The ServSafe Program leads the way in providing comprehensive educational materials to the restaurant industry through face-to-face and online instruction. Certification classes are provided monthly by the Colorado Restaurant Association. If you’re not located in Colorado, check your State’s Restaurant Association website for event information.
ServSafe Alcohol
The purpose of the ServSafe Alcohol ® is to ensure that servers, bartenders, and managers have the information they need to understand and implement the skills of responsible service. Participants should leave the program confident in their ability to make sound decisions and handle potentially intoxicated guests. A workbook is provided as a reference tool for your operation.
ServSafe Food Safety® is a program of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. The Manager Certification course is a 1-day immersion course, offering basic food safety concepts. This program has a certification exam; passage of the exam is acceptable in 95% of American jurisdictions with a training requirement.
One of the biggest misconceptions of the restaurant and hospitality industry is that the pay is low across the board. However, there are several high-paying industry jobs that are worth looking into, especially if you’re working toward a long-term career in the business, rather than a short-term layover in between jobs. Just to give you an idea, here are the highest paid jobs in the world of restaurants and hospitality.
The Regional Chef
Median salary: $125,000 per year
Just as the title suggests, Regional Chefs oversee the kitchens of a number of hotels and resort properties in one region. You’ll mostly find Regional Chefs in the hospitality industry (resorts, hotels and large chains) rather than the restaurant industry proper, but the job itself is similar to any other culinary management position.
Regional Chefs are responsible for all operational aspects, from product to staff. Specific responsibilities include menu planning, food purchasing/budgeting, inventory management, and training chefs in each location. In order to qualify for being a Regional Chef, you’ll need a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and at least 10 years of experience as a chef.
The Restaurant Manager
Median salary: $49,912 per year + overtime + bonuses
From fine dining to fast casual, when it comes to restaurant jobs, managers are at the top of the line, not only in terms of responsibility but also salary. Combining strategic planning and day-to-day management activities, the role is both business-like and creative, particularly in terms of marketing and business development.
Restaurant managers must coordinate a variety of activities, whatever the size or type of the outlet; and are responsible for the business performance, quality standards and health and safety of the restaurant. There is no single route into restaurant management; a degree is not necessarily required as it is possible to work your way up through the ranks. What’s really important is that you are qualified and have a combination of experience, interpersonal skills and are willing to work the often long and odd hours required.
The Casino Shift Manager
Median salary: $68,000 per year
Casinos are a huge player in the hospitality industry, and, as more and more cities legalize gambling, they only promise to continue to grow. What does this mean for you? Lots and lots of exciting opportunities, one of which being the casino Shift Manager.
Falling under the broader career category of Gaming Supervisor, responsibilities include overseeing operations on the gaming floor, managing workers in assigned gaming areas, and addressing customer service issues. Shift Managers can either be hired outright if they demonstrate that they have at least five years of experience in a casino setting, or they can work their way through the echelons of backend management.
The Housekeeping Director
Median salary: $77,000 per year
When it comes to lucrative careers, most people wouldn’t think of housekeeping. Wrong! One of the best-paying jobs in hotels belongs to the Housekeeping Director! You’ll mostly find Housekeeping Directors as employees of a hotel chain or in a resort-style setting, but they may also work for an independent company and contracted out to businesses, rather than as an immediate employee of the hotel or resort.
In addition to having top-notch communication skills and a strong understanding of finance, they need to travel to the different hotels and/or resorts to make sure that cleanliness is being held up to the highest of standards. While this position doesn’t require any formal schooling per se, it does require a strong background in housekeeping and management, especially at the hospitality level.
What are some tips & tricks for getting these high-paying jobs?
Not everyone in the restaurant and hospitality industry qualifies for these high-paying jobs, of course. So, how do you get a chance to get a crack at these jobs?
First, and foremost, get some experience under your belt. If you truly want to be in the restaurant and hospitality industries for the long haul, you need to pay your dues. Second, make sure that you remain as professional and cordial as possible in each and every job, so that you can be assured of getting a good letter of recommendation each time you leave.
