host/server

line cook

restaurant manager

server

dishwasher/busser

Saltgrass Steakhouse

If your are looking for a easy, laid back job at the Branson Landing then do NOT apply for Saltgrass Steakhouse. in my short time there I learned just how hard and crazy a true kitchen can be. But even with everyone working like dogs we would still have time to crack some jokes and enjoy conversation with our teammates.

A typical Day at work for me personally would be me putting on my apron and going to the back of the kitchen where I would start pushing dishes through our dish washing machine. Then, I would grab them from the other side and stack them to dry. After they would dry I would put them in their proper location. During holidays or any time other than January through mid March, the job would be too much for one person as the dishes would be coming 10-20 plates every 10 seconds. Other than running dishes through I would also make sure everything is as clean as possible. From under the sink to the walls surrounding the dish pit everything needs to be clean.

I think the most important thing I learned at Saltgrass is that work can and will stress you out to new levels. And though I had troubles managing my own stress in the past one of the managers there helped me learn to let things go if they are out of your control. Other than that I learned more about how to teach someone how to do a job as I trained a majority of the dish staff. A trick I learned in the past was "I do, We do, You do", which is simply "I do this task, showing you how its done, then, We do this task together to confirm what I've shown you and take some stress off, And finally, You do the task alone and let me know if you need assistance at any point. I had to learn a lot of patience working at Saltgrass as the job isn't for everyone but its skills I needed.

Management at Saltgrass is great. the people who manage this restaurant know how to manage a dine in restaurant of high caliber and do so well. their Texas "no BS" attitude is hard to get past at first but it comes with the job and if you make it past that they will do whatever they can to help you succeed. Their biggest downfall is their stubbornness and lack of Branson knowledge. However Everyday I see them begin to understand more and more of where they are at.

The hardest part of working with Saltgrass is that there is no breaks and no lunch. if you work a double shift then you may have an hour break to go eat or whatever but that only applies if your working 10-14 hours that day. Its non-stop work and you work hard so most people quit before they even get their first paycheck but those who stay are treated very well and receive pay raises. Its tough work but its not all bad. The people you work with will treat you well and make sure you are taken care of. Saltgrass Steakhouse will leave no good worker behind and I take pride in the fact I even worked with such a fine restaurant crew.

As a college student, the money made versus time put in as a server was definitely a plus compared to most other part-time jobs. Saltgrass is a corporate restaurant that has its pros and cons. 

The restaurant has a policy where instead of asking for time off, they give you a schedule that's mostly the same every week and leave it to you to trade shifts. This policy is super flexible as a student, BUT it depends on management to keep the restaurant well staffed. When understaffed, management overschedules their remaining crew and refuses shift swaps until "house shifts" are filled, burdening their employees with the consequences of their own failures.

To assign sections, they use server rankings. A new server starts at a low "C" ranking and can be promoted all the way to an "A" ranking or to become a trainer. All sales data is tracked, along with your general attitude and how well you play the part corporate wants. This will earn you a higher rank and better sections, meaning better money. This is mostly fine because it gives you a clear outline of what you need to do to succeed. At the end of the day though, it really depends on how much management likes you. I've seen servers without great data be promoted quickly because they have good (sometimes unprofessional) relationships with managers and fit into the role outlined by corporate easily and at all times. I've also seen servers with good data points and customer satisfaction be demoted or passed over for promotion because they're quieter, don't pretend to be a corporate robot when not in front of guests, or a manager had a bone to pick with them. If you're loud, bubbly, and a hard-worker, you'll be promoted quickly. If you're more of a keep your head down, do your job well, then go home type, you'll probably still be promoted but maybe not as quickly, and you might have to argue on your behalf to management on why you should be ranked higher.

Most of the people you work with will be a similar age, which is great for meeting new people. The staff was friendly and the managers usually were too as long as you're doing what you need to do. While the restaurant was well-staffed, I really enjoyed my time here.

● Work-life balance
You typically have 2 days off, they are the same every week. You can’t really request off. In order to get other days off you may need, you need another server to cover your shift. This may be done by simply asking (and hoping they will just do it for you, paying them, or making a deal to work for them in the future. Your last option is to call in. If you are loved and favorited, you may be able to call in 5 days in a row without anyone batting an eye, if you are not so loved you may get threatened by calling in once every blue moon

● Pay & benefits
There no benefits. Maternity leave, sick days, health insurance, and anything else you can think of are not covered by the company on a corporate level. The discount program is amazing though.

