The Six-Figure Server: How to Maximize your Money and Make a Killing in the Service Industry

By Justin Gosnell

Smart, funny, and straight to the point, The Six-Figure Server is a primer on how to get out of the weeds, tap into a six-figure headspace, skyrocket your service skills, and make YOU the server everyone asks for by name.

A $25K server treats their work like a gig; a $100K server treats it like a great job.

After hustling for years at a packed turn-and-burn beachside restaurant in a popular tourist town, I took a good, hard look at my serving skills and faced the truth: I wasn't great at my job. Worse, by always angling to be the first cut and skipping tables to extend my breaks, I had left thousands of dollars on the table every year. That realization led to a six-figure transformation to my serving career. And now I'm sharing the strategies, tools, and mindset you can use to embark on your own six-figure path--all while keeping your body, mind, and soul intact (and paying your taxes on time).

Drawing from my decades in the business, I offer a fun, fresh, and occasionally unconventional collection of tricks, tips, and techniques for tapping into your six-figure potential and making way more money than you are now. I'll show you how to:

 

● Work out exactly what you need to do to earn $100K this year.
● Work out exactly what you need to do to earn $100K this year.
● Make sure your guests walk away feeling impressed (and happy to leave a 30% tip).
● Become valuable as f*ck to your boss, your coworkers, and everyone else on the team.
● Get the shifts you want by taking the shifts you think you don't want.
● Upsell your tables without feeling like you're selling your soul.
● Take advantage of seasonal shifts, gamedays, and holidays--including giving up everyone's favorite date night to earn an extra $900.

 

If you're ready to level up, become the MVP of your staff, and add a zero or two to your income, The Six-Figure Server will show you the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Justin Gosnell
• Release date: Jun 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201732547

Justin Gosnell

Maryland-based musician, long-time bartender, and bestselling author Justin W. Gosnell has spent most of his adult life in the music industry, all the while tending bar to keep the bills paid.   Over the years, traversing the bar scene has been like second nature to Justin — learning about the serving industry and its patrons as he went. One random night at work during the “music off-season”, Justin had an epiphany. As he begrudgingly served another shot of Fireball to a customer who had no idea what the word “tab” even meant, he realized it wasn’t their fault. After all, where does one learn everything there is to know about how to navigate the bar experience? At that moment, Justin’s idea for his first book – “21 and Up: The Ultimate, Practical, No-B.S. Guide for Entering the World of Bar Life” – was born.  Almost 4 years later, that idea came to fruition, with his second book – “The Six-Figure Server: How to Maximize Your Money and Make A Killing in the Service Industry” – following shortly after. Steeped in his unique first-hand experiences in the serving industry, Justin distills valuable insider insights into no-B.S., easy-to-digest guides that get readers results — whether that means transforming into a smooth-operating, smart-ordering bar whiz from the moment they turn 21 or skyrocketing their $25k serving gig to a $100k career. When he’s not writing or tending bar, Justin channels his energy into releasing music with his band, “Vestascension”, or frequently working with the Frederick-based charity rock band “Till The Days End”. His passion for music has taken him to 48 states and around 40 countries, working with many notable artists along the way. If you’re looking to level up your bar scene savvy or transcend your measly server’s salary, then definitely grab a copy of Justin’s bestselling books “21 and Up” and “The Six-Figure Server” today.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 by Justin Gosnell

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Cover Layout by David Provolo

Cover Illustrations by Yvette Gilbert

Content Assistance and Profound Guidance by Ann Maynard

Proofreading by Arella Byrn, Sam Wright, Ann Maynard, and Michael Fedison

Internal Layout by David Provolo

Internal Illustrations by Yvette Gilbert

Additional Financial Wisdom by Chris Baby Bird Owens

ISBN: 9798684484308

All tip images you see throughout this book are 100% real tips I earned during the creation of the first draft of this book.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Preface: $100K a Year Serving?

Introduction: The $25K Server Versus the $100K Server

Chapter 1: Every Dollar Stacks the Same

Chapter 2: The Six-Figure Headspace

Chapter 3: Knowledge = Money

Chapter 4: Be Professional AF

Chapter 5: Be Valuable AF

Chapter 6: Create Regulars

Chapter 7: Invest in Your Career (Uplevel)

Chapter 8: $100K and Beyond: Tips and Tricks to Stack

Chapter 9: Keep Your Money

Chapter 10: Stay Healthy in The Madness

Epilogue

PREFACE: $100K A YEAR SERVING?

OK, right off the bat, let’s talk about this figure. Is it possible to earn 100K a year serving? Yes. Absolutely. 100%. The bigger question is, why do so many people think that it’s not?

