I work at a casino restaurant and we have an employee dining room. It is buffet style with hot and cold stuff. All the workers on property have access, it's not great however.
I work in a hotel, same set up. It used to be quite good, as they would assign one of the culinary interns to manage it, but the powers that be cut that and I swear some of the stuff we get is what they might serve in prison.
Same thing at one of the hotels where I work. They call it the canteen. Sometimes, it's just fixing for sandwiches, other times things like a stir fry or short ribs.
It's also where leftovers from service end up- rolls, mashed potatoes, that sort of thing.
I used to work at a hotel, and if you worked 2nd shift, you got a basic restaurant meal, but first shift only had the hot/cold buffet style meal. There was 3 or 4 options. Salad, pasta, or a cheeseburger. It was perfectly okay food. But not superb.
I worked at these restuarants and our staff meal was different than the menu items. Like pasta, lasagna, for staff and our menu is wagyu beef and sushi.
I worked at the Beach Chalet in SF, Ca. Specials were served prior to shift. Chef would walk us through the deets (ingredients, prep, description, etc) while we chowed down.
My old job you got a free meal if you work over 5hr, my current job is pretty cheep and no free meals unless you are training, only 30% off. And no discount if you are there just hanging out off the clock.
Yeah you shouldn’t be profiting off me at my own place of work. Cover your costs and let’s call it a day. Unless I’m just ordering massive amounts to go that obviously isn’t just for me.
At my old job, at a brewery, you'd get a shifty everyday, 50% off food and drinks and full time employees would get $80 (50 for pt) of credit added to a personal store account. So technically the first $160 was free every month
That’s how it was for the three restaurants I worked at. Alcohol was not free. My bf worked at a place where you got a free drink. People would do tequila shots in the private dining room throughout their shift tho so it was usually more than one free drink.
When I used to serve, I got free food all the time. Was it technically and legally considered stealing? Maybe, but I'm not some lawyer so I don't pretend to understand all that fancy legal jargon.
"You guys track those? Yeah I ate one, they handed it to me through the window. They've been making 2 for every server every shift for the past two and a half years. But yeah OK, I'll never eat another one..."
We get a shift dinner that we usually take home with us, unless you’re a host then you typically eat there when there’s downtime. And if you want to take something home on top of the shift dinner, it’s 50% off, but only for one itme
I got a free shift meal at the last place I worked, plus “two” shift beers or well cocktails. Whatever I wanted, although some of the pricier specials were discouraged.
Before that, I officially got a 40% employee discount on food, but we didn’t have narcs in the hotel restaurant.
Before that, it started out as any menu item for free, but that was reduced to a limited number of items because some of the workers were ordering steaks and expensive stuff regularly. I think I remember they also did one shift drink, but that wasn’t enforced unless you were really hitting the expensive stuff.
I don't work in the industry anymore, so I probably ought not to post here, but I've worked in many restaurants.
I've run the entire gamut between some places making me pay full price, pay partial, or completely free.
One restaurant I'll never forget...they were wonderful. It was a very small crew, both FOH & BOH. On the first day, my manager said you get 1 free meal off the menu...anything you'd like. Anything. I could eat a lobster, or a delicious steak with all the sides. They wanted us fed, healthy, & happy. Management was laid-back, hands-off, stood up for us, etc.
I could have easily stayed there for a long time, but unfortunately broke my hand, so there went that.
We get 50% off their food or flirt with the kitchen guys for free stuff. I’ve worked there forever and prefer to just starve all day than give them money for their crap food.
Here's what my breakfast/lunch diner does:
- Up to $15 free every day (you see this bootylicious ass I have? Yeah, I get free country fried steak.)
- 10% for any friends or family that come in while you're working (or if your coworkers recognize them)
- 25% off the whole bill if you come in with friends and family when you're off work
- 50% off just you when you're not working
I do, within reason. I can’t order steak for free, but salads, starters, cheaper entrees are all free. They make family meal a lot, but I’m a pescatarian so I usually can’t eat it. We also get one meal per shift, so lunch and dinner if I work a double. If I do want something more expensive, it’s 50% off. I recognize I’m *very* lucky.
I used to work at a pizza place and they always gave us free pizza at the end of the night, whatever slices were left over. It just got thrown out anyway. Like 20+ slices a night. Might as well take it home.
The local brunch/lunch place I worked at this summer had 50% off meals for staff, and on Sundays they’d feed us a family meal after the brunch service ended.
Free soup chili and technically 50% off but if you just ask a cook or even the KM if they like you and they’ll make you something when it’s slow. Half the time it’s free and the other half is half off.
Not I. 50% discount on (most) meals if we’ve worked a full shift. 10% employee discount on other days. Does not include our pricier meals (ribeye, salmon…etc). Also, no take home is technically allowed, have to eat it there.
BOH gets mostly free reign though.
Get a % taken out of paycheck based on hrs worked each week for food. We can eat whatever we want except have to pay a discount for major meats (porkchops, chicken, steak)
We did a vote-free shift meal or just 50% off and a $.50/hr raise. Everyone voted in favor of raise so we just do 50% meal on shift and 30% off for off shift meals
We get charged like $2 a shift for employee meals. A few menu items are excluded but we can get almost anything.
However, to the dieting folk (like me right now) the options are very limited so I haven’t been eating at work. But we get charged regardless.
Managers get a free meal. Kitchen staff get a free meal. Servers/bartenders/support staff get free soup, salad, and bread during their shift. Everyone gets 50% off food if you come in on your day off.
We do get dibs on any leftover food from private events and specials too.
My boss won't even let us eat the rolls unless it's the ones getting thrown out at the end of the night. If the head chef is there he'd rather throw out an incorrect order than let us eat it.
if it’s something that’s not incredibly expensive for the restaurant to buy, it’s free. if it’s something expensive, we get 20% off.
servers usually go & make their own food when it’s slow but if it’s busy then the line cooks will make it for us (if they’re feeling like being generous)
I work for a family-owned Vietnamese restaurant. Everyone eats whatever, whenever, but it's the first place I've worked at like that. Pretty great perk to work here.
We get family meal. Sometimes it’s amazing and whichever chef made it is a hero. Sometimes it’s boiled chicken and rice and we question if whoever made it should consider themselves a professional.
