restaurant manager

kitchen manager

key account manager

front of house manager

assistant manager

GATORS DOCKSIDE

A typical day involves standing around for 5 hours because you've only had 3 tables all day, one at a time. You've already cleaned your entire section, you've stocked everything in the restaurant, there's no food to run because you and your coworkers haven't had a table in an hour and they're not making cuts because they barely have any staff to begin with. Ticket times for your table often run over 25 minutes even when it is dead in the restaurant and there is no excuse. Same goes for alcoholic beverages, there might be 3 people at the bar but it will take the bartender at least 6 minutes to make your one drink. Good luck trying to explain all of this to your table. It's really difficult to get a great tip when you are doing your best to help your table, but you can't help how terrible the restaurant is. I have learned that you can be a star and handle up to 5 tables at a time, but you still won't make money at this restaurant no matter how hard you try because the amount of business they do get is just depressing and there is no such thing as head-wait at this restaurant. Management act more like friends rather than authoritative figures. This causes a lot of blurred lines and behavioral problems among employees. Management will hire you "full-time" then try to get you off of "their clock" as soon as possible after working 5 hours that day because their labor is too high even though you haven't even gotten 30 hours that week. Management promises it gets busy during football season, but I have seen first hand that no one goes to this gator's establishment to watch a football game minus a few older gentlemen. Workplace culture involves lazy, selfish employees who don't care about guest perception or satisfaction which is a huge part of the downfall of this place. The hardest part of the job is relying on this place as your only income to pay your bills as well as trying to satisfy your tables while the kitchen does a terrible job of getting your food out correctly and quickly. It is really difficult to make your money at a place with so many daily specials and 2 for 1's when they already don't get enough business. The most enjoyable part of the job... nothing because it is slow-paced and boring.

Typical sports bar serving job. You sell lots of booze and wings, and other casual dining dishes. Be prepared to take extensive written tests requiring memorization upon getting hired. There are no multiple choice questions, but each question can have 5 or so responses and you need to have all of them for each question and there were 5 tests taked over 5 days when I got hired. Quite a fair amount of side work, even when split between servers, it can take a while when done correctly. I was occasionally reprimanded for "taking too long" to complete my closing tasks (though never to the point of threatening my employment or write ups), which sometimes left me wondering to what standard the BOH things were truly meant to be cleaned and how clean other servers were getting them when they were assigned those tasks. The FOH must be absolutely spotless, so even if someone has walked over where you have just swept or vacuumed in your section, it must be done again before you can leave, which obviously happens often because it's still a functioning restaurant after your section is cut, but it's not a big deal. Overall it was a good place to work. Sometimes there were issues with the girls, especially in the beginning. Cattiness, rumors about me, and a bit of what I could only refer to as literal hazing by a couple of the more senior, popular girls, but that pretty much passed as I became more established. The girls that were the most mean to my face for no reason when I got there were the ones who liked me the most when I left. The GM was the best person I have ever worked for. A true delight. Overall I would say that with this job you work hard but your pay reflects that.

Opened this place with some amazing people. Unfortunately the owner's are all huge drinker's, that tended to mingle in a family-friendly environment. They would dock their boat and stay for a few weeks and it was always end in some show when the place first opened. Management started off good, but then it  went sideways very quickly. Too many people wanted to be "THE BOSS" and it showed by the screaming and finger pointing. Terrible scheduling that took almost a year to get from copy n pasted paper to hot schedules. Over time only a few of the people remain from the days the doors first opened. Bartenders, BE CAREFUL, it is rough. If you manage to get a Tiki shift, you're one lucky person. The 2 other bars are not busy enough to make a living on, especially inside(basically service bar at this point) Football season and servers can make decent, if you are considered a strong server and a closer. Outside seating, when weather is nice, is where its at for servers. $$ Sections range from 3-5 tables and parties of 10 are to be split, company policy that bends sometimes. Tattoos weren't allowed for the longest, but now seems to be more lenient. Training is around a week and then you start off with small 2-3 table section and get evaluated over the next 30 days or sooner, depending on strength. Typical side work that is fairly easy. $-$$ range.

Definitely has a great staff, both coworkers and managers. Everyone helps each other, if things get a little slow, busy or backed up there is a manager on the line helping catch up or just to lend a hand, and it becomes more of a family restaurant than a restaurant that works and goes home. You become attached to those you work with and recognize regulars and what they order and drink. The hardest part of the job is getting used to lifting the heavy trays and making sure nothing gets spilled onto the trays. A typical day at work is anywhere from 5 to 13 hour shifts, but to me it was very rewarding, both mentally and physically, I gained a lot of balance carrying the trays in one hand or the other, I could hold multiple drinks in one hand without spilling any liquids, and at the end of the day when you leave you see the happy guests eating such lovely food and enjoying a family friendly atmosphere. It is a bar, rib and seafood restaurant, but you can confidently take your children without worrying about them leaving smelling like cigarette smoke.