I believe the answer is the widely shared (and misguided) perception of the service industry. So many people view a job in the service industry as low-level, low-status work—merely a stepping-stone to something else, a temporary gig you do on the way to a real job. Just think of how many people you know that would likely scoff at someone finishing up their senior year of high school with plans to become a full-time career server afterward. We already see the effects this mindset of being beneath certain work has had in so many other blue-collar industries. There’s an immense shortage of electricians, mechanics, HVAC technicians, and plumbers—and there has been for years. These are all jobs where you can eventually hit that 100K a year mark, yet people look down on it; they often say that "you need to get a real job."

If you view serving through that lens, then you’re already dismissive of all that it could offer you; you’re carrying a 25K mindset instead of a 100K one. The first thing you need to be a 100K server is to believe that you can be a 100K server. I’d be lying if I told you I always had this mindset. It took quite a bit of time and some tough life lessons for me to finally see the light.

MY STORY

When I look back on my life now, it’s hard to imagine it happening any other way. I never had a plan, other than doing music full-time. I knew school wasn’t for me . . . I just didn’t know what was. And so, at age 14, I started in the restaurant industry as a dishwasher at Whistlers Restaurant in St. Albans, Vermont. I was immediately transfixed. The people I met working there were unlike anyone else I’d ever met, from the hotheaded owner with a good heart, to the chefs with the quality weed and endless sexual innuendos, to the frantic servers—ranging from the 60-year-old career server with her hair in a tight bun and a pen stuck in it, chomping away on some gum, to fresh teenagers working their first job who had no clue what they were doing, squabbling over tables. I couldn’t get past the little bonuses I received—getting all the french fries and bacon I could eat, plus any other extra food for free, just blew my 14-year-old mind. I smoked a lot of weed back then, so having an endless supply of greasy food, a paycheck to buy stuff I wanted with, and being allowed to have a little boom box by my station where I could blast the music of my choice seemed like heaven.

As the years passed, I took things more seriously and worked my way up the ladder, bouncing from place to place, from shift supervisor at McDonald’s to assistant manager at a Taco Bell, and working my way up to becoming the general manager of a Little Caesars in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. I was 19 years old and had my own store, my first new car, and a brand-new three-bedroom townhouse I was renting on my own. This was the peak. I had made it. I was making 32K a year, pulling in a nice $854 every two weeks after taxes. Things seemed the best they could possibly get for me, financially . . . and then one day, a random customer walked into the shop and changed my life.

His name was Jason and he owned a restaurant in the downtown tourist area of Rehoboth Beach. He told me he’d been in to get pizza a few times and that he’d seen me busting my ass; he told me I could make a killing as a server at his restaurant. Week after week, he’d come in with the same spiel and I would just laugh off his offers—I mean, I was a general manager! Why would I step backward to be a server when I was living the high life in my Hot & Ready pizza castle?! Jason was persistent, though, and one day he brought me a handwritten letter and then turned around and left.

After my shift that night, I went home and read it. In this letter, Jason broke it all down for me. His whole operation consisted of a kitchen and a handful of tables for guests. He did all the cooking and dishes and just needed one or two servers to make the place run, which he hoped would be me. He would hold down the back and I would hold down the front. The kicker was that the place was only open for breakfast and lunch, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week, and—this was where he hooked me—he told me he believed I could make at least $1,500 a week, and if I didn’t make at least $1,000, he’d pay me out of pocket to cover the difference.

Jason told me he knew I put in all kinds of extra hours for no extra pay—and he wasn’t wrong. I was required at the time to work 48 hours a week, but as the GM, any time an employee called out, guess who had to work? That’s right, me. And this was a frequent occurrence. I didn’t have the okay from Corporate to pay people anything decent and it was a bustling beach town where there were always parties and events going on, so people were sick almost daily. I didn’t think much about it beforehand, but after reading his letter I, for the first time, broke down the number of hours I was working as a GM and calculated my real hourly rate: $5–$6 an hour. Looking at it from this new perspective, the $427 a week I was pulling in seemed like nothing. As you can guess, the opportunity to at the very least double that amount working way fewer hours, including no nights or weekends, was something that I had to take a shot at. The next day, I turned in my two weeks’ notice and set out for life as a server.

WHAT’S YOUR GOAL?

This is a serious question. You’ve heard my story; now it’s time to take a hard look at yours and ask yourself what you want to gain out of your job as a server. If you’re reading this book right now, I’d like to think that there’s only one answer: YOU want to hit 100K a year serving. You can, you will, and I will show you how.

INTRODUCTION: THE $25K SERVER VERSUS THE $100K SERVER

Iwas just a few months into my new role, and life as a server was good! Because I was in a busy tourist area, guests would pack themselves into the restaurant to eat, and I made great money from sheer volume alone. I was young and making a boatload of cash and, in my mind, nothing needed improvement. It wasn’t until I had gained way more experience that I took a hard look at the core of my serving skills, or lack thereof, and realized I wasn’t that great at my job. Looking back now, all I see is wasted potential. I used to be someone who would take long breaks in the middle of the day, buy food at another restaurant close by on my break, avoid taking to-go orders, give up tables once I was over it for the day, and did little or nothing to upsell specials or add-ons. My three steps of service were: 1. Hi, I’m Justin, and I’ll be taking care of you. What can I get for you guys to drink today? 2. Are you guys ready to order? 3. Is there anything else I can get for you? No? [Drops check.]

