Then they get lost, or caught in traffic, there's trouble at the bridge tolls, somebody cuts them off and almost dings the brand-new Mercedes. Anybody working in the front of the house who has a problem with that should get another job. A big part of my job now, before Avenue B opens, is hiring servers, a lot of servers. At 220 seats, Avenue B is immense. And Avenue B isn't the only new restaurant opening in Philadelphia.
Experienced waiters are very hard to find.
It used to be when you opened up a new restaurant, everybody wanted to work for you. The big tips came in the excitement of the first six months. Now, that's changed. Good waiters have good jobs, and they're cautious about changing. They want to wait six months and see if you're still in business.