Swiss Chalet Application

Swiss Chalet Job Opportunities

Swiss Chalet separates the restaurant staff into hourly opportunities and management opportunities. The national restaurant chain needs quality workers from British Columbia to New Foundland. Regardless of experience level, job seekers interested in restaurant work should consider employment with Swiss Chalet. An entry-level job may lead to a more rewarding career, complete with competitive wages and employee rewards.

Swiss Chalet Positions and Salary Info

Swiss Chalet needs to find workers for the following positions:

Host

Hosts and hostesses usually represent the first person customers meet when entering Swiss Chalet. Important qualities for hosts include excellent social skills under pressure, whether from customers or coworkers. The main job for hosts involves:

• Scheduling parties.
• seating customers.
• bringing menus and silverware.
• serving responsibilities.
• Hosts and hostesses at Swiss Chalet restaurants often earn pay rates from $10.00 to $11.00 an hour.

Server

Successful hosts or hostesses normally graduate to server jobs after some time spent with the company. Swiss Chalet servers must work with promptness and respect for the customer. First and foremost, servers ensure a pleasant and comforting dining experience with Swiss Chalet. Waiters and waitresses’ job duties are to:

• Take down drink orders.
• Bring out any appetizers.
• Tell customers about any specials going on.
• Take down all food orders.
• Servers generally make about $10.00 per hour with the restaurant chain, plus tips for good service.

Bartender

Bartenders with Swiss Chalet work in a similar atmosphere as servers. Bartenders must:

• Serve a variety of beer and mixed drinks.
• Be certified to work with Swiss Chalet.
• Possess a wide knowledge of mixology.
• In hourly positions, Swiss Chalet bartenders earn around $9.00 to $10.00 an hour but may accept tips, as well.

Management

Management opportunities with Swiss Chalet normally fall under assistant management and restaurant management. Assistant managers mainly:

• Ensure each employee stays on task throughout the restaurant.
• Take control of the restaurant when lead managers do not work.

While general managers do spend time on the floor, those workers also perform many behind-the-scenes duties. For example, Swiss Chalet restaurant managers:

• Set the work schedule.
• Handle payroll.
• Screen, interview, and hire applicants.
• Most management jobs with Swiss Chalet feature salary options, ranging from $40,000 to $65,000 per year.

Benefits of Working at Swiss Chalet

Parent company Cara Operations Limited currently handles employee benefits with Swiss Chalet. Main job benefits from Swiss Chalet include health and wellness and financial stability. Like many restaurants in the industry, Swiss Chalet generally provides beneficial information during the interview and hiring process. Eligibility requirements for Swiss Chalet may depend on experience, employment status, and more.

Insurance & Savings Packages

Health benefits from Swiss Chalet mainly feature general medical insurance, including vision, dental, and general health coverage. Financial benefits from Swiss Chalet include performance bonuses, employee savings accounts, discounts on meals, and many more. The overall atmosphere for Swiss Chalet features a flexible schedule, allowing workers to take care of their personal lives and commitments outside of work. Some additional work benefits for management associates include paid vacation and some of the same perks as corporate employees.

More About Swiss Chalet

History

The first Swiss Chalet casual dining restaurant opened at 234 Bloor Street in Toronto, Ontario. The restaurant chain quickly started to expand to other Canadian markets, such as Quebec, Alberta, New Brunswick, and British Columbia. As a major Canadian brand, Swiss Chalet allows entrepreneurial candidates to open franchise locations. Swiss Chalet restaurants operate under the supervision of the Cara Corporation of restaurants.

Menu

Swiss Chalet claims fresh ingredients and preparation on the company menu. Chicken dishes stand as some of the more popular products offered by Swiss Chalet. In addition to chicken, Swiss Chalet also features salads, fish, appetizers, sandwiches, and various desserts. For each dinner, customers may choose from multiple sides, such as mashed potatoes, seasoned rice, Canadian poutine, corn, and fresh vegetables, to name a few. Many menu items do have healthy alternatives, as well.

Financial

Cara Operations currently own Swiss Chalet restaurants. Sister companies to Swiss Chalet include Harvey’s, Milestone’s Bar & Grill, Montana’s Cookhouse, Coza Tuscan Grill, and Kelsey’s. Swiss Chalet helps Cara Operations take in more than $1.9 billion in annual revenue. The Cara network features over 40,000 employees in restaurants and corporate atmospheres.

Minimum age to work at Swiss Chalet: 16

Official Site: www.cara.monstermediaworks.ca/sc/

Swiss Chalet Employee Interviews

Video Transcript

Interviewer:
Please describe your job title and primary duties.

Swiss Chalet Takeout Associate:
So at Swiss Chalet I was a takeout girl. I don’t know if you guys really are familiar with the terms in the store, so take out was basically when someone orders food, we would package it in the back. And so someone’s on the drive-thru, hey, we have to be able to order for like a quarter chicken with fries, we have to put it all together and bring it to the customer before they get to the front window. That’s the briefest description I can give you of the job.

Interviewer:
What was the work environment like?

Swiss Chalet Takeout Associate:
It’s fun, but it’s very, very fast-paced because there’s three different parts that you have to cater to. You have to cater to delivery, takeout and drive-thru. So you have to be able to work very, very quickly and efficiently.

Interviewer:
How would you describe the application and interview process?

Swiss Chalet Takeout Associate:
I don’t think I applied online. I went into the store and I dropped off my resume and I gave them a call and I was like, “Hey, did you guys see my resume? This is just a follow-up as to not what your decision is but as to my status of the application.” And then they called me in for an interview. It was by myself, it wasn’t a group interview. And I went to the interview with the manager and they said, “Okay, we’re going to either call you back for a second interview or to put you through to the store owner.” And when they called me back, I got the job. So they said, “We’re going to start you for training on such and such a day.”

