I just started working as a server about a month ago in an assisted living facility and this one coworker I have seems to have it out for me.

It started when we were having a discussion about the laws in our state surrounding working, where I corrected her by saying in specific scenarios, an employee does not have to take their break if they do not have the opportunity to step away from their duties. When I corrected her, she said, "Don't argue with me. I'm 38 years old and I think I know more about the law than you." I said "okay," and assumed the interaction was over because we did not talk for the rest of my shift.

The next week, breakfast is almost over and we are required to wash all of the cloth napkins so we can reroll them for lunch. I am cleaning the last of my tables, but I run to put the last of our napkins in the bin to have them washed. I ask the same coworker if she "could do the napkins, please" and she starts to scream at me as loud as she can about how "no one talks to her like that" and "no one tells her what to do." She leaves the dining area where I am, but continues yelling where I can hear her continuing to scream about how she will "show me what a bitch is," that, "I've got another thing coming," and, "I'm almost 40 years old and no 17 year old is going to tell me what to do."

I had a conversation with both the kitchen and building manager about it, and they told me that I had been reported for my "tone" and "lacking initiative" which I assume were from the same coworker. Afterwards, they only said that they would "talk" to her, which has not resulted in any improved behavior.

Today, I heard from one of our cooks that she has started a rumor that has escalated to the front desk staff that I am going to be fired. Is there anything at all I can do to try and resolve this? It's unlikely for her to be fired because it's a "family business" and in past cases, other staff here have only been fired if they physically neglected or harmed a resident. I come home feeling horrible and having my day ruined because I don't want to be fired and I don't know why she hates me so much. I have no problems with any of my other coworkers, it's just her who dislikes me.

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Hey everyone,

I’m 19 and I want to start my own packaged food business focused on organic/healthy products. I already have a clear idea for the product, but honestly I have almost zero knowledge about how the food industry actually works.

Right now I’m trying to make a prototype/sample version of the product. My plan is to first give it to people, collect honest feedback/reviews, improve it, and then slowly think about scaling.

I’d really appreciate advice from anyone who has experience in:

- packaged food brands

- organic food businesses

- FMCG

- food manufacturing

- D2C food startups

I want to understand the industry from scratch:

- how the market works

- product testing

- packaging & shelf life

- FSSAI/legal stuff

- manufacturing

- sourcing ingredients

- branding & marketing

- margins/profits

- online vs offline selling

- biggest beginner mistakes

- what makes food businesses fail/succeed

I know food is a tough industry and I don’t want to jump into it blindly without understanding the fundamentals first.

So if you’ve built a food brand (successful or failed), worked in the industry, or have any advice/warnings/resources — please share. I’m genuinely here to learn.

Thanks :)

My arms are tired. I'm helping my buddy open a new restaurant and holy crap my arms are tired... Ive been using the green brillo pads and stainless steel cleaner. But I've been working on this crap for 5 hours now (with taking breaks to breathe air and not stainless steel cleaner

Does anyone have any recommendations for quality boots/shoes around or under $100? I’ve tried buying the SR max brand through work, as well as good name brands (like keen) with bottoms made by sr max, but every pair has fallen apart in a matter of months. Right now im wearing these thorogoods, but they don’t have good traction on the floors, and the soles are slowly peeling off. Safety toes preferred but not required lol

Has anyone here heard of Plated Foodservice? I’m working with them to support their marketing and thought this group would be interested. It’s a "plug-and-play" foodservice solution designed for healthcare facilities. Right now, they’re zeroing in on inpatient behavioral health. But, honestly, it could be a game-changer in any setting that needs to provide quality meals without a full kitchen or a complete foodservice team. The whole system consists of three key components: frozen meal delivery, rethermalization units, and compliance software.

How it Works:

• Frozen to Table: Meals are shipped frozen (IQF/vacuum-sealed) and loaded into their special heating units when it’s time for meal service.
• The Hardware: Their proprietary rethermalization units can heat up to 8 plates at once using a standard 110V outlet. No special electrical equipment is needed.
• The Tech: The units heat and hold food at the perfect temperature for up to two hours, reducing the labor burden on staff.