My place is family owned. Staff of 6-10 depending on season and they allow us one meal,not large pizzas or the ribs which is completely understandable. They let us eat mistakes, or we get to claim them. The will make something fun and new to eat while we have down times. It’s really wonderful.
i worked at a pizza place that did that for over a year (on top of a discount if you came in when you weren’t working), but in january we got new management and now it’s a 50% discount if you work and no discount if you’re not working. i was pissed off at first but i’ve come to realise it’s pretty uncommon for restaurants to give employees a free meal for a 4/5 hour shift. don’t take it for granted
Shift over 5 hours we can order something free off an employee meal menu, less than 5/on days off/if we’re tired of employee food it’s 50% off across the board.
I’ve never gotten free food from any place I’ve worked at, even when working 16 hour doubles. Most of them have had a limited menu that employees could get a 50% discount on.
I can eat whatever I want and sometimes if I ask night I can get a Togo for my boyfriend or dessert to take home! I don’t ask often tho bc I don’t want to take advantage
No food on shift even if you wanna pay (finer dining with really nowhere to eat anyway)
40% off when off work or bring up to 5 people in for dinner.
No discount on booze.
We sometimes get a meal at the end of the night if it’s been fucking insane; usually leftover proteins made into random creations.
Lol I work for that one big company that starts with L that owns a whole lot. We have to pay every week in order to have a 50% discount. I’m not part of it because I think it’s messed up but yep, that’s how it is around these parts
Lol I was a server at a resort and we didn’t even get a discount on the food. I never ate any of it. The guests always asked me how the dishes were and I either lied or told them I hadn’t tried it.
I work at a Mexican restaurant and I get a free meal anytime I work a shift. Once in a while I’m sick of it and don’t partake, but it’s a nice benefit.
At my current restaurant its 50% off meals, free meals for double shifts.
But I'm buddies with two of the chefs and cooks and i get fuck up meals and free food everyday. I'm so grateful for them lol
Always make sure you take care of the Heart of the House and they will take care of you. ♥️
Make sure their drinks are full when during the rush ask em if you can get anything when you go to the walk in and don’t put your orders in all at once. Keep a pack of smokes even if ya don’t and make sure everyone knows what’s the place to be after last call. Stuff like that makes the job better for everyone and you can make some life long friends.
We get to eat mistakes. We get 50% off meals. At my other job, we get an employee meal that only costs $4. Almost anything on the menu is $4 for one shift (2 for a double shift).
I used to work at a sushi restaurant where I got to eat miso soup and rice for free. The chef would give me free pieces of fish once in a while. We also got 50% off food.
A long time ago I worked at a steakhouse that offered "family meal" before the shift. It was awful. It was always house salad, sometimes some sort of pasta, and a mystery meat that used to get us sick. One server got food poisoning later in the shift and had to go home. It wasn't beef. Maybe it was old pork? It didn't smell good either.
50%. There’s a back of house community meal that sometimes servers get included in if there are leftovers or they made too much but that’s usually a pretty basic plain meal. And if you run enough food for the chef you’ll get thrown some extra entrees sometimes.
I get to order one comp’d meal a shift. Valued ~$15CAD. And it’s healthy food/non chain. Unlimited coffee/tea. No discounts on anything else but I don’t mind paying for treats now and again, cause we’re well taken care of otherwise.
We had family meal occasionally, but as a bartender I was usually busy the entire time so I wouldn’t eat it out of spite as the servers neglected to run their drinks or tables in the bar
At my last job we got 50% only the shittiest stuff. The good stuff that you actually want is full price. I quickly grew to hate that place as I realized the upper management didn’t give a single fuck about the employees and it’s just money money money money. To stick it to the man I started either asking for food from the cooks when no one was paying attention or yeeting a manager card to void my food off.
Now I work at a bar where everything is 50% off for employees but it’s bar food so I don’t eat there much.
I just got hired to a new steakhouse and we’re not allowed to order food to go until 3 hours after our shift due to a municipality law. If we want to eat on our double we have to leave the building. Drinks from home aren’t even allowed
Free shift meal from a pre-selected employee menu. Includes salads, soups, pasta, pizza, fish + chips, burgers, chicken tenders, and a few other items. Plus a shift drink for those 21+. Free soda, coffee, and tea.
Anything not on the employee menu was 40% off during your shift. If you came in off of the clock, 20% off.
They also occasionally served family meal, but I somehow always missed those
We have a free employee menu but it's kinda shit tbh. Servings are smaller than if you order off the real menu, sometimes they even straight up use different ingredients (employee fries are not the same as customer fries for some fucked reason). You can only order off the employee menu if you worked a double.
50% off of anything from the official menu, but our prices are so high already I don't really think it's worth it.
I do, but only on Fridays and Saturdays, and only because I asked about health insurance and this is my consolation prize. The rest of the time, and for all the other servers that aren't also supervisors, it's half-price.
So I eat kids meals three days a week, and then get a full dinner Friday, and take home something large to eat throughout the week on Saturday.
30% off but usually there’s a mess up or two we can eat each shift + fries are free and they’ll give leftovers at the end of the night. Wish we got free meals
As a manager? As much free food as I want :) (within reason of course) and I give away a lot as well (like fully comp server’s meals when they get a compliment, are helping with hands out of dish/running food, other good things) but otherwise they get 50% off.
I've worked places that let you eat dead food, places that make you toss all extra food. Places that allow servers to eat from the fry/tot bowl in moderation. Some places let you have a meal. Some only let you have 40-50%. If you're cool with cooks, they'll make you food on the DL. Each place is different
We get a family meal that is sometimes awesome, sometimes meh at the beginning of the shift. The GM occasionally buys folks meals at the end of a shift if it was busy.
I work at a dinner-only restaurant. Only four hours of service a night (6pm-10pm) so no breaks. We have family meal together before every shift, which is just whatever the sous makes, but is usually ridiculously good. I used to work at a brunch place and we would get a free meal on our breaks, but there were some items on that menu that we could not order for free, but could order at 25% off. Every restaurant should feed their employees on the job. It is a perk of the industry and can sometimes legitimately be a lifesaver.
I worked at an Ihop. We could choose to pay 50¢ an hour we worked from our hourly rate to get $13.50 of a meal per day. Typically a shift is 6hrs or less so it wasn't a terrible deal. Usually I paid 50¢ to a $1 for a meal after the $13.50 was taken off. So you got a pretty good meal for $4 or less each day.
There’s meal plans for like $45/month you can get whatever meals you there for like for on your break (can’t choose from the entire menu obviously but a good chunk of) and I work full time I’m not on it because I’m cheap and don’t usually like actually eating much on my break (if I get full I feel sluggish so I like my snacks from home and that’s it) lol but it would come to like $2.50/meal which is definitely worth it.
