Restaurant side work is prep work done by the waitstaff or FOH (front-of-house) when they are not serving customers. This kind of work is necessary to keep the restaurant operating smoothly, and can involve various duties depending on the structure, including cleaning, restocking, setting tables, slicing or prepping garnishes, and even assembling salads.
Not that in any restaurant, various duties sometimes assigned to the waitstaff may be performed by a dedicated bussing staff. The duties of the bus staff would not be considered “side work.”
Common Side Work Examples
Side work in a restaurant is often defined by the time of day or shift. The tasks required of the staff who are opening the restaurant will be quite different from the duties of the closing shift. Likewise, the continuing duties throughout the day will differ.
Opening Duties:
- Setting tables: Getting tables ready for diners (varies depending on the restaurant).
- Brewing coffee
- Prepping garnishes like lemons and limes for drinks and cocktails
- Filling condiment bottles and caddies on tables
- May include “marrying” Ketchup/Condiments: Combining half-empty bottles to create full ones (though note: some health departments have specific rules about this).
- Refilling napkin dispensers
- Polishing Glassware and Cutlery: Using steam or hot water to remove spots from wine glasses and silverware before the shift starts.
- Ice Management: Filling all server-side ice bins from the main ice machine.
- Tea & Specialty Beverage Prep: Brewing iced tea, preparing “spa water” (lemon/cucumber infusions), and checking soda fountain syrup levels.
Throughout the Day Duties (Running Side Work):
- Wiping down tables/booths (may be done by bus-staff)
- Restocking server stations
- Assembling salads or other simple non-cooked dishes
- Cleaning floors, counters, or any surfaces that need cleaning
- Filling condiment bottles and marrying condiments like ketchup or mustard.
- Linen Management: Folding napkins into specific shapes or rolling silverware into linen/paper sleeves.
- Menu Maintenance: Wiping down sticky laminated menus or removing outdated daily special inserts.
- Bread Station Prep: Cutting baguettes or other bread; prepping butter ramekins/oil dipping sauces.
Don’t 86 the Other Information! This restaurant lingo is so well-known that it has passed into general use. What does “86” mean when it’s used in a restaurant, though?
Read More: What Does 86 Mean in Restaurant Jargon?
Closing Duties
- Breaking Down the Coffee Station: Cleaning the pots, discarding old grounds, and soaking frothing wands, if there is an espresso machine.
- Burning the Ice: Pouring hot water down the server ice bins to melt remaining ice for a deep clean of the bin.
- Floor Maintenance (Detail): Cleaning under the “bases” of tables where crumbs and dust often collect.
- Closing “the Line”: If the server is responsible for a salad or dessert station, this includes wrapping all cold items and wiping down the reach-in coolers.
- Sweeping and mopping floors
- Cleaning restrooms
- Taking out trash
- Closing out registers or POS stations
Excessive Sidework and the Tip Credit Rule
Since waiters are tipped employees, there are Federal Laws about the amount of sidework duties that can be assigned without paying the employee minimum wage.
The tip credit allows restaurant employers to count a portion of a tipped employee’s tips toward meeting minimum wage requirements, enabling them to pay a lower direct cash wage, as in the article Is It True That Waiters Don’t Make Minimum Wage?
Unfortunately, side work can sometimes be exploitative when the waitstaff is required to take on heavier, labor-intensive duties. Therefore, employers can only take a tip credit (paying less than minimum wage) for server sidework if this work directly supports their regular serving duties, which is their tip-producing work. Up until 2024, these sidework rules centered on the 80/20/30 doctrine.” In other words:
- 80% of a waiter’s work must be tip-producing
- Only 20% of their duties should be sidework.
- If any sidework takes longer than 30 minutes to complete, employers must pay full minimum wage for this work.
Update: As of December 17, 2024, the Department of Labor officially withdrew the 80/20/30 Rule in response to a federal court ruling, reinstating the older “Dual Jobs” standard which removes strict time limits for side work as long as the duties are part of your tipped occupation.
Legal Update To the 80/20/30 Rule
The 80/20/30 Rule Has Changed (Post-2024): In August 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down the 80/20/30 Rule, calling it “arbitrary and capricious”. As of December 17, 2024, the Department of Labor officially withdrew the rule and reinstated the older “Dual Jobs” regulation.
The “Dual Jobs” Standard: Instead of tracking exact percentages (like 20% or 30 minutes), the law now focuses on whether the work is part of the tipped occupation or a different occupation entirely. For example, a server can perform side work like cleaning tables (related to the occupation), but they cannot be paid a tipped wage for time spent as a cook or dishwasher (unrelated occupations). This leaves plenty of opportunity for waiters to be exploited with heavy labor without full pay.
The “$30 Rule”: To be legally considered a “tipped employee,” a worker must customarily and regularly receive more than $30 in tips per month.
The “Workweek” Basis: Under the new “Dual Jobs” reinstatement, the determination of whether someone is a “tipped employee” is generally made on a workweek basis. If a server spends an entire workweek performing only non-tipped duties (like a “cleaning week” during a renovation), they must be paid the full minimum wage for all hours that week, regardless of how much they normally make in tips.
State vs. Federal Law: This change primarily affects federal law. Many states (like Maryland or California) still have their own, often stricter, rules regarding side work that may still mirror the 80/20 standard.
