Birdie’s is best described as “destination neighborhood dining.” It’s the place you go to at least once a week if you live down the street, and at the same time, it’s the place worth getting on a plane to Austin for. Birdie’s is also the restaurant that the industry needs. Two years in, Arjav and Tracy have proved that their restaurant model — one that prioritizes boundaries and the wellness of both themselves and their staff — is not just a pipe dream but fully implementable.

Food & Wine

I first heard of Birdie’s when I stumbled on the Food & Wine article, quoted above, announcing Birdie’s as their 2023 Restaurant of the Year. The article explains how Arjav and Tracy, owners of Birdie’s, are trying to make their restaurant a sustainable work environment for themselves as well as for their employees. It is sad that