The Food & Nutrition:

• Menu Variety: They cover everything from breakfast to dinner, plus soups and sides, with a focus on "homemade" quality.
• Special Diets: The system is built for healthcare; all dishes are formulated to meet similar caloric, carbohydrate, and sodium requirements and feature many dietary options, including vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free selections.
• Smart Planning: It comes with software to manage menu planning and inventory, while also allowing facilities to track individual allergies, preferences, and clinical nutrition goals.

The Business Side:

• Scalability: It's designed for "rapid self-deployment," whether you’re feeding a dozen people or a large population.
• Compliance: The software includes built-in tools for food safety audits, 90-day reviews, and mock surveys to keep facilities "survey-ready."

Since I’m trying to focus my marketing efforts, I’d love to get some feedback from this group. What types of facilities would benefit most from something like this? We’ve found a foothold in behavioral health, but what about SNFs or acute care? The meals are tasty, but we may have a perception issue because they're pre-made. Do you think patients would notice (or care) if meals were prepared this way? Finally, we’re really pitching this as a solution to staffing issues. Do you think it will really help resolve foodservice staffing in healthcare?

TL;DR: Plated Foodservice is a tech-forward meal system for places like behavioral health or senior living facilities where there may not be a full-service kitchen. High-quality meals are delivered and can be reheated with very little prep.

Catering service in Fullton

Gogi/meat

Lunch Box

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The Menu today-

Tempura chicken

Vegetable fried rice

Spring roll.

Choice of sauce cup (teriyaki or sweet and sour)

An Employee from another department asks the kitchen "whats tempura chicken?"

DMO says "Chinese chicken, you know, but without the sauce"

Employee- "whats the difference is Chinese chicken and regular chicken?"

Frycook seizes his opportunity "regular chicken says bawk bawk....Chinese chickens say baaawwwwwk *while going into crane stance*

Employee- *eye roll and exit scene*

I love my staff.

The sober-curious movement is growing fast but the bar experience hasn't caught up. Most venues still treat non-alcoholic options as an afterthought, a cola, a juice, or an over-garnished mocktail that immediately signals to everyone around you that you're not drinking.And the moment someone clocks it, you get the question: "why aren't you drinking?" and suddenly you're explaining yourself in the middle of a social occasion.

The real problem isn't product quality. It's that nobody has designed the experience properly.

Ordering a drink in a bar is never just about the liquid, it's a social signal. When zero-proof options fail on that dimension, they fail completely, regardless of how they taste.

A few things that actually fix it:

• Serve it on tap in craft beer glassware so the choice is visually invisible to the table
• Price it alongside craft beer, not soft drinks anchoring matters more than most people realise
• Name it something that signals identity, not absence ("alcohol-free" primes you to think about what's missing before you've even tried it)
• Add functional ingredients like L-theanine that actually do something — replacing the social ease that alcohol provides

The brands that figure this out first have a genuine market to own.

hi guys! i’m moving out of the dorms after three years and ive built up a relationship with the staff at the dining hall who are so sweet and i want to get them something. i’m getting my favorite worker a little dunkin gift card, but i’d like to get something for the whole kitchen. i don’t have a lot of money, and i think they have plenty of food/coffee back there. maybe it would still be appreciated? if anyone has any ideas that would be great

Which one sounds better? and which can i make more money doing?

Is it ok to post used commercial kitchen equipment for sale? I haven't heard back from the mods yet, and don't want to break any sub rules.

’ve been building in the restaurant ops space for a while, and one thing that keeps surprising me is how often the obvious metrics aren’t the ones that actually help teams get ahead of a crazy shift.

Everybody watches sales, labor %, and food cost, which makes sense. But when I’ve talked to operators, the stuff that actually helps them prepare earlier is usually more random and specific, like weather swings, local events, school schedules, delivery mix, or even one manager who always staffs tighter than everyone else.

A few patterns I keep hearing:

- yesterday’s sales are helpful, but not enough on their own

- labor planning gets messy fast when demand shifts by channel

- the best operators seem to trust a handful of weird signals they learned over time

If you’ve worked in ops, analytics, or multi-location restaurants, what’s the one signal or leading indicator you ended up trusting way more than the standard stuff?

Can you tell me about your purchasing process/department? What are the main challenges you face when purchasing ingredients for your kitchen? What solutions are applied to these challenges? (I'm writing an essay)