To even have a chance at getting a restaurant or hospitality job, acing the interview is a must, and that requires at least some preparation. While you can’t anticipate answers to every question asked, there are some interview questions that nearly every restaurant and hospitality job seeker will face. These are also some of the most difficult questions to answer, and that’s why planning strong responses can drastically increase your chances of nailing the interview and ultimately landing the job.
What is your biggest strength?
A good place to start when planning your answer to this question is by asking yourself: in which aspect of the job am I most confident and which do I enjoy the most? The skill or responsibility that answers both questions makes for a great response because it’s genuine.
A general rule of thumb that applies to this question in particular is that the interview is not the time to be modest. A manager can only have as much confidence in an applicant as the applicant has in his or herself.
Selling oneself by emphasizing strengths as strongly as possible is key here.
Remember, though, that while embellishment is to be expected and perhaps even recommended in situations where experience is lacking, telling outright lies is ill-advised. Not only will getting caught cause others to question your moral compass, but it will likely land you in a position for which you are unprepared.
What is your biggest weakness?
Do not answer this question without careful thought; the person asking is a potential employer, not a therapist. Plus, a wise candidate will turn this into yet another opportunity to highlight his or her strengths.
A good example would be something like taking on more shifts than desired in a past position because it describes a person who will work to the point of exhaustion in order to avoid letting down his or her team. A good quality in the end.
Again, be as genuine as possible when answering this question because chances are your interviewer has heard it all, or said it all. So, if you’re lying your pants off, it will most definitely show. PRO-TIP: if you can’t think of anything, ask a coworker what they think you could work on and take it from there.
What is your favorite part of the job?
When answering this question, take the opportunity to illustrate to the interviewer that you know the ins and outs of the job and the industry culture. An easy way to do this is by using the jargon and slang that you would typically here around the workplace.
This question also provides an opportunity to express what it is about working in a restaurant or service establishment that makes it where you want to be, rather than where you have to be. Whether it’s getting to work with all types of people, facing a different challenge every day or something that’s unique to you, it’s worth sharing.
Go a step further by relating your answer to the business for which you’re interviewing.
For example, if you’re interviewing for server position and your favorite part of the job is giving customers recommendations, add that this job in particular is exciting because of the variety of dishes on the menu. This shows motivation and dedication.
What is your least favorite?
While this is not the time to air grievances, either about past employers or the industry itself, a successful candidate must not fall into the trap of saying that there is nothing that he or she does not like about the job.
While this would be ideal if true, in a perfect world, it is simply not possible and will sound as disingenuous as it is. Answering with an aspect of the job that everyone universally dislikes is a better move. It will ring true and serve the additional purpose of making you relatable to the interviewer.
One possibility? Griping about bad tips. Just be sure to express the understanding that it comes with the territory and be sure to mention that you wouldn’t let it affect your performance.
Why would you make a good addition to the team?
Working in the restaurant and hospitality business is always a team effort, no matter how you slice it because, in the end, all that matters is the experience of the customer or guest. Making this experience a positive one depends not only on your performance but also on the performance of your coworkers.
That said, being a good addition to a team ultimately means that you’re doing what you can to support it.
With this in mind, a winning answer doesn’t have to be overly complicated, it just has to emphasize the fact that you’re willing to be helpful. A wise way to express this is by stressing your readiness to help co-workers without no need of extra incentives; that it’s part of the job to do whatever you can to help the team.
Planning is just half of the battle, though; you also need practice…
Have a friend or family member conduct a mock interview that includes the above questions in the days leading up to the real interview. This will help to work out any kinks in responses and to avoid awkward pauses or excessive use of filler words. Plus, it will boost your confidence, giving you a leg up on the competition!
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When it comes to finding jobs in the restaurant industry, the grass is always greener in the next city over. However, the places you think of as restaurant meccas may not be the ones you want to pack up and move to.
We’ve compiled a list of cities that we think are the best places for various career paths, factoring in the local restaurant scene, job market, rent, regional economy, state minimum wage for tipped workers, and the average resident’s spending habits. The results included some unexpected winners…
Best city for Servers: Seattle, WA.
Minimum wage for tipped workers in Washington is a staggering $9.47. That’s more than you would earn in California or New York, and, unlike both cities, in Seattle you might find a decent apartment for under $1000 a month! Seattle also has a vibrant restaurant and bar scene; it’s famous for its seafood, but every kind of cuisine is represented.