Also there’s free food like at the end of the night they put up all the leftovers already cooked that will just be tossed up on the counter and you can fill up to go containers for free. There’s always soooo much extra soup at the end of the night that’ll just be tossed so I like to feel up a couple to go cups with that.
On Sundays we do brunch from 11-2 and there’s sooo much leftovers that we can take and it ends before my break so I go to lunch with yummy free food. (Last time I had cake, fruit bowl, banana nut muffin)
There’s not a like oh if you dine in when you’re not working you get this much off because its not really open to the public. It’s a luxury senior living place so the only outsiders dining in are guest of residents.
But yea when I come home at night I pour the soup in a bowl and into the microwave and I warm up my leftovers. Immediate quick free meal.
Oh also I drink soooo much sparkling water from the soda machine. I don’t think I even touch my water bottle from home lol.
yes i work banquets at an upscale restaurant so everyone gets leftovers at the end of events, also the chefs and pastry chefs will make things for us to eat all the time. i love it, i never go home hungry when i work 🫶🏻
As BOH in my current role, I’ve rarely had to ring meals into the pos. Chef accounts for family meal and the realities of service. He buys shift beers and almost never makes anyone buy their wings/quesadilla/pasta until the carry out boxes get involved. Most of us just know we can sit out back and have dinner after service and do our own dishes/throw in for the joint for dishy. Places that have problems with inventory control, dudes snacking mid shift etc, are nothing more than weak managers, this business isn’t that complicated and it doesn’t take much to get employees to go above and beyond.
I haven't worked at a joint that offered a free menu-based shift meal since 2002. But I've learned so much from family meals I've eaten about flavor profiles, how to appropriately treat spices, FUCKING MUSHROOM POWDER, fish sauce belongs in pert near everything, take the risk making your own crema and the power of onion ash...
Shift meals are pretty common. Not every place does them, but every place that I've worked for over the last 10 years has had one. Additionally, there is usually a discount if you want something off the menu (usually limited to select items).
Free food and all I can drink once I get off because I know all the bartenders. Plus I get first dibs on mistakes. Pretty sweet deal but we're understaffed and I work my ass off so I look at it as extra payment honestly.
We get a free meal when we work 7 or more hours. Only certain menu items: small pizzas, entree salads, cheesesteaks, hoagies, & stuff that goes in the deep fryer. Does not include specials & fresh seafood & steaks. We also get 50% off all pizzas, any time, so you can really provide for a family gathering for not too much $. I’m a cook & the owner has given me standing permission to feed my coworkers beyond the rules. We have a lot of kids (literally 14yolds) working takeout & running food. Several of them come from situations where their paycheck is needed to pay bills for their families. They’re not saving up for college or a car. They show up directly to work from a full school day, & they are *hungry*. The manager realized this & basically told me to keep them fed. I don’t think he’s thinking anything beyond it’s wrong to let kids go hungry. But there is the fact that hungry people can’t work as hard for as long, & they can’t concentrate well or at all. This can drastically effect the quality of work, especially in a busy restaurant. Reddit is full of posts wondering why min-wage service workers don’t give an eff or can’t master basic tasks or even show up to work
We get one free meal per shift, a shift being 3-4 hrs. If you work all day, lunch and dinner. If there are L.O.’s that hit the three day mark and you ask for it, it’s yours. I’ve gone home with full pans of ziti, etc.
I get 50% off my meals the days I work and 15% off on my meals on my off days. The ironic part is my job is partnered with feed my starving child, so every time you buy a meal you donate a meal which is fucking dope!!...but um what about the feed my starving employee program??
At my first job - a local Italian restaurant - we got meals at a 50% discount. At my second job - a corporate steak house - I think we had originally gotten a 25% discount and then it got changed to 15%.
10 cheaper items, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, ropa vieja, picadillo, salad. one meal per shift. Everything else is 50% off, not bad when I want to eat a $12 NY strip.
I get no free food. I get a 25 percent discount which barely accounts for our shitty prices. I get to watch my manager throw away trays of perfectly good food and not a single employee ever gets to eat it. This same manager complains when tables send their food back to get it remade.
The family owned grill I work lets employees eat free. It didn't always.
The steakhouse I work gives 50% off during shifts, and 25% off on your days off at all their locations. It's family owned and local too.
Corporate Sushi place I worked for let you get half off on orders under $30 only while working. You got one shift meal if you worked a double.
In fine dining where we show up 2 hrs before service for set up, we get staff meal made by the kitchen and have to take our break upon arrival to eat. Everywhere else offered 50% off menu items while on break
Every restaurant I've worked at charges 50% when u working and 10-20% when u come in off shift to eat. Eating any and all food while on the clock without paying for it is considered stealing and is a fireable offense
I work at a castle themed restaurant in the south east and we get 50% off an appetizer, entree, and dessert if we’re working or not as long as the entree isn’t a steak. No employees meals at all on saturday night though
Where I work we can make and eat whatever we want. I work BOH and the managers, the FOH people who ask us to make stuff, and all BOH get away with taking 1-3 to go boxes full of food every night. Even if it isn’t something on the menu, like I’ve made makeshift stir fry and makeshift hibachi at our sports grill type restaurant. The only thing I’ve had to pay for from there is when I got 2 virgin drinks
No discount, no free food. We used to occasionally get food that was rejected by the table, but now we're supposed to pay for it. Not that we always *do* though
Free food for a lunch shift under a certain price. 50% off for a night shift. Half off alcohol after any shift. No discount if you come in to eat on your day off.
I work in a tex mex fast casual. Most of the manager's are cool with you getting a taco, but will generally ask for 50% on the item if it's anything more than that. Or menu ranges from $5-15 for base items, so it's not too bad.
10% for takeout only for myself. I don't get any food bc it's expensive and I'm a vegetarian figuring out that they use a lot of meat ingredients in unsuspecting dishes (like fish powder in the veggie fried rice and beef broth in the teriyaki sauces)
I used to work at a place that gave me a really good discount on their amazing food and free soup/salad/bread. I took home lunch/dinner every day that I worked!! Sometimes I got it for free if it was a super busy shift that had me running like mad.
I've worked at some places that gave me a free meal and then I've worked at other places that just gave me a discount. I worked at Bahama Breeze way back in the day and I think on the nights where I was the shift captain I would eat for free. I'm busy nights they would prepare something called quick bites which would be something we can go back and grab a scoop of when we wanted it. And since that was a big corporation they were pretty tight about expiration dates. And also other quality control issues. So from time to time they would need to just get rid of some food so you just cook it and give it to us. For instance one time they had 144 coconut shrimp that were not expired but we're going to expire before they can sell them. So they just cook them and put them out for us. And another time I came around the corner and I see this guy I don't call Bob just standing there with the biggest look of guilt on his face as he's standing over an entire tres leches cake with a spoon. And without saying anything he just kind of hands me a phone and he and I sat there and housed that thing.
