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Getting a job at an upscale restaurant?

post #1 of 47
8/6/09 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 
I want to get a job as a waiter at an upscale restaurant, but the problem is for the last 2 years the 3 jobs I had were at a grocery store, department store, and a fast food restaurant. Since I was still in high school I never gave much thought to them.

I'm feeling that mentioning that on my resume will only hurt my chances, so how can I break into the more upscale service market? Should I just come in well dressed/groomed and talk to the manager personally hopefully he won't care too much about experience? Or should I just bullshit about some experience.

Of course I can always try to get a 'transition' job which could help me get some minimal experience.
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post #2 of 47
8/6/09 at 3:56pm
it is easy to get some waiter jobs at applebees or olive garden ( i was) so do that first and then try to get the upscale restaurant job later if you cannot get it now.
just be upfront with him dont make up stuff.

everybody wants to get that whatever job, but you cant just expect to get there without any transitional job.

at least customer service experience means something, that is like 90% of the waiting jobs. and especially at an upscale restaurant, you will have to know how to keep your attitude and pride in check when the customers get all unreasonable and the 'kitchen' starts to get hot.
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post #3 of 47
8/6/09 at 4:05pm
Depends on your definition of upscale. Private clubs may be a little more forgiving, but that's rare enough. If you think you're stepping into a Michelin-starred environment right away, no dice.

I started out at as a food runner the tail end of my senior year at what I'll call 'upscale casual' - a chain, $25-30 PPA (per person average - meal, drinks, etc.) in 2000. Service standards were that you never had more than 16 seats in your section normally, average waiters had 12, new kids had 8-10. At the end of the school year, I asked to be trained as a waiter and because I was the best food runner the GM made it happen even without experience. If I had just walked in off the street and asked for a waiting job, no way, even that (relatively) low on the restaurant pecking chain.

Money is very good for an 18-year old in that kind of restaurant, FWIW. Stick with it and you'll be a bartender inside of 18 months at most places.

So that's one way to get your foot in - put in time as a food runner (no other jobs in the kitchen, and for fuck's sake do not host).

Alternately, start at a Chili's/TGI Friday's/etc. for a while and then move up the ladder.
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post #4 of 47
8/6/09 at 4:08pm
I would be surprised if you could get that job without experience. The people in thise jobs make good money from tips and there is considerable competition for upscale service.

You could try one of the othe jobs, busser, crumb sweeper, water pourer, they all seem to be different people to me, and I think they get tipped out by the waiter, and work your way up.

Mid range may serve you better, ruths chris capital grille for future moves if you cannot get in any upscale.

My experience has all been the seated/paying type, so others may have more intimate knowledge, but this is what I have heard.

edit; Ah, if it didn't take me so long to type I would have seen milosz give a more accurate answer.
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post #5 of 47
8/6/09 at 4:40pm
The roommate of a friend of my girlfriend is a waiter at Per Se. I believe that before he was a waiter he was somehow involved in the food preparation process at a different restaurant and wanted to make more money. I guess the moral of the story is you have to pay your dues in some kind of position in the food services industry for a while and either know someone at an upscale restaurant who can get you in or luck into an open position.
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post #6 of 47
8/6/09 at 4:47pm
Start off as a "server asst", the waiter's bitch, to learn the basic crap.
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post #7 of 47
8/6/09 at 6:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TyCooN View Post
Start off as a "server asst", the waiter's bitch, to learn the basic crap.

WTF?

You gotta apprentice to be a waiter?

How hard is it to be a waiter?
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post #8 of 47
8/6/09 at 6:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lee_44106 View Post
WTF?

You gotta apprentice to be a waiter?

How hard is it to be a waiter?

not hard at all.

just need good people skills and good timing.
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post #9 of 47
8/6/09 at 6:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sho'nuff View Post
not hard at all.

just need good people skills and good timing.

