Katy sent this comment via email:
Thank you Vicki Adrian!- Actually opening on time, or when you say you will is important. Nothing more vexing that driving ‘in’ 20+ miles to find out that shop is closed, or opening late, or closed early.

Employee sharing- Years ago (when I was younger) waitresses all knew each other no matter who you worked for. We actually had a network that acted as floaters that did fill in or on the fly catering. Everybody knew one of us was only a call away. Later we used that same idea in a very rural part of Eastern Colorado and shared between towns.

It can be done. It does work. Not just for food service, but in other industries as well. The hardest logistics I would say these days, is who is going to pay the ‘floater’. It’s not like the ‘old days’ where it was fairly easy for an employer to hand out cash.