1. Running head: Effects of HR Trends on Contemporary Southern Restaurants
Effects of HR Trends on Contemporary Southern Restaurants:
Vic’s on the River
Shanequa Williams
Bellevue University

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Abstract
Contemporary southern restaurants tend to have a unique structure compared to corporations or
small businesses, especially in the southeast, and this paper provides a general insight as to how
such companies can utilize trends to keep up with the workforce. This paper explains the effects
of human resource (HR) trends on a contemporary southern restaurant in Savannah, Georgia
called Vic’s on the River. It enlightens readers on how privately owned southern restaurants are
managed by using Vic’s on the River (a top rated restaurant in the area) as a primary example to
explain the management structure, rules, processes and guidelines most restaurants follow. The
paper then examines the structure of Vic’s and compares that to upcoming and current HR trends
to see which trends are more significant at impacting the company’s structure and how each
trend can be used as a guiding tool to better the company. This paper gives an overall impression
on how geographical location and type of business affects managerial and human resource
processes.
Keywords: restaurant, human resource, trends, management

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Effects of HR Trends on Contemporary Southern Restaurants:
Vic’s on the River
Contemporary southern restaurants are in abundance in the Savannah, Georgia area aka
“The Hostess City”. Naturally southern food is a staple in Savannah, Georgia because of its
geographical location and attracts many tourists from all over the world. But behind Savannah’s
southern appeal of its contemporary restaurants lies a very intricate management system that
relies too heavily on autocratic managerial styles and internal practices. Contemporary southern
restaurants tend to be privately owned which leads to unique practices within the industry and
unclear guidelines for its employees. Vic’s on the River, a top rated southern restaurant within
Savannah, is an example of these unique practices. Vic’s, like many of the southern restaurants,
can learn from the human resource trends that will affect them to restructure its method of
management. But there are also some trends that will not have an effect on Vic’s in which the
restaurant should take into account as well.
The Structure of Vic’s on The River
Vic’s on the River is an establishment that was formed in 2004 and founded by Dr. Irving
Victor and William Hall. These owners hired our General Manger Sean Dylan to guide the team
of 150 employees. Beneath Sean Dylan are the head chef, two event managers, three shift
managers and one assistant manager. The event managers are in charge of the banquet servers
who provide service for special events i.e weddings, business parties, and private functions in the
private event rooms. The shift managers and assistant manager are in charge of the servers and
hosts who maintain the main dining area. The head chef is in charge of all of the kitchen staff.
Each of the managers has their own way of managing and there is no set structure for how to
manage employees as long as the job gets done.

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In terms of employees, Front of the House staff (servers, bartenders, and hostesses)
would succeed Back of the House Staff (server assistants, food runners, cooks, prep team.
Recruitment
Vic’s recruits its employees via paper application and referrals. It does not do outsourcing from
any online websites and relies on in-person impressions instead. They only hire when the season
is not slow and support what they call an “old school method” of hiring individuals by
professional appearance and support from existing coworkers. A majority of the hiring pool
appears to be aged 20-27 and the managers tend to like hiring younger people because they feel
it is easy to make them subordinates as they are eager to learn and have a huge supply of young
adults to choose from since Savannah, Georgia has four colleges in the area.
Training and Development. Training and development varies per employee. It is all the
same in the beginning with one individual who has more experience in the field to guide the new
employee, but from there it varies. For instance, servers receive the most training and
development. They receive training on all of the food and beverage products from both managers
and other servers and have daily meetings discussing any changes made to the products. The
servers also are tested on their knowledge of all the products bi-weekly. The hosts, server
assistants, and food runners on the other hand simply just do their job and receive no further
training. Their jobs are viewed as simplistic and upper management does not believe employees
within these fields need any further knowledge unless there is an expansion or an onboarding of
many employees that need training. The kitchen staff’s training and development is unknown to
front of the house employees as the head chef hardly communicates any development they do
with the kitchen staff to any other staff besides the general manager.

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Compensation and Benefits. Similar to how training varies, the compensation does as
well. Many within the industry state that servers make the most because their earning potential is
unlimited since they make their wages based on tips. Their base pay is $2.13 an hour and the
remainder is how much the servers make in tips a night. Banquet servers who work during
special events make around $5.00 an hour and also have unlimited earning potential with their
tips. Hosts in the main dining area make $9.50 an hour and hosts on river street who do
advertising for the company make $10.50-$12.00 an hour. Server assistants and bar backs make
around $7.50-$8.00 an hour and receive tips for helping the servers. Bartenders make $5.00 an
hour like servers and make most of their wages in tips.
Even though the pay may differ, all of the employees both part time and full time receive
the same benefits. Employees are allowed to enroll in the health insurance plan that is only
offered annually to combat other insurers who may have higher health costs. Employees also
have flexible scheduling, emergency leave days, and the chance to be promoted from within.
Significant HR Trends and Their Impact on the Structure. Some significant human
resource trends that may affect Vic’s and similar restaurants are the continuing high cost of
employer health insurance, a shortage of skilled workers, and a threat of the dip back into the
recession. The continuing high cost of employer health care definitely will have an impact
because Vic’s is trying to compete with every other market and help employees comply with the
Affordable Care Act which mandates that health insurance is necessary to avoid penalty taxes to
tax returns. The economic theory states that if workers who have these benefits actually value
them, then they will suffer the garnishing of their wages for the sake of health care. The results
of this theory, as suggested by NBER researchers Katherine Baicker and Amitabh Chandra, can
lead to more unemployment and the hiring of more part time workers since part time employees

