The Floor
This is the first in a series of little ‘zines’ of worker talking about their work and lives.
“The Floor” references those that work the “front of the house” in the restaurant trade, the: Host, Server, Busser, runner, and Bartenders. The Floor is their work site.
France 1765, Paris: Mr. Boulanger, opened a small business near the Louvre selling “restorative broths’, or in French, bouillons restaurants. In 1782 the first upscale restaurant, La Grande Taverne de Londres, opened, in Paris. It owner was the food authority and writer Antoine Beauvilliers who would go on to write “L’Art du cusinier” in 1814.
However, establishments serving quick meals have been around much longer. In Pompeii the thermopolia served food and drink to all social classes. In the Middle Ages taverns and inns predated the restaurant as an institution. In Song dynasty, China, between 960-1279, the capital of the empire was filled with places serving clientele a range of à la carte dishes.
Chez Maman Potrero Hill San Francisco Head Waiter and Bartender
I’m the Lead Waiter, or Head Waiter, the captain of the team, the first figure of the waiting staff. That’s the job I enjoy very much.
I started when I was 16 in Versailles, outside Paris. I was an apprentice waiter, that was my very first introduction to restaurants. I used to do five days (a week) at a “practice” restaurant, in a restaurant, and then two days at school, for two years. You do three years altogether, but the first year you choose either front of the house or chef - the kitchen. So, I started in the kitchen, found it very frustrating, and moved to the front of the house.
In the third year you are specialized in either the front of the house or kitchen, and I did Head Waiter, Maître d’.
As soon as I graduated, that was 1991, I finished third best apprentice of the whole of Paris, and I was on the podium. Being on the podium I was allowed to find a contract for King Hassan-the Second of Morocco, which I didn’t take because I already had a contract working in the island of Cyprus. Cyprus being an older English colony, I wanted to be bilingual in English, so I went to Cyprus and stayed there three years.
I came back, I was a Frenchman with a very thick Greek accent, speaking English.
My favorite place to work, I have to say is a hotel/resort. Cypress was an amazing experience because people come for at least a week. They come to spend money and relax so you work in a very, very nice environment. People
are happy. People are generous. You’re part of their vacation. You bring something to their vacation. So, you’re really part of their vacation which is a great, great reward because you get to know them. And with some people when they leave it’s very had because you have a good connection with them.
I worked in some Palace Hotels in Paris, and this was another experience. Different because people stay for a night or two, very short term, but you work with very high hands, products, and materials. It’s a way different game there. Really high-end stuff, and you deal with high hand people, celebrities, actors, actresses, movie stars.
When I was living in Ireland, Dublin opened to Europe and all of
sudden they realized that they didn’t have any hotels or restaurants, they had a lot of pubs. So, they started building hotels and restaurants and the problem became that they didn’t have any professional staff, so there was a huge flood of head waiters, head chefs, managers and waiters to travel to Ireland to fill all the positions because there was so many jobs and they were paying very, very well. It was great, Ireland was full of French waiters, French chef. At first when I traveled it was just to learn English and I traveled without a job most of the time. You want to feel the water, as they say. You want to learn a bit of the city you’re in. You want to feel out the culture, and you try to understand where and how it’s working,
which restaurants you should apply, not apply, or don’t waste your time. So usually, at the time, I traveled without any leads. It was like a fun adventure, who you get to meet, who you talk to, and all of sudden you find a job.
[Looking for a job] My first thing is how professional they are. How well they treat the staff. What can I bring to that place and what can that place bring to me, to build a career, to grow in an environment that is safe and interesting. Then of course there is the financial aspect was also part of the balance, but most of the time it was what can I learn from those chefs. What can I learn from this restaurant? What kind of service do they offer?
(Eating in a place before applying
for work), it depends. If I could afford it, yes. If I couldn’t afford it, I would apply and work. If it’s a high-end restaurant, then usually you go for one or two-day training. Or you ask, can I shadow somebody. You learn very fast because you acquire a certain sense of observation. That’s part of my job. I look at people, I know what they need – they need a napkin, they need something on the table, they need more bread. They need some wine to be poured. You learn to develop a special sense about the needs of people.