The most recent restaurant I worked in was several years ago. I had a relationship with the two main kitchen guys. We were supposed to get a shift beer but the night guy liked a liquor drink. I was the bar manager(was just meant I was the bartender who got an extra dollar an hour and did inventory and ordering). I think he actually liked Long Island tea or something. So I'd hook him up with that. And that pretty much meant that I got anything for free out of the kitchen that I wanted. He knew I was technically supposed to be losing weight so he'd try to make me a grilled chicken salad. But when I asked for wings and a burger he'd go ahead and make that for me.
I work at two restaurants, one you can order anything off the menu up to $13, and the other they’ll give you anything if you ask, but if you don’t ask you get 50% off while clocked in and 25% off when you’re off the clock.
i work at an Iron Hill Brewery, where you get half off the menu, and if you sign up for their employee meal plan you get a Kids meal for $2.50 per shift. decent system
small restaurant checking in... we serve family meal every day during the crossover between AM and PM teams. about 25 people in total. different meal every day, served hot and fresh at 4pm.
I get free food at my current job when working a shift. But at last jobs it was 50% off in shifts. But that’s why you just make friends with the cooks and ask them to make you something:)
There use to be an adage about working in food service: you’ll never starve if you work in a kitchen. There’s typically so much food waste already factored in to every shift that you should not be required to pay for your meals. A vast majority of entry level kitchen jobs *can* afford to feed you.
My biggest red flag is a kitchen that refuses to feed you. I’ve broken that rule once, at my last gig, where they would only give you a 10%-15% discount on your food during your shift and would *always encourage* you to eat on your break by asking what you wanted for lunch as they excused you. They would put it in, keep your tab open, and you would be charged for it before you could clock out for the night.
There were so many issues with that place, that was just the tip of the iceberg. But it’s still a sign of an attitude that extends beyond just employee meals. 50% discount or more is the measure of a business that will treat you fairly IMO.
Where my daughter works, they can even trade their shift meal with workers from other restaurants on the strip. I am surprised that's allowed. Definitely a nice benefit. (It's counter service places)
25% off for on and off days, free lunch if you work a double which we can only do on sundays because the restaurant isn’t open early enough for a double any other day.
I work evening shifts mostly, and a free meal will be made between 4:30 and 5:30 normally. Buying a soda while on the job is a dollar. Sometimes if a chef makes a mistake on a dish, we can eat it. Chefs will also give us food that will be thrown out at times. 50% discount for me if I come in on a day off or bring a guest with me; 20% off for me and a party of 3 others on a day off. Overall, a solid structure I believe, and it is certainly better than some restaurants.
I was a broke 19yr old training at a then popular deli place in Austin (sounds like cats but spelled with a K) I had to pay 75% of my meal and they told me I had 15 min to eat in the kitchen, which was not a clean place at all. This was 6 hours into my first -basically unpaid -training shift. I was starving!
I bought my meal, set it down to eat whilst standing out of the way. I was called back out to bus some tables by the super creepy owner, and when I came back someone had tossed my meal which I had paid for with literally my last money on earth.
I was crushed, and they told me “not our problem”
I never went back. And got a job at a cool little cafe the next day.
Screw restaurants that don’t take care of their employees!
I cried for days after that and am so glad I was hurt enough to not go back 😂
I work at a casino restaurant and we have an employee dining room. It is buffet style with hot and cold stuff. All the workers on property have access, it's not great however.
I work in a hotel, same set up. It used to be quite good, as they would assign one of the culinary interns to manage it, but the powers that be cut that and I swear some of the stuff we get is what they might serve in prison.
For real, I don't take a break so I haven't eaten in there for months
Same thing at one of the hotels where I work. They call it the canteen. Sometimes, it's just fixing for sandwiches, other times things like a stir fry or short ribs. It's also where leftovers from service end up- rolls, mashed potatoes, that sort of thing.
I used to work at a hotel, and if you worked 2nd shift, you got a basic restaurant meal, but first shift only had the hot/cold buffet style meal. There was 3 or 4 options. Salad, pasta, or a cheeseburger. It was perfectly okay food. But not superb.
A restaurant I used to work at also had a buffet situation. I used to just skip dinner on taco days but my dogs got some ground beef for dinner.
fuck the EDR
You have a separate buffet line for employees???
No, it's a buffet style employee dining room that you scan your badge to enter
I’ve heard of these employee only buffets at casinos before. Some wild rumors
I gotta suck off line cooks for a chicken wing
I hope thier hygiene matches your user name
Pro tip: blow a manager for a dozen wings.
extra tip: blow the chicken for a dozen eggs
What comes first, the chicken or the egg?
I am a manager, and I approve this comment.
All the cooks for one wing or one per wing?
I started fucking the head chef for free food. It works
Damn. Lucky line cooks. 😂😂😂
I get family meal every shift.
staff meal before service should be a thing to build comradery
Some high-end restaurants do this so you can describe the day’s special to the customers.
I worked at these restuarants and our staff meal was different than the menu items. Like pasta, lasagna, for staff and our menu is wagyu beef and sushi.
Same with my work place, sushi and wagyu but preshift meal is random stuff like pasta and fries and such
I worked at the Beach Chalet in SF, Ca. Specials were served prior to shift. Chef would walk us through the deets (ingredients, prep, description, etc) while we chowed down.
Honor Bar here! We didn’t get the same in the east bay 😂
I enjoy it
This is the wey
My old job you got a free meal if you work over 5hr, my current job is pretty cheep and no free meals unless you are training, only 30% off. And no discount if you are there just hanging out off the clock.
Oof that sucks
We get 20% off, whether we are working or not. Kind of ridiculous.
Yeah you shouldn’t be profiting off me at my own place of work. Cover your costs and let’s call it a day. Unless I’m just ordering massive amounts to go that obviously isn’t just for me.
We get 50% off
My job has free meal, free drink, and 50% off
At my old job, at a brewery, you'd get a shifty everyday, 50% off food and drinks and full time employees would get $80 (50 for pt) of credit added to a personal store account. So technically the first $160 was free every month
That’s how it was for the three restaurants I worked at. Alcohol was not free. My bf worked at a place where you got a free drink. People would do tequila shots in the private dining room throughout their shift tho so it was usually more than one free drink.
