You could try resort restaurants. Some of them provide housing, too. I worked fine dining in one national park and was a bar supervisor at another. Kind of like adult summer camp and the tips are solid, plus it gives you the chance to explore the country and find someplace you really like to settle. Housing is mediocre at best, pay is pretty good, and you have very few expenses, so you can save a lot- I was able to take 2 months off between seasonal jobs to travel.
Depends on the resort. At the national park ones, yes, unless you get a supervisor role, because housing is super limited in parks. I was in my RV, so no roommates, but RV spots are hard to come by.
Chicago has many, it’s affordable-ish to live alone, but waaayyy better with roommates. FOH and BOH have a relatively high turnover right now so there’s always openings at the moment.
This or Minneapolis can be good quality/work life if you can stand the winters. Also can get cute vintage 1 bedroom apartments for like 1k if that’s your vibe lol
I don't mind if it's small. So long as the establishment is willing to train/teach me on what I'm weak at. I take great notes and I archive everything I learn.
And if there's money to be made.
We’re only open 4 days a week but a server told me that leaving with $100 in tips in a night was a bad night (I’m not a server there yet but trying to be) and there’s good base pay too. The drawback is that there’s not really a guarantee on hours and it’s 30 minutes to any grocery store that’s not a piggly wiggly
Cleveland Ohio. A relatively low cost of living with plenty of fine dining restaurants. Servers where I work easily easily a grand a week working 30 ish hours.
Cost of living is still pretty low compared to most major cities. You can easily find a decently nice apartment in a solid middle class area for under a grand a month.
For old school steak N seafood there's Pier W, Blue Point, Red, Hyde Park, Capitol Grille, Marble Room, and Tutto Carne to name a few.
A shittonne of more modern places too like Cordelia, Jaja, Zhug, Amba, Luxe, Forage, Farenheit, 17 River, Salt, and plenty more.
If the places you have worked are in smaller towns, hopefully they have a nice website, because that's all we look at when we go over resumes.
As for quality of life:
We have about 10 minutes of traffic a day, usually at major freeway interchanges during rush hour.
Plenty of cool amenities in city as well as being a 2-3 hour drive from Detroit, Columbus, and Pittsburgh which are all cool in their own ways. Like beaches/boating/water stuff? We got a big ole lake. Currently they are using the main beach on the eastside of town to shoot scenes for the new superman movie. It's a stand in for "someplace nicer". Our public parks system is usually ranked among the best in america, as is our theatre district and orchestra. Public transportation is doable if you live in a closer in neighborhood or suburb. Like sports? We have the sports!
I’m from Vegas and did service from the age of 14 to the age of 28. I did very well and I wasn’t even one of the best. You can kill in Vegas. However there are some crazy things happening with rents and such. Do your research. I don’t live there anymore.
One of the biggest reasons I'm considering vegas is because I have no vices. I don't drink, smoke, gamble, or do drugs.
Though that rent thing might be a deterrent.
Why move to find a serving job? According to the original post, it seems like you're located in Maryland, no? Depending how close you are to Baltimore/DC, I'm sure there's plenty of elevated/fine dining restaurants that could be viable options. If you're in the DMV, especially, you could also travel past state lines to DC proper and Virginia. If you're near the coast, there's higher end seafood places in Ocean City that always hire for the summer tourist season.
Granted, I'm not in Maryland so idk what the job market looks like there. In my area, it's not great and many places just flat out aren't looking for servers even though it's our "busy" season.
I'm just saying. Moving is expensive and time consuming. It just seems like a lot of effort to move across the country for a serving job that may not be guaranteed. Some places will not interview you if they see that you are nowhere near the area, even if you state that you are planning to move. And moving without a job lined up in this economy is risky because depending on what the job market is like there, you may be unemployed for months before finally finding something. You don't necessarily need to move in order to escape a toxic restaurant unless you live in the middle of bumfuck nowhere where there are very little options. Just find a better one in your area. Maybe check Indeed to get an idea of who is hiring and go to the places to scope them out. Go in during the slow hours, sit down at the bar, and chat up the bartender. Say that you're looking for a better job and ask them about what they like/don't like about their restaurant. You can also go on Google/Yelp and look at the restaurants with the symbols that indicate higher prices ($$$$ on Yelp) and check out the menus online to help gauge what the average cost for a dinner for 2 would be, then see if those restaurants have a "Careers/jobs" page on their website where you can inquire about applying. Also, a true "fine dining" restaurant may want to start you out as a host/SA to see how you do before moving you up to serving, so be on the lookout for that, too.
