Category: restaurant

The Minimum Wage Debate

switzcafeshop

February 2018

  We’ve all read the news stories lately which debate the minimum wage laws for restaurant servers.  It’s an interesting subject with many layers and even more points of view.  Some people say all workers should be paid along the same scale.  Others say that a low base rate with tipping added creates an incentive for the server to be attentive to their customers, smile and work hard to make customers happy.

   In NC the minimum wage for servers right now is $2.13 hour.  All servers however, must be guaranteed the minimum wage that other workers receive which is $7.25 hr.  So at days end, tips should be counted and reported to the restaurant owner.  If a servers hourly wage that day is less than the $7.25 an hour, the owner must make up the difference.   So everyone in NC is guaranteed a basic minimum wage of $7.25 hour – even servers.

Taking into account the real cost of living in NC the real life minimum wages appear below.  This information comes from the group livingwage.org. 

The living wage shown is the hourly rate that an individual must earn to support their family, if they are the sole provider and are working full-time (2080 hours per year). All values are per adult in a family unless otherwise noted. The state minimum wage is the same for all individuals, regardless of how many dependents they may have. The poverty rate is typically quoted as gross annual income. We have converted it to an hourly wage for the sake of comparison.

Hourly Wages

1 Adult

1 Adult 1 Child

1 Adult 2 Children

1 Adult 3 Children

2 Adults (1 Working)

2 Adults (1 Working) 1 Child

2 Adults (1 Working) 2 Children

2 Adults (1 Working) 3 Children

2 Adults (1 Working Part Time) 1 Child*

2 Adults

2 Adults 1 Child

2 Adults 2 Children

2 Adults 3 Children

Living Wage

$11.36

$23.80

$27.25

$34.16

$18.71

$21.55

$24.57

$27.15

$16.59

$9.35

$12.77

$15.20

$17.39

Poverty Wage

$5.00

$7.00

$9.00

$11.00

$7.00

$9.00

$11.00

$13.00

$3.00

$4.00

$5.00

$6.00

Minimum Wage

$7.25

$7.25

$7.25

$7.25

$7.25

$7.25

$7.25

$7.25

$7.25

$7.25

$7.25

$7.25

Lora and I struggle with this often.  Can our menu afford to pay $27.25 an hour?  No.  Not at our price range.  However, our servers do make that much on average.  Let me repeat that…our servers make a  good real living wage here.  Our regular hourly wage kitchen & store workers do not.  We do strive to pay above $11.00 or more per hour though.  Is it enough?  It’s doubtful.   Not for seasonal employment.

  President Trump is floating the idea that business owners should collect all tips and pay their people whatever they want above minimum wage.  A laughable idea on so many levels. 

  I can imagine that there is a different argument for every other restaurant.  An inexpensive burger place, a buffet restaurant, a deli with a walk up counter….it’s all different. 

  We work side by side with our employees.  We sweat, get tired, get angry and joke with them all together.  This is a poor community for sure.  Hospitality is all that is left here but it is a growing industry and we are hopeful things will improve here for everyone.  For us, being responsible to those we entrust with our business….that’s a paramount issue.  We do our best to pay a decent wage and seek out the best workers.  Our hope for the future is that all businesses, corporations and employers begin to understand that they have a moral obligation to treat workers fairly. 

Sunday Drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway

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blue ridge parkway restaurant switzerland cafe

Sunday Drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Sundays in my childhood were reserved for Church, family dinners and a drive in the country. Mass was something I endured, dinner was always great but the drive was the highlight of the afternoon. My grandfather always drove a Packard and my Dad loved his Chrysler Fury, which we kids referred to as “The Yacht”. They were huge cars with backseats that held 4 or even more if the youngest ones sat on somebody else’s lap. That would be me.

In the winters we would drive to Ocean Ave and “walk the boards” as they say. The shops were all closed but the Boardwalk was filled with families just like us strolling along . There was usually a guitarist sitting on a bench somewhere and in my memory his melody fills the background along with the ocean roar and the occasional scream from a happy child chasing gulls along the shore.

On other days we would head out to the NJ countryside in search of wildflowers in some field or perhaps a roadside ice cream stand. Mom loved to look at old houses & barns while my Dad loved the yard sales. We kids loved the adventure of finding a tree swing somewhere or a field with horses. Western NJ is filled with horse farms mostly associated with racing. But it’s awesome farm country too. Nothing better than a NJ tomato in the peak of summer, or corn from a roadside stand. They call it the Garden state because it really is.

Memories of Food

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cafe deserts on blue ridge parkwayFood is a big part of any family. The family meal. Favorite dishes from childhood. Even the broken family living on the street has its food traditions. They are formed by economics and personality, of course, but also time and place.As a child I dearly loved my mom’s cooking. She was good at it. So when I became a mother, I made sure to have a sit down meal with my daughters every night. Always 3 colors on the plate, protein, starch and vegetable. Now that my girls have left and have children of their own I am not as diligent with my healthy eating. But Lora and I do love to cook. We love trying new things. We love to serve guests in our little home. Large events are daunting for both of us, but oh how we love to enjoy good food with friends, family and neighbors at home and at the Café.

