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I had a phone interview that seemed to go very well and I'm scheduled for a face to face on Friday. I am simultaneously intimidated and excited by the prospect and want to know how much is a good pay/ benefits package for this kind of commitment. Glassdoor has no info on this specific chain, but similar restaurants seem to pay GMs 40-50k with benefits. The restaurant is a small burger chain in a college town, and the guy warned me it would be something like a 55 hour a week job. I don't know if that means it's a salary position or what. He stressed that I'll be responsible for everything from hiring to firing to ordering to paying the electric bills. I've seen a lot of general managers come and go, but I've never been one. I know I can do it, I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it or not. We're going to be here for a couple years, it'll look good on my resume. Can anyone tell me what it was like for them to be a restaurant general manager? apparent pluses: less than a mile from home I scoped out the kitchen, looks clean college town, so easy to find replacement workers beer and wine, so no employees under 21 short menu implies easy ordering apparent negatives: 55 hours a week, can't do a second job Any advice is appreciated! BBQ Dave fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Sep 29, 2016 |
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Sep 29, 2016 01:31
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 18:31 |
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How small of a restaurant is this? Low sales volume restaurants will likely pay less than higher volume restaurants.
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Sep 29, 2016 09:29
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I don't know exactly. There are four in my state and one international location, so they must be doing something right. It seems to get steady business all day. It's counter service, a typical customer is going to spend $11 if they don't get any beer or wine. I usually see 2-3 employees at a time. ! working the reg and 1-2 cooks.
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Sep 29, 2016 17:47
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Have you ever worked in restaurant management before? I cannot stress how much you shouldn't do this if you're new to the field. e: Being a GM of a fast-cas restaurant like that means you're basically on the hook for every goddamn thing that goes wrong, and it will go wrong because you're going to be staffed by college kids that mostly don't give a gently caress. If it's a restaurant chain it probably means that they have supply contracts already written so at least you don't have to source food, supply products, etc, but you still have to pay the invoices and make sure the checks don't bounce (if that's not handled by a corporate accountant). And you'll have to be able to do everything in the restaurant when you have to send a bunch of staff home for showing up so drunk they can't stand up, or when the owner starts breathing down your neck because your labor cost is too high and you have to cut a cook every day. So it's gonna be a whole lotta stress and work. 55 hours a week sounds about right but man you're gonna be working hard for it. RyokoTK fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Sep 29, 2016 |
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Sep 29, 2016 17:56
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RyokoTK posted:Have you ever worked in restaurant management before? I cannot stress how much you shouldn't do this if you're new to the field. My brother does restaurant management and as he has gone from managing crappy corporate diners to high end properties, it has just meant that instead of breaking up fights between dishwashers he now breaks up fights between limited partners.
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Sep 29, 2016 19:24
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BBQ Dave posted:I don't know exactly. There are four in my state and one international location, so they must be doing something right. It seems to get steady business all day. It's counter service, a typical customer is going to spend $11 if they don't get any beer or wine. I usually see 2-3 employees at a time. ! working the reg and 1-2 cooks. How many people does the restaurant seat?
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Sep 29, 2016 19:54
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A - There is an industry thread in GWS. Head there. B - 55 hours is probably a low estimate unless the restaurant is already well established (and that includes policies and procedures being documented, adhered to and followed up on - cleaning, ordering, hire/fire, etc.). Basically, unless it's already operating efficiently, expect to put in more time. C - As has been said, you will be dealing with a lot of college employees. Some will be stellar, some will be morons, most won't care about it very much. Don't expect too much. If you have no restaurant experience already, it's going to be a challenge. I'm not sure what else to even recommend if you've never served or cooked in a bar or restaurant setting before, like most industries there is a ton of institutional knowledge you gain just by being exposed to it. You'll be at a disadvantage as a result. Edit: Link to the GWS industry thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3560370
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Sep 29, 2016 22:14
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RyokoTK posted:Have you ever worked in restaurant management before? I cannot stress how much you shouldn't do this if you're new to the field. I served for five years in college and worked in a deli for another five. At the deli I quickly rose to supervisor, but passed on management. I watched three managers come and go. We went without a manager for about two of those years, if you put all the months together, and I was the only supervisor for most of that time. I ordered food, delegated responsibilities, really kept the place running. We also cooked a lot of real food, lots of catering, not high end but it wasn't all finger sandwich and veggie trays. I only got paid $15/hr. I always promised myself that if I ever ended up doing someone else's job for that long I'd get paid better for it. I've been honest with the owner of this new place. I've never been a GM, but I've done the ordering, cost control, publicity, conflict resolution, paying invoices, even scheduling. BBQ Dave fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Sep 29, 2016 |
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Sep 29, 2016 22:17
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Orange Sunshine posted:How many people does the restaurant seat? About 50. Edit: More like 30 Edit again: 42 I counted. BBQ Dave fucked around with this message at 23:46 on Sep 29, 2016 |
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Sep 29, 2016 22:18
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Oh yeah, when you're discussing compensation: Don't let the owner be vague. If you're in it for at least a couple years, you should expect to be offered a salary plus a bonus schedule if you can keep variable costs down. Labor, food, dry goods, etc. Ask for the averages of those costs currently, ask what the targets are, and make sure those targets are reasonable.
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Sep 29, 2016 22:46
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Go post this question in whatever Goons w/ Spoons thread is proper (sorry, "Something Offal") and prepare to be heartbroken.
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Sep 30, 2016 02:31
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Pixelboy posted:Go post this question in whatever Goons w/ Spoons thread is proper (sorry, "Something Offal") and prepare to be heartbroken. Okay, here I go.
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Sep 30, 2016 03:05
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My suspicion is that it's going to pay less than you think. If this is a small restaurant making $400,000 per year in sales, they aren't going to blow $50,000+ of that on a GM. Of course, the sales volume might be considerably higher than I'm imagining.
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Sep 30, 2016 05:02
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Orange Sunshine posted:My suspicion is that it's going to pay less than you think. It's a burger joint in a college town that seats fifty. If they're grossing just over $1k/day (or figure $1200/day in season, $800 off season) then it should be a food truck, not a brick and mortar restaurant.
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Sep 30, 2016 06:34
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BBQ Dave posted:I only got paid $15/hr. I always promised myself that if I ever ended up doing someone else's job for that long I'd get paid better for it. You're probably not going to be paid better for this GM gig. 55 hours a week, in a non-salaried land where you get overtime pay, is equivalent to 62.5 hours of pay a week. 15 * 62.5 * 52 = $48,750 annually. This GM position may pay more than prior jobs you've held in an absolute sense, but chances are that it doesn't pay any better on a per hour basis.
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Sep 30, 2016 06:48
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Shooting Blanks posted:It's a burger joint in a college town that seats fifty. If they're grossing just over $1k/day (or figure $1200/day in season, $800 off season) then it should be a food truck, not a brick and mortar restaurant. There are plenty of small brick and mortar restaurants with sales of only $400 or $500K per year. Average sales for a Subway in the U.S. is only $450,000 per year, for example, though they're not a burger restaurant.
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Sep 30, 2016 19:38
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Orange Sunshine posted:There are plenty of small brick and mortar restaurants with sales of only $400 or $500K per year. Average sales for a Subway in the U.S. is only $450,000 per year, for example, though they're not a burger restaurant. The average subway also doesn't seat 50 people.
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Sep 30, 2016 22:06
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 18:31 |
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I appreciate all the posts! It got pushed back to tomorrow, so we'll see if I even get to the part where I get an offer. Thanks again!
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Oct 4, 2016 04:11
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