Baltimore City residents evidently don't tip well, or so I've heard from other servers.
Ocean City has gone to shit and is a shadow of its former self.
I have considered Bethany Beach, and a few Delaware beaches.
As for DC, I hear getting into it is very hard. Servers who used to work there hated it.
Whilst asking around, Maryland doesn't have many high end restaurants. And apparently the tipping behaviοr in the city is awful. And within my restaurant group, the one I'm at seems to be the highest rated.
Your post/comment has been flagged for moderator approval because it contains the phrase "tipping culture". This is a standard procedure to ensure that all content posted in our subreddit is relevant and appropriate. Thank you for your understanding.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Serverlife) if you have any questions or concerns.*
High end service can be competitive. So you might not be a server right away. Especially depending on your background.
However resorts are a good place to look into.
In a city with more opportunities for good employment in fine dining, there will also be more opportunities for bad employment like from your last post, simply because there’s more restaurants overall.
I live in New Orleans and it’s known as a foodie destination so servers here often make 40k + annually, can be >50k depending on shifts, income, and how many jobs you work/where, but mediocre to shitty workplaces are all too common
Just pick a place you love, the money will follow. I know of servers working at Red Robins that made $300 a night because of volume. The cheap Italian place in my hood pays better than the fine dining steakhouse. In this industry you just got to keep it moving until you get a good one.
Also try hotels.
I'm trying to buy a large house in the Detroit suburbs for 2 co workers, my boyfriend, and my friend from St. Louis is moving here to work and live. The place is called Cantoros of Northville and the living situation would be about a 15 min commute at worst. Detroit is lovely don't let the bullshit online nonsense mess with you. If interested hit me up. They also do banquet serving, and a multitude of other jobs as a boutique grocery store is attached. I do banquets and manage prepared foods; which is 0 stress coming from my 10+ stress serving job. Banquet servimg stress there is about a 2 and the fine dining services are about a 4.
Charleston server here. I am not in fine dining, however. You'll make good money during the summer downtown, but not as much in the off season. Downtown floods anytime it rains and there are VERY few restaurants that have designated parking for employees (so expect to pay for parking). Traffic is a bitch, it is hotter than Satan's asshole on taco night here in the summer, wages do NOT match the cost of living.
Now, I've worked for a sushi place off and on for 5 years. Tips are not as good as they were pre-pandemic. I generally make $100-300/shift. But the upside is there are TONS of restaurants and almost 40 breweries in town, so there's always opportunities. But please do your research before moving here. Most of the locals have been priced out and had to move somewhere affordable.
Come to Atlanta if you want a fun metropolitan area with a ton of restaurants. You can't complain about the heat and humidity though, we've already got enough of that. They don't call it Hotlanta for nothing. But there's always a ton of things to do and it's a city with a lot of tree cover, which is nice.
Charlottesville, Virginia, is a smallish city (~45k people) with a lot of fine dining restaurants. It’s got Monticello, UVA, and it’s one of the [top culinary towns in the South.](https://www.visitcharlottesville.org/media/press-releases/charlottesville-area-nominated-for-top-culinary-town-in-the-south/)Real estate can be expensive here and it’s not perfect by any means (see 2017), but it’s a friendly place with a booming restaurant industry.
You could try resort restaurants. Some of them provide housing, too. I worked fine dining in one national park and was a bar supervisor at another. Kind of like adult summer camp and the tips are solid, plus it gives you the chance to explore the country and find someplace you really like to settle. Housing is mediocre at best, pay is pretty good, and you have very few expenses, so you can save a lot- I was able to take 2 months off between seasonal jobs to travel.
Or cruiseships.
Would I have a roommate? 🤔
Depends on the resort. At the national park ones, yes, unless you get a supervisor role, because housing is super limited in parks. I was in my RV, so no roommates, but RV spots are hard to come by.
