but won't be on as much due to the aforementioned personal issues.

BBL

Edit: I have in total about one year of customer service experience, but nothing paid, all volunteer. My work has been with Variety the Children's Charity and Free Geek (computer charity). Between the two, I have been a host/coat check crew at major conventions, sales associate at a thrift store and worked the phones at the Variety telethon.
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[MindBomber]

stop overthinking.

this isn't as complicated as you're making it.

you're not looking to become an executive, it's a minimum wage entry level position.

write a resume, write a cover letter, and drop them off in person outside of peek hours at every establishment that will accept it.

take any position you're offered, back or front, and work towards your ideal.

welcome to the real world.

[Razor Ramon HG]

If you apply to work in the food industry with zero experience or connections, you will 90% start off as a dishwasher, and work your way up. But that's not so bad as long as you put your ego in place and suck it up.

That or you can always just get any other entry-level job like at Superstore or London Drugs. Hell, even McDonalds is great at this point (and there's no shame in working for McD).

At the end of the day, money is money. Just put in your dues, and get that paper.

[cho]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

stop overthinking.

this isn't as complicated as you're making it.

you're not looking to become an executive, it's a minimum wage entry level position.

write a resume, write a cover letter, and drop them off in person outside of peek hours at every establishment that will accept it.

take any position you're offered, back or front, and work towards your ideal.

welcome to the real world.

qft

[westopher]

Kitchen staff makes less hourly on average than servers. That being said, your income is consistent, and you can budget accordingly. If you actually are interested on working in a kitchen, go get a dishwashing job, start peeling the shit out of some potatoes. You can make shit to work at an amazing restaurant, or make good money to work at a shit restaurant. Corporate chains are the only way to make money in the industry as anything below the sous chef/chef level.
TL/dr
for a student, FOH is better because it takes much less time out of your schedule, to make similar money. However, the money or hours isn't always consistent.

[snails]

it sucks

/thread

[westopher]

Originally Posted by snails

it sucks in vancouver

/thread

Fixed

[SB7]

Try working somewhere more chill, kitchen jobs are hot, underpaid, overworked, and generally pretty shitty unless you're lucky. Try applying at Costco or something.

[MelonBoy]

Unless your really passionate about food & want to become a chef. I would say stay away from kitchen jobs..

Coming from experience; my first career choice was to become a chef but due to financial reasons(dont get paid much), stress, work load, and hours worked. I couldn't see myself working in that environment long term. (This is coming from experience working from Dishwasher, Line cook, Prep) Also I was fairly lucky, all my employers seemed to like me and I was given a lot more opportunities then most people.

If you insist on working in the restaurant industry, I would say stick to the front house as a server.

Also get someone who's written a solid resume to review yours if its your first time making one.. After you write a solid resume (cover letter is really optional, since your looking for a entry level job) Apply Apply Apply. Suit up & walk around to every restaurant and hand in your resume to them.

Good luck!

[Xu.Vi]

If you're casually working in restaurants such as White Spot, Dennys..etc, you should be fine, keeps you fit and you also learn how to cook . Though I would suggest to stick with chain restaurants as your hourly wage is certainly more regulated than private restaurants.

Shit gets serious if you work in fancier restaurants but I doubt you'll be able to step foot in them with little to no experience in the kitchen.

[vvd]

Santofu is a good person to ask too.

Have also heard from people who work there that places like cactus and joey's treats their workers like crap though.

If you take the SIR you can walk into hilton, and ask to apply as a banquet server. I tried it. Almost got hired, but at the time i was underage and didn't have SIR. Or, you can go apply for your BST (hella easy) and work as security. Or work retail.
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[westopher]

Cactus and Joeys definitely don't treat QUALITY workers like crap. The thing about the whole restaurant industry is its full of people without a great work ethic, because its so easy to get into. Then you have all these people running around talking about what a shit dead end job it was because they didn't get promoted/more money for doing shit all. Don't get me wrong, it can suck even for quality people, but like anywhere, depends on each restaurant and each staff member you work with.

[Verdasco]

been to cactus, they do NOT treat their people like crap.... more like a family.... also, if u want to move up and and increase your wage, make friends and suck up to bosses.... talk with them now and then and smile

[dinosaur]

wow man...this dude is putting a lot of effort into his posts for a troll...