This relates to a serving job, waiting tables:
Prioritize the questions based on your personal preferences and the importance of each topic to you. Consider selecting a few key questions to ask during the interview and saving the rest for later discussions.
- What are some rules and policies, can I get an operations manual of some sort?
- What do you / don’t you like to see in a server
- What’s the average sales of each server / what kind of money can I expect?
- Average check size and is there ever gratuity added?
- What side work do we do as servers?
- How are tips distributed (make it take it vs pooling)
- What does the server tip out and who?
- How many tables will a server get per night or how big is each section
- How many servers are on per night on average
- What does the support staff look like
- When does the server get paid? (all of it at end of night, credit card tips on pay stub, etc)
- How long does training last? What does training look like and what is expected of me during training?
- How many hours is this going to be per week? Is there seniority or do people get treated evenly?
- What POS system is being used?
- What are the off/ on seasons here?
- How do cuts work?
- How many hours per shift
- What do holidays look like
- How long have you been here (manager) / how long has some of the servers been here? If you got a job offer outside the restaurant industry that has similar terms as you do now, would you take it? Why?
- How is the turnover rate here?
- When do schedules come out
- How does the floor chart get produced
- If someone walks out on their check how does that get handled?
- hypothetically speaking, let’s say that you hire me. In a year we’re doing our first annual review and you tell me I’m the best hiring decision you’ve made all year and that I went above and beyond your expectations. What did I do to get there?
- Are there tests that servers are required to take?
Determine how much each positive or negative weigh to you and then make decisions accordingly.
Joe DiAndrea 