I have no idea how this works. Does the owner wander in at 5:00am every day and say “I’ll have scrambled eggs with bacon”? Then, around lunch time, “Joe, whip me up a Reuben with fries”? Later on: “Hey Joe, I’ll have the meatloaf tonight”?
Does he swing by on his day off to, I dunno, check the inventory and grab a burger?
Or, maybe he has a policy of not taking meals at his restaurant?
I realize that not every owner handles this the same, just wondering what you have experienced first-hand.
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The restaurant I worked at, the owners were there at least 5, usually 6 days a week, for a minimum of 8 hours. Working the whole time. So yes, they absolutely ate at the restaurant.
ETA: I think that’s probably the case in most privately owned (non-corporate) restaurants - that the owner is there most of the time they’re open.
Yes. My friend and her kids ate every meal at her restuarant. She wasn’t gonna cook at home. Even on holidays, when they were closed, she would go over and cook for them. She never had any food in her house. I think she might have had coffee and cereal but that’s it. My son-in-law is a pro-chef and he hates cooking at home. Any cooking they do at home is minimal. Mainly because the kids are still young. I love him to come here, he just takes over my kitchen.
What happens if you own some specific type of restaurant, like a pizzeria for example? Do you just eat pizza for all your meals? Or do you sometimes sneak in some hot dogs and buns and throw them in the oven when the customers can’t see you?
My father-in-law owned a Chinese restaurant in Chicago when my wife as growing up, and they did just eat Chinese food for all their meals. Or, as they called it, “food”.
I know one restaurant owner and one bar owner. Not only do they both eat and drink there, they also pay for their meals and drinks out of their own pocket.
I assume this makes it easier to balance the books. Bar owner I can understand. Restaurant owner not so much.
I knew the original owner of the Davis Street Fish Market in Evanston, Illinois. One night as my spouse and I waited for a table a very puzzled pizza delivery man showed up. Delivering pizza to a seafood restaurant? Yep. It was for the owner. As he said, after awhile you get tired of fish.
Speaking for pizza delivery drivers - it can drive you to eat the Hawaiian and nacho pizzas when you otherwise wouldn’t. Although the nacho pizzas didn’t last long on the menu. While it lasted, it was different.
I know a pizza shop owner who does steaks. As long as it’s on a pan, it doesn’t mess up the oven. He says he can cook damn near anything in it, and I believe him.
I once worked at a pizza place where they sold chicken wings that were cooked in the pizza oven. They were good. (Need to be in a pan, though - just like you said)
I work in a small restaurant and we all eat breakfast and lunch there every day. Our boss is kind of a weird eater and she’ll often have a burger or sandwich instead of whatever the specials of the day are.
I worked at Burger King as a teen. Some of us, including the managers, had arrangements with other local fast food places. We would swap our staff meals for pizza or KFC in the loading bay out back. It went on for months and everyone was happy, but then corporate found out and came down on us hard. Whoppers every day after that!
My friends and I would always joke about how the food the workers (and probably owners) of Chinese restaurants are eating during their break looks better than what we ordered.
I don’t see any reason the owners couldn’t bring whatever they wanted to eat to work and cook it there. If it’s a specially shop like a pizza place (no pasta which would require pots and pans), they could bring their own portable burner to cook.
I’ve seen on TV where some chefs / owners will prepare and serve new dishes they’re working on to the staff to get an idea of how it would sell.
I also have seen owners and staff with takeout from other establishments (and some brown bagging it from home). Reason is that they do get tired of the limited menu and need variety.
When I managed a Dominos we used to do that as well. We were favored for trades since, as a delivery place, we could pick up and drop off. And since a manager worked about 60 hours a week, yeah, I had pizza a couple of times a day, almost every day. However, we also had 6 Bakers Pride ovens back then (not the conveyor Middleby Marshalls) so we would sometimes lower the oven temp and bake cookies.
It is extremely common in my experience. When I owned a restaurant I ate lunch and dinner there most days. My wife would stop by for dinner most days. My sons would come in even if they weren’t working that day to load up on food. I allowed my employees to eat a reasonable amount of food while on the job but even at restaurants that limited employee meals or required some payment the owners usually eat most meals there. Some would pay for their meals out of their pockets just to inflate the daily totals, but often taking out that cash and putting it back into their pockets after it’s been counted.
I’ve never owned a restaurant, but one summer during college I worked delivering pizzas. I ate pizza for three meals a day all summer long. Surprisingly, I never got tired of it.