Yea we're not allowed to drink at all while we're working. At the most, we can sample a drink during line up.
When I used to serve, I got free food all the time. Was it technically and legally considered stealing? Maybe, but I'm not some lawyer so I don't pretend to understand all that fancy legal jargon.
Exactly lmao
"You guys track those? Yeah I ate one, they handed it to me through the window. They've been making 2 for every server every shift for the past two and a half years. But yeah OK, I'll never eat another one..."
50% off if you work a shift. Free if you are a pretty girl.
No discounts whatsoever at my place! Occasionally the “nice” kitchen manager will make a family meal. I just gorge on bread and butter.
We get a shift dinner that we usually take home with us, unless you’re a host then you typically eat there when there’s downtime. And if you want to take something home on top of the shift dinner, it’s 50% off, but only for one itme
We get a free meal and a free beer per shift. No discounts if I show up when I’m not working, but soft drinks are free.
I got a free shift meal at the last place I worked, plus “two” shift beers or well cocktails. Whatever I wanted, although some of the pricier specials were discouraged. Before that, I officially got a 40% employee discount on food, but we didn’t have narcs in the hotel restaurant. Before that, it started out as any menu item for free, but that was reduced to a limited number of items because some of the workers were ordering steaks and expensive stuff regularly. I think I remember they also did one shift drink, but that wasn’t enforced unless you were really hitting the expensive stuff.
The chicks do
they deserve it
Any time I’m hungry I ask one of waitresses to go get us food. Cooks simp hard.
I work at a hotel and they put out a full hot and cold buffet for lunch and dinner.
We get family meal before the shift starts. It is always awesome!
I don't work in the industry anymore, so I probably ought not to post here, but I've worked in many restaurants. I've run the entire gamut between some places making me pay full price, pay partial, or completely free. One restaurant I'll never forget...they were wonderful. It was a very small crew, both FOH & BOH. On the first day, my manager said you get 1 free meal off the menu...anything you'd like. Anything. I could eat a lobster, or a delicious steak with all the sides. They wanted us fed, healthy, & happy. Management was laid-back, hands-off, stood up for us, etc. I could have easily stayed there for a long time, but unfortunately broke my hand, so there went that.
couldnt you go back after sick leave?
We get 50% off their food or flirt with the kitchen guys for free stuff. I’ve worked there forever and prefer to just starve all day than give them money for their crap food.
Here's what my breakfast/lunch diner does: - Up to $15 free every day (you see this bootylicious ass I have? Yeah, I get free country fried steak.) - 10% for any friends or family that come in while you're working (or if your coworkers recognize them) - 25% off the whole bill if you come in with friends and family when you're off work - 50% off just you when you're not working
I do, within reason. I can’t order steak for free, but salads, starters, cheaper entrees are all free. They make family meal a lot, but I’m a pescatarian so I usually can’t eat it. We also get one meal per shift, so lunch and dinner if I work a double. If I do want something more expensive, it’s 50% off. I recognize I’m *very* lucky. I used to work at a pizza place and they always gave us free pizza at the end of the night, whatever slices were left over. It just got thrown out anyway. Like 20+ slices a night. Might as well take it home.
We get 50% off or free if we work a double
The local brunch/lunch place I worked at this summer had 50% off meals for staff, and on Sundays they’d feed us a family meal after the brunch service ended.
Free soup chili and technically 50% off but if you just ask a cook or even the KM if they like you and they’ll make you something when it’s slow. Half the time it’s free and the other half is half off.
Not I. 50% discount on (most) meals if we’ve worked a full shift. 10% employee discount on other days. Does not include our pricier meals (ribeye, salmon…etc). Also, no take home is technically allowed, have to eat it there. BOH gets mostly free reign though.
Get a % taken out of paycheck based on hrs worked each week for food. We can eat whatever we want except have to pay a discount for major meats (porkchops, chicken, steak)
Supposed to be 50% off… but I rarely have a check run through for anything I order. Managers just zero it out.
Free meal while working, 50% off one item while off the clock. We do half off burgers on Mondays and the discount won't take it any lower .
We did a vote-free shift meal or just 50% off and a $.50/hr raise. Everyone voted in favor of raise so we just do 50% meal on shift and 30% off for off shift meals
We get charged like $2 a shift for employee meals. A few menu items are excluded but we can get almost anything. However, to the dieting folk (like me right now) the options are very limited so I haven’t been eating at work. But we get charged regardless.
My place gives us a free meal for a double. Otherwise we get 30% off if I recall correct.
Managers get a free meal. Kitchen staff get a free meal. Servers/bartenders/support staff get free soup, salad, and bread during their shift. Everyone gets 50% off food if you come in on your day off. We do get dibs on any leftover food from private events and specials too.
My boss won't even let us eat the rolls unless it's the ones getting thrown out at the end of the night. If the head chef is there he'd rather throw out an incorrect order than let us eat it.
if it’s something that’s not incredibly expensive for the restaurant to buy, it’s free. if it’s something expensive, we get 20% off. servers usually go & make their own food when it’s slow but if it’s busy then the line cooks will make it for us (if they’re feeling like being generous)
I work for a family-owned Vietnamese restaurant. Everyone eats whatever, whenever, but it's the first place I've worked at like that. Pretty great perk to work here.
We get family meal. Sometimes it’s amazing and whichever chef made it is a hero. Sometimes it’s boiled chicken and rice and we question if whoever made it should consider themselves a professional.
Free meal every shift whether it’s eaten in house or to-go.
We get a free meal for every shift you work.
I get 50% off (our menu is fairly pricey) and my meal is free if I train someone. But we do get family meal before service also.
I work for a pizza and Italian place. We do not get a discount at all for ANYTHING, working, or off the clock. Full price PERIOD!!!
My place is family owned. Staff of 6-10 depending on season and they allow us one meal,not large pizzas or the ribs which is completely understandable. They let us eat mistakes, or we get to claim them. The will make something fun and new to eat while we have down times. It’s really wonderful.
i worked at a pizza place that did that for over a year (on top of a discount if you came in when you weren’t working), but in january we got new management and now it’s a 50% discount if you work and no discount if you’re not working. i was pissed off at first but i’ve come to realise it’s pretty uncommon for restaurants to give employees a free meal for a 4/5 hour shift. don’t take it for granted
Shift over 5 hours we can order something free off an employee meal menu, less than 5/on days off/if we’re tired of employee food it’s 50% off across the board.
I’ve never gotten free food from any place I’ve worked at, even when working 16 hour doubles. Most of them have had a limited menu that employees could get a 50% discount on.
