HELP START A COOL SITE FOR RESTAURANT STAFF!

ABOUT THE PROJECT
geniuswaitress.com is an on-line community created by a San Francisco waitress.
The idea is to host a platform for people who work in restaurants (not just waitresses) but really do something else that they may want to promote and present. The site will not be about restaurants or our jobs at them, but about that thing we have going on that we’d rather talk about at our high school reunion. That thing we may not pay our bills with, but that is what we really do.

The goal is for the site to be used for networking, inspiration, browsing. Long term, the business idea from our perspective is to host paid advertisement on the site and charge members a yearly fee to be featured. Since we are in the early stages of building this community, it will be free at all times for the 50 first members.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU
Being featured on the site - meaning you get your own page - could be an easy first step to launching a small business and/or a web site. It could be a place to post articles or essays for students who work their way through school. It could be a way of making your passion heard and seen, a place to refer contacts (favorite regulars who may want to invest in your business?) to.

WHAT WE OFFER
We offer each member a page with unlimited written material, up to four pictures - provided they are relevant - and the opportunity to link (with a link to geniuswaitress.com in return) to your own website if you have one. You can update and change your material as you please in the future.

HOW TO JOIN
Please use the guidelines below (also featured on geniuswaitress.com even though the site is still under construction). Remember that it is free for the first 50 members, after that there will be a small fee.

WE NEED TWO THINGS FROM YOU: A SHORT PROFILE FOR OUR DATABASE (* indicates details we will NOT display on line or share with any one else) AND THE MATERIAL FOR YOUR SUB PAGE.

1. Your profile must include the headings:
Name, Restaurant, City and State/Country, Position at Restaurant, What I really do, *Email address, *Zip Code

2. Your sub page is your own. We will not edit unless content is deemed unsuitable.
Submit your resume or biography. Add up to four pictures. Link to sites, blogs, etc, as long as we receive a reciprocal link. Add any amount of written text. The more content you submit on your sub page, the better our site will be and the more attention you will get. Remember that you can update and edit your site as you go. INCLUDE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION IF YOU WANT IT TO BE DISPLAYED. WE WILL NOT AUTOMATICALLY DISPLAY YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.

3. Post it all in an email and send it to Elin Jensen and Bill Koplitz at admin@geniuswaitress.com

EXAMPLE — MYSELF, FREELANCE WRITER

On my site I would post my resume, 3 different articles that I have published, 3 different outlines for book projects, and a link to my own travel blog, which would in turn have a link to geniuswaitress.com.
I would use my site as a reference for potential clients/editors since I don’t have my own website and am not quite ready to have one yet

Eric Clark
York Grill, NY, NY. 10028
Food Server
Graphic Designer / Illustrator / Writer
Read more about Eric Clark

Name: Lyle Nagatomo

Restaurant: Island Way Grill (former)
City/State/Country: Clearwater, FL (former) San
Francisco, CA USA

Positions: Server/Wine Sales/Host

What I really do: Part time FOH and general
audio/film/media engineer. Theater tech,
musician/audio artist, film
maker/photographer/videographer.
Read more about Lyle Nagamoto

Michael Biesemeyer
Garibaldis on Presidio
Food Server
Student at SFSU
San Francisco, CA
“Hospecologist.”
Read more about Michael Biesemeyer

Ana Pilar Beltran
Garibaldi’s Restaurant
San Francisco, CA. USA 94130
pilar@vilca.com
Silk Flower Artist.
Read more about Ana Pilar Beltran

Cindy Hayward
Garibaldis
San Francisco, CA USA
Server/Host
Massage Therapy & Real Estate Sales
Zip 94107

Read more about Cindy Hayward

Tim S. Wilson
Garibaldi’s on Presidio
San Francisco, California
Bartender/Server
Jazz Punk Drummer/ Photography and related visual imagery
94115

Read more about Tim S. Wilson

Bartenders, waiters and waitresses may have a hard time defending how
they make a living at their high school reunion – that’s right, I
serve people like yourselves for cash and make minimum wage.
But GeniusWaitress knows that there’s a lot more to the story.

More often than not, the person behind the starched apron is a writer
finishing up his first novel, an up-and-coming photographer, an
interior designer starting her own business. Waitstaff and bussers are
law students, psychologists working on a second degree in visual arts,
they are inventors, vintage wine collectors, musicians, amateur real
estate investors browsing through foreclosures before they go to work
at night.

Naturally, a lot of students turn to restaurant jobs when in school.
Some stay through the early stages of a new career. Some realize right
away they need night shifts and tips to support and develop a creative
talent. Some leave their restaurant jobs for a “real” job, maybe as a
teacher, and find themselves missing the cash. They keep a shift or
two. Some work a couple of shifts even though they don’t need to, just
for social reasons. Some turn to the restaurant industry after they
loose their “real” jobs. Some go home and work on a business proposal
for their own restaurant.

GeniusWaitress is a place for restaurant staff to present what it is
they really do. What they would rather do, maybe. What they do during
the day, before going to work at 4.30. What they wish the most
arrogant dinner guests would know they do. What their devoted regulars
already know they do.