cook

host/hostess

front of house manager

kitchen manager

restaurant manager

Chickies and Petes

You walk in and your manager hasn’t shown up yet so you set up the kitchen and expo line and the hostess stand and wait for them, they don’t show up for 30minutes to an hour and a half and have Starbucks or fast food with them, this proceeds to happen 4/7 days of the week. They then take nicotine breaks every 10 minutes and worry about what their highschool crush from 10 years ago still thinks, they go to south Philly and drink with all their coworkers and other managers and show up to work looking like a mess. There’s no room for moving up or getting a raise unless one of the managers likes you enough and you’re popular in the building, if you want to relive highschool for 30 years this is the perfect place, if you want to grow up, get out. I loved my job but that meant nothing to the mangers who have their friends and buddies. Managers use their employee discount everyday, while I one day asked for an employee discount on a salad for my mother who had just gotten out of a 3 months stay in a hospital 7 hours from home, and was denied by them, rude people.

The Bordentown location for Chickie's and Pete's is overall a fun space to work in. It is a busy restaurant with a large space, large menu and relatively large staff. It can be stressful for the first time restaurant worker. Management is very encouraging of their employees and definitely want them to improve, but it can be hard for staff to stay motivated given the limited upward mobility and immense age disparity between employees. Management is very understanding of personal life, school, health issues and other potential conflicts when one is seeking time off. Staff conflict used to be more prevalent but has since dissolved. Long hours, but very good pay if you make the most of it. The restaurant cycles through managers pretty quickly so it can be hard to establish consistent relationships with ALL managers

The environment at Chickie's and Pete's is very fun, but very hectic. We are always busy since not only are we in the center of a college campus, but because many surrounding towns come here to eat as well. The management team is great and are always open to new ideas/suggestions. My coworkers are amazing people and make my job so fun and easy. The hardest part of my job would have to be juggling between work and school work, but it's do-able since I can make my schedule around my classes. Being a hostess requires a lot of people skills since I am usually the first person customers see when they walk into the restaurant. I'm in charge of seating customers, keeping the host stand and the area around the host stand clean at all times, and I'm also in charge of the register for to-go orders and other merchandise orders such as apparel and gift certificates.

A great job to have if you’re looking to make money, acquire serving experience, learn about the restaurant industry, and make close friendships! The environment however can become extremely extremely tense. Some managers and employees engage in a lot of “high school” like behavior. It’s easy to stay out of but sometimes you have to tolerate some painful small talk and petty behavior. Some employees of color noticed how white coworkers often made remarks about how BIPOC tables don’t “pay” or “tip as much”. This was addressed by management and pretty much never became an issue again. Management does a good job listening to concerns about needing days off for personal reasons, answering questions and giving constructive feedback. Overall, a good experience, but expect a little push back.

The best part of the job was the friends I made and the free food. Most of my coworkers were amazing, but there are a few who are cliquey and think they’re better than everyone else. Same goes for management. There are both good and bad managers, plus there is a decent amount of favoritism that goes on. The most money I ever made was on a Saturday night where multiple people called out, which was nice because for once we weren’t overstaffed! There is no automatic gratuity unless it’s a large party booked in advance. They will take a walk in 20 top who runs up a $600 tab and when they don’t tip you, you still have to tip out a percentage of that $600 from your own pocket. It happens more often than you’d think. A lot of nights are amazing money nights though!  Plus they’re pretty laid back and not too strict compared to other restaurants. All in all, I think you can definitely pay your bills if you work here, but it’s not a perfect establishment. 

A typical day at work would include, setting up the tables and prepping for the day's business, including cutting fruit, running beer taps, grabbing ice, stocking silverware, counting two drawers, and relaying the daily specials to the servers, and making sure everything is clean and ready for the day. There were no breaks for the staff, however free meals and as many tables or guests you can take on were the best opportunities. The entire staff got along and called each other family. Spending 40 plus hours a week together allows to make great relationships with management, back of house staff, and amongst all the front of the house staff. I thoroughly enjoyed working at this establishment for three years.

If your are an receiver, just watch out on constant shortage of workers. Because there will be a time where you are doing 2 tasks at the same time and constantly receiving manager calls. But overall a great place to work. They don't treat you as expendable there. They treat you as family. I had to leave due to physical pain and i couldn't perform the job functions as i used to. The GM is great, the HR is great, and certain managers are the best.  Try to ignore the supervisor's, because you don't listen to them, they will "try" to use their villainous power against you. In which it will not work.  Its still a great place to work.

For the most part working here was great like,
 I worked Super Bowl Sunday when the Eagles won and it was the greatest night. I made a great deal of money and had a great time watching my team win the Super Bowl. Although it’s not always like that, you’ll get these unforeseen really busy nights where you just can’t seem to catch up, and although coworkers were great with helping out I can’t say the same for management at the time. Felt like management left you high and dry, they’d fill your section having you pick up tables all over the place but they can’t clear a plate for you. That’s frustrating!
Clientele is diverse and the average table of four is spending $50.

As far as serving jobs go, this is one of the better places to work. The famous name guarantees some good business. Depending on location you can get screwed by lousy customers and the tip out percent, but nothing beyond standard for a serving job. There's some creepy managers here and there but unfortunately that's a huge industry standard and probably can't be avoided anywhere. There's also some great managers who are encouraging and supportive and understand the rough shifts we all have to deal with. If a customer complains that the sky isn't blue, managers will comp their entire meal. 

A typical day at work only consited of more problems than anything else. I feel as though I did not learn too much other than knowledge of crabs. The management was not very pleasant and very unprofessional. My co-workers weren't too bad, just more wrapped up in problems with other employees than their jobs. The hardest part of my job was dealing with unsatisfied customers. If my general manager wasn't there it was very hard trying to explain to customers that as a hostess, there wasn't much I could do.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Cook 17 salaries reported	$17.34 per hour
Host/hostess 12 salaries reported	$15.40 per hour
Front of house manager 7 salaries reported	$18.50 per hour
Kitchen manager 9 salaries reported	$60,222 per year
Restaurant manager 6 salaries reported	$59,917 per year

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