Paul Paz

THE SATURDAY MARKET THEORY OF WAITING TABLES ©

Email: paul@waitersworld.com


It's my morning opening shift for the restaurant and I have a new server trainee following me. We are going through the scheduled routine of opening and cleaning (including waxing table tops and picking gum off the bottoms). My trainee says, "For such a big company why don't  they have a cleaning company do this? They're probably just trying to save a
buck."

I looked at him and said, "Have you ever been to Portland's Saturday Market?" (I should explain that the Saturday Market is familiar to many across the country. You know... the craft fairs and flea markets. Where entrepreneurs gather to sell their crafts and services.)

"Yep", he answers in a quizzical tone.

Well, here in my restaurant, I'm in the same boat at the entrenepeurs at the Saturday Market. You see, my "booth" is my five table section and my success is completely determined by what I am willing to do with it. Ok, yes I am an employee. But, when I encounter my customers they only see me... I am the owner. I am everything they expect to happen. In my customer's eyes I am responsible for everything that happens to them during their visit... at my Saturday Market booth.

Now on a practical basis that's a ridiculous concept. But, the reality of my being "in charge" of my opportunity to stage myself for  professional and financial success is to understand and appreciate what an entrenepeurial opportunity I have handed to me as a professional waiter.

I dream of having my own business, but on the immediate, I don't have the resources to make that happen. I worked another career for ten years that was based on the concept of using other people's money to get ahead...
insurance. (A dignified profession I might add.)

Well, I got hired as a waiter (not so dignified in some eyes) by a
restaurateur who handed to me a facility (a clean facility with polished table tops and no sticky "gak" on the bottoms) that cost over $1,000,000. They also gave a food and beverage inventory exceeding $70,000 to offer my customers. They also provided an accounting department to calculate my business costs (to save a buck) such as taxes, health insurance, vacation
pay, and even retirement. Plus, an executive division to plan my
future profitable expansion (and managers to execute effective daily operations, staffing levels, guidance, and personal support to satisfy my customers). They even hired and trained a professional in-house support staff  (other waitstaff, hosts, bartenders, cocktail servers, cooks, and dishwashers) so I could focus on my customers' needs and requests. Why, they even paid thousand of dollars for advertising to bring in customers for me. All of this for my own personal use!

You know what's crazy? The first day I showed up they paid me an hourlywage... without ever selling a thing for them! But you know what is really, I mean REALLY NUTS? I get all this opportunity handed to me... for nothing. I didn't have to pay a dime for any of it. All I have to do is show up and invest creative professional effort using the resources   given to me. I am responsible for my future. My challenge is how am I going to maximize all this opportunity given to me at no cost?


Who says I'm not an entrepreneur. All I have to do is think like a
business person. I have my own business as a waiter...

A dignified profession, I must add !!!

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01/09/09