Zazie is a restaurant on Cole Street in Cole Valley, San Francisco which specializes in American brunches and Provençal dinners. The restaurant was established in 1992 by Catherine Opoix, and is currently managed by Jennifer Piallat who purchased the restaurant in 2005 and also works as the head chef. Piallat has been given several awards for her methods in running the restaurant and treatment of her employees.
Workers' Rights
Zazie is now known for their treatment of staff members. Zazie strives to give every employee, including part-time, “the most comprehensive benefit program of any non-union restaurant.†Each employee receives full funded health and dental insurance, paid sick leave, paid vacation leave, paid family leave, and a 401(k) with employer match. Zazie also “spearheaded the Tip Free movement.†Tips are no longer expected from customers, instead, 25% of every menu item is given directly to staff as revenue share. Piallat states that getting rid of tips was a way to increase the servers’ pay by 2-3% and those in the kitchen or busing tables received a 30% increase. Servers also receive 11% of their individual sales each day on top of their wages.
In addition to tip fees, Piallat charges an extra dollar to pay for health care for her 32 employees. About one percent of customers have complained about the extra charge. Piallat states said customers are “the one percent we didn’t want to come back anyway."
Zazie employees have the same schedule every week. If they need their shift to be covered, the employee has to find a colleague to cover it. When business is slow, Piallat doesn’t send employees home unless they volunteer to leave. Rather than hurting the business, Piallat feels “her policies have been intrinsic to her restaurant’s success.â€
History
The restaurant was named after the main character in Louis Malle’s film Zazie dans le Métro. Jennifer Piallat started as the General Manager in 2000. After a while, Piallat planned on quitting, but Opoix suggested that she buy the restaurant instead. Piallat bought the restaurant in 2005 and promoted longtime server, Mario Rojas, to General Manager.
Zazie was featured on Check, Please! Bay Area in 2010.
References
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