Interviewer:
What questions did the interviewer ask during the job interview?

Swiss Chalet Takeout Associate:
They are mostly concerned with customer service. I would say because it’s such a fast-paced job. “So if a customer is not satisfied, what would you do?” And a restaurant is kind of different than in a clothing store, because they’re like, “If the guest is not satisfied, then you can offer them $10 off their next meal or a $10 reimbursement from the next time they come in to accommodate for what they were unhappy about when the time they came in before.”

Interviewer:
What set you apart from other candidates?

Swiss Chalet Takeout Associate:
Once again, just very energetic, to reiterate that I was a quick learner because it’s such a fast-paced environment. Fast food in general you have to be on your toes and not everyone’s going to be as nice to you as if you’re in a clothing store. People want their food, they’re hungry on a Friday night, they want their chicken to go. You just have to be very quick and reiterate to them like, “Hey, I’m a really quick learner, I can adapt very quickly, I like new challenges.” So those key terms are what sets you aside from everybody else?

Interviewer:
What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?

Swiss Chalet Takeout Associate:
I would tell them it’s a very good job. You get discounts at Harvey’s, you get discounts at Swiss Chalet. I would tell them to try their best to be very quick-paced. If you don’t understand something, ask questions because that person might come back to you and be like, hey, and you might be the reason that they’re giving us all these $10 reimbursements for their chicken. So if you don’t understand, just ask again, “Hey, can you show me this again? Or I don’t understand this quite yet. Can you put me in another station until I get comfortable with this?” And they’ll be more than happy to help you because they’d rather that you understand the process then you go in there and you don’t know what you’re doing, and then it looks bad on your part, it looks bad on the company’s part. So I would just ask questions and work to the best of your ability.

Video Transcript

Interviewer:
Please describe your job title and primary duties.

Swiss Chalet Dishwasher:
I started off as a dishwasher. And I worked myself up to second-line cook where I would prep the chicken, like the rotisserie chicken. I would spice it. I’d prep it, the fries. But I wasn’t doing the gourmet dinners. So, more in-depth foods, the chefs would actually deal with, I just dealt with that type of stuff. And I would always alternate back and forth from dishwashing and helping out with the rest of the kitchen.

Interviewer:
What was the work environment like?

Swiss Chalet Dishwasher:
When I started, you start at the bottom of the chain. So, all the unwanted jobs that you don’t want to do, you have to do, basically. So the dishwashing, you would be tossed probably like 50 plates at once to clean on Sundays, Saturday nights. But the working environment, it was fun at times. At other times it was more intense because you have to actually focus on your task and get it done because there’s always customers, there’s always a flow of customers at Swiss Chalet.

Interviewer:
How would you describe the application and interview process?

Swiss Chalet Dishwasher:
I remember I was put through a group interview. First I did an interview over the phone. And then they told me they would call me back and tell me if I was going to go through with the second interview. The second interview was a group interview to see how you work, how you communicate and how you work with others in the team setting. And yeah, that’s pretty much how it was. And then they called me a week later, told me I was hired.

Interviewer:
What questions did the interviewer ask during the job interview?

Swiss Chalet Dishwasher:
It was more, what would you do, type of questions. So what would you do if you saw a colleague or coworker of yours eating in the back? What would you do if a customer wanted to replace an order, which, let’s say, was a more complicated order to make? It was just more of, what would you do, if you caught someone stealing, if customers were having issues with the food, if customers were having issues with each other? So it was just simple type of questions like that.

Interviewer:
What set you apart from other candidates?

Swiss Chalet Dishwasher:
Being enthusiastic. Being able to, how am I going to say this? Other people would come in with being shy, or quiet, or feeding off other people’s answers. I was the one giving those answers, you know what I mean? The interviewer would say something, and I’d already have an answer for it. I was proactive. It’s good to be proactive. I don’t think you want to be on time, definitely. Probably 15, 20 minutes early, because when they see that, they’re like, “Okay, this person is serious.”

Interviewer:
What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?

Swiss Chalet Dishwasher:
Apply and hope for the best. And always have a positive attitude when you apply, because you can go very far with it, especially at Swiss chalet.

Interviewer:
Please describe your job title and primary duties.

Swiss Chalet Takeout Server:
Especially my duty was takeout. So what that was is if a customer didn’t want to stay in and eat, they will order it either through drive-through or they’ll come in and just take it out to go. Basically, that was my duty. So it was either I was on cash or I was at the back getting food. My duties will switch every shift. So one shift I’ll be at cash, punching in the order, or I’ll be that back, packaging the food.

Interviewer:
How would you describe the application and interview process?

Swiss Chalet Takeout Server:
That job was a job fair. So I went in and I had a short interview. And from there they just called me in. They just called me. They didn’t call me in for a second interview.

Interviewer:
What questions did the interviewer ask during the job interview?

Swiss Chalet Takeout Server:
They asked if I ever worked in the food industry before, which I had. They asked me what kind of skills I could bring to the table, what I could do differently.

Interviewer:
What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?

Swiss Chalet Takeout Server:
The advice I’ll give them is that they need to be a person that’s organized, because working at Swiss Chalet, if you’re working at takeout, you had to know what comes first. You can’t give them their food. You have to give them their drink first. And then their food will come after. So they’re not waiting. You can’t give one or the other, they have to be in order basically. So you have to be a person that’s organized, confident and is willing to try new things.