I think this may oversimplify the job a bit for the OP's target restaurants.
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post #10 of 47
8/6/09 at 9:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lee_44106 View Post
WTF? You gotta apprentice to be a waiter? How hard is it to be a waiter?
Over here you usually have to start off as some front of the house pogue job like busser or hostess first before you can wait tables. They won't even hire you as a waiter for a casual dining joint if you're fresh with no experience in the restaurant game. Small timer of the small timer joints, think moms and pops ethnic restaurants, will generally start people off as waiters though.
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post #11 of 47
8/6/09 at 9:46pm
In other places, to be a waiter is a profession and treated with, respect .
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post #12 of 47
8/6/09 at 10:45pm
Getting a job serving even at a chain place is tough without experience. With no serving experience at all you probably won't get past dishwasher or busboy and maybe be able to get to server from there. If you just want some "serving experience" for a few months to parlay that into somthing better your best bet might be starting at a small local casual restaurant like a pizza place, diner, sandwich shop that is all sit down with service. If you're a freshman in college (which it seems from your first post talking about high school) you could start at that local casual place serving, turn that into more of a chain chilis/tgif/olivegarden and then try to turn that into something more upscale. Knowing someone is always the best way to get those restaurant gigs. Even at the nice places, don't count out starting as a busboy or something. If when interviewing or talking with the manager, you can always ask him about the possibility of working as a busboy/dishwasher for a month or two while learning how to serve at their restaurant and see if you can work in a promise of a serving position in the next month or two. Good luck
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post #13 of 47
8/6/09 at 11:32pm
At most of the fine dining places I've been lucky enough to become more-or-less a regular at, a conversation usually comes up where I end up asking my server how they ended up at the particular restaurant. Some of them are hospitality program students or graduates, but most seem to have worked their way up from serving at a small chain during school, moving onto nicer restaurants, and then finally an upscale place. The runners usually do not have that much experience, but also are not paid that much. Since servers at high end restaurants actually make pretty good money, I've ended up coming across lots of lifers, people who have been there for 5+ years, or have bounced around between upscale restaurants for at least that long; one server I knew had been working at a restaurant for 20 years. I was good friends with a house manager who had been trained in Europe with a hospitality program and had him give me a quick 30 minute lesson on proper serving etiquette once just to sate my own curiosity, and as a whole, at that level of fine dining, it's a lot tougher than you expect, and certainly not something you can jump into without training or not having a little experience.
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post #14 of 47
8/6/09 at 11:41pm
I havent read the thread but have first hand experience in the biz.

Your chances are slim to none with your level of experience. You will have to work your way up from a lower position because no fine restaurant wants to train people. Things get very hectic on the floor and the last thing they need is someone who is lost wandering around getting in other peoples way. Restaurants are very cliquey work environments and you will be competing for a job with career waiters and people who have a lot of experience in the industry.



You have to have good knowledge of food in general and better knowledge of the food you are going to be serving. It is also very important to know wines in general and specific knowledge of the wines on the regions on the list (not all upscale restaurants have sommeliers). Unfortunately, most of this knowledge comes from first hand experience so it's impossible to "fake it until you make it."



People will tell you "Oh, how hard is it to be waiter. It's easy all you have to do is take an order." These tend to be the same people that make the job difficult so ignore any advice they give.
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post #15 of 47
8/7/09 at 2:45am
I'm still curious how the OP defines 'upscale' and why he wants to get into that specifically - give us a guideline. You won't be able to get in immediately no matter what level you're talking, but there's a wide variety that could be considered upscale between 'upper-level steakhouse chain' and 'French Laundry.'

If it's about money - you'll earn what's considered a living wage ($12+/hr) even at a starter joint like Chili's or Friday's in most of the country. Add a few more bucks/hr depending on how nice the restaurant is (translation: per-person cost). If it's prestige - sorry, there really isn't much prestige to being a great waiter at a great restaurant. In the eyes of the rest of the world, you'll still be a waiter.

FWIW, as a young'un, you'd have a lot more fun at a nice chain anyway. The older servers and bartenders will take you out drinking, you'll become far better than your peers at quarters, the 22-year old waitresses will get drunk and want to fuck the young guy, you'll have multiple drug hookups on staff.
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