Lowell's in Pike Market is hiring for the Front of House: - Full time FOOD RUNNER
The biggest requirement of this job is to be a pleasant and unique individual who likes interacting with people (and is also physically fit enough to spend 8 hours moving)!
Us:
Breakfast, lunch, and seasonal (summer) early dinner service
Full table service and bar on 2nd floor
Fast casual style counter service on 1st and 3rd floor
Only 2 Owners since being founded in 1957
Close FAMILY team - yeah, I know, everywhere says this, but when some of us have worked side by side for over 20 years it shows, and we welcome new employees into that dynamic.
3 floors of restaurant all with panoramic views of Elliot Bay and Olympic Mountains
Fresh fish and produce sourced daily from Pike Market
“Respect, communication, honesty” – the cornerstone of everything we do
Tiny management team of 3 that busses tables, cooks, and sweats like everybody else (including the signatory on paychecks) - that's Ops/FOH/BOH - for great day to day cohesion.
Great employee retention, the longest employed top ten employees (including all 3 managers) have 173 years experience on the floor and in the kitchen at this restaurant. That doesn't include the owner's 43 years at the helm.
The Job:
Long periods of standing/walking
Good attention to detail
The ability to work hard with a sunny disposition
Cashier/Barista: lots of talking/providing direction to welcome guests
Food runner: carrying trays of food up flights of stairs
We offer 100% coverage health insurance and 401(k)
We provide complimentary meals daily to all staff
A calculation - assume $90 per day (averaging $50-150, even sometimes $300! - not often but a couple of times a year it happens), 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year PLUS $17.25 per hour, 8 hours a day = $59,280 - This averages about $28.50 per hour - again a safe expectation, not a maximum. On President's Day weekend, employees sharing in the tips pool made $200 in one day in credit card tips alone, not including cash or hourly pay.
Being primarily a breakfast and lunch restaurant, we close (with seasonal variation) in the early evening - lead a normal life with evenings to yourself!
Closed on Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year's Day
You:
Restaurant experience not entirely necessary, but useful, entry level positions
Hard working
Willing to put in the effort on the front end to make things flow better
Organized
Good at following direction but also a creative thinker for welcome solutions
Polite, friendly, and engaging
Take COVID seriously and are vaccinated
Make sure to supplement your resume with a GOOD COVER LETTER that shows off your personality! Personality is the most important factor, so the longer the cover letter the better! If there's no cover letter, I won't consider your application! I'd like to clarify what a cover letter looks like to me. Some business want you to state your employment history and why you'd be good for the job. That's fine, but what I'm looking for is who you are as a person. What are your hobbies, what are your ambitions, where did you grow up, why did you move to Seattle, what are your favorite movies or bands, etc.? - anything you think is interesting! The one thing I already know about you because you applied is that you are looking for a job and you'd like to work at Lowell's!
P.S.
People respond to this ad telling me I'm lying about the money in the title, I'm happy they have enough free time to sit and scroll through Craigslist ads for which they don't intend to apply. For people wanting to take this opportunity seriously, here's some examples taken from employees' W2s:
One employee in this position has taken a couple of week long vacations as well as other days off, they filed $68,000 on their w2 working 40 hours a week in 2022.
Another working in this position working only 4 days a week, sometimes 5 when providing cover, but also with multiple weeks off for vacations etc., filed $44k when hired in early May, so only working less than 8 months of the 2023.
Other roles exist which employees can access (with proven ability, loyalty, availability, and to some degree seniority) that have capacity for higher income as well. We rarely advertise these positions due to our internal structure. 100% of our servers and hosts, and 50% of our bartenders started as either a runner or a cashier.
