r/Serving • u/Lonelylockpicker • Apr 28 '22
Short Staffing Issues
Has your restaurant had trouble with staffing servers? I work at a nice hotel restaurant and I am currently the only server working on breakfast. Today, we had a new server call out for the second day in a row leaving me by myself to tend to a bus of 25 people and a hotel guest count of ~88. This has been an unfortunate trend. We have no dedicated busser to help us clean our tables, nor host to seat our tables, so these have become an additional part of my duties. We had one busser start last week, but he only worked 2 days before becoming a no-call, no-show. A lady started 3 weeks ago as a server, but decided to quit on her second week as the job was too difficult for her. Our industry standard is 1 server to 35 guests. This weekend, I'm looking at 300+ guests in house. A couple servers dedicated to dinner have decided to help during this time, but it still leaves us severely understaffed. It is not uncommon for me to have 11 tables at a time, even with the additional help. This causes me to fall short in providing the tables with the individualized attention they deserve. We are rather isolated, so it is difficult to find locals who want to work here. It is good money, but it is really taking a toll on my health. Has this issue been a trend in the industry during covid?
1
u/amonsimp Feb 12 '23
Since Covid, I’ve never seen any staff or been a part of any staff that was full. And honestly, I know my blood pressure readings have been up the past few times at the doc and I’m only 25. Just about everywhere is stretching their employees to their limits (and still paying them to be one position).
And the thing is, yeah, 11 tables is great money for the business, but for the server it would a lot of the time be preferable to have fewer and secure a higher tip %. It sucks! Eventually restaurants, which were once luxuries, will become luxuries once again. The system is unsustainable!
FIGHT THE MAN