Synergy

Buffet style dinner theatre. For a sold out room of 430 ppl, we will have 2 bartenders, 2-3 floor managers, 11 servers, 6 serving assistants, 2 hosts. Not sure how many working in the BOH. We try to have 30 patrons per server, but, we are perpetually short staffed, (being in Calgary, with the crazy tight labor market), so it often winds up being closer to 40 patrons per server.

I think they need to be held up to the same standards of taste and service... As long as you are judging them against the same category of restaurant. I am a vegetarian, and most of the most amazing meals of my life have been at non vegetarian places that know how to do amazing vegetarian/vegan food. (Daniel's tops the list). I've never seen a 4 star vegetarian restaurant. All the ones I've been to have been casual, funky or maybe upscale casual. Some of them do it better than omnivorous restaurants, some do not. The top ones I can think of right now are 'The Coup', in Calgary, and 'Rebar', in Victoria. I would like to see more quality and service at most veggie places.

If you have no experience, you may have to start as a serving assistant, otherwise known as busser. This way, you can get the lay of the land in the restaurant, learn the menu (both food and beverage) and learn the layout of the restaurant, etc. To get promoted to server more quickly, you have to work your butt off, and show some initiative. Learn the menus on your own time, talk to experienced servers who work there, and ask the management questions about anything you need to know. If you start off as a server, good luck!!!! Also... just a thought, you probably won't get tips at a retirement home, so you may want to take that into consideration when you are applying at places.

I completely agree with k8memphis. Document everything. It's in your best interests. I would also see if you can discuss the problems you are having with your boss (their former employer). Find out if he has any tips for dealing with these two, or if he could, perhaps, talk to them about their behavior. It's tough to come into a new position. I had a hard time earning the respect of a new staff that I inherited when I started managing in a new department, but they came around in about 3 months once they realised that I knew what I was doing and worked my butt off. That may happen with these two, or you may have to turf them. But whatever you do, document, document, document. Then they can't claim to have been unfairly dismissed. Congrats on the new job, BTW!

I have and will continue to eat a variety of cuisines when I am in foreign countries. I always find it interesting to see how they interpret other cultures' cuisines. I have had Mexican and Chinese in France, Spain Australia, Greece, Ireland and the US (I live in Canada). It's always interesting, and sometimes good

I jumped into restaurant management kind of sideways. I have worked at a dinner theatre for over 6 years, starting out as a Box Office ticket agent. Then, I worked my way up to assistant manager, then manager of the Box Office. The GM wanted me to learn all aspects of the operation, so I started shadowing the operations managers, who work as the Food and Beverage managers/ Floor managers/ general ops. I learned first by observing, then by helping out. Now I've been promoted to ops manager, so in addition to managing the Box Office, I work 3-4 shifts managing our restaurant. It's more of a banquet style service, as we have a buffet, with one sitting, for 450 people, and then our show. I have a degree in Sociocultural Anthropology, which, for restaurant management is just about as useful as Jazz studies, and now I am managing in a busy theater. I didn't work my way up the usual way, but, I can bus, serve, bartend or manage the restaurant after less than a year of working in Food and Beverage. It took longer to earn the respect of the staff by coming at it from an administrative angle, rather than working my way up through their ranks.

I know in Calgary, those books with the 2 for 1 coupons do have instructions for their customers to tip based on the bill before the discount is taken. There are two main reasons why people don't though. One is that some just don't care, or don't want to give the proper tip, and two is, they forget. They don't see what the total on the bill would be, so they just tip on what is. A possible solution to this would be for restaurants to list what the total charge would be on their bill, and then have another line underneath showing the discount and final price. It wouldn't completely solve the problem, but it may help in some cases.

I've never been, but I would love to. Sounds amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know... I have had enough desserts actually live up to the descriptor that I don't mind those terms. I don't think it's vulgar if the dessert is good enough to push you right to the brink of insanity.

I really dislike being interrupted by one guest when I'm talking to another. If I am helping someone at the front, or at a table, please wait until I have finished before getting my attention. You can wait 23 seconds for your new knife.

I hope that, even if the customer didn't tip her, all the other ones who witnessed the event did.

I second what Toliver said. Most restaurant staff are running around, carrying heavy trays, and/or wearing outfits that are a little warmer than what the customers are wearing and they have no idea it feels cold in there. I am the first one to be cold as a patron in a restaurant, but managing, wearing a suit and running around, I can be sweating while the customers are freezing their fingers off.

Although I have never purchased Velveeta cheese myself, it will always be a comfort food to me. My grandpa made it all the time when I was a kid, and it was the best thing ever. I still crave it when I am sick.

I just recently dropped $612 on a meal for 2 at Daniels in NYC. That was for 2 tasting menus (one vegetarian), one wine tasting, several other cocktails and apperitifs as well as the tip. The experience was worth every penny and the food was so amazing, I ate with my eyes closed so I could let the flavors wash over me. Really, truly amazing.

This may be a case of constructive dismissal. This is when a company forces you to quit because of a change in contract, wage or working environment. Check the laws in your area.

I thought for the longest time that I didn't like raw tomatoes. I was wrong. Turns out I just don't like those cardboard, conventional tomatoes. I love heirloom tomatoes, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, basically any of the ones with... taste!

A movie theatre/restaurant is like an extension of a dinner theatre theme. All of the dinner theatres I know of, including the one I work at (ops manager) it is either dinner, then the show, or the dinner is several courses in between scenes. We stop food/bar service when the show is on. I can imagine it would be quite messy to try to have food service and/or people eating while trying to watch the show. I have been to places that show older movies without the sound on a screen like the one in costa rica you went to.

There are plenty of restaurants that don't serve seafood, or only have one or two seafood dishes. If you really want to avoid it, choose one of those.

I too am a fan of simple sandwiches, with only a few flavors. A grilled cheese with fantastic bread and cheese is just about the ultimate sandwhich for me.

I had a strawberry mohito today. It was blended rather than muddled, and it was fantastic. I don't think I had experienced mint and strawberry together before, but I will make sure to combine them again. Yesterday, I had a martini we are calling the propmaster (I work at a dinner theatre), but I think it's usually called a Matty Manhattan. It had a 1/2 oz. each of Amaretto, Southern Comfort, Port and Cinnzeo. It had a beautiful balance of flavors.

I've never heard the term smearing, but that really does describe what you do with thick hummus. (I love Sabra, but it seems to have dissapeared in my local safeway). I tend to use the term dip or spread just depending on what I am doing with the substance at the time, so things like baba and guac can be both. Usually semantics and improper word usage get under my skin, but with the dip/spread debate, I don't really care, as long as it's gooey, tasty and good.

The hand over the glass thing only bothers me if I can see dirt on said hands. The couple of things that gross me out in our kitchen are: 1) When there is beef blood on the floor that I slip on and almost fall into 2) Giant vats of mashed potatoes. I love our mashed potatoes, but seeing them in being mixed in the giant vat turns me off somehow.