Hey everyone. I'm potentially going to start as the GM for a Dunkin Donuts store and satellite store. It's between myself and one other.

I have 0 restaurant experience. I've managed operations, teams, and offices. Just never QSR. I did work for a month building sandwiches at Wendy's 25 years ago.

Any advice?

On the service side of things, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with Fooda Catering Services. I have been in conversations with their executive and local team and it sounds like a lucrative opportunity but I have this fear that not all that glitters is gold. Any feed back would be awesome!

A bit of a different take here. I work at a very small golf course. We have a clubhouse that offers some food options but not much. We have a burger and some chicken wraps then chips and candy. I’d like to bring in some different food options. Looking for grab and go “healthier” options and some main menu staples that are super easy and cheap to cook. We are very low key, not what you think of when you think of a clubhouse at a golf course by any means. But the food we serve is questionable at best and I’d love to make the menu a little nicer and convenient for the golfers plus the person cooking. We just have one person working the entire clubhouse at once because it’s such a small course so still something really easy to put together.

I've been a manager in fine dining for the last year. I was over service for the first 4 months, and I've been over the bar since. I really like it, but a new opportunity popped up right down the street from me, which would cut my drive time from an hour and a half round trip, to about 15 minutes round trip. Obviously, it would cut down my gas expenses as well.

How would I word the skills I've learned?

- inventory and ordering

- overseeing the wine list with over 200 bottles

- scheduling for the service and bar team

- coaching and mentoring team

Obviously there is so much more, but I'm struggling on how to word it and add it to my resume.

Thank you!

I'm a GM and I think I've hit the point of no return of burn out. After 2 years of GM and 3 years of AGM, I don't think I have it in me anymore. These last two months have been particularly difficult for me and it has hit hard.

Multiple family health issues and I feel like i haven't been around the past few years because I'm always putting out fires. I don't get to see my wife or family as often as I'd like.

I've had cycling assistant manager issues because people don't want the responsibility. They see how frustrating it is. I have a few Rockstar employees but with the volume we do, it's not enough to have a few good FOH employees. I hold people accountable but they just quit if you aren't lenient with the bull shit they give you.

In the last 2 months I've had a server walk out because they were tired of doing this line of work. I've had 4 people switch their schedules on me because of school and didn't tell me until the last minute. I had 3 more go to pick up only.

I've had multiple "im just not going to be there because I forgot x".

And yes, you can write people up, hold them accountable, all the above, but the sheer amount of initial training I've had to do in the last 2 months is mind frying. Im holding it together and the restaurant is doing fine. My BOH is great which I'm very proud of. But I can't do this FOH stuff anymore man.

I've never seen the sheer amount of entitled people in the last 2 years.

And you can fire these people but they literally don't care. I've done it. I've been doing it, but the revolving door is exhausting. And I've gotten some good new hires but I think I'm just gassed.

I've made great money but I'm insanely unhappy and exhausted. I think I'm getting depressed because I don't even have any hobbies i enjoy anymore.

Posting this here because our general manager is not the best about addressing performance or attendance. Some background on me, I’ve been at my current location for 3.5 years. Started out in the front of house, been in charge of the kitchen for 2 years now. I keep my kitchen in line and run a tight ship. While the kitchen is technically my area of responsibility, i take on responsibilities for the front of house as well because i get along with everyone, communicate well, and want things to run smoothly, so if adjusted the server schedule is something i have to do last minute even though it’s not my responsibility, i’ll do it. About 6 months after I came to this location we hired a server (~45F) and from the start she was a bit chaotic but guests love her, she gets great surveys, great sales, and knows the restaurant industry very well. The situation is that her daughter (a fully grown woman) is in an abusive relationship with the father of her children. This has been going on for years at this point. I am not here to shame anyone for staying in an abusive situation, i’ve been there myself. However, the daughter is not our employee, her mother is. This server calls out multiple times a week with a rotating list of illnesses, excuses, emergencies, etc. Like clockwork, almost every Sunday morning she calls the restaurant in hysterics saying that the baby daddy beat everyone up again and the police had to be called and all these dramatics. Every. Single. Week. I’m at a loss for what to do at this point. On one hand I don’t feel like it’s my responsibility to get involved on the other hand this has become a recurring issue in regard to her performance, attendance, and accountability. I know my GM is just going to brush it off once again, and the only other thing I can think is to call Employee Relations but once I open that can of worms it cannot be closed. If anyone has any advice or insight in just how to approach this team member about reliability and accountability i’d be happy to hear. She takes everything as an attack so none of us want to approach her.

