the salary of $ 13.50 for a cook position offered this week by the restaurant Au Pied de Cochon sparked outrage. It is above all a reminder that the salaries offered in Quebec kitchens are not very attractive. But what about other posts? Here is an overview of the compensation * for some key restaurant jobs.
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Waiter
- Average salary: $ 12.87 / h
- Average tip: $ 23 / h
Serving in a front-line position, servers are among the best paid in restaurants, since the relatively low base salary is supplemented by an average tip of $ 23 / h.
If the average base salary seems low, know that it has increased in recent years, to come off somewhat from the minimum wage for tip employees, which is a meager $ 10.80 / hr.
By combining salary and tips, a waiter earns more than $ 35 per hour on average.
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Clerk (Bussboy, Bussgirl)
- Average salary: $ 13.51 / h
- Average tip: $ 7.80 / h
The clerk, more commonly known as bussboy, he is the right hand of waiters and bartenders. It’s a bit like a handyman: he helps clear the tables, he cleans them after the customer has left, in addition to making sure that the waiters and bartenders have nothing in the room. He also represents the link between the kitchen team and the service team.
If the base salary is slightly higher than that of the waiters, the hourly tip is not comparable.
Diver
- Average salary: $ 15.07 / h
Being a diver is more than being a “dishwasher”. It takes hours of scrubbing, scrubbing and rinsing as the sweat trickles down your forehead. Divers also often have to carry mountains of heavy instruments, like cast iron pans – all in an often hot, humid and hostile environment.
This position is an essential cog to the smooth running of an evening in catering, since it is thanks to the diver that the rest of the team does not lack anything. But with the lowest hourly wage among non-tip employees, it’s also probably the most thankless job.
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Cook
- Average salary: $ 19.40 / h
The cook is the chef’s right hand. It is he who ensures the preparation of the dishes as imagined by the chef. He is also the one who makes sure that everything is ready and that nothing is missing before the service, in addition to communicating the needs of the kitchen to the chef and the rest of the team.
During the service, he juggles the numerous orders and the demands of the customers, such as “A lasagna without sauce and without cheese, please!”
It is therefore a key role … and the needs are glaring: many cook positions are to be filled in Quebec, says Martin Vézina, director of communications for the Association Restauration Quebec.
To level the gap between their salary and that of employees entitled to tips, more and more voices are being heard so that tips are better distributed between the kitchen and the service team.
Chief
- Average salary: $ 23.14 / h
The chef is, in a way, the conductor of the kitchen. In addition to developing the menu, it is he who coordinates, directs and supervises all kitchen activities. In the age of cooking shows and competitions, like The Chiefs! Where Top chef, some are elevated to the rank of stars.
Obviously, the average salary does not correspond to those of recognized chef owners, such as Antonin Mousseau-Rivard (Mousso), Charles Antoine Crête (Montreal Plaza) or Martin Picard (Au Pied de Cochon).
“The era of all challenges”
Do some of these salaries seem low to you and raise eyebrows? Well, Martin Vézina reminds us that restaurateurs are doing what they can in a difficult context.
“We are in the era of all challenges. Food and raw material prices are rising, restaurant owners’ profit margins are slim. We are talking about around 4% and less currently, it is very little, ”he maintains.
In this context, difficult to increase wages, according to him. While he is confident that service workers will return when sanitation measures are relaxed even further, he believes the industry will have to think about ways to reduce the pay gap between kitchen and service workers.
The pay gap, “a real joke”
Moreover, in a testimony published in the magazine News at the beginning of november, chef Antonin Mousseau-Rivard recalled that chefs and kitchen staff often worked significantly more hours than their colleagues in the dining room for a fraction of the salary.
“The average salary paid to cooks is $ 19,000 per year, and that of chefs is barely $ 33,000, according to the Quebec Council of Human Resources in Tourism – without benefits or pension fund. In return for this, they are often asked to work more than 80 hours a week – my own record is 140 hours in seven days. While servers in high gastronomy can earn up to $ 150,000 per year thanks to tips, for a work week of 22 or 23 hours. It’s a real joke, ”wrote the famous chef.
Anne-Lovely Etienne
One of the solutions considered by restaurateurs is to abolish tips in order to increase the base salary in the teams. However, this model has significant limitations, according to Martin Vézina.
“To do that, we must also increase the price of the plates. But customers are not ready to see their bills go up. They feel like they are paying more because for them the tip is a separate amount, ”he says.
In addition to helping reduce the tax burden on restaurateurs, he said the government should legislate in terms of support for restaurateurs.
“One possible solution would be for the law to allow restaurant owners to implement a tip-sharing policy. Currently, managers can suggest it, but if the service team opposes it, it’s over, ”he concludes.
* Average salaries are taken from the 2020-2021 Salary Survey of the Association Restauration Québec.
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