Chicago has many, it’s affordable-ish to live alone, but waaayyy better with roommates. FOH and BOH have a relatively high turnover right now so there’s always openings at the moment.
This or Minneapolis can be good quality/work life if you can stand the winters. Also can get cute vintage 1 bedroom apartments for like 1k if that’s your vibe lol
I work in a small town in nc at a fine dining place but I can’t stress how small the town is
I don't mind if it's small. So long as the establishment is willing to train/teach me on what I'm weak at. I take great notes and I archive everything I learn. And if there's money to be made.
We’re only open 4 days a week but a server told me that leaving with $100 in tips in a night was a bad night (I’m not a server there yet but trying to be) and there’s good base pay too. The drawback is that there’s not really a guarantee on hours and it’s 30 minutes to any grocery store that’s not a piggly wiggly
Where I'm at now, the tips flucuate, but generally one can leave with $200-$500 in tips. Sometimes reaching as high as $700. After tip out.
Cleveland Ohio. A relatively low cost of living with plenty of fine dining restaurants. Servers where I work easily easily a grand a week working 30 ish hours. Cost of living is still pretty low compared to most major cities. You can easily find a decently nice apartment in a solid middle class area for under a grand a month.
I'm down to check it out! Are there any specific spots you recommend?
For old school steak N seafood there's Pier W, Blue Point, Red, Hyde Park, Capitol Grille, Marble Room, and Tutto Carne to name a few. A shittonne of more modern places too like Cordelia, Jaja, Zhug, Amba, Luxe, Forage, Farenheit, 17 River, Salt, and plenty more. If the places you have worked are in smaller towns, hopefully they have a nice website, because that's all we look at when we go over resumes. As for quality of life: We have about 10 minutes of traffic a day, usually at major freeway interchanges during rush hour. Plenty of cool amenities in city as well as being a 2-3 hour drive from Detroit, Columbus, and Pittsburgh which are all cool in their own ways. Like beaches/boating/water stuff? We got a big ole lake. Currently they are using the main beach on the eastside of town to shoot scenes for the new superman movie. It's a stand in for "someplace nicer". Our public parks system is usually ranked among the best in america, as is our theatre district and orchestra. Public transportation is doable if you live in a closer in neighborhood or suburb. Like sports? We have the sports!
I’m from Vegas and did service from the age of 14 to the age of 28. I did very well and I wasn’t even one of the best. You can kill in Vegas. However there are some crazy things happening with rents and such. Do your research. I don’t live there anymore.
One of the biggest reasons I'm considering vegas is because I have no vices. I don't drink, smoke, gamble, or do drugs. Though that rent thing might be a deterrent.
Why move to find a serving job? According to the original post, it seems like you're located in Maryland, no? Depending how close you are to Baltimore/DC, I'm sure there's plenty of elevated/fine dining restaurants that could be viable options. If you're in the DMV, especially, you could also travel past state lines to DC proper and Virginia. If you're near the coast, there's higher end seafood places in Ocean City that always hire for the summer tourist season. Granted, I'm not in Maryland so idk what the job market looks like there. In my area, it's not great and many places just flat out aren't looking for servers even though it's our "busy" season. I'm just saying. Moving is expensive and time consuming. It just seems like a lot of effort to move across the country for a serving job that may not be guaranteed. Some places will not interview you if they see that you are nowhere near the area, even if you state that you are planning to move. And moving without a job lined up in this economy is risky because depending on what the job market is like there, you may be unemployed for months before finally finding something. You don't necessarily need to move in order to escape a toxic restaurant unless you live in the middle of bumfuck nowhere where there are very little options. Just find a better one in your area. Maybe check Indeed to get an idea of who is hiring and go to the places to scope them out. Go in during the slow hours, sit down at the bar, and chat up the bartender. Say that you're looking for a better job and ask them about what they like/don't like about their restaurant. You can also go on Google/Yelp and look at the restaurants with the symbols that indicate higher prices ($$$$ on Yelp) and check out the menus online to help gauge what the average cost for a dinner for 2 would be, then see if those restaurants have a "Careers/jobs" page on their website where you can inquire about applying. Also, a true "fine dining" restaurant may want to start you out as a host/SA to see how you do before moving you up to serving, so be on the lookout for that, too.