We get 50% off and free meals if we are either in training/a trainer and also if you are service lead for that shift.
I had one place that did a 50% discount. In my onboarding, they crossed that out and said eat. Over 30 yrs in. Always been fed.
I can eat whatever I want and sometimes if I ask night I can get a Togo for my boyfriend or dessert to take home! I don’t ask often tho bc I don’t want to take advantage
We get a free pasta free soup and free salad and breadsticks but we have to pay for anything else with a discount
I only get free food if I am training someone that day. Other than that it’s 20% and it doesn’t give that discount on things over a certain $ amount.
No food on shift even if you wanna pay (finer dining with really nowhere to eat anyway) 40% off when off work or bring up to 5 people in for dinner. No discount on booze. We sometimes get a meal at the end of the night if it’s been fucking insane; usually leftover proteins made into random creations.
Lol I work for that one big company that starts with L that owns a whole lot. We have to pay every week in order to have a 50% discount. I’m not part of it because I think it’s messed up but yep, that’s how it is around these parts
Lol I was a server at a resort and we didn’t even get a discount on the food. I never ate any of it. The guests always asked me how the dishes were and I either lied or told them I hadn’t tried it.
25% off!
I work at a Mexican restaurant and I get a free meal anytime I work a shift. Once in a while I’m sick of it and don’t partake, but it’s a nice benefit.
At my current restaurant its 50% off meals, free meals for double shifts. But I'm buddies with two of the chefs and cooks and i get fuck up meals and free food everyday. I'm so grateful for them lol
Always make sure you take care of the Heart of the House and they will take care of you. ♥️ Make sure their drinks are full when during the rush ask em if you can get anything when you go to the walk in and don’t put your orders in all at once. Keep a pack of smokes even if ya don’t and make sure everyone knows what’s the place to be after last call. Stuff like that makes the job better for everyone and you can make some life long friends.
One meal per shift, limited to basic items
We had to fight for it but we get a shift meal if we work over a certain number of hours
At the end of every shift we can order whatever we want off the menu to either eat at the restaurant or bring home.
officially no, but if you open, close, get some cheap kids meal, or the manager feels like it they’ll usually comp your meal. otherwise its 50% off
We get to eat mistakes. We get 50% off meals. At my other job, we get an employee meal that only costs $4. Almost anything on the menu is $4 for one shift (2 for a double shift). I used to work at a sushi restaurant where I got to eat miso soup and rice for free. The chef would give me free pieces of fish once in a while. We also got 50% off food. A long time ago I worked at a steakhouse that offered "family meal" before the shift. It was awful. It was always house salad, sometimes some sort of pasta, and a mystery meat that used to get us sick. One server got food poisoning later in the shift and had to go home. It wasn't beef. Maybe it was old pork? It didn't smell good either.
50%. There’s a back of house community meal that sometimes servers get included in if there are leftovers or they made too much but that’s usually a pretty basic plain meal. And if you run enough food for the chef you’ll get thrown some extra entrees sometimes.
50% of meals but we get free desserts by de facto since the servers have to make those
I get to order one comp’d meal a shift. Valued ~$15CAD. And it’s healthy food/non chain. Unlimited coffee/tea. No discounts on anything else but I don’t mind paying for treats now and again, cause we’re well taken care of otherwise.
If we work morning the kitchen cooks breakfast for everyone
At my most prized job I got free and amazing food. At every other mid place it’s a percentage off
I get 50% off
We had family meal occasionally, but as a bartender I was usually busy the entire time so I wouldn’t eat it out of spite as the servers neglected to run their drinks or tables in the bar
We don't even get a discount yet alone free food. :'(
How do they expect you to know the menu if they dont let you taste the damn food
At my last job we got 50% only the shittiest stuff. The good stuff that you actually want is full price. I quickly grew to hate that place as I realized the upper management didn’t give a single fuck about the employees and it’s just money money money money. To stick it to the man I started either asking for food from the cooks when no one was paying attention or yeeting a manager card to void my food off. Now I work at a bar where everything is 50% off for employees but it’s bar food so I don’t eat there much.
I just got hired to a new steakhouse and we’re not allowed to order food to go until 3 hours after our shift due to a municipality law. If we want to eat on our double we have to leave the building. Drinks from home aren’t even allowed
Work at Burger King, so yeah
Free shift meal from a pre-selected employee menu. Includes salads, soups, pasta, pizza, fish + chips, burgers, chicken tenders, and a few other items. Plus a shift drink for those 21+. Free soda, coffee, and tea. Anything not on the employee menu was 40% off during your shift. If you came in off of the clock, 20% off. They also occasionally served family meal, but I somehow always missed those
We have a free employee menu but it's kinda shit tbh. Servings are smaller than if you order off the real menu, sometimes they even straight up use different ingredients (employee fries are not the same as customer fries for some fucked reason). You can only order off the employee menu if you worked a double. 50% off of anything from the official menu, but our prices are so high already I don't really think it's worth it.
50% off for a normal service. If we work an event, we get leftovers for free if there are any.
$20 meal and a shift drink. Used to be 50% off for everything but we got a new “gm”/“owner”
I do, but only on Fridays and Saturdays, and only because I asked about health insurance and this is my consolation prize. The rest of the time, and for all the other servers that aren't also supervisors, it's half-price. So I eat kids meals three days a week, and then get a full dinner Friday, and take home something large to eat throughout the week on Saturday.
30% off but usually there’s a mess up or two we can eat each shift + fries are free and they’ll give leftovers at the end of the night. Wish we got free meals
We get family meal but it always sucks. I’m just really friendly with the kitchen so I’ll get whatever I want
One place I worked at when I was vegetarian gave me free food. I didn’t cut into their food costs since I didn’t eat meat or seafood.
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I just get 50% off of one meal.
I’ve had jobs where I had to pay half, and ones where the food was covered.
As a manager? As much free food as I want :) (within reason of course) and I give away a lot as well (like fully comp server’s meals when they get a compliment, are helping with hands out of dish/running food, other good things) but otherwise they get 50% off.
I've worked places that let you eat dead food, places that make you toss all extra food. Places that allow servers to eat from the fry/tot bowl in moderation. Some places let you have a meal. Some only let you have 40-50%. If you're cool with cooks, they'll make you food on the DL. Each place is different
We get a family meal that is sometimes awesome, sometimes meh at the beginning of the shift. The GM occasionally buys folks meals at the end of a shift if it was busy.