The environment, especially with co-workers is very casual. They are not strict about conversation and behavior as long as it is not inappropriate in a way that may make others uncomfortable and as long as your guests are not neglected and you follow the 12 steps of service. They are accommodating with availability and school within reason. As long as you inform them of any upcoming absences or vacations you will usually have no trouble getting time off. I do find that if you do not dictate your availability, you will usually end up with more or less shifts than you may want. They often have trouble with certain problem employees not fulfilling their duties properly, but those are about 1 in 10 and they don't normally stay long. The pay is not amazing but its the service industry, that much is to be expected. You may need another in addition to this to augment your income. Management will not usually go out of their way to correct problem guests, such as when parents let their kids run around screaming, even if it is a safety concern. It IS however a right to refuse service restaurant, though that right is not often needed, but it has been know to happen with verbally abusive guests. Those a far and few in between.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The money is great IF the kitchen, and the hostess do their job. Hosts will over seat leaving customers waiting excessively, kitchen will take forever and mess up orders taking it even longer for customers to get their food. Bartenders are over worked…trying to serve their customers and get the entire dining room their drinks doesn’t work. They need 3 bartenders at least. The managers, well let’s just they give preferential treatment to their favorites so kiss butt all you can otherwise you’ll be constantly on their crapper list doing double closing work. Beware. It’s good money when all these factors come together but expect to have at least one customer complaint a shift which will not be your fault but your tip will suffer. Be prepared to be tipping out bar, expo, food runner, and whomever else they decide on for that day!!! 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management, kitchen, bartenders. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Chaos, stressful, but can be fun if the sun moon and stars line up just right

I previously worked at the Dr. Phillips location for an entire year with no issues. One of the best jobs I could’ve asked for. The pay wasn’t that good but as a college student it was getting me by. Unfortunately that location closed down so I transferred to the Waterford Lakes location and applied to be a server, was hired on as a host & told I would become a server in due time. (That never happened). I also failed to mention the lack of diversity, as I was the only African American employee besides one other. In less than 4 months I had been written up 3 times !! Management has nothing else to look forward to, they’re extremely biased and will always take each other’s sides. Constantly receiving 
unnecessary disciplinary write ups for the smallest occurrences and constant micromanaging. I’m done & very glad to not be working at gators dockside any longer. Coworkers were fine & I didn’t have any issues with them. But overall this was such a discriminatory and hostile workplace. Very ghetto, 3/10 would not recommend. At least the food is good.

If you're good you will have guaranteed hours, but they will also depend on you and make you work harder than others without proper compensation. The management can literally embarrass, humiliate and pretty much say whatever they like since a Human Resources department is literally non existent and any and all complaints go to the Director of Operations and he literally will side with management and just transfer the manager to another location and I literally saw it on multiple occasions.  The work itself as a line cook is pretty much constant and none stop especially during their Monday night all you can eat wings or during major sporting events, bathroom breaks and that's about it no lunch break or anything like that unless you are doing a double which is a 10 to 12hr shift besides that even then there are times when they still wont let you take your break.

If you’re looking for a side job gators is for you. Gators is not ment for someone who’s looking for full time work. You’re only working for 2-4 hours 5 hours at max per shift . The double shifts aren’t really doubles because you’re only working maybe 2-3 hours per shift, what takes up most of the time is the 3-4 hour break you get in between the shift. So in reality you’re not making “double shift money”. They promise you a raise after three months working there that was not given to me. Instead they said I needed to “cross trained” to get a pay bump. Wasn’t given the opportunity to cross train, because it was given to someone that just started working there with little to no experience cooking. This is not the place to excel, this job perfect for a little cash in your wallet, not going to be able to pay your bills solely with this job. 

After a year of working 80 plus hours a week and too many broken promises to count, enough is enough. The only way to get ahead in this company is to have been part of the good ole buddy mentality and if you were not then promotions were promised and never made good on, ideas were sloughed off then used by upper management as being of their own design. There is no support only a push to make numbers as they have given the owners unrealistic expectations and you are expected to perform to then make them a reality. There is no loyalty or support from upper management. 

It is really sad that such a great concept could be mismanaged in such a way.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Restaurant manager 44 salaries reported	$52,559 per year
Kitchen manager 27 salaries reported	$49,946 per year
Key account manager 89 salaries reported	$17.60 per hour
Front of house manager 23 salaries reported	$50,543 per year
Assistant manager 2 salaries reported	$16.50 per hour

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