Cooper’s Hawk is the worst restaurant to work for, and it’s all because of the wine club. - The Athan Zafirov Wine Blog
I want to put this out there as a newer employee of Cooper’s Hawk, because this restaurant is expanding quickly, and even opening up a new line of sister restaurants called Piccolo Buco. This is what I wish I was told before I applied, because had I known how shitty this place is never would’ve applied, let alone accepted the job. God, I wish i had just said no.
I was hired as a server, and I don’t want anyone else to make the same mistake that me, and many others have made. I’m not saying that to exaggerate, either — since I have been there, I have had MULTIPLE people tell me how much they hate it, including a girl who has been there for a year and half that told me, “I’ve wanted to quit since I started,” after I asked her how she liked working there.
I’ve seen many people drop out during training, and the majority of servers working at my location (we have one of the biggest Cooper’s Hawks) have been there for less than a year. No joke.
There are people who have been there multiple years, but that is honestly out of the ordinary. And within the limited time I have been there I have already seen someone of 5+ years quit for the same reason that people get fired… There are servers that have been there only 6 months training other servers because of how few long-term employees there are for this position.
The reason for this isn’t just because they don’t have bussers, or because they have to tip 3% of their TOTAL NET sales to the bar. (Yes, you heard me correctly — you don’t tip the bar on just liquor sales, you tip the out on everything).
The reason for this is the wine club.
The motherfucking wine club.
The wine club is, on its face, an incredible business model. It’s a monthly subscription to a restaurant, which is kind of ingenious if you think about it. You have guests who might only come in once every couple of months, spending $100 per visit, but if they sign up for the wine club they are being charged every month, whether or not they come in at all.
It has its perks, I won’t lie. My own mother is a member and has been since before I started working there. If you’re a guest, it makes sense to sign up, for the most part.
The thing is… we get fired if we don’t get enough sign ups. They go around with a clipboard to people who are under the quota, and tell you that you need to get more. You get called into the office after a month long vacation out of the country just to be told that your numbers are low now, and you need to get sign ups.
They post it on the wall — what each person has gotten, what their invite rate is, and before every single shift you have to write that down on a check-in slip and get it signed by a manager.
They have the highest turnover rate I’ve ever seen in any restaurant I’ve ever worked in, and I have worked in multiple over the past 15 years. This shit is fucking ridiculous.
People have panic attacks just hearing about a manager bring up the wine club. They start to lose hours because managers will take away your shifts, and that means your insurance will be fucked because you aren’t working enough to keep it when your schedule starts getting fucked with.
There was a guy who worked their nearly ten years and he quit over the wine club bullshit. At one point, they took away all his shifts and put them up for others to pick up. Why? He wasn’t getting enough wine club sign-ups, and maybe other people will.
Servers have had their friends, family, and even ex-boyfriend’s and random dudes off tinder come in just to sign up for them, so they don’t get fired. I realize how fucking stupid that sounds, and it is literally because the pressure of the wine club is actually that stupid.
They don’t tell you this in training. They don’t tell you jackshit.
They don’t mention how you have to have a certain invite rate. They don’t explain how it works when it comes to the guest to wine club ratio and how it affects your rate. They tell you so little, because they don’t want to scare anyone off from actually accepting the job. Like I said before, the turnover rate is fucking HIGH. I’m talking every 2-3 weeks a new class of servers is being trained. It’s embarrassing to even say that.
And since they’re so desperate for servers (because of the constant hiring and firing…), NOT mentioning how important the wine club is during training means you don’t get trained on it at all.
I could say a lot more about how it affects the morale of the staff, and I could tell you so many stories that I’ve heard (and even seen myself) about how fucking awful this wine club bullshit is, but I don’t want to doxx myself.
The culture at Cooper’s hawk doesn’t get talked about because everyone is just trying to keep their job, and when they get fired they’re too ashamed to really say it. That’s why I’m saying it right now, because I really hope that my message gets across to someone that might be interested in working here.
I don’t care if it’s just one fucking person that I’m able to steer away from this company because it means one less person that has to go through this bullshit. It’s unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.
They’ve got nearly one million wine club members, and the majority of those were signed up during the time that they were NOT firing people over it. Doesn’t matter now though. If you can’t get people to sign up for the wine club, you’re fucking out.
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And if anyone wants to say “just quit,” it’s not that easy. It looks bad to leave a job after a short time. I have bills to pay, insurance to keep, and working in the restaurant industry during a time where people can’t afford groceries doesn’t make for a very good job market.
This post is just to keep anyone else from making the same mistake I did. I’m not trying to quit, I’m trying to stick it out for a reasonable amount of time, and then find something better.
I am just trying to deter anyone from accepting a job that they can be fired from because of the high standard you are held to, in regard to something that wasn’t ever mentioned.
Being a server at Cooper’s hawk comes down to your wine club invite rate. Doesn’t matter if you’re good at your job or have regular guests. It 100% relies on the wine club, and I’m not even exaggerating.
I am so incredibly ashamed that this is the company I work for.
By the way, the wine is mid and our sommelier doesn’t even drink it.
For 15 years, Athan Zafirov has traveled the vineyards around the world and worked with some of the greatest chefs including Francois Duc and Alan Brown.
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