Eggslut founder Alvin Cailan gives his take on hospitality issues during Sydney visit
Cult US burger chain Eggslut founder Alvin Cailan, in Sydney for The Burger Expo, has served up his solution to modern hospitality issues, including wage theft and worker exploitation.
Confidential
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US burger savant Alvin Cailan says his restaurant chain Eggslut is tackling issues of worker exploitation and staff underpayment by changing the service process.
Cailan is in Sydney attending the Sydney Burger Expo at Moore Park, which attracted 5000 burger lovers.
A celebrity in the foodie sphere as a result of Eggslut and his hosting role on TV series The Burger Show, Cailan was the guest of honour and drew huge crowds excited to meet their burger hero.
“We’re really focused on slowly creating a burger culture and that’s what brought me here,” he said.
But Cailan is not just a burger lover, he’s also a business owner.
He said he wanted to change the way restaurants typically operate to create a positive work environment for his workers.
His Eggslut stores operate in a way that gives the customers more responsibility, therefore taking the pressure off workers.
“We’re calling it ‘craft casual’ which is like you can walk up and order food from a counter but it still has a full service effect — having a full service restaurant but keeping it casual in order to control labour,” he told Confidential.
“I think that’s the new movement of food, the customers are a little more interactive with the restaurant as opposed to full service restaurant.
“It’s the culture that is still pretty new, being able to put your glass into the proper place when you’re done and clearing off your own table so the staff can just wipe it down as opposed to completely bussing the table.
“It’s the new style of service that we’re trying to approach.”
Wage theft is a hot topic in Australia at the moment since former MasterChef judge George Calombaris was found guilty of underpaying staff at his restaurants by almost $8 million, which he was ordered to repay in addition to a $200,000 fine.
There have been calls to revolutionise how the hospitality industry functions so workers are treated fairly.
Cailan said he pays workers well so they aren’t so reliant on tipping, in addition to across the board wage increases in the US.
“In general across the board in the US the wages have gone up,” he said.
“There’s also tipping as well but that’s not really emphasised at Eggslut, it’s more service based.
“We pay our employees quite well.”
Originally published as Eggslut founder Alvin Cailan gives his take on hospitality issues during Sydney visit
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