sous chef

line cook/prep cook

line cook

host/hostess

restaurant manager

JOEY Restaurants

It was a job where they train you the hardest on service. You are encouraged to converse with your guests and get to know a little bit about them. Always be engaging and outgoing. The location however is massive. 2 floors, and about 20 sections for the entire restaurant. But they were constantly understaffed, and there wasn't a day where there wasn't at least one staff member working a straight through (double shift with no break), or a double shift. Everyone was overworked, and underslept. Sickness spread far too easily among the exhausted servers. 
Managers were often hard to talk to and always gave you the same spiel on your efforts and if you could be doing more to improve the situation for yourself. They were often fake, and not easy to confide in. 
If you were caught gossiping to staff about other members of your workplace, or the workplace itself it was means for termination. Yet all the managers keep record of all your conversations with management, everytime a customer tells management any remark about you, or anything they hear about you from a fellow server. They write it all up by the end of the night and it gets sent to all the Front of House and Back of House managers. 
Being required to food and drink at all times over the two floors (in heels!) of the restaurant was physically exhausting. Not all servers were experienced and there would be times where you would have to take four to eight minutes out of your shift to correct a mistake done by a newer server in a section not close to yours. Also, you were required to make an appearance in your section every two minutes. 
Cutlery and side (sharing) plates were scarce at this location. In the middle of service one would have to search the entire restaurant's eight service stations, as well as the dish pit for cutlery to give to your guest who had already been served their dish.  
Management spoiled the cliental when we first opened into getting anything they wanted, and if they were not satisfied by the end of their meal, they were often let off with no bill. After a while customers began to take advantage of that system and come in and complain about every tiny thing in order to receive a discount of some sort. Once management stopped honouring that system, some customers stopped tipping.

Joey's is a fun place to work at and has a lot to offer such as learning and growing in the company. 

I work in BOH as Line/Prep cook. My work hours at Joey is mostly evening with that being said I am reviewing on how a typical day at work in the evening at the station I work at. 

First few things I do/check when walk on-line are: Protein, sauces, rice stock, and other items to see if I need to stock anything so that I don't run out of the items during peak times. Check the sanitation-water and change it if it is dirty. Clean up the station and make it look presentable for the night service.

About management: What I have learned from the experience while working at Joeys is you need to tell your leader/management that how good job you have been doing in order to be recognized and that's a little grey area because the other places I worked at where supervisor/manager come to you and tell you how good or bad you are at your job. But at Joey's leader/management only come talk to you if you are not performing at the expected level and get written-up for that. 

Co-workers: Co-workers at Joey's are great. Specially with the ones you have been working when you first started.

Hardest part about the job is transitioning from day shift to night shift and the station is left terrible condition such as: Stocks is not at the par level, station is not cleaned, Sanitation water is not changed, Pasta water pot left unattended and its almost burning etc. and to top that you get hit with bills and you literally have nothing to cook those bills. Also when you are paired with new hire and you get told that they have been trained and know everything about this station but they are not even prepared and when you ask them to cook particular item and they don't know what goes in that particular item. In the end you are stuck with them and train them while putting put the food and spec test them at the same time.

Enjoyable part is the opposite of hardest part.

They have a pretty good training program and a lot is expected of you. There are a lot of knowledgeable partners who work there and you get a lot of insight and advice from them. That's about the only reason I stayed for over a year and a half with the company. 

In the end, it wasn't worth it for the amount of work and overtime I put in for basically no pay off, and the amount of stress I got from the place. Management is two faced and they don't care about you at all. If you try to bring up complaints, you're met with the "you can leave, we'll find someone else" attitude. They're constantly pitting you against your coworkers for no reason. 

Your list of duties only ever expands and gets progressively harder without  proper training. The day has to go exactly like management expects even if there's obvious setbacks that will delay things, after which you immediately become weak and "need to work harder". This restaurant will slowly become your life with the way they schedule people, and the amount of people I've worked with who had constant breakdowns and had to take weeks off is insane. The employee turnaround is huge. New people come and go every week and most of them don't stay longer for a year. Do yourself a favor and look for something else. 

tldr: If you're thriving in an environment where all that's pointed out to you are your faults, get reminded how expendable you are, people are promoted based on timing (or when there's a shortage of leaders because everyone left), get empty promises, and no complaint is ever taken seriously and you're just waiting for the day when you're getting replaced by an external hire, this is the place for you.