Lora grew up in a South Carolina low country Inn and Bed & Breakfast. She worked alongside her mom serving up favored dishes and creating special events ranging from weddings to candlelight suppers.

My mother’s kitchen in Neptune was undeniably aqua in the style of the day. Aqua refrigerator, with matching aqua oven, Formica corner table with built in benches clad in white vinyl with those huge brass colored upholstery tacks. I am 4 years old and watching her roll out pie dough on the counter. It is fall and our area always has an abundance of MacIntosh apples this time of year. After topping off the pie she cuts slits in the top and slips a smidge of butter into each hole. With the leftover dough she teaches me how to make small tarts with cinnamon, sugar & butter. This is a strong memory for me. My mother’s kitchen always contained the basics of any meal. Butter, flour, sugar, milk from the nearby dairy, eggs from the nearby chicken farm. It was 1961. Kennedy had not yet been killed. My brothers had not yet left for the war. My father had a job. Things would change soon enough, but for me, this memory is a big building block in the construction of me.

So let me leave you this beautiful January day with some quotes about food from some people I have come to admire.

“ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, BUT A LITTLE CHOCOLATE NOW AND THEN DOESN’T HURT.”Charles Shultz
“WHAT YOU SEE BEFORE YOU IS THE RESULT OF A LIFETIME OF EATING CHOCOLATE.”Katherine Hepburn
“AFTER A GOOD DINNER, ONE CAN FORGIVE ANYONE, EVEN ONES RELATIONS.”Oscar Wilde
“SEIZE THE MOMENT. REMEMBER ALL THOSE WOMEN ON THE TITANIC WHO WAVED OFF THE DESERT CART.”Erma Bombeck
“THE ONLY TIME TO EAT DIET FOOD IS WHILE YOU ARE WAITING FOR THE STEAK TO COOK.”Julia Child
“WE MUST HAVE PIE. STRESS CANNOT EXIST IN THE PRESENCE OF PIE.”David Mamet, Boston Marriage

How do you critique barbecue?

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What do you look for in a good barbecue restaurant? I’ve heard people rave about a place because the portions were “huge” or because a famous person once enjoyed a meal there. Barbecue books are published in which the writer raves endlessly about the metal chair and folding table atmosphere. Some aficionados wax endlessly about how “real” barbecue is always enjoyed with sweet tea and others insist upon enjoying theirs with a cold beer.

Pork barbecue is a honored tradition in the south. According to the North Carolina Barbecue Society, our state is the “Cradle of Cue”. North Carolinians are passionate about their barbecue. But there are two different styles here. Easterners will cook the entire pig, chop it fine, and generously douse it with a vinegar-based sauce. Here in Western North Carolina, barbecue often means cooking meaty pork shoulders, chopping it a little coarser, then serve it with a darker, sweeter tomato-based sauce.

Lora and I kind of fell on the idea of adding barbecue to our menu. The Café has always been known for fresh garden fare, homemade soups and such. But the opportunity was there and we enjoyed playing with different methods, meats and ingredients.

Our “smoker” at the café is actually a wood fired grill with a traditional chimney and damper. After creating a fire in the early morning we bank the hickory coals and pull the damper about three quarters of the way down. This makes the fire hotter & creates smoke in the grill box above the fire pit. It’s a quiet morning ritual during which I have an opportunity to talk with my neighbors out for their morning walk or just simply sip coffee and read last month’s paper piled up in the corner awaiting its use in the next fire. We smoke 20 pork butts every other day. First they are rubbed with a mixture of 12 herbs and spices, then smoked over well seasoned hickory. Lora’s Texas influence has always included a little kick of heat in many of her recipes and this rub is no exception.

We keep the smoker temp at around 200 degrees for 10-12 hours until the meat falls off the bone. To me, the pork is delicious at this stage and would go great in a roasted corn tortilla with a good salsa fresca or just enjoyed by itself.

It’s usually very late in the day when we take the pork off the smoker, so we cool it down and the next day the meat is hand pulled and then slowly simmered in our vinegar and tomato ”que” sauce.

So we have a 2 day, labor intensive process. Our BBQ is always fresh, never frozen, which makes planning to keep enough on hand can be a little tricky.

I know that most Chefs do not dream of becoming a BBQ expert and Lora was no exception. However, we both enjoy pleasing people with a meal that is fresh and familiar, a dish that can be made better with a little hard work, patience and skill.

The Western North Carolina mountains and the Asheville area in general have become an amazing place for good food. The average Mountain traveler however is looking for comfort and an experience that is both delicious and authentic. I hope we bring that flavor to Little Switzerland. I think this barbecue meets those standards.