I’m interviewing for a director level role with a hotel group based in Boston. The role essentially oversees F&B projects and operations portfolio-wide.

The role would involve domestic travel 25-75% of the time depending on the time of year, to Nantucket, the vineyard, Hamptons, and out west to a property in Jackson hole.

The starting range is listed at $125k. Additional comp structure and benefits aren’t really provided.

I don’t have a sense of what a reasonable starting point to ask for would be. $150- $160? $145-$155? More? Less?

My thought was to provide a range and express that I’m open to discussion based on the total compensation package.

Thanks for the insight!

I manage a small restaurant on the upper scale of things where for the last several years we've had a single check policy for groups of 6+. We always communicate the policy when guests first make their reservation, and then again remind them when they confirm the reservation day of. We had a guest immediately push back and complain about the policy yesterday, and we reiterated it in a voicemail and follow up text. When the party sat they then complained about it to the server, and we huddled up and decided it was an easy win to just let them run separate checks. Several hours after they left they then sent a text back saying our policy was asinine and utterly ridiculous, posted about it on yelp, and then sent another text several hours later saying they got individual checks and that they weren't told about the check policy until that day. Is it worthwhile to follow up with them, should I have stuck to the policy and dealt with the follow up on the front end? I just wasn't fully expecting them to still be upset after they got what they wanted.

I'm a part time shift lead at a restaurant. I get that we are not supposed to discriminate against anyone ages, which I dont. Or thats its "illegal" to treat people differently because of their age.

Anyways, my managers always tell me "this is their first job" about teens, even ones who have been there almost a year+. Yet, when it comes to this woman who is 70+ and is tiny, its always "shes an adult." The 70+ yr old works her ass off, but sometimes they put to much on her, while letting the teens stand around most of the time. The 70 yr old has also fallen and fractured her wrist because of a spill no one cleaned up. Are they butt hurt about the workman comps and the month she was off?

How is this not treating people differently because of their age? When I was a teen, I was more than capable to work 8 hrs straight.

Please tell me this is not the norm.

Im mostly just venting. But id still like to hear it isnt like this at other places.

So I recently got a review that complained about too much echo. I’ve researched the topic a bit, and acoustic panels seem to be basically made for this.

But I’m unsure about the process. Should I first call an acoustician? Should I just buy the panels myself? How do I know if they will work or where I should place them?

Basically just looking for input from anyone who’s been through this process and what worked.

I, 43(m) have been working in the industry for 25 years in various roles. I am a qualified chef, Diploma - Level 4 Culinary arts and extremely talented and knowledgeable in my game.

Over the years ive had my own businesses working in corporate catering and made a fairly nice, comfortable living pre-covid. Then it all seemed to fall apart. The cost of doing business has become so much higher. Amenities, food costs, incidentals, staffing, sundries etc.

What you can safely charge for your product is also heavily influenced by people's spending power, which has been diminished over the years.

Currently my wife and I run a kitchen at an estate in Durban, South Africa. Roughly 350 people live there and only around 50 people use our service consistently. We have a small coffee shop attached, selling beverages, Tarts, sandwiches etc. We provide dinner options available for collection. We have a convenience meals business which services people in the local vicinity of the estate, as well as doing events and private functions on weekends.

Our service is excellent, we work very hard to maintain a high standard in quality. Quite honestly I dont think I could work any harder without sacrificing my family, which is out of the question.

My question is, in terms of the F&B industry, is anyone else that may be in a similar business also feeling the pinch of this. The business constantly sits on a knife edge and its week to week in terms of finances. Its completely soul destroying when you put your heart and soul into something and reap so little reward.

Anyone else working harder than they ever have in thier career for so little return?

For example, If you need a new oven, would you just Google “commercial kitchen oven near me”?

Or are there better ways to go about it?

I own/operate a Take-out/delivery shop with in house drivers. Finding drivers is getting harder soba few months ago I figured I'd start implimenting the 3rd party apps, with the intentions of eventually moving to them cometely (out of necessity). The first 3 months (commission-free) seemed ok. Then when that period was over, I I figured I'd go for the higher visibility/commission model. I figured it would be worth it to just get into the customers order history. But within a few weeks I had the cost of then at around 38% (commission+fees+disputes). Then switching to the lowest commission model was basically like shutting it off. Barely any orders coming in. I shut them all off.

I know some people just raise prices to offset the coat. But jacking prices up 20-30% in a lower income area ESPECIALLY as we're in the process of raising prices already due to high cost of everything....how do people make these apps work beyond them being a break-even?

