I’m in Seattle. For like years, I worked as a cook making roughly $12-$18 an hour. It seems like it was rising by the minimum wage, it was just minimum wage as cost of living went up.
I was promoted to manager there I started earning $23.50 for years with no raise. No benefits. I ran the store. Business did very well and went from 1 store to 3. Boss making money. He is cheap and abusive, and ungrateful for his managers. I learned everything there already.
I jumped ship to a new job as a manager because the owner is a decent guy and the food is way better. I negotiated $27.5 per hour and health insurance after 1 year. I’ve been here 4 months. I like it.
I posted on FB about what adequate pay for for a restaurant manager for a small but successful business and a kind stranger who is a recruiter at a FAANG company, and former FOH manager at an upscale, Michelin star chain….commented about it I thought of changing jobs because I have the management experience. He told me to apply to his former employer because they were hiring restaurant managers.
I applied and got rejected by their corporate office. I thanked the guy and he said “hold on”. The software or recruiter just probably scanned my resume and rejected it for not being at upscale or high sales . My management experience fits perfectly for their Back of the House Operations Manager position and he knows they are hiring several for several locations.
He called a former colleague who was a current GM at the Seattle branch and asked him to at least talk to me unofficially because he thinks I’m a perfect fit, But corporate rejected me.
This GM called me and explained the job while unofficially interviewing me. I thought it was exactly what I already have been doing , albeit on a large scale and in a upscale establishment. Michelin stars…multiple. I felt very unqualified. He said he will call the corporate office in California to at least give me an interview.
I interviewed with their corporate recruiter and did well. She liked my origin story of working my way from dishwasher to manager and I had nothing left to learn there, so I moved to my current job, which I love.
She pushed me through an interview with an owner of the corporation and 5 regional managers of different departments and some local managers of Washington branches. They interviewed me for over an hour and said they will discuss amongst themselves. I aced the interview.
Got an email saying they are proceeding with the interview process and want some professional references. I used my former managers at my shitty job and they all recommended me.
Yesterday morning, I got an email with the job offer.
The kind stranger said, “see, don’t reject yourself, let the employer reject you. Believe in yourself!”
My jaw dropped when I read the compensation and benefits. They really take care of their employees.
$90,000 salary
Up to $10k bonuses based on performance.
Overworking Prevention policy- 5 day work weeks, 10 hours per day to prevent overwork. For restaurant management across the industry, 50 hour is very reasonable.
Health insurance
2 weeks PTO , 4 weeks with tenure.
Stacked on Paid Sick Leave (60 hours annual)
Cell phone bill is paid.
Gym membership is paid.
$1000 stipend to buy professional clothing each year.
$100 per month to go eat at other restaurants to stay inspired and learn things we can improve.
401k match to 5%.
50% employee discount for friends and family if I pay.
$50 worth of free food per working day (10 hours)
They prefer to promote internally and invest in their employees to promote learning, improvement and loyalty.
Hourly workers get health insurance and 401k as well.
New department managers are being added to relieve the existing management of workload to ensure work life balance. I’m not replacing anybody….I’m reinforcements that corporate hired to help the staff and management. They are adding new managers to each branch as a part of a decision to improve the brand and work life balance.
Other managers say I can get raises up to $100k as a base and stay at my current role managing their kitchen, if I don’t want to move upwards. If I move upwards to GM , it’s $120,000 starting with the 50 hour rule in place. Regional managers $150k starting , up to $200k depending on performance based bonuses. The 50 hour policy goes away but corporate stresses to not over work yourself because “a loyal employee is a happy employee”.
For reference, the salaries and pay for hourly workers seems to be about 25% higher than the standard for whenever each branch is. They are paying above the average on purpose by 25%. And benefits for everyone from the dishwasher to managers. More as you go up.
Honestly, working for a Michelin star group and being paid almost 6 figures with insane benefits almost made me cry.
I worked minimum wage cook jobs and managed what is basically McDonalds or Chipotle for years and didn’t see any way upwards from there. They didn’t even give me health insurance.
A kind stranger and managers told me to believe in myself and pushed for me and I got the job.
I put in my 2 weeks notice yesterday.
I’m happy to work hard for an employer who values it’s employees and promotes from within. Most FOH, BOH managers and GMs started as servers or cooks. Upper management are FOH/BOH managers from 10 -20 years ago. The owners of the corporation are descendants of the founder.
The founder believed in improvement. An improving employee means improved experience for the customer. Even if you spend a lot of money on your employees, it results in a better and happier staff who then makes the customers come back. The short term loss leads to long term success , and it worked as there’s well over 100 locations across the globe with more popping up in major cities each year.