Insider Secrets: What Restaurant And Bar Workers Won’t Tell You About How They Cut Costs Behind The Scenes
My family and I have owned a local Italian restaurant for 30 years. I’ve had employees from most of the restaurants in town over the years and I try every new restaurant. Common shady things I’ve heard/seen are using pork instead of veal at other local restaurants (when veal is on the menu as $1 more than chicken something is wrong as it’s 6x more expensive), pouring house wine as premium wine, refilling premium liquor with well (I don’t have a bar/liquor, just beer and wine), the same cheaper beer on tap for multiple selections, using off brand coca-cola products as the real stuff on coke machines (you have to buy a special adapter), using cheese with modified food starch (potato) for pizza/dinners (all the pizza chains use this), using expired products, using butter blend or margarine instead of real butter which is 3x more expensive…
I’ve seen the workers at the chinese buffet dump the old left over food in with the fresh and stir it up good.
I just thought waste not want not.
This is mostly not an answer… but I’m sharing it anyway.
A lifetime ago I was working in a bar, and doing stand-up comedy on the side.
One line I used to use was that the owner of the bar I worked in was so cheap that each new year, as the clock struck midnight he would go round each of the whiskey bottles with a sharpie. Changing the “15 year old scotch” to “16 year old scotch” and putting the price up.
One of the biggest shadiest thing is washing meats that doesn’t smell good at all with vinegar and lemon juice and cooking it like nothing happen discussing. A lot of them use expire pasta or can product and the worse of them are the ones that use the food that the health department says is bad and hazardous Nd they even take it out of thrash and still use it. If we only knew what happens in the back of the house .
I worked in the service industry for several years during my late teens & twenties, both in bars & restaurants. I’ve worked every position in the front of the house— hostess, busser, server, bartender, cocktail waitress, manager. I loved it. It’s fun, it’s loose, it’s fast-paced, it’s something different everyday… But there are a few instances that make me shake my head & laugh (or gasp) when either looking back on them now or sharing with friends who have never worked in the industry.
I’ll share a few “inside” experiences ——
1-— For 3+ years I worked at a bar in Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans. Drinking-culture in Louisiana is an extreme sport. We would have patrons come and drink & drink until they were barely able to stand.. or walk.. or talk.. or stay awake. Yet they would STILL want to order more drinks. Getting “cut off” isn’t really a thing in Louisiana. So instead, we would be instructed to just “NOT PUT ALCOHOL” in their drinks anymore. But still charge them, of course.
It was a win-win-win for the establishment. We make money → they never know the wiser → the soda water or coke or whatever sobers them up → we are less likely to get in trouble for over-serving since they’ll be less drunk when they leave. And surprisingly- I was never once called out for it. They really were so drunk that they had no clue. Maybe the “shadiest” thing would be serving guests until they were that intoxicated to begin with… but you tell me about your last trip to New Orleans.
2—- Working at that same bar in Louisiana:
I was a hot young girlie back then. Actually, just in my late teens (you only had to be 18+ to bartend in Louisiana at the time). And I had lots of hot young girlie friends. My bar manager used to pay to have my “girlfriends” come to visit me at the bar while I was working, even though most were not even old enough to legally drink. They would flirt with the bar patrons and encourage them to buy more drinks / shots / stay longer. At the end of the night, the girls’ drinks & food that were not already covered or purchased by bar patrons would be comped. Many of their “drinks” that were bought for them would not contain alcohol. My friends would be rewarded with gift certificates & free dinners for “livening up” the place.
3—- I worked for a fine dining restaurant, also in Louisiana, that served high-end French-Creole cuisine. This wasn’t just anyplace; it was a well-regarded & highly-rated establishment. Our menu featured several oyster dishes. The oyster dishes would always be served in the shells, but the shells were recycled / put through the washer & reused, and the oysters used were pre-shucked & canned. The restaurant was on the water and instead of having a paved lot, it had seashell gravel (this is a thing in Louisiana). Occasionally, on busy nights, we would run out of the recycled shells, & a cook would have to go out into the parking lot to find a suitable oyster shell from the seashell gravel to wash up & serve from. We also re-served leftover croutons that were put on tables, but not eaten. We served crisp “croutons” rather than bread, which was a huge cost-saver, because they could be recycled & took much longer to get stale. When they finally did turn stale, they would be used to make our bread pudding.
Auto Amazon Links: No products found.