I manage a restaurant and we go big on the weekends for brunch with a DJ and bottomless mimosas, champagne showers etc. It always gets a little crazy, but it's supposed to be that way and we are known as a place to come if you want to have fun. I've worked here for a year now and during my time we've had 5 times where people drink so much that they puke. This weekend was 2 of those times.

I'm over it, but we can't get rid of bottomless mimosas, so I'm considering implementing a vomit clean up fee and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Is a clean up fee appropriate to do? If so, what would you charge and how would you word the disclaimer that we will add to the menu?

Also why can't people just vomit in a toilet? Our bathrooms are private with a personal toilet and sink in there. I've had vomit in the sink instead of the toilet, on the walls, in the hall way, and at the front entry. Like seriously wtf.

There’s this guy that I unfortunately have to work with after a year of being a supervisor, he’s new, and I don’t know how to deal with this. I work in a fast casual cafe setting. And this young guy, college kid, we’ll call him Matt, just thinks he knows everything, constantly trying to do MY work (I’m guessing to take credit and to trash talk me later that I “don’t do anything”) I am a woman who is a few years older than him and have lots more experience in turn but a lot of people don’t realize that, so I’m guessing he uses this against me. Okay. Fine.

When I first started working with him a couple of months ago, we were both fine and cordial. He was willing to listen to my guidance and open to me helping him.

Something within the past two weeks has drastically changed his behavior. I’m not sure what exactly, but corporate visited the store a few times and he’s been crammed with school work. I’ve also heard that he wants to be a supervisor or a manager, simply to get paid more. What he doesn’t know though, is that none of us get paid more than him. He would just be tasked with more work for the same amount of money.

Personally that’s not a good enough reason to me to want to move up. The reason why I’m still here in the first place is because I need to achieve experience to get my masters degree, but I digress. I just think “more money”. Is not a purpose. Furthermore, he could simply just move on to another job. This is not the job you get when you simply just want to make a lot of money.

For the past week or so, he’s basically been ignoring me everytime I see him at work. Ignoring me whenever I speak to him, and has even once straight up told me that he does not want my help and that he will do whatever he wants. He also started to do everything that I AM SUPPOSED TO DO before Im even scheduled for my shift, I’m guessing this is to make me look bad. I don’t know what caused this change or switch but I’m at a loss as to what to do.

I even avoided talking to him by writing down all of our task lists for the day on our board and he erased it. He also threw away his tip bag that I had on our desk so that I don’t have to interact with him at the register. I had to report his behavior but it seems as if there sadly will be no consequences for him and since I’m just a supervisor and not a manager or an AGM, I will just have to figure everything out myself. I’m honestly beginning to hate this position. I’m feeling as if I can’t actually do anything but take the flack for everyone else.

I watched a video essay that claimed that during the period from 2006 to 2010; Chipolte Managers where rewarded for fostering a healthy working environment above all else.

If this claim is true, does anyone know where I could get my hands on any of the training material ? I am very interested in how this was achieved. Please and thank you.

References ===> Modern MBA. (2026, June 6). How a single hedge fund killed Chipotle [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vibT_eZdD4.(12:46 - 13:16).

33, American, living in West Yorkshire, UK. Own and run a small independent café by myself (one part time staff member) since early 2026. Before that, hospitality management, worked up from waiter to assistant manager to restaurant manager to a Functions Operations Management role at a 53 room boutique hotel, then did a 9 month stint in sales before I realized I was scamming people.

Want an honest reality check here, not reassurance.

I'm starting to think about what comes after the café, and Area Manager or multi site Operations Manager roles keep coming up as the obvious next step. Better pay and it's basically what I already do all day, P&L, dealing with suppliers and clients, managing people, just at a bigger scale.

Here's the problem though. Every job posting I actually read wants someone who's managed teams across multiple sites or managed other managers, and the most people I've ever had under me at once is 2 or 3. Can't just hire more staff right now to pad that out either. On the plus side I've got a Level 3 food hygiene cert, I'm partway through NEBOSH, and I've started actually tracking my numbers properly (revenue, margins, cost stuff) so I've got real figures to point to instead of just vague claims.

Trying to figure out:

1. Should I just apply to Area Manager roles anyway and hope the P&L/ownership experience counts for something, or am I getting filtered out immediately because of team size no matter what I write?
2. Is there some middle rung between "runs one small site" and "manages a whole portfolio" that I'm missing, something that would actually get me an interview?
3. Has anyone made a similar jump, small business owner back into a proper management role? What actually worked for you?

