Was just perusing the Alo Food Group website and noticed they had some job openings. Now, I don’t work in food nor do I have any desire to, but I was ASTOUNDED at how low the starting wages were! You’re telling me that working at a one Michelin Star restaurant (arguably the best restaurant in the country) as a cook, you get $1.50/hr more than MINIMUM WAGE?! Puts a sour taste in my mouth even having eaten at and loved Alo.
by Appropriate-Low1466
23 Comments
With tip sharing it probably works out to be decent. Not what the employee deserves, but decent.
The real joke to me is their “commitment to service excellence”. The device at Aloette on my last visit was straight up cold. Sat at the bar and were never asked if we wanted to order a drink. Everyone seemed so fake and repressed. Not a great vibe.
they get gratuities, so that’s neat
free meal is nice
i’m surprised they don’t advertise the clout compensation
The cooks get paid about the same as a Sandwich Artist
Tips account for a lot in a place like that, no? Assuming they’re shared. Wonder if there’s an industry person around who can shed some light.
Not awful with tip out and meal and benefits but it’s got to be such a high stress environment.
But given it’s reputation would be nice to see the folks behind the scenes well compensated.
They rake in crazy tips at alo…
Would you be surprised to find out that is the norm in much of the fine dining world?
[https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/noma-copenhagen-fine-dining-unsustainable/672738/](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/noma-copenhagen-fine-dining-unsustainable/672738/)
I agree that the pay is low, but unless I misread they are not asking for much in terms of experience, so this means they will be providing lots and lots of training in order for the cooks to be able to live up to their clients expectations. This is a common practice for the best restaurants, many around the world also use free labour “stages” or interns to help prepare the food. It’s an industry that has always relied on low wages in order to survive, even the expensive restaurants do this. I’m sure there are exceptions but by and large this is the way for most restaurants.
Unfortunately, the nicer the restaurant, the poorer the compensation. They expect you to be willing to work for shit money since you’ll be getting the experience of working somewhere upscale. I worked in multiple restaurants where I was told I wouldn’t be given a raise due to them having to cut costs, but that it would be worth it long term for my career to stay on.
At one point, I was making more as a barista at a mediocre coffee shop, than a friend was as a pastry chef at a popular fine dining restaurant (this is including tips). BOH usually gets a pretty low percentage for tipout, as well, so anyone thinking ‘well they must be making a killing in tips’ is sorely mistaken.
I knew someone else that was making $50k/year as a CDC (this was in about 2018 or 2019, at an upscale restaurant here) and we all thought that wasn’t too bad. The restaurant industry is basically built on exploitation. They either push on the idea of ‘you do this job for love and passion, and asking for money means you don’t actually love it’ or ‘where else are you going to go? nobody in the white collar world will hire you’ (with the latter being unfortunately true, most of the time).
The restaurant industry sucks, and there’s a reason why people are always desperate to get out even when they love it.
They can pay this amount because people will apply and work because of the prestige and experience. They have no shortage of GBC grads waiting to apply to cut their teeth.
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They also offer full benefits. And I bet tips are $5-6/hr cash, so in the end these cooks are making $25/hr plus benefits.
If you don’t know then ask, don’t just post shit and think you understand
Are you new here? No different from what this rat fuck rob gentile did-
https://torontolife.com/food/inside-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-buca-empire/
That’s Toronto for you, too much competition in the job market so employers pay stupid low because they know they’ll find someone who’ll accept that disgraceful wage/pay.
Well do they split tips? Because if they do that has gotta be a good $100+ per shift
It’s not poverty wages… our currency has been depegged, devalued and destroyed. We have no purchasing power and inflation has wrecked the economy. If they would take the proper measures to restore our dollar to its former glory then we could live again. Like do you think by 2050 businesses should be made to pay 100cad an hour to keep up with inflation? No, we need to actually address the issue of devaluing currency because of deleterious fiscal policies.
It’s a very low starting wage, but noticed they do get gratuities and benefits. I’m not saying that’s anything much, but just wondering what that might amount to. Alo is an expensive restaurant. Does anyone who works in the industry know what the tip payout might be for cooks at a restaurant like that?
Start your own restaurant if you don’t like it
I worked at George few years before the pandemic and was paid a day rate of $120 for 12 hr shift.
Was offered 30k cad as sous for another place in 2016.
List goes on. This is why when I see those “Torontos best restaurants, Chefs edition” I always think must be nice to 1) have the free time to go out and 2) have money to go out.
$37,440 annually. Who would work for those dogshit wages?
This is not rare for the hospitality industry, most of them pay dirt wages (especially for those working in the kitchen) and the only employees that really make decent wages are “managers” (I put that in quotes because they rarely actually manage anything and are more hinderances than anything), Servers and Bartenders who work the busiest shifts and are attractive.
North America treats hospitality very poorly as over the past few decades as costs have risen, customer demands have increased, benefits have been stripped and the barrier to entry has been smashed as low as possible by individuals taking on kitchen work in order to fulfill working requirements for residence because many places are just looking for bodies that can follow directions.
The vast majority of all employers have bought into their own delusional greed. If they want experience, qualified workers, then they need to pay them properly. AFG Management Inc can pound sand.
Their tip pool is also insulting. At Alobar Restaurant in the financial district, the GM takes the same amount of tips as a bartender, because she has a “hand in service” aka clears one table and runs a drink, which makes it all legal. Such a shame that people will put up with this for the prestige. They’ve lost so much staff since they’ve opened and I don’t think it’s even been a year at their new location with more locations planned. It’s sad but I’m not surprised.