New Restaurant Has Unique Test for Potential Hires
The Hideaway Eatery is scheduled to open next week in Valley City. Valleyans are excited about the new restaurant. It will have a rustic feel, and it’s something new, fresh, and unique. We don’t have a ton of culinary options around here you know. Not only is the restaurant opening making news, a hiring practice for potential employees is also getting a lot of attention.
All servers and cooks will have to memorize the Cheesecake Factory menu in order to get hired. Owner Paula Stewart said, “We will have a varied and eclectic menu, and our servers and cooks will need to know it like the back of their hand. I occasionally eat at a Cheesecake Factory when I’m out of town, and they’re known for having a large and extensive menu. I recently thought that requiring my servers and cooks to memorize the Cheesecake Factory menu would be a great way to test potential servers and cooks’ ability to memorize and recall information. Our menu will be much smaller than the Cheesecake Factory, but our menu will change pretty often. Some say it’s too tough, but I think it’s a smart business practice.”
Stewart will give her potential servers and cooks 2 days to memorize the Cheesecake Factory menu. She thinks it will eliminate many potential hires that wouldn’t be good workers, and she thinks it show who really wants a job. Stewart said, “We’ll know pretty quick who really wants the job. I’ve had a lot of people just hand the Cheesecake Factory menu back to me when I told them to memorize it and come back to me in a couple days for a quiz. It culls a lot real quick!”
Stewart added, “I’ve even had a couple applicants come back with a parent to try to talk me into them not having to memorize the menu. One mom got irate with me telling me it was an unrealistic ask for their 18 year old to memorize the Cheesecake Factory menu. Needless to say, neither of these applicants were hired. These helicopter parents gotta chill out; your kids gotta grow up.”
There are mixed feelings about the Hideaway Eatery’s hiring practice. One young man said, “I’ve been out of work for a month, and I really need a job. But, there ain’t no way I can memorize that menu. I could probably memorize the Gospel of John before I memorize that thing. Are they gonna ask for our ACT score too? I think it’s so stupid and unnecessary. I guess I’ll move on to the next option.”
A teenage female said, “I memorized the Cheesecake Factory menu in about half a day. It was a piece of cake! I just memorize everything for my tests in school, so it wasn’t that difficult. I was hoping my best friend could get a job here as a server too, but she’s a blonde and she couldn’t memorize the menu. I guess she can be a hostess or dishwasher.”
Valleyans are very excited about new dining option opening next week, and I’m sure they’ll be glad to know their servers and cooks have very good memorization skills. We hope the hiring practice will allow them to hire good quality employees, because we want the Hideaway Eatery to be around for a long time.