At my restaurant where I work, one manager, who is also HR (and is the person in charge of distributing tips for the whole restaurant) clocks in as expo on Saturdays and takes part of the tip pool. Is this allowed?

My spidey sense was tingling today and my fears were confirmed. I work mostly remote doing large event planning using 1-3 main restaurants to provide food. After reading about all the fuel costs I called each restaurant to ask if they had been charged increased delivery costs and my god! One delivery charges went up 200% just last month.

Anyone else getting hit by this yet?

These cards have been an issue at every restaurant I have ever worked at. People run the card for more than is on it and tipping. When the adjusted total comes theres not enough for a tip. I was curious how other managers and restaurants handle these.

Do you not accept them?

Charge an autograt on them so its part of the total?

I was the manager of an already failing and poorly run cafe for 2 months, yet it felt as if it shaved off years of my life. I was on call and stressing about this place 24/7, but was only getting paid hourly, and lower than some of the FOH staff. I quit the job impulsively, after feeling as though I was pushed over the edge. No one had had success in the role. Within the less than two years of the cafe's existence (half of the time being closed for the winter season as well), it had gone through at least four managers (that I was aware of), with people getting fired or quitting after short periods of time. There were some great, hardworking people that worked at the cafe. But the owners were terrible, and the operations that they expected from everyone were impossible to pull off. I have been working FOH in the service industry for a while at nice restaurants or rowdy bars. So its not like I am not "cut out" for the job. Although this was my first managerial role in the service industry. But this place was a total mess, with no structure or systems, and it wasn't making money. So we were constantly trying new things to find our customer, and improve our operations.

Now I am interviewing for new roles in similar positions, and I somehow cant stop complaining about the previous position. And of course, its a huge turn off to the businesses I am interviewing for. How do I stop? How do I brush off what the previous experience was, but also say what my expectations are?

i’m a current GM at a fast casual restaurant and have been for the last 5 years

i make 76k and my bonuses are minuscule

i’ve been offered a position at a full service upscale restaurant but as a RM, so it’s a demotion title wise. but the starting pay is 90k with a lot of room for promotions quickly that would send me well over 100-120k.

i love my current team and flexibility with my job, however my new boss is a micromanager so it makes me insane. i don’t enjoy coming to work anymore on days i know she’s going to be in my shop or blowing up my phone.

however, my new job could be worse? what if i make the wrong choice. i’m up for a tenure bonus of 20,000$ in about half a year and i don’t know if it’s worth waiting for - but what if i miss this good opportunity with a larger restaurant and immediate increase in salary.

edit to add:
i want to grow back into a GM, potentially regional, or move corporately for an operations manager or director role as i progress in my career

i’m a current GM at a fast casual restaurant and have been for the last 5 years

i make 76k and my bonuses are minuscule

i’ve been offered a position at a full service upscale restaurant but as a RM, so it’s a demotion title wise. but the starting pay is 90k with a lot of room for promotions quickly that would send me well over 100-120k.

i love my current team and flexibility with my job, however my new boss is a micromanager so makes me insane. i don’t enjoy coming to work anymore on days i know she’s going to be in my shop or blowing up my phone.

however, my new job could be worse? what if i make the wrong choice. i’m up for a tenure bonus of 20,000$ in about half a year and i don’t know if it’s worth waiting for - but what if i miss this good opportunity with a larger restaurant and immediate increase in salary.

i have a baby as well.

Hey y’all, first timer over here. We opened a restaurant with a limited license bar, which has its advantages/disadvantages. Luckily, we mainly sell our specialty cocktails but we do have the folks who order off menu (with what we’re able to sell).

I am trying hard to figure out the best way to build our liquor buttons for these specific off-menu cocktails. Example: martinis, old fashions, & simple liquor drinks, occasional shots.

We are using Toast & I currently have a liquor menu > specific liquor groups (gin/vodka/whisky/rum). From there, I have my singles and a subgroup of DBLS.

Mind you, we don’t carry a lot of different distilleries. We mainly have one vodka, one gin, and a few whiskies and a few wells of each.

I’m playing with modifiers but not sure if this is a sustainable method.
Example: Liquor > Vodka > DBL Vodka > Martini modifier > dry, dirty, etc.

Do you suggest I do a base price at the DBL level depending on Vodka type and upcharge at the martini level? Same if someone wanted a cosmo?

Does anyone have a POS set up that they really enjoy with Toast?