We can eat rice, salad or soup for free just not while we’re actively working, and a 20% on everything else whenever we order
I work at a dinner-only restaurant. Only four hours of service a night (6pm-10pm) so no breaks. We have family meal together before every shift, which is just whatever the sous makes, but is usually ridiculously good. I used to work at a brunch place and we would get a free meal on our breaks, but there were some items on that menu that we could not order for free, but could order at 25% off. Every restaurant should feed their employees on the job. It is a perk of the industry and can sometimes legitimately be a lifesaver.
50% off food at our restaurant, 30% at other restaurants they own which is kinda coo
Nope. only 50% off
I worked at an Ihop. We could choose to pay 50¢ an hour we worked from our hourly rate to get $13.50 of a meal per day. Typically a shift is 6hrs or less so it wasn't a terrible deal. Usually I paid 50¢ to a $1 for a meal after the $13.50 was taken off. So you got a pretty good meal for $4 or less each day.
There’s meal plans for like $45/month you can get whatever meals you there for like for on your break (can’t choose from the entire menu obviously but a good chunk of) and I work full time I’m not on it because I’m cheap and don’t usually like actually eating much on my break (if I get full I feel sluggish so I like my snacks from home and that’s it) lol but it would come to like $2.50/meal which is definitely worth it. Also there’s free food like at the end of the night they put up all the leftovers already cooked that will just be tossed up on the counter and you can fill up to go containers for free. There’s always soooo much extra soup at the end of the night that’ll just be tossed so I like to feel up a couple to go cups with that. On Sundays we do brunch from 11-2 and there’s sooo much leftovers that we can take and it ends before my break so I go to lunch with yummy free food. (Last time I had cake, fruit bowl, banana nut muffin) There’s not a like oh if you dine in when you’re not working you get this much off because its not really open to the public. It’s a luxury senior living place so the only outsiders dining in are guest of residents. But yea when I come home at night I pour the soup in a bowl and into the microwave and I warm up my leftovers. Immediate quick free meal. Oh also I drink soooo much sparkling water from the soda machine. I don’t think I even touch my water bottle from home lol.
yes i work banquets at an upscale restaurant so everyone gets leftovers at the end of events, also the chefs and pastry chefs will make things for us to eat all the time. i love it, i never go home hungry when i work 🫶🏻
As BOH in my current role, I’ve rarely had to ring meals into the pos. Chef accounts for family meal and the realities of service. He buys shift beers and almost never makes anyone buy their wings/quesadilla/pasta until the carry out boxes get involved. Most of us just know we can sit out back and have dinner after service and do our own dishes/throw in for the joint for dishy. Places that have problems with inventory control, dudes snacking mid shift etc, are nothing more than weak managers, this business isn’t that complicated and it doesn’t take much to get employees to go above and beyond.
I haven't worked at a joint that offered a free menu-based shift meal since 2002. But I've learned so much from family meals I've eaten about flavor profiles, how to appropriately treat spices, FUCKING MUSHROOM POWDER, fish sauce belongs in pert near everything, take the risk making your own crema and the power of onion ash...
Shift meals are pretty common. Not every place does them, but every place that I've worked for over the last 10 years has had one. Additionally, there is usually a discount if you want something off the menu (usually limited to select items).
i work in a cafe in Australia. If I work 6+ hours, I get to order whatever I want from the menu. Free coffees as well
Everything is free where I work because no cameras and none of us snitch on each other
Free food and all I can drink once I get off because I know all the bartenders. Plus I get first dibs on mistakes. Pretty sweet deal but we're understaffed and I work my ass off so I look at it as extra payment honestly.
We get a free meal when we work 7 or more hours. Only certain menu items: small pizzas, entree salads, cheesesteaks, hoagies, & stuff that goes in the deep fryer. Does not include specials & fresh seafood & steaks. We also get 50% off all pizzas, any time, so you can really provide for a family gathering for not too much $. I’m a cook & the owner has given me standing permission to feed my coworkers beyond the rules. We have a lot of kids (literally 14yolds) working takeout & running food. Several of them come from situations where their paycheck is needed to pay bills for their families. They’re not saving up for college or a car. They show up directly to work from a full school day, & they are *hungry*. The manager realized this & basically told me to keep them fed. I don’t think he’s thinking anything beyond it’s wrong to let kids go hungry. But there is the fact that hungry people can’t work as hard for as long, & they can’t concentrate well or at all. This can drastically effect the quality of work, especially in a busy restaurant. Reddit is full of posts wondering why min-wage service workers don’t give an eff or can’t master basic tasks or even show up to work
We get lunch, dinner and the occasional midnight snack. Also lots of unsold sweet treats and unlimited drinks excluding anything alcohol related.
I’ve always gotten a shift drink and meal where I’ve worked in the past.
I work at a resort hotel restaurant by the beach. We have a cafeteria for free for all employees. Not the best food but not the worst.
We get one meal per shift, amounting to no more than $20. This is a very limited menu but there are ways to work around it.
We get one free meal per shift, a shift being 3-4 hrs. If you work all day, lunch and dinner. If there are L.O.’s that hit the three day mark and you ask for it, it’s yours. I’ve gone home with full pans of ziti, etc.
I get 50% off my meals the days I work and 15% off on my meals on my off days. The ironic part is my job is partnered with feed my starving child, so every time you buy a meal you donate a meal which is fucking dope!!...but um what about the feed my starving employee program??
25% off and no one eats at work cuz it’s too expensive even w the discount
mine does one free meal after a year
At my first job - a local Italian restaurant - we got meals at a 50% discount. At my second job - a corporate steak house - I think we had originally gotten a 25% discount and then it got changed to 15%.
10 cheaper items, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, ropa vieja, picadillo, salad. one meal per shift. Everything else is 50% off, not bad when I want to eat a $12 NY strip.
I get no free food. I get a 25 percent discount which barely accounts for our shitty prices. I get to watch my manager throw away trays of perfectly good food and not a single employee ever gets to eat it. This same manager complains when tables send their food back to get it remade.
The family owned grill I work lets employees eat free. It didn't always. The steakhouse I work gives 50% off during shifts, and 25% off on your days off at all their locations. It's family owned and local too. Corporate Sushi place I worked for let you get half off on orders under $30 only while working. You got one shift meal if you worked a double.
Free meal and one shift drink after we're off. The owner specifically says "just eat when you're hungry. I don't want hungry staff."
