4 ms·

This is my question too. How to restaurants and cafes in Australia manage to do it, with wages in the $17-$22/hr range, AND penalty rates (double time on Sunda

This is my question too. How to restaurants and cafes in Australia manage to do it, with wages in the $17-$22/hr range, AND penalty rates (double time on Sunday etc.)? [0] (PLUS 10% superannuation etc.) [0] - https://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Industry=Restaurant/Hourly_Rate https://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Industry=Restaurant/Hou...

jopsen 9y ago
Prices are higher, and people eat out less often... At least that's the case in northern Europe, wages are much higher, but services that relies on humans a super expensive.
shoo 9y ago
This is a good question. I haven't worked in the industry. I have no idea. With higher prices for restaurant/café meals? With less competition? With lower costs for other inputs? With greater demand for labour across the economy? By illegally paying employees below award / not paying superannuation payments?
- jpatokal 9y ago
  All of the above (except lower costs, not a thing for anything in Australia). In particular, in essentially all (non-chain-fast-food) restaurants where you can get a meal for less than $10, nobody is making award rates. If you're lucky the staff is family, if not they're exploiting students or illegal immigrants.
rangibaby 9y ago
Unless you are careful it is quite easy to spend $20-30 on breakfast and a coffee in ANZ
subroutine 9y ago
Those figures might not be quite that high. Actually, the site you linked says "The average wage for a Waiter/Waitress is AU $15.84 per hour (median is $16.45 AUD)" [1] But you're right, AU front-end staff are paid higher wages, even after adjusting for currency exchange rate: $16 AUD = 12.50 USD Maybe median income accounts for this? Different sources are giving different numbers for median income, but google is saying that... AU median household income in 2014 was $80,704 US median household income in 2014 was $53,719 [1] https://goo.gl/3qQb5u https://goo.gl/3qQb5u
jen729w 9y ago
I’ll take the lady friend to the local (nice) pub and buy us both a steak & chips, half a pint (to drink while we wait for the food), and a bottle of house Shiraz (to drink with), and it’ll be $110. I’m lucky that I can do that, because I work in IT, but every time I do I think “holy shit, $110 for a pub meal”. That’s just what it costs.
- jen729w 9y ago
  (The Napier in Fitzroy, if anyone local is reading. Best scotch fillet you’ve ever had.)
  - brianwawok 9y ago
    How much is the qine2, $60? $50 for a decent meal out w a beer isnt that far off. Rule #1 of eating out on a budget is to limit booze, wine for example is often a 10x markup for the same product you can buy at the store.
    - jen729w 9y ago
      $40, I think. The steaks are $30 each but it’s a bloody good steak. $5 a pot x 2 brings us to $110. I want a steak now.
  - marak830 9y ago
    (sorry hn, off topic but I need to) The Napier is still open? God's be damned, I hope it's still there when I get back to Aus!
    - jen729w 9y ago
      Very much open and doing a roaring trade. It’ll be around for a long while, I reckon. The Union just round the corner has Melbourne’s best parma and is also doing nicely. It’s a great time to be living in Fitzroy.
marak830 9y ago
We charge more. We also cut down on staff (I have delivered food as a chef before), and watch our costings. I'd prefer to take the food out, than to know my wait staff are starving though. At the same time though, I have haif my own waitstaff come in for lunch in their days off(as they can afford it). I'm sure they spent that extra money on other businesses too. I can't really comment more on the follow through from that on a more financial position though, not my training, but as I mentioned earlier, it was nice to know my wait staff weren't starving.

jopsen 9y ago

Prices are higher, and people eat out less often... At least that's the case in northern Europe, wages are much higher, but services that relies on humans a super expensive.

shoo 9y ago

This is a good question. I haven't worked in the industry. I have no idea. With higher prices for restaurant/café meals? With less competition? With lower costs for other inputs? With greater demand for labour across the economy? By illegally paying employees below award / not paying superannuation payments?

jpatokal 9y ago
All of the above (except lower costs, not a thing for anything in Australia). In particular, in essentially all (non-chain-fast-food) restaurants where you can get a meal for less than $10, nobody is making award rates. If you're lucky the staff is family, if not they're exploiting students or illegal immigrants.

rangibaby 9y ago

Unless you are careful it is quite easy to spend $20-30 on breakfast and a coffee in ANZ

subroutine 9y ago

Those figures might not be quite that high. Actually, the site you linked says "The average wage for a Waiter/Waitress is AU $15.84 per hour (median is $16.45 AUD)" [1] But you're right, AU front-end staff are paid higher wages, even after adjusting for currency exchange rate: $16 AUD = 12.50 USD Maybe median income accounts for this? Different sources are giving different numbers for median income, but google is saying that... AU median household income in 2014 was $80,704 US median household income in 2014 was $53,719 [1] https://goo.gl/3qQb5u https://goo.gl/3qQb5u

jen729w 9y ago

I’ll take the lady friend to the local (nice) pub and buy us both a steak & chips, half a pint (to drink while we wait for the food), and a bottle of house Shiraz (to drink with), and it’ll be $110. I’m lucky that I can do that, because I work in IT, but every time I do I think “holy shit, $110 for a pub meal”. That’s just what it costs.

jen729w 9y ago
(The Napier in Fitzroy, if anyone local is reading. Best scotch fillet you’ve ever had.)
- brianwawok 9y ago
  How much is the qine2, $60? $50 for a decent meal out w a beer isnt that far off. Rule #1 of eating out on a budget is to limit booze, wine for example is often a 10x markup for the same product you can buy at the store.
  - jen729w 9y ago
    $40, I think. The steaks are $30 each but it’s a bloody good steak. $5 a pot x 2 brings us to $110. I want a steak now.
- marak830 9y ago
  (sorry hn, off topic but I need to) The Napier is still open? God's be damned, I hope it's still there when I get back to Aus!
  - jen729w 9y ago
    Very much open and doing a roaring trade. It’ll be around for a long while, I reckon. The Union just round the corner has Melbourne’s best parma and is also doing nicely. It’s a great time to be living in Fitzroy.

marak830 9y ago

We charge more. We also cut down on staff (I have delivered food as a chef before), and watch our costings. I'd prefer to take the food out, than to know my wait staff are starving though. At the same time though, I have haif my own waitstaff come in for lunch in their days off(as they can afford it). I'm sure they spent that extra money on other businesses too. I can't really comment more on the follow through from that on a more financial position though, not my training, but as I mentioned earlier, it was nice to know my wait staff weren't starving.