Kyle
While some consider waiting tables stepping stone jobs, there are plenty of career minded people in the field. Perhaps you want a job that doesn’t require a lot of thinking so that you can pay the bills and work on a side startup. Perhaps you actually make really good money waiting tables and so no reason for change. Possibly, you like working with people and feel most comfortable helping customers.
For whatever reason there are thousands of people who are perfectly fine, if not extremely happy, in the service industry. A new Chicago startup, barandwaitstaff.com is going to make it easier for professional service industry folks to find the best service industry jobs. In fact, even though there are thousands of restaurants in every state, the service industry has gone rather unnoticed in the recruitment space.
Barandwaitstaff.com promises to make it easy for anyone looking for work in the service industry to find it, and vice versa.
The startup is led by two brothers Len and Jim Kazmierczak. Both brothers hold history degrees. At one point they had bought a small live music bar in the area. However with the economic downturn it became harder and harder to keep the doors open and eventually closed it down. After closing the business down they decided they reflected on what they could have done differently in their business. Staffing was one of those things. With that Barandwaistaff.com was born.
We got a chance to talk to Len Kazmierczak. Check out the interview below.
What is Barandwaitstaff?
Bar and Wait Staff is a company dedicated to helping the bar and restaurant industry. Our goal is to support businesses in the industry by allowing them to post jobs and search applicants for free. At the same time we have created a network for industry professionals to find work. As the business grows we intend to provide added benefits for both sides of our business.
In layman’s terms, how does it work? (In other words how would you explain it to your grandmother) The site which is 100% free for everyone works in two ways. A business would go to the website www.barandwaitstaff.com and register as an employer. After creating an account using their email, the business can post job opportunities nationwide. The Employer would simply click “manage jobs” on the left side of the screen, click “add job posting” and fill out the form provided. When all the details are filled in the business would click “save” and the job will be posted within 15 minutes. If a business did not want to post a job, but wanted to search through our job seeker profiles they could do that as well. The employer would click on “resume search” in the header of the site. In the “resume search,” screen all of the profiles can been seen with the newest profiles on top. The employer could simply scroll through the profiles and click on the profiles they think will fit their open position or they can use the search capability to search key words. On the right hand side of the screen the employer can limit the number of profiles seen by state, occupation, or education. The employer can save the search by selecting an interval of how frequently they would like an email sent to them with the results of that search. You can receive either daily or weekly updates of your searches. Those looking for jobs on our site can register on our site as a “job seeker.” After registering, the job seeker will click “My Resume” in the upper right hand on the screen. In the resume screen, the job seeker will create a profile similar to a resume and will fill out the specific sections such as personal information, education, work experience and references. The job seeker can post a picture that appears on the top of their resume so that employers can relate a face to the name. The job seekers can also attach an actual resume word document at the bottom of the profile. Once their resume is complete, the job seeker can search for job openings by clicking the “job search” link. The available jobs are listed on this page and are searchable by occupation, state, or zip code. The list of jobs can also be limited by clicking the boxes on the right side of the screen to limit it by job type or state. Job seekers can also create a saved search like that of the employers that will email them the results daily or weekly of their searches.
Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?
The founders are two brothers Len Kazmierczak, 34 of Orland Park and Jim Kazmierczak, 27 of Oak Lawn. Len has a B.A. in history and sociology from the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana and a teaching certificate from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights. Jim has a B.A. in history from St. Xavier University, Chicago and a M.A. in special education. The two brothers decided that they wanted to buy a business together. With the help of his brother, father, and mother they purchased a small live music bar in the southwest suburbs. The business thrived for a while, but the economic downturn had taken a toll on the area and the business. After closing the business, the two brothers reflected on what they could have done differently and what would have helped their business succeed. They developed www.barandwaitstaff.com to provide extra support to businesses. Mainly concerned with staffing, the site and their business also provides solutions and partnerships with other businesses to reduce costs of running a business in the industry.
Where are you based?
We are based out of Orland Park Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in a home office.
What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?
Chicago is really important in the startup scene with a terrific culture of really advertising itself as such, but our attempts to reach out to those in the community have not worked out for us. On occasion we would receive a one line email reply with a “No,” and really no guidance on what to do next. Reaching out to individuals on the boards of some of the incubators also produced no results. Some of the emails we received just promoted startups that they were already involved with. We have been building our brand and site ourselves and networking as much as possible hoping to meet the right person in the scene.