● Job security and advancement
Servers can move into management. The only other “promotion” is becoming a trainer, but there aren’t really much benefits to that. Servers are graded kind of like a school grading system. You can be an A, B, or C server, C being the crappiest of course. This causes insecurity and drama between servers.

● Management
Managers do not care about cleanliness. The horrifying things I have seen at Saltgrass would make you never want to eat there. Managers don’t enforce cleaning, just the servers that care a lot about the store. There is no stability in rewards and punishment. Punishment for doing things wrong differs on your attractiveness and ability to flirt or be charismatic when doing something wrong. In my many years of working for Saltgrass managers come and go like there’s no tomorrow. They get exhausted, over worked, and go underapprecciated by the higher up people. I completely understand why they leave. The really sweet and hardworking ones usually leave while the disrespectful ones stay. :(

● Culture
There used to be a fun, rewarding work environment. Now everyone is drained and we went in to just make money. Making money is what we are there for of course, but going in can be dreadful at times, depending on which manager you’ll be working with that day, and if they will help you when you need it.

● Overall
I feel so bad for saying all of those things because I did love it there. I really wish things were different because I didn’t want to leave. So many lines were crossed and I finally could no longer deal with it.

I love everything about this restaurant. Training manuals are great and getting better, the money is great, the people are great, the culture is intoxicating. However, the management, except for a couple of exceptional few, were subpar. They do not know how much of an impact they have on work morale. Managers would scream over the headset, in your face, across the kitchen so loud that guests walking into the restaurant can hear what was being said. Most of the time they would be extremely unprofessional. Employees would be talked to and treated like children or lesser than. NO COMMUNICATION. Said managers would not leave room for employee advancement. The training manuals were excellent, however, training would often be prolonged or done incorrectly by a fellow new employee who doesn’t know what they’re doing either, or managers would often schedule trainees during the busiest days at the busiest times, while these trainees learn on the fly in a highly stressful environment on their first few days, often alone. It’s almost like they profit more off labor because trainees get paid $7.25/hr w NO tip share, for the longevity of a regular shift 4-5 hours and then thrown away at the managers expense. The majority of trainees treated like this leave. Employees who work doubles often do not get breaks so 6-9 hours on your feet. It’s an unforgiving environment. If you get the job, keep your head down, go to work, get paid, leave. You’ll make the bestest friends you’ll ever meet. You grow professionally and work hard for the money. It feels good. So yeah apply!

Working at saltgrass for the last year +, it’s been a roller coaster. Maybe it was just my location, but it was not properly ran. No auto gratuity, no appreciation, crazy amounts of sidework (hours worth) for little pay. The clientele around my location wasn’t the best, it had cheaper touristy hotels.. however, the company could not do auto gratuity to any size party due to it being a corporate issue, apparently corporate doesn’t want to pay the extra taxes to make sure their workers are getting good money. We had 3% tipshare on total sales, not tips. And the location had a lot of SLOWWW seasons. No one was ever properly trained, managers were leaving left and right. No sense of unity. Managers talked to you like you’re a child when you needed their help. They couldn’t keep the kitchen staffed because they weren’t paying nearly enough so, so many comps and voids and long ticket times. I loved this place when i started but over the last few weeks, it got to be too much. I’m a server/bartender/trainer & i finally said that’s enough… no help from managers who sit in the office all day and yell “front door!!” when we’re having a lunch rush (no host, no busser, just one server and one bartender) we had to run our own food, host, bartend, kitchen expo, and the managers got to eat their food in the office and yell for us to seat the front door, LOL. every time u need to find a manager on a busy night, check out back by the dumpster and you’ll see them there with cigarettes. MUST BE NICE. the list goes on and on… i have learned a lot from this company, but i do not ever plan on working for a landrys company again! 

They don’t care about you. No matter how long you’ve been there or how much work you do, their system favors the suckups and you can get all the way to trainer, have a bad week due to stress and they bump you down to a low B wait (trainer, A, B, C, in order of highest rank to lowest) just because your stress happened while they were filling out the rankings. They don’t take into account the work that you did before that. You’re not allowed to be human and have emotions and even less when you’re a manager. I’ve gotten close to managers so I got to see some of what they deal with and it’s messed up. Corporate people want to push out items and bug the managers to get the servers to sell it to the point to where the managers are super stressed and annoying the heck out of us to sell it. They treat us like rotten children when we don’t meet our quotas because corporate people are pressuring them so much. I wouldn’t want to have to badger and treat my staff like that just because corporate wants more money in their pockets because that’s what it really comes down to. They only care about numbers. Pay for kitchen employees is all over the place and not fair. Every kitchen person gets a different wage. They do raises yearly but you have to ask for it. Servers aren’t offered vacations like the kitchen is even though we are all supposed to have those benefits. Honestly just steer clear of this place and all Landrys companies. They have reminded me of why I hate working at restaurants. 