Joey Restaurants provides a fun work environment for all of its employees. A normal day at work includes a lot of multitasking and problem-solving while interacting with guest to make sure their visit to our restaurant can be as hospitable as possible. I have learned a lot about problem resolution through my interactions with guests and management. Joey Restaurants has taught me to prioritize and think fast to ensure the restaurant has a smooth operation, which becomes really important during the busiest times. The culture at our restaurant is very fun and welcoming, with a lot of people coming in and out for seasonal jobs, Joey does a great job at making sure everyone feels welcome into the family even if they are only there for a few months, e.g. Summer students. Everyone, coworkers and managers are always there to support regardless of the problem. Management does a great job at prioritizing partner's needs, whether this has to do with scheduling, work-life balance, mental health and/or  extracurricular activities. The hardest part of the job would probably be that it can be very stressful at times and those who may struggle with multitasking and problem solving could find it a little more difficult to adapt. However, Joey training is so good, I felt ready to tackle my duties after my training week had finished. What I enjoy most about working at Joey Restaurants is that it allows me to connect with people in a fun way. As an extrovert, I find that the service industry is the perfect place for me and Joey is a place I am proud to work at. 

Highly recommended when starting out as a cook, and will continue to suggest so to anyone that asks. Because their systems in place caters to being able to figure it out on your own even if someone isn’t there to tell you or you haven’t done a specific station before. A step by step dummy guide if you will.

If you are any decent at your job and eager to go into leadership, you will rise through the ranks quickly. 

If you have a specific personality that drives and pushes the business forward, you will progress extremely quickly. If you have a more introverted personality, you won’t get very far, especially when you’re at that stage of your life where you’ve learnt everything and played every role. Myself personally being more introverted my progress was stagnant even though I’ve done every line station, prep station and shift led. Because of this pay was stagnant too - left because I felt I couldn’t progress any further and at least wanted better compensation for my skill set I’ve acquired. (Pay is minimum wage plus tips which isn’t guaranteed example: you want $18, it’s minimum wage and difference in tips. If store is profitable you get a little more. Salary team for example if you wanted $40k per year, $34k is base and the rest in tips, plus bonuses)

Jumped and got a significant pay bump because of this decision, which also resulted in less stress for myself and I never felt the need to bring my work home with me to plan my next shift…

Again despite the pay downside, I would still recommend new potential chefs to work at joeys to learn all they can and use this opportunity as a stepping stone while they are starting out in the industry.

In a vacuum Joey's is a good place to work, the regulars are lovely and the community amongst staff is what keeps you there. Other than that it is extremely frustrating. After working there for a year and a half I had to beg for more than two on call shifts a week even though I had almost fully open availability. This was after discussing with management if there were things I needed to do to improve and received nothing but praise. Even though I was not receiving enough hours they still would hire new servers. Server Liaisons and GST members do not get moved up to serving even if promised, one of the only reasons I got moved up was because I threatened to quit. I don't think they realize how much money it would save them to train the people who already work here and that it's one of the main reasons Server Liaisons quit. Management is inconsistent with how they handle policy and day to day workings, making it extremely frustrating for employees. Schedules are also incredibly inconsistent with no two weeks looking the same and often time you don't get your schedule until a week before. This makes planning your life extremely difficult. The managers like to pretend to care about making genuine connections with your table yet really all they want you to do is ask for 5 star reviews and to write down the customers name on their cheque. Overall, I'm leaving feeling unappreciated and frustrated after a year and a half of giving my all to this company.