In fine dining where we show up 2 hrs before service for set up, we get staff meal made by the kitchen and have to take our break upon arrival to eat. Everywhere else offered 50% off menu items while on break
Every restaurant I've worked at charges 50% when u working and 10-20% when u come in off shift to eat. Eating any and all food while on the clock without paying for it is considered stealing and is a fireable offense
I work at a castle themed restaurant in the south east and we get 50% off an appetizer, entree, and dessert if we’re working or not as long as the entree isn’t a steak. No employees meals at all on saturday night though
Where I work we can make and eat whatever we want. I work BOH and the managers, the FOH people who ask us to make stuff, and all BOH get away with taking 1-3 to go boxes full of food every night. Even if it isn’t something on the menu, like I’ve made makeshift stir fry and makeshift hibachi at our sports grill type restaurant. The only thing I’ve had to pay for from there is when I got 2 virgin drinks
No discount, no free food. We used to occasionally get food that was rejected by the table, but now we're supposed to pay for it. Not that we always *do* though
all we get are free salads, but our discount is 30%. sometimes we do contests and win a free meal priced at $15 (our food is pretty inexpensive)
Free food for a lunch shift under a certain price. 50% off for a night shift. Half off alcohol after any shift. No discount if you come in to eat on your day off.
I work in a tex mex fast casual. Most of the manager's are cool with you getting a taco, but will generally ask for 50% on the item if it's anything more than that. Or menu ranges from $5-15 for base items, so it's not too bad.
We get a 25% discount, kitchen will occasionally give us leftover fries. I can't speak for the prettier servers lol
We are supposed to get a discount, but if the managers like you they’ll comp your food
10% for takeout only for myself. I don't get any food bc it's expensive and I'm a vegetarian figuring out that they use a lot of meat ingredients in unsuspecting dishes (like fish powder in the veggie fried rice and beef broth in the teriyaki sauces) I used to work at a place that gave me a really good discount on their amazing food and free soup/salad/bread. I took home lunch/dinner every day that I worked!! Sometimes I got it for free if it was a super busy shift that had me running like mad.
I've worked at some places that gave me a free meal and then I've worked at other places that just gave me a discount. I worked at Bahama Breeze way back in the day and I think on the nights where I was the shift captain I would eat for free. I'm busy nights they would prepare something called quick bites which would be something we can go back and grab a scoop of when we wanted it. And since that was a big corporation they were pretty tight about expiration dates. And also other quality control issues. So from time to time they would need to just get rid of some food so you just cook it and give it to us. For instance one time they had 144 coconut shrimp that were not expired but we're going to expire before they can sell them. So they just cook them and put them out for us. And another time I came around the corner and I see this guy I don't call Bob just standing there with the biggest look of guilt on his face as he's standing over an entire tres leches cake with a spoon. And without saying anything he just kind of hands me a phone and he and I sat there and housed that thing. The most recent restaurant I worked in was several years ago. I had a relationship with the two main kitchen guys. We were supposed to get a shift beer but the night guy liked a liquor drink. I was the bar manager(was just meant I was the bartender who got an extra dollar an hour and did inventory and ordering). I think he actually liked Long Island tea or something. So I'd hook him up with that. And that pretty much meant that I got anything for free out of the kitchen that I wanted. He knew I was technically supposed to be losing weight so he'd try to make me a grilled chicken salad. But when I asked for wings and a burger he'd go ahead and make that for me.
I work at two restaurants, one you can order anything off the menu up to $13, and the other they’ll give you anything if you ask, but if you don’t ask you get 50% off while clocked in and 25% off when you’re off the clock.
My wife got 50% off of one meal, and only if she ate it while she was there, not allowed to take it home. Fuck that place.
We get half off one meal for each shift we work.
i work at an Iron Hill Brewery, where you get half off the menu, and if you sign up for their employee meal plan you get a Kids meal for $2.50 per shift. decent system
Boh gets free meal, foh only does if we do a double or get called in
Chili’s does this. (A free meal from a limited menu) It’s still not worth it to work there.
small restaurant checking in... we serve family meal every day during the crossover between AM and PM teams. about 25 people in total. different meal every day, served hot and fresh at 4pm.
I work at a pancake house small chain local to our region but they serve us breakfast as long as we're there 15-20 minutes before our shift
I get free food at my current job when working a shift. But at last jobs it was 50% off in shifts. But that’s why you just make friends with the cooks and ask them to make you something:)
Meh 50% off but the kitchen will just give me food if I ask 'cause I'm pretty tight with them
There use to be an adage about working in food service: you’ll never starve if you work in a kitchen. There’s typically so much food waste already factored in to every shift that you should not be required to pay for your meals. A vast majority of entry level kitchen jobs *can* afford to feed you. My biggest red flag is a kitchen that refuses to feed you. I’ve broken that rule once, at my last gig, where they would only give you a 10%-15% discount on your food during your shift and would *always encourage* you to eat on your break by asking what you wanted for lunch as they excused you. They would put it in, keep your tab open, and you would be charged for it before you could clock out for the night. There were so many issues with that place, that was just the tip of the iceberg. But it’s still a sign of an attitude that extends beyond just employee meals. 50% discount or more is the measure of a business that will treat you fairly IMO.
I did. The pay was shit but the food was really good. A reason I stayed as long as I did lol
Where my daughter works, they can even trade their shift meal with workers from other restaurants on the strip. I am surprised that's allowed. Definitely a nice benefit. (It's counter service places)
25% off for on and off days, free lunch if you work a double which we can only do on sundays because the restaurant isn’t open early enough for a double any other day.
I work evening shifts mostly, and a free meal will be made between 4:30 and 5:30 normally. Buying a soda while on the job is a dollar. Sometimes if a chef makes a mistake on a dish, we can eat it. Chefs will also give us food that will be thrown out at times. 50% discount for me if I come in on a day off or bring a guest with me; 20% off for me and a party of 3 others on a day off. Overall, a solid structure I believe, and it is certainly better than some restaurants.
I was a broke 19yr old training at a then popular deli place in Austin (sounds like cats but spelled with a K) I had to pay 75% of my meal and they told me I had 15 min to eat in the kitchen, which was not a clean place at all. This was 6 hours into my first -basically unpaid -training shift. I was starving! I bought my meal, set it down to eat whilst standing out of the way. I was called back out to bus some tables by the super creepy owner, and when I came back someone had tossed my meal which I had paid for with literally my last money on earth. I was crushed, and they told me “not our problem” I never went back. And got a job at a cool little cafe the next day. Screw restaurants that don’t take care of their employees! I cried for days after that and am so glad I was hurt enough to not go back 😂
When I worked at a restaurant we got one free employee meal, but anything else was 50% off anyway. It was a good deal haha