Have you ever wondered how much a hospitality professional earns a night? And, is it true we really labor ourselves to exhaustion until 1 am?
In this article I breakdown how much a server makes in San Diego. I also assign a Server Rating to each restaurant.
You’ll be surprised to see which restaurant received the highest — and the lowest.
What’s the Stigma?
In doing research and pulling out old checks for this piece, one acquaintance said to me, “you think I’m going back to work for 8 hours serving tables for $150?”
A fair response. However, all I could do was laugh and think, “is this really still the stigma about working in restaurants? If so, should I care? I mean, I did just make $600 in credit tips last night working 4 hours.”
If you’ve read my article on what working in a kitchen is like, you know this stigma can certainly be the case if you choose a shitty restaurant, or by further definition any job you don’t enjoy.
Here’s how to avoid a lot of unnecessary mistakes when looking to get into the hospitality business.
By now you know the 3 ingredients involved in choosing a great restaurant: location, ownership and product.
You won’t be surprised when you find out I made more money working in a Rancho Santa Fe location than in Mission Valley, San Diego.
I worked at this establishment while completing my undergrad in my freshman and sophomore years in 2017. I got acquainted with the owner Mozi and his wife Fara via a craigslist ad.
When you walk into the restaurant you are greeted by the owners with warm surroundings and wine looking at you in 360 degrees. The décor also features nice paintings and a comfortable dining room with views of the gardened patio.
Most of the clientele are extremely wealthy locals, older and enjoy their preferred tables on a weekly basis. Here on many nights I would gross $1,200 in sales from 5pm — 9pm.
My average takeaway would be $200.
We were a server run only restaurant. This means all the servers run the food and bus the tables — something that is really hard for most restaurants. However, if done right this can reduce labor and increase profits up to 15%.
My overall tip out was 5–8% of tips and went to the chef Omar.
If you’re ever in Rancho Santa Fe or the Encinitas area, this is a must visit brunch/dinner date spot.
Just be wary of the owner, he loves the Dallas Cowboys.
Next up we have Brockton Villa in La Jolla Cove. I worked for the owner, Dave and his family during my junior year of college.
They own and operate another restaurant in Bird Rock — funnily known as the local cougar meet up spot named Beaumont’s.
Brockton Villa is also famous for having the Kardashians visit upon staying at La Valencia Hotel.
The views are incredible and the location is prime, however.
Long shift hours and check averages for brunch (the worst time to work in mankind), range from $60-$100. Server sections are smaller with 4–6 tables rotating several times throughout service.
Sales for servers range from $1,000 — $1,500. The tip out percentage here is heavy, given the amount of FOH labor: bussers, runners and baristas.
An average day take home would be $120.
Overall, if you’re looking for a steady job with incredible views, and solid food look no further.
3. P.F. Chang’s
I’ve wanted to write about my painful unfiltered experience working at P.F. Chang’s for quite a while. Here it is.
Before moving to Colorado and in my last year of college, I spent a little under a year working for P.F. Chang’s — the entire management team reminded me of Dwight and Michael in The Office.
I’d labor in my section for 6 hours, generate $1300 in sales and barely see my manager check-in. In fact, I don’t I recall a shift where a manager did check in with me. This was the running joke the front of house had going. What the heck were they doing?
As a result, the floor was chaos. Tables were left dirty for minutes on end, the bussers and runners moved like molasses, appetizer to entrée transitions were messy, and guests left many times irate — often for the same exact mistakes made the night before.
Whoever is in charge of HR needs to have a serious evaluation. I mean — “a nutless monkey could do a better job.”
A nutless monkey..
Connecting Story
I recently had a dinner in San Diego at Zinque with friends. The food was solid but not the service and ambience. Our server looked like he was stoned and just got done surfing.
To add on, a big pet peeve among hospitality professionals is when the entrée comes out before the appetizer.
This happened and without hesitation, I motioned to the runner coming out, a cute girl and said, “excuse me we are still eating our appetizers, can we get this in a little bit?” Anita Ward, a mother figure of mine at the party said, “Jacob, that’s fine we can have it, come back.”
I felt the energy change at the table and I wanted to make it right, so I called out the elephant in the room.
“I’m sorry if I made you all feel uncomfortable, that was just my reaction.” This was my hospitality faux pas.
Thankfully, Richard Fouts, a really good friend of Anita’s, took a little favor and partially agreed with me. We talked about it for 90 seconds then moved on to another topic. “Stop being that fucking server,” Anita remarked.
With this example and the one before with P.F. Chang’s think how much money these restaurants are leaving on the table. I can’t even calculate the amount!
The server is the sales generator for the restaurant. Now imagine you are at our table when that stoned server comes by. He’s lifeless, has a dull introduction, and is clearly not happy. How likely is it that you are going to respond? And I’m not even talking about the tip.
We’re emotional creatures and we pickup energy from others — whether consciously or unconsciously. We also make decisions on those emotions, particularly financial ones.
Napoleon Hill once quoted, “all of my salesmen condition the minds of their prospects towards a positive mental attitude before diving into a transaction.”
Before you may had an idea to have a drink or two — now the server and the restaurant vibe has changed your mind — you don’t want any. This happens all the time.
Attention servers, managers and owners: you will not make as much money or have a longterm business without guests feeling like they are being taken care of. You also need your staff to be empowered and naturally want people to feel such a way.
Overall, I’d walk home on an average night with $150 less the tip outs.
I have not worked at Callie, though I did have the opportunity to interview. Something about me being too personable and talkative did not jive with their FOH management. Oh well…
Still, this is one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego! At my restaurant, I’ve sent more San Diegans to Callie than I have any other and most have come back with positive reviews.
During the interview process, I was quoted a number in the range of $1,500-$3,000 in sales per night. This isn’t shocking, given the size of the restaurant and the price points — $38 for the best chicken in your life, $14 for homemade hummus, baba ghanoush and pita.
For now the restaurant is open five days a week, with word on the street seven days in operation will be soon.
Factoring in the tip out, which includes the back of house, runners, bussers and bar — I estimate servers on average make upwards, if not more than $300 a night.
My former manager at Brockton Villa spent years working at Mr. A’s as a star food runner. One of my best friends Billy, also a cook at Callie, use to work for Chef Stefan here.
Billy says, “I’m not the biggest fan of stuffy restaurants.” I agree. However, when a business makes money that blows the roof off, it can be totally worth it — especially to connect with the clientele.
I was told, “the best runners earn upwards of $200 a night, servers easily doubled.” Not a bad gig, though good luck becoming a server straight off the bat. Many restaurants promote within and servers that make the 6 figure a year income seldom leave.
My advice would be to start as a busser and work your way up. When I was 16 years old I shared with my first mentor, Rion Robbins, my intent was to become a server. Within 6 months I was promoted — after a lot of hard work and commitment.
You can read more about that story here in the first chapter of my book, That F*cking Server, available for download.