I had the mindset of a 25K-a-year server—just doing the minimum to get by. Not until many years later did I have what I like to call my six-figure awakening. This only happened because, eventually, I decided I wanted a life change, which resulted in my move away from the tourist trap I was living in. This led me to serve at restaurants that weren’t in areas where money and customers just dumped in, regardless of the quality of service. It was a bit of a shock as I slowly realized that I would have to actually develop skills to make the kind of money I wanted to make. It took a lot of time, effort, trial and error, and job changes before I finally hit that glorious 100K-a-year mark, and somewhere along the way I had a depressing realization: I left so much money on the table all those years I spent just doing the minimum.

This is something I want you to understand: You’re already there at the job, so why not make the most money possible?! Sure, some things require more time: staying until close, picking up shifts, and so on. But so many of the techniques I will teach you in this book don’t. Many come down to just your dialogue with guests, replacing one phrase with a betterone, offering this specific option instead of the normal one you rely on. Same exact amount of time at the job, same exact amount of physical effort—the big change is merely a mental one. This is the biggest transition you must make to enter the true mindset of a six-figure server.

What are some other hallmarks of a six-figure server?

I’ve gathered the best ones for you right here.

A 100K SERVER ALWAYS:

Checks in with the host stand immediately upon arrival. A 100K server wastes no time letting the host know that they have arrived and are ready to work. A 25K server comes in, has coffee first, and chats with other servers/managers. Then they find out they got sat and another server has already picked up the table. In this situation, the reason from the host stand is almost always, Oh sorry, we didn’t know you were here yet. A 100K server never hears that phrase uttered—if they want to have coffee and mingle a bit first, they arrive early and will let the hosts know that they’re ready to go when needed.

Wants to (and is ready to) be sat at all times. A 100K server won’t tell the host stand they aren’t ready yet. They don’t give up the first few tables, only to start taking them once the manager forces it on them. They don’t want to be the first cut so they can leave early or go get a drink at the bar. They don’t want an extended break so they can sit down and have a nice leisurely meal. They’re always ready and waiting for an opportunity to make money.

Comes to work in a clean uniform. They would never show up with crusted-over mustard on their apron or a filthy shirt—that’s just gross. A 100K server knows it’s worth it to spend a little more money on a few extra uniforms for their job. That way, they can just wash them all at once and have them ready throughout the week instead of having to stay on top of keeping just one uniform clean all the time. Save yourself the hassle by investing in yourself and your money and get a few extra sets. I go one step further and keep a clean work uniform complete with a backup set of work shoes in the trunk of my car because you never know when a random spill will attempt to derail your day, or when a prime shift will come up for grabs with a very small window attached to pick up the shift and get to work on time.

Comes to work with pens, a writing pad, a wine key, a lighter, and a bank. Most places suggest you bring a $20 bank, and the true hallmark of a 25K server is to not even have that on hand. I always bring a $150 bank, making sure I have plenty of 1s and 5s and a few 20s so I can break a big bill or two, along with a few bucks in coin change. For pens, a 100K server will skip cobbling together a hodgepodge of random mismatched styles and ink colors, instead utilizing a decent quality matching set of click pens that write in black ink.

STAYS. OFF. THEIR. PHONE. Probably the biggest pet peeve of managers, owners, and hardworking employees who actually do their jobs is the 25K server constantly on their phone. Look, I understand that when it’s slow and/or you have a free moment, you may want to pull out your phone and send a few quick texts. In a perfect world, we could all be adults and be mature enough to only check them when all of our other work is actually caught up. Sadly, for the few of us that are responsible, this is the real world, and it’s ruined by all the other people who can’t manage their phone use correctly. When you have a server whose tables have all their plates sitting stacked on top of it, empty glasses that need refills, side work that isn’t getting done (which is extra annoying when it’s side work that’s supplying a necessary item for the rest of the staff, such as ice, bread, or coffee), and they’re just leaning on a counter scrolling mindlessly through their Facebook or Instagram feed—it’s the worst.

People who commit this offense always seem oblivious to how it affects their income, from the lackluster service their tables are getting to the shifts they lose because of their reputation as Texty McTexterson. The bottom line is that your cell phone obsession can sabotage your earning potential in this business, which is something a serious 100K server would never stand by.

Greets their tables within 30–60 seconds with a friendly smile and upbeat attitude. First impressions matter and the energy you bring sets the tone for the entire experience—which means that how you greet your tables can make or break your interaction, and getting it right means more money in the bank. When people are hungry, most of them get tunnel vision, and when they get to their table, time can seem to fly by at 3x the speed while waiting for a server to arrive. This is especially true if they’ve waited a long time to get a table, such as on a Friday or Saturday night. This specific part of the dining experience, along with the wait for