[On dropping plates in unison for dinners seated at the table] Those places are very rare now; I mean this is very old fashioned. I worked in the island of Tahiti; I was in the French navy. The French navy had a position of
Head Waiter for the entertainment of the officials – like minister, prime minister, stuff like this, so the navy has a position of Head Waiter. I was able to obtain that position, and that’s the only time I worked in that everybody sets down, all at the same time everybody drops a plate. Or picks up a plate. It’s very military, very orchestrated. It’s actually beautiful but very hard to achieve. Very hard to do very, very well. It’s very, very hard. I read on the paper that the wife of Thomas Keller (owner/chef of The French Laundry), she orchestrated the whole of the front of the house, and she was sending every new waiter to ballet classes. It takes a lot for me to be impressed in restaurants because I’ve seen quite a bit, and I found it fascinating that she would send people to ballet classes just
to know how to hold yourself in a room and how to move swiftly between tables. I thought the idea was extraordinary. It blew my mind. You know with experience, and we talk about this amongst all of us often in these very popular restaurants, people come at the door, they’re tired, they’re probably low blood sugar, they’re hungry, they’re anxious to entertain their friend at the restaurant. They want to make sure they get the right table, and sometimes it’s easy to pick on the hostess or waiter. So, we always keep that in mind – I feel like every time something like this happens, I’m the first, the first one to offer bread and butter, a glass of water. You’re going to be taken care off, don’t’ worry. I got you. I cannot
let it rip-off of my shoulders because I know it could be the case for a lot of people – There are a lot of things (on) people’s (mind) coming to the restaurant, and, you know, we’re aware of that.
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I didn’t enjoy kitchen. It was very frustrating to work hard on a plate and have somebody with a bow tie and a white jacket to pick it up and that’s it. You don’t see the aftermath. Now, well I get all the reward. I get to say, ‘Yeah I’ll tell the Chef’. I get to see the people. I get to entertain with the people. I get to interact which is much more rewarding, and breaks a lot of the monotony. It’s never the same every day.
It’s like being in a theatre, every night you open the show, and you don’t know what you’re going to get. It’s very close to a stand-up comedy club. You don’t deliver a joke, you deliver food, but you could once in a while deliver a joke, which is great.
There are quite a few (downsides) actually. A: the family, you work when people are having fun, and you are having fun when people are working, meaning like Monday morning I’m going to go golfing when Saturday night you’re come and order your meal at my restaurant. You have to be prepared for being in a different world than most of your friends, girlfriends, or both. You’re working late hours, working weekends, holidays, it’s hard. It’s kind of a big shift for your family so you have
to be prepared for that. But the rewards are phenomenal because you get to meet amazing people. You get to travel the world – especially being French. People assume you know everything about food and wine so if you know how to sell yourself you can travel the world and work amazing places.
Thierry Chauvin - Head waiter Chez Maman ...
I started (working in restaurants) when I was 22 years old, so almost 34 years now. It’s like family DNA. My grandpa, one of my grandpas, was the first to work in the restaurant business. A few of my uncles, my brother too, and my cousins. I follow the movement. My grandpa and my uncle owned the restaurant and I started as a summer job. I loved it.
I’ve never worked in the back – I would love to work in the kitchen but I’m not good enough to make good food.
I decided to start in the 5-star hotel, I was a bartender, it was very difficult in the beginning because I had to learn, and you learn from the best. You have to accept the critique. I guess everybody can do
this job, if you really want to work and you want to learn, everybody can do. (Now) I’ve done bartending for 33 years. I love doing it and I’m pretty good at it - (I have good) connection with the people, I work pretty fast, and experience, of course. I spent pretty much all my life in France but when I came here it was to work for one of my friends. We’re from the same city in France and we know each other 40 years. He’s been in the U.S. for 25 - 26 years and every year he was calling me, “Come work, come work with us”. Fourteen years ago I decided to come. I had only worked in my city, Nice. I started as a bartender in the hotel and after I worked on the floor in the restaurant. I worked with my fam -
ily too. I do have a lot of experience now and I decided to try the “American Dream”.