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usually receive no benefits (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2016). This can allow Vic’s
to realize that its wages are low in comparison with premiums and seek out ways to improve pay
for all employees so they do not have to rely on disposable part time employees who may not
want benefits. The shortage of skilled workers ties in with the disposable part time employees
because in the restaurant industry itself, workers come and go.
Vic’s like many of the restaurants in the areas, gains its employees from surrounding
colleges who are simply there as a passage of time until they graduate and progress into a career
that is more relative to their field. The lack of skilled workers is common in the restaurant
industry. Matthew Sommenshein (2015) states that,” Restaurants around the country are
experiencing major labor shortages, especially in the highest paying and lowest paying positions.
Managers and owners face real difficulties staffing their restaurants because of a lack of qualified
workers, the demand for higher wages and increased health insurance cost,” Sommernshein
suggests that restaurants like Vic’s should utilize training to create a more fun and appealing
team environment, utilizing more technology to attract skilled workers and assist with customer
orders, and giving employees the tools they need to work smarter not hard.
The threat of a dip back into the recession is a trend that definitely stays in the
subconscious of the management at Vic’s. The management is always prepared for the worst and
they take precautionary measures everyday just in case an economic downfall was to occur.
Restaurants especially in Savannah, have a habit of not hiring during the slow seasons of the year
(November-February) unless they have a shortage of staff due to a high turnover rate. This
allows them to save money by cutting labor costs. When the recession hits a restaurant,
especially when slow season comes around, an employees’ wages suffer. Eating out can be seen
as a luxury and when consumers are tight on money they tend to avoid such luxuries. Volha Ban

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(2014) correlates that customer preferences usually change around an economic downturn.
Typically, guests dine at home more than going out to high end restaurants. This reduces the
amount of customers and reduces the amount of sales thus lowering wages of employees.
Insignificant HR Trends and Their Impact. Vic’s is not affected by the trend of the large
number of baby boomers leaving the workforce. As previously mentioned the restaurant is
composed of young adults and college students pulled from the surrounding environment. Vic’s
and other similar restaurants could learn from this by hiring older employees and retaining the
more skilled employees who have been around for decades. The decline in employee’s
retirements savings is another one. Vic’s and others in the industry typically do not provide its
workers with any retirement plans. Instead, they off health insurance only and do not provide
other benefits. This dissuades many employees from working for a long period of time because
of the lack of benefits. Vic’s can implement this and market it to employees to encourage longer
duration with the company. Lastly the lack of science, technology, and STEM graduates in the
U.S compared with other countries does not affect Vic’s on the River. While the area is
surrounded by graduates in the field, Vic’s does not utilize these graduates because of how small
the company is. Vic’s focuses on experience rather than education and a STEM graduate would
be seen as overqualified with just their degree. Unfortunately, due to the size of the company
STEM graduates cannot be vastly utilized, but if more STEM graduates were to be hired then it
would shape the technological advances our company needs to be up to par and compete with
other similar companies.

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Conclusion
Contemporary southern restaurants in Savannah, Georgia have a lot of restructuring to do
among the current trends that will affect most companies. The lack of a uniform structure and a
volatile market heavily affects it consumer and employee base. The focus should be geared on
retaining employees versus complying with government standards when it comes to benefits and
expanding the horizon when it comes to recruitment. The significant and insignificant trends
have a major impact on the industry and paint a picture of a broken structure that can be vastly
improved upon with just some simple adjustments to make the experience of great food in a
southern town valuable for all.

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References
Ban, V. (2014). Analysis of the Upscale/Fine Dining Sector in the Restaurant Industry.
Retrieved January 27, 2016, from
http://scholarsarchive.jwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=mba_student
The Effect of Rising Health Insurance Premiums on Employment. (2016, January 27).
Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://www.nber.org/bah/spring05/w11160.html
Sommenshein, M. (2015, January 12). The Coming Restaurant Labor Shortage - Gourmet
Marketing. Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://www.gourmetmarketing.net/coming-
restaurant-labor-shortage/

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