Pancakes, sandwiches, jobs

Tom Fitzpatrick might have a job for you at The Mission.

First, please tell me about your restaurant.

I have three restaurants with Fay Nakanishi and Deborah Helm: The Mission –Mission Beach; The Mission – North Park; and The Mission – SoMa [East Village]. We specialize in simple, healthy, tasty food with a whimsical edge. The menu includes everything from classic pancakes and sandwiches to modern Chino-Latino cuisine.

What makes your restaurant different from an employee’s point of view?

Probably the fact that we are open days only. This allows evenings free which is rare in the restaurant business. We also offer competitive wages, flexible schedules, 401k plans, and a 25% employee discount.

What’s the position with the lowest turnover rate in your restaurants?

The wait staff.

Why do you think that is?

Their tips from the volume of business and the flexibility of their schedule.

Which position has the highest turnover rate?

Line cooks.

And your thoughts on that?

With cooking in restaurants, one has to love what they do, and if they don’t there is not a level of dedication. It is a difficult job, especially with our high volume of business. Kitchens are usually hot and fast-paced. Also, with most restaurants, the busiest times are holidays and weekends so employees are required to work these days, and often they don’t want to give these up over a long period of time.

What are you looking for in new employees?

For front-of-house [i.e. non-kitchen] employees, we seek energetic personable individuals committed to providing excellent customer service. For most positions we require a minimum of three years experience, and high volume breakfast experience is always a plus.

Are you hiring right now?

We do have a few positions at this time for a cook, dishwasher, and a busboy but by the time this article runs they may very well be filled. In this business, though, you never know when a position is going to open up. We can go months with no openings and then need several in one day or week. Our busiest summer season is coming up soon. We always accept applications, and when a position becomes available we do go through the applications on hand. I suggest applicants apply in person at any of our locations, Monday through Friday between the hours of 1:30 and 4:00 pm.

We offer the following hourly positions at all of our restaurants: servers, baristas, hosts, line cooks, prep cooks, bussers, and dishwashers.

Can you offer any additional advice for someone interested in working for you?

We share the applications between our three locations, so when applying at one location, if someone’s available to work at any of the other locations, he or she should write it on the top of the application. This gives him/her three opportunities in one to get a position. Also, when applying for any job, whether in the restaurant business or a law firm, I think applicants should present themselves as professional, well-groomed, and dressed professionally. That is not always the case in this business. Often people just stumble in off the street to apply.