Four years ago, I took a big step up in restaurants to start my current job. A co-worker’s girlfriend recommended me to her boss. I interviewed and was hired on the spot. I still remember the way it felt walking into the restaurant for that interview.  How impressive the building was. How professional the staff […]
Tag Archives | Server
Is Running Hot Food Always The Priority?
I have worked for a number of companies and managers over the years who repeated a similar mantra: ‘Running hot food from the window is the top priority.’ This is often echoed by managers, kitchen staff, and expediters. It has been emphasized so frequently that it’s generally accepted as fact. While this is an important […]
Avoiding The Write-Up
 Today, I want to share a feat that I quite frankly feel is remarkable. I don’t want to sound as if I am bragging, but this is something that might be worth it. I work for a corporately owned restaurant and have for nearly four years. This means that I have an employee file […]
Reasons to be Optimistic
Last night I had a long conversation with my girlfriend after work. It had been a pretty disappointing shift to wrap up a pretty disappointing double to finish off a pretty disappointing weekend. I had a call party not show up. A 17 top I was supposed to split became a 6 top. The 6 […]
What Goes Around
The restaurant industry is a much smaller world than you would think sometimes. There are approximately 2.3 million servers in America at any given time. This is a constantly changing pool though as people get out of the industry or gets promoted within it. Approximately one out of every eighty working Americans is a server. […]
About The Author
David Hayden was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He took his first serving job in 1996. Since that time, he has worked for over a dozen different restaurant companies. He has held both hourly and salaried positions at independent and corporate restaurants. He has waited on over 100,000 guests and trained hundreds of servers. He has been named "Best Server in Kansas City" the last three years by the local weekly paper.