Best city for Bartenders: Las Vegas, NV.
This one is probably less of a surprise. Minimum wage in Nevada is above average – $7.25 for those who claim health benefits, $8.25 for those who don’t- and in the tourist haven of Las Vegas, you can expect generous tips.
The median amount a Bartender takes home $22 an hour in Sin City.
That goes pretty far in a town where a fair-sized one-bedroom apartment might cost $700 a month. Between its thriving bar scene and its famous casinos, Las Vegas always needs Bartenders, so landing a job, at least, isn’t much of a gamble.
Best city for Cooks and Chefs: Boston, MA.
Minimum wage is only $3.00 in Massachusetts, but the job market favors Chefs and Cooks in the foodie hub of Boston. The median cook can expect to take home $14.40 an hour. In Boston, as in most cities, Cooks make less than a dollar an hour in tips.
Boston’s rent, more than that of most cities, varies wildly by neighborhood, but generally stays under $1000 for a one-bedroom apartment.
Best city to find your first restaurant job: Austin, TX.
It’s true that Texas’ minimum wage is a measly $2.80. However, with unemployment at 3%, Austin’s job market couldn’t be much tighter, driving wages up along with beginning workers’ prospects.
In fact, Austin’s restaurant industry is the fastest-growing in the city.
The city is known for Tex-Mex and southern barbecue, but fine dining and international cuisines are on the rise. Best of all, rent is fairly low, usually around $800 or $900 for a one-bedroom apartment.
Best city to start a restaurant: Buffalo, NY.
If you’ve never been to Buffalo, you might picture it as a crumbling ex-factory town under several feet of snow. You would be right about the snow, but in recent years the former shipping hub has been going through an economic boom, beginning with its restaurants.
One in seventeen Buffalonians works in a restaurant and the city boasts no fewer than five farmers markets, but wages and property values are still relatively low. So if you want the lowest possible starting cost with the largest possible clientele, perhaps you want to learn to make beef on weck.
Working in a restaurant kitchen is notoriously stressful. A daily routine filled with precise techniques, an ever-ticking clock, and the constant pressure of hundreds or thousands of people critiquing your work, needless to say, those that thrive in these conditions have a high-stress tolerance. However, that doesn’t mean BOH employees aren’t susceptible to the detrimental impacts of being stressed out at least 10 hours a day, so here are some skills and tricks to help manage the pressures of the kitchen.
The Stress Response
Before getting to management, to understand the importance of it, it’s best to understand how our bodies deal with stress. Check out the infographic below.
As shown above, if you’re chronically stressed, there can be some major consequences. This is why it’s so important to find constructive solutions to manage the intense pressure that comes with working in the back of house, so here goes.
Stress Management 101
After Hours Stress Relief
Working in the industry means having good, bad, and downright bloody ugly days. We’ve all experienced a shift after which we simply wanted to go home, crawl under a rock, and never come out. This is why everyone, especially those that work in restaurant kitchens, should have a way to unwind outside of work.
If you’re thinking that you do and it’s with alcohol, think again. Although alcohol may help us unwind in the moment, it actually keeps our bodies’ stress response in full swing. In fact, studies have found that alcohol increases the release of cortisol to levels higher than that of a true stress response. While a drink or two after a shift is perfectly fine, and even shown to be healthy in some cases, more than that will do you more harm than good.
Instead, try doing something that takes your mind off of work but keeps it engaged like an outdoor activity, watching movies, karaoke, video games, enjoying good conversation, reading, working in the yard, chess, working out, or anything else which you enjoy doing. The possibilities are endless.
Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst
The typical plan of action usually covers what needs to be done on a normal day…here’s my menu, here’s my prep list, and this is who’s responsible for each station. However, as I’m sure you know first hand, even the best-laid plans fail (hello Murphy’s Law).
That’s why it’s never enough to make a plan solely based on what you need to accomplish. Your next step should always be to evaluate how that bastard Murphy could show his face and screw everything up.This is where always having a “plan B” just in case is the best plan of all.
Your plan B should provide a solution for things such as equipment failures, guests arriving late/early, being short-staffed, and covering for others just to name a few.
This will not only ensure that you keep your head in a crisis situation, but also keep your stress levels at bay.