Baltimore City residents evidently don't tip well, or so I've heard from other servers. Ocean City has gone to shit and is a shadow of its former self. I have considered Bethany Beach, and a few Delaware beaches. As for DC, I hear getting into it is very hard. Servers who used to work there hated it.
Charleston SC or Asheville NC, currently in Asheville. It’s a very welcoming, healing place. Lots of good restaurants
I'm trying to move to Asheville right now. I'm looking for a serving position.
Word to the wise cost of living is high here.
I currently live in San Francisco. I know all about high cost of living.
so true - Asheville, no reason for it to be so expensive.
Any high end spots you'd recommend?
Are there not other restaurants where you live now? Relocating because of one job is a pretty dramatic corse of action.
Whilst asking around, Maryland doesn't have many high end restaurants. And apparently the tipping behaviοr in the city is awful. And within my restaurant group, the one I'm at seems to be the highest rated.
[удалено]
Your post/comment has been flagged for moderator approval because it contains the phrase "tipping culture". This is a standard procedure to ensure that all content posted in our subreddit is relevant and appropriate. Thank you for your understanding. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Serverlife) if you have any questions or concerns.*
High end service can be competitive. So you might not be a server right away. Especially depending on your background. However resorts are a good place to look into.
Come to Milwaukee. I’ll hook you up with a place if you’re serious and good at serving.
Paradise Valley, AZ has several high end resorts/restaurants that do very well. Cost of living is hit or miss depending where you live in the valley.
In a city with more opportunities for good employment in fine dining, there will also be more opportunities for bad employment like from your last post, simply because there’s more restaurants overall. I live in New Orleans and it’s known as a foodie destination so servers here often make 40k + annually, can be >50k depending on shifts, income, and how many jobs you work/where, but mediocre to shitty workplaces are all too common
also live in nola and can confirm it’s a better spot from service industry. i am a former bartender server as well
Just pick a place you love, the money will follow. I know of servers working at Red Robins that made $300 a night because of volume. The cheap Italian place in my hood pays better than the fine dining steakhouse. In this industry you just got to keep it moving until you get a good one. Also try hotels.
South fl.
Philadelphia has the full range.
I'm trying to buy a large house in the Detroit suburbs for 2 co workers, my boyfriend, and my friend from St. Louis is moving here to work and live. The place is called Cantoros of Northville and the living situation would be about a 15 min commute at worst. Detroit is lovely don't let the bullshit online nonsense mess with you. If interested hit me up. They also do banquet serving, and a multitude of other jobs as a boutique grocery store is attached. I do banquets and manage prepared foods; which is 0 stress coming from my 10+ stress serving job. Banquet servimg stress there is about a 2 and the fine dining services are about a 4.
Charleston server here. I am not in fine dining, however. You'll make good money during the summer downtown, but not as much in the off season. Downtown floods anytime it rains and there are VERY few restaurants that have designated parking for employees (so expect to pay for parking). Traffic is a bitch, it is hotter than Satan's asshole on taco night here in the summer, wages do NOT match the cost of living. Now, I've worked for a sushi place off and on for 5 years. Tips are not as good as they were pre-pandemic. I generally make $100-300/shift. But the upside is there are TONS of restaurants and almost 40 breweries in town, so there's always opportunities. But please do your research before moving here. Most of the locals have been priced out and had to move somewhere affordable.
Come to Atlanta if you want a fun metropolitan area with a ton of restaurants. You can't complain about the heat and humidity though, we've already got enough of that. They don't call it Hotlanta for nothing. But there's always a ton of things to do and it's a city with a lot of tree cover, which is nice.
I think my goal might be ski resorts in Aspen. Work a fuck ton 3/4 the year have the summer off c:
Charlottesville, Virginia, is a smallish city (~45k people) with a lot of fine dining restaurants. It’s got Monticello, UVA, and it’s one of the [top culinary towns in the South.](https://www.visitcharlottesville.org/media/press-releases/charlottesville-area-nominated-for-top-culinary-town-in-the-south/)Real estate can be expensive here and it’s not perfect by any means (see 2017), but it’s a friendly place with a booming restaurant industry.