You know, I think when I was younger I loved to do cocktails, I loved the communications with people, and you get behind the bar you can do that. As a waiter on the floor, it’s more difficult to stop at the table and have a conversation with someone, to do some jokes, to have some good connection. It’s better behind the bar.
I was surprised a lot in this country, people do have a lot of allergies. Like gluten, nuts, dairy, and some funny allergies, you know. One day a woman asked me where was the fish from, and I said from the ocean, and I asked her why. She said, “Oh because I eat only fish from the Pacific, I’m allergic to Atlantic fish.” Fourteen years
ago there wasn’t much allergy in France, maybe because of a lot of junk food in the U.S., more than France. I’ve only worked in San Francisco because I love working with my friends. The guys I’ve known for 40 years is like my family, so I work only with them – in different restaurants but always with them.
The service is different in France. I think it is better service in US because of the tips. The big difference in the U.S.A. if you want to make more money, the more you work, the more you make. In France it doesn’t matter if you work less or more, you get the salary every month, there are no tips. What I love here is if you want to make some money, you can do it, but you must work. You know, you have to work more to make
more. When you work in the business you have to be nice with the people who come to your place. It doesn’t matter if it’s a café or a restaurant, you have to be nice. (But there are times…) Well, we always have some music, not too loud, for the customers. One day for the lunch I was at the table, I took the order, everything was OK, and I go behind the bar for the drink. I bring the drink back to the table and I saw one guy stand up on his chair with a screwdriver trying to take out the speaker. I was mad and asked him, “Why?”. He said, “Because I don’t like the music!” I told him, “Why don’t you ask me?”, I would change, or stop the music. We decided to kickout these guys from the restaurant. One of the first jobs I wanted to
Louis Balam, Chef - Chez Maman
do when I was a kid, I said to my mom I want to be Chef. But you know in the kitchen you don’t have any connection with the people, and I love the connection. In the kitchen it’s not possible.
In the U.S.A. pretty much always Mexican people (are in the kitchen). It could be French restaurant, or Japanese, I think these guys are very good in the kitchen. They learn very fast, and they love cooking. It’s about passion in the kitchen, too. If you want to cook every day you have to love it, to do it. It’s a big difference with the floor; the floor everybody can do it. If you want to work, you learn fast and you push yourself when it’s very busy – everybody can do it. But to cook is a different story, I think. In the south of France there are a
lot of Italian people and some African too (working in restaurants) because I think now, in France and the U.S., the young people don’t want to work no more in the restaurants. It’s too difficult. That’s why I love and hate this job sometimes. I love this job for everything I’ve said but I hate this job too because when your friend is on vacation, or on the weekend, you have to work.
The typical shift is about six, seven hours. You can work double if you want – work for the lunch, have a small break in the middle. It’s very intense, very hard work.
You know after a 7- or 8-hour shift, I go back home. When I was younger, I would go out, night club maybe, stuff like that, but 54 years old I think when I’m done, I have to go back home.
The good thing in this job, I meet my wife in the US. She was a customer, she’s American and French too, and she came many times. We go see a movie together and she becomes my wife, and it’s been three years now. Yeah, I think it’s a good story. ...
Left: Jaime Avalos, Kitchen
Right: Luis Balam, Chef
Left: Olivier Dadoune, Bartender
Right: Thierry Chauvin, Head Waiter
A small joke .
There’s a guy who tries a restaurant for the first time. He sits, calls the waiter, and asks for a recommendation. The waiter gives it to him, the best meal in the restaurant. The guy starts his meal and after one minute he calls the waiter.
Customer: “This meal is disgusting. Your food is horrible. Can I talk to the chef, please.”
Waiter: “Ah, no, no, no, it’s not possible right now because he’s on the meal break.”
Customer: “So he’s in the kitchen.”
Waiter: “No, no. He’s in the restaurant next store.”
Told by Olivier Dadoune, Bartender“The Floor”
Voices from the Front of the House A Coffee and Donuts publication
Photography, design and interviews: Robert Gumpert Copyright: Robert Gumpert photos 2023