Even knowing that if something were to go wrong, you’re prepared, will keep your anxiety low and stress in check. So, hope for the best, plan for the worst.
Seconds Save Minutes
A common stress trigger is time, or lack thereof, so finding places to save even a few seconds can be a huge stress management tool. If you can shave five seconds off of the service time of every dish you’re prepping or cooking, you’ll be eliminating several minutes work throughout service.
Not only will the speed of service increase, but the stress level throughout the kitchen will decrease.
Whether you’re in a lead role or just starting out, take a few minutes to think of the workflow in the kitchen to see if there’s anywhere you can find these precious seconds. This can be from changes in prep to reorganizing the kitchen.
Only Work for Management Whom You Like and Respect
All of us have worked under poor upper-level management. Whether it’s that imbecile manager who sets unachievable budgets and then tears you up for not being able to meet them or it’s the lazy operator that takes all the credit for your hard work, it’s not worth putting up with it for long.
Endure them only as long as you have to because their arrogance and stupidity will not change, but your stress will only build.
The bottom line is, if you are unhappy in your current position because of those in authority over you then it’s time to move on. Put in your year (for resume history purposes), do your job to the best of your ability, don’t burn bridges, and get out.
Deal With Problems… In a Constructive Way
Do not ignore problems… they rarely go away and usually only get bigger. Every position in the back of house has their own challenges based on their responsibilities and personalities. If you see a problem, deal with it immediately.
Decide what needs to be done, when you will do it, and what type of follow-up is required. Rip the bandaid off!
A Few More Stress Managment Basics
Schedule time to relax where you do nothing remotely work-related.
Learn a stress reduction method such as meditation, progressive muscle relaxation or guided imagery.
Follow a healthy diet.
Get an adequate amount of rest and sleep.
Exercise on a regular basis.
Speak to your supervisor if you feel stress building.
Whatever you do, don’t ignore the signs of chronic stress. If you’re not feeling or acting like yourself, take the time to find the right tools and techniques to manage your stress before it’s too late.
It’s not uncommon for there to be tensions between restaurants’ front and back of house staff. From opposing personality types to the contentious fact that only the FOH gets tipped, animosities can run high and ultimately cause the quality of service to suffer. However, it doesn’t have to. Although the BOH and FOH may never be besties, the two can work as a team so that service is at its best. Here are a few ways the BOH can help to make it so.
“The BOH needs to know the reality—a team effort between FOH and BOH determines the quality of service.” Adam Weiner, Culinary Arts Instructor
Have tastings of menu items and daily specials available for the waitstaff before service, so they can answer customer questions with first-hand knowledge.
Along the same lines, use a dedicated board to list the ingredients in the specials so the servers are informed in the case the case of questions and allergies. This way, the kitchen staff does not have to be bothered in these situations.
Instruct the servers on the focal points of each dish so they can place the plate slightly off the focal point and turn it to the proper position. Customers will notice the extra gesture and tips will go up.
When that happens, the servers will think the BOH staff are heroes.
Train FOH staff on how to proceed if a customer is unhappy with the food, whether that is notifying a manager or going straight to the chef. In this situation, Adam Weiner suggests having the chef personally talk with the customer as “doing this fosters loyal customers who bring in more new customers.”
This one is specifically for Kitchen Managers and Executive Chefs – be in the kitchen so that you’re seen by the FOH. Everyone seems to work harder, faster, better and more effectively when the KM or chef is in the kitchen—even if he or she isn’t doing anything.
Continuing with the tip above, take it a step further by dropping in unannounced. According to Weiner, “even when servers don’t report to the chef, they are better servers (and treat the kitchen staff better) when the chef is there or might come in at any moment.”
Don’t let servers hang out in the kitchen as they will inevitably slow down the BOH and potentially get hurt or cause someone else to get hurt due to lack of training.
FOH should only be present in the kitchens their jobs require. No more, no less.
Develop a discreet restaurant-wide hand signal or verbal cue for gathering staff to use in the event of conflict. This helps shield guests from embarrassing situations that might affect how they perceive your business.
The bottom line is that there needs to be an understanding between the front and back of house that personal differences come second to service, and that working as a team will only prove to help this cause.