How did you come up with the idea for Barandwaitstaff?
Having had our own staffing problems at our bar/restaurant we really understand how a good staff can make or break your business. Having a small business we had to watch every dollar we spent. We found it hard to spend money on placing an ad to find employees when we knew that $25 ad could produce $100 in profit if we spent it on our product. We also wanted to create a network for business owners and employees to use to network with each other finding solutions to making the industry more profitable. With this site we have already created cost savings partnerships.
How did you come up with the name?
The name actually took a lot of thought even though it’s rather simplistic and gets right to the point. We thought that Bar and Wait Staff encompassed as many of the positions in the industry without being too narrow or broad. We wanted our name to help people understand the nature of the business easily.
What problem does Barandwaitstaff solve?
Barandwaitstaff.com solves several problems in the industry. No longer will a job seeker have to check multiple sites for job openings. They can go to our site as we are building the biggest network of employers in the industry as possible. As a business owner I had job seekers walking in on a daily basis to fill out applications even if I wasn’t necessarily hiring. That’s a lot of wasted effort on everyones part. From the comfort of their own home or using their mobile phone they can search for positions in their area and contact businesses instantly. Business owners, many of which manage the day to day operations have a lot going on. Barandwaitstaff.com pulls together some important resources to save time especially when it comes to finding new employees. Our site is easy to use, the job form is quickly filled out, and you can get a sense of an applicant from their resume without having to set up interviews. Instead the business owner can save the interviews for the candidates they have already felt will fit their business the best. We also have several other initiatives we will be launching after the site grows, but we are going to keep those a secret. We promise that what we are going to do will change both the way people are hired in the bar and restaurant industry and in society in general.
What’s your secret sauce?
Other than a passion for helping businesses save time and money while providing a service to the general public and job seekers, we can’t really provide too much more info. After all, what good is a secret sauce if it’s not secret. When our secret is out, the industry will know and so will everyone else.
Are you bootstrapped or funded?
We are bootstrapped and I think that really feeds into our creativity. I’m sure there are pros to having all the resources you need at your finger tips, but I think it would have kept us from being who we are as a business. Our background fits this model for now and not to say that we would not want to be funded, but it has been fun to grow a business out of nothing.
What is your goto market strategy?
Our goto market strategy is simplistic. We have tested our business model, seen its success, and are now meeting with, calling, and connecting with bars and restaurants across the nation. Emails are integral to us saving time and contacting as many businesses as possible since we are doing the work alone. Business owners are hard to reach because everyone has something to sell them. The battle we fight is getting hold of the decision maker and having them use our free service. Once we overcome the obstacle of being unknown in the industry we will have more success talking with business owners. We do have interns starting in mid December who will help us connect with the industry owners. It’s not about selling our product, it is free, it’s about showing business owners how we can help them. Connecting with the job seekers is fairly easy because they are everywhere. But once again, we are looking to create a network of industry professionals so it does not matter if you have a job already, we still have something to offer.
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome in the startup process?
We have overcome the challenge of hearing the word “No.” The first few times we heard that word, especially before we heard a “Yes,” was pretty hard to take. Persistence, staying positive, and believing in what we are doing is they key to overcome all of the challenges that lay before us. It has taken two years to get where we are, through the development and testing stage, but our current momentum has us optimistic that we will succeed and more importantly help those we have set out to help.
Who are some of your mentors and business role models?
Having both worked at William Wrigley Jr. company, the confectionary company known for gum we learned first hand how a company can be built on principles and a great product. Through the years, the gum and the growing product line has been consistent and of amazing value. Bar and Wait Staff Inc. strives to deliver a consistent service that we know has tremendous value in the industry and in society. In addition, our parents have been amazing assets to us. Although they were not business owners prior to getting into business with us, the morals and principles that they have instilled in us, to do something good for others has driven our passion to succeed with Bar and Wait Staff Inc.
What’s next for Barandwaitstaff?
Advertising is the next step for Bar and Wait Staff. We have an amazing free product that can be used by millions of people. We have completed some smaller advertising campaigns, but will begin with larger campaigns in the beginning of January 2013. We will continue to reach out to the tech and startup scene and network to see if we can get funded. However, if we do not get funded we will continue to grow at our current steady rate using different advertising media.
Linkage:
Check out Barandwaitstaff here
