Better tips: Olive Garden or Granite City

Tomorrow I have interviews at both to be a server. So which place do you think makes more in tips? I did a google search but didn't find a good answer.

http://www.olivegarden.com/

http://www.gcfb.net/

Thanks,

Where is the Granite City located near you? The one by me typically has new Italian sports cars, Aston Martins, and an odd TVR so I assume you can make good on tips there.

Not that I know at all, but I'd guess that Granite City servers do, because of the amount of beer they sell.

Yeah, one is focused on serving beer and tipsy people generally reward those who serve them well, plus higher prices if they drink a lot equal better tips if they go by percentage. I don't know what Olive Garden is like in your area, but around here they're a somewhat sh*tty family eatery, and I don't imagine families give the best tips.

On the other hand, you can always tack on the required tip for groups of X or greater after you've got some experience and can feel whether or not you're going to be screwed by a large group.

I don't know much about the food service industry and have never heard of Granite City, but I have to think that the cheap dinner deals plus the all you can eat breadsticks and salad and such at Olive Garden would attract a more... frugal clientelle.

Granite City.

Olive Garden is the Denny's of Italian restaurants. Anywhere that looks remotely classier is likely to tip better.

Denny's...ouch. I like it personally.

I think the comments about drinking are right on though. Booze is expensive so I bet tabs get higher at Granite City.

I guess I figured that larger parties go to Olive Garden so that might counter the drinking but probably not.

Thanks

farley3k wrote:

Denny's...ouch. I like it personally.

I think the comments about drinking are right on though. Booze is expensive so I bet tabs get higher at Granite City.

I guess I figured that larger parties go to Olive Garden so that might counter the drinking but probably not.

Thanks

I've always heard that with larger parties you get stiffed on tips and they complain a lot.

KrazyTacoFO wrote:
farley3k wrote:

Denny's...ouch. I like it personally.

I think the comments about drinking are right on though. Booze is expensive so I bet tabs get higher at Granite City.

I guess I figured that larger parties go to Olive Garden so that might counter the drinking but probably not.

Thanks

I've always heard that with larger parties you get stiffed on tips and they complain a lot.

Yeah, but a lot of places have a built in 15%-20% tip for parties of X or greater (six is usually what I see). Sometimes it's required, sometimes it's up to the server whether or not to put that in place.

That said, Dr_Awkward makes a fair point that the meals are likely to be less expensive at Olive Garden than other restaurants.

As someone who used to wait tables: whichever one serves more booze. Seriously. The food is great, but you want to be serving booze to people, as a few drinks easily equals an entree at places like that. So, anyone who has dinner and a beer instantly adds to your tip significantly.

I would guess Granite City. Probably by a longshot.

Granite City is pretty popular in MN and I think their beer is decent. Used to be a huge fan of the beer, but either my tastes have gotten more snooty or I swear they watered down there beer for a couple years. They brew their own beer and that is all they have on tap (they have bottles of others and booze too), so I would agree that liquor + roughly equivalent food prices to Olive Garden = Good choice.

Another thing to think about in the "Thrifty Diners" area of interest - A couple of times a year, Olive Garden as an all you can eat pasta for like $10. That is just asking for getting your servers to deal with the cream of the crop there.

The larger parties are probably an old person's birthday or coming from church. Either way, old people and churchgoers are notoriously bad tippers.

Follow the booze and let Olive Garden rot.

Olive garden tips will suck, the Darden Company is run by theocratic ****wits who refuse to hire openly gay servers, and will fire any employee they think is gay. A friend of mine was a server there for a week; said the tips sucked, you have to tip out the bus boys and the hostesses and the bartenders, and so by the end, it made more sense for him spend $30 on a cab each night to go back to his old server gig at an award winning chop house that was nowhere near his new apartment.

The brewery is going to have a better heeled clientele, tips will often be per drink rather than per tab, depending on which part of the house you're working. Meal tabs will be higher with a faster table turn-around because no free breadsticks, salad, soup, etc., running you ragged. Customers at brewery may be harder to please, or have higher expectations of service, but I'm willing to bet tip on the 20% side.

Also, Olive Garden sucks.

I should point out that most places tip out bussers and bartenders and often even the host or hostess, although that position usually hourly.

This is why when you tip 0%, you're literally charging the server for serving you, because the server tips out based on total sales, not total tips.

That'll happen anywhere, because inevitably some people are horrific asshats.

And horrific asshats congregate at bland chain faux Italian places.

Yeah, tipout makes sense if done correctly, but when waitstaff are turning over 6% of their total sales to tipout other workers who do make minimum wage, that's just criminal. And, from what I've heard, the tipout at OG is based on your total sales, even if you didn't order a mixed drink all evening, you still owe the bartender 2% of your total sales. And another 2% to the bus staff, who are paid at least minimum, and another 2% to the hostess, who usually makes more than minimum, that's 6% of your total sales, so if you didn't regularly make 20% tips, you're barely breaking minimum wage at a place where the tables rotate once an hour.

Seth wrote:

This is why when you tip 0%, you're literally charging the server for serving you, because the server tips out based on total sales, not total tips.

That's good to know. I've had a few experiences with servers where I'd have preferred to cost them money for the sh*t they pulled.

Clearly, you've never worked as a server!

Seth wrote:

Clearly, you've never worked as a server!

Yeah, very few servers (ugh, hate that word) are actually incompetent. Those don't last. They are usually the ones trying to keep behind the scenes problems from the customer.

What I want to know is, how much flair does each place require?

duckideva wrote:

Olive garden tips will suck, the Darden Company is run by theocratic ****wits who refuse to hire openly gay servers, and will fire any employee they think is gay. A friend of mine was a server there for a week; said the tips sucked, you have to tip out the bus boys and the hostesses and the bartenders, and so by the end, it made more sense for him spend $30 on a cab each night to go back to his old server gig at an award winning chop house that was nowhere near his new apartment.

The brewery is going to have a better heeled clientele, tips will often be per drink rather than per tab, depending on which part of the house you're working. Meal tabs will be higher with a faster table turn-around because no free breadsticks, salad, soup, etc., running you ragged. Customers at brewery may be harder to please, or have higher expectations of service, but I'm willing to bet tip on the 20% side.

Also, Olive Garden sucks.

I worked at Olive Garden for a year we had atleast three openly gay employees, and never once did they have any issues from what I know. They were still working there when I left, and when I stopped by later one of them had been promoted. The only person servers tipped was the bartender at servers discretion. Good servers there brought in over 200 a night easy on fri and sat nights. It really depends on the location and the customer base. I would definitely go with which store sales more alcohol.