Typical day at work: running food & restocking for servers who only care about their own tables. Borderline abusive yelling to run food. 
What I've learned: lunch is the worst time to work. You get the most demanding customers who want to spend the least. 
Management: Management wants to do good for their employees, for the most part--they just can't. They have to please corporate & aren't sticking their necks out to "do the right thing." A few don't care. Scheduling works like taking what you can get. They don't care if you make a livable wage. They will not try to work with you. As long as there are bodies to serve guests & they're generating profit, they do not care what your needs are. 
Workplace culture: The customers are some of the worst yee-yee types. They complain more than anywhere I've worked & they tip the least. Lots of comps for free food, bringing down your check average.
Hardest part of the job: Management not caring. Customer abuse. As long as we turn & burn tables, it doesn't matter if we make anything or the customer has a good experience. As long as money is exchanged for food & we sell rewards club cards, all is well. 
Most enjoyable part: the other servers who work hard in tandem with you. Some are kids who don't care, but we've got a lot of good apples. The system doesn't serve us, but we help one another. 

Working at Saltgrass was more or less comparable to other server positions, however they do strive to provide a higher quality of service compared to the average restaurant.
Days started by cleaning and preparing the dining room for the guests, then staying ahead of the rush to provide great service in a timely manner.
The main skill that I took with me was multi-tasking in a fast paced environment while still providing great service to the guests. Also coordinating with fellow employees to maintain the workplace and stock of necessary items so time wasn't wasted restocking once we were in need of items.
The management was great at the location, decently relaxed when appropriate but quick to help everyone change gears once the need for more coordinated work and staying focused on staying ahead of the rush.
Employees had a good time working together, especially when someone needed assistance. We had fun, but we also understood this was work and work needed to be completed.
The hardest part of the job were the weekend nights when the influx of guests exceeded our ability to keep up with the pace. Mistakes were made  but we were usually good at bouncing back and resolving issues.
The most enjoyable part of the job was providing great service and seeing that our guests had a great time and enjoyed themselves. Receiving the acknowledgment of great service was uplifting and motivational

I worked for Saltgrass for 2 months before needing to quit. They rate you as a server on 4 levels: C, B, A, and Trainer. Everyone starts at C in the beginning no matter how much serving experience you have. You are last in for your shift and first out. The rate you every two months and you can’t move up before then. You walk out with max $40-$70 a shift so if you want to make a living wage, you have to pull doubles everyday for 2 months before you move up. Only Trainers can close shifts, the clientele tip absolutely poorly, and the table rotation is terrible. Management only cares about their favorites and you cannot request off days in your set schedule they give you. It is nice to know your days off, but they send out the schedule WEEKS in advance and they won’t change it if you need off. I didn’t even finish my training and I mentioned I had some conflicts in 6 WEEKS and they told me “oh, if you pass training then those are technically days in your schedule, so you’ll need to get those covered.” I DIDNT EVEN HAVE A SCHEDULE YET, NOR WAS I TECHNICALLY HIRED BECAUSE I HADNT FINISHED TRAINING. It was the biggest waste of my time. Oh and if people quit, expect to not have a conversation about covering their shifts. Managers will just put you on them without notice. The worst place I have ever been employed at. Find a job somewhere else, especially if you are looking in the Willowbrook area. 

There are two types of days at Saltgrass. One is less common, it's the very slow day where you would almost imagine tumbleweeds blowing in. you spend all shift cleaning or just waiting at the host stand those days. The second is almost every day, you have a wait list 6 pages long and a group of people so large no one can fit through the door. You can't see the entrance at all, really. So to combat this the managers give away tables that are supposed to be reserved. There are multiple customer tiers so better believe they fight over whos more important when in reality there are simply no tables open due to the people that stay for several hours talking. The servers complain about both types of nights, and everyone is in your ear at the same time. The hardest part of the job is being blamed for every manager's mistake. That reserved table they gave away? Yup, it's now your fault. The most enjoyable part is going home on payday and realizing you don't get paid enough to eat there, even with the discount. Unless, of course, you work double shifts every day, which are only given to favorites. How is that the best part you ask? Because in h.e.l.l., you take what you can get.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Host/server 10 salaries reported	$19.87 per hour
Line cook 6 salaries reported	$17.58 per hour
Restaurant manager 5 salaries reported	$67,000 per year
Server 3 salaries reported	$908 per week
Dishwasher/busser 3 salaries reported	$17.17 per hour

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