Worst placed i worked at in my professional career.
For cooks, if you are studying culinary arts, its a good place to "learn" but they will drain you and they dont care, so its good for young people to get experience, learn and then get out of there and found somewhere else that will pay you for the effort you do there.
Trust me, its bad, management is bad and think that by screaming and yelling you will keep working, like if you are an animal.
They put you under stress and preassure from the very first day, they tell you and point on you the mistakes you make, even when they do it, but when that happen, they dont say anything.
Supper closed to receive new ideas.
I dont even know if this is legal but, they ask you what you looking to get paid so, if you say 17 or 19, they pay you the minimum and, with tips, the fill up the rest, so no, you dont get more money if you work more, they come so proud and shameless telling you congrats, we were super bussy, but we still gonna pay you the same, what happen with the rest of the money?, i dont know, cause if it was super busy, and you got paid all the people, where does that extra go to?.
Ohh, and they dont care if you have to go, they will tell you stuff if you are 5 minutes late, but if you are schedule until some time, like 11pm, whenever is 11pm, nop, you are not leaving, you gotta clean up, take everything downstairs and drop it to the garbage, ohh, its 11pm?, nop, we are busy, leave until the rush is over, even if its 1 hour later.
Its just ridiculous, good luck if you have no choice but to work here.
Not even free food.


I enjoyed working here in the first bit. I was a hostess and helped manage reservations and seating guests. Things were fine at first and then the bad started coming out. A lot of the managers are often no where to be found and for some reason it seems like no one there really works except gossip about each other and stand around the restaurant. 

The restaurant itself has a lot of issues with turnover, food quality and overall attitude of how people treat each other. it’s very superficial working at a place like this and not like the hospitality I’ve worked in for a long time. I found the girls I worked with were catty and entitled, like they were too good to be working there or better than anyone who walked through the door, guests were not handled in a timely manner, and management was never around to actually direct these youngsters, constantly standing behind a desk and seeing dirty tables around the restaurant is common for this place. It was quite frustrating with how the girls spoke to each other and guests. So many complaints. Food, not picking up the phone, cleanliness. Servers are quite rude and stand offish. Just a weird environment. 

Overall it’s good if you’re in your early 20s and don’t have much experience of anything else, but if you want a serious job with good advancement this isn’t the place to be. I’m new to this area so I guess I was expecting more professionalism. I hope they fix it up. 

I was employed by Joey Restaurants for just over a year. In that year, I was able to advance from GST/Server to a Server/Shift Leader. There were constant stress added onto the shift leaders to constantly calculate labor while being paid the exact same wage as GSTs. They would not allow me to serve full-time as they required me to always be on the GST schedule since no one ever wanted to be a hostess. The manager's always displayed favouritism which was exhausting as it was reflected in the weekly schedule you were assigned if you weren't a favourite. Previous serving experience would be an asset as the server training happens in groups in an almost classroom like setting. They expect you to "romance" their menu items as the menu description is always vague which prolongs the order taking process. They also make you tip out on guest complaints or any mistakes you made and you get reprimanded for it too even if it wasn't your fault. Their tip out was about 6%-7% as well while I was employed there. Working in this environment exacerbated my anxiety as it felt like the individual's were never doing enough to meet the sky high standards of the management team and company. 

Seems there are no long standing new people, lots of people who have been there a long time mistreating new people, and in their defense are being mistreated by management as well. The bar is always being raised higher and everyday you feel unappreciated, unless it was an easy day, and they lie and say good job, and then cut your hours because of labour cost. but they don't say good job when you're busting it trying. Everything the company needs is expected to be treated with the utmost importance, but your needs are nothing. No free food, minimum wage plus cruddy  tips (like a dollar an hour more), tons of sketchy chaos, and management doesn't work hard, they just act really proud and question you all day long. Gosh forbid you didn't do a good job, they'll make you feel like a clown for it in a preppy way. They'll tell you what you should accomplish as if it's easy and give no examples of anyone else accomplishing it..... 

Also they schedule you in a way where the rush is in the middle of your shift, and you're too busy to take a break even if you wanted to. So no one takes breaks, and it's still not enough. 

Hours are unstable, good chefs are burning out, and they don't want you to leave when you are off, because somehow they want more but don't want to pay you more to stay. 

Lots of good people, bad management, corrupt place. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Sous chef 85 salaries reported	$64,853 per year
Line cook/prep cook 111 salaries reported	$21.14 per hour
Line cook 59 salaries reported	$22.26 per hour
Host/hostess 76 salaries reported	$21.50 per hour
Restaurant manager 44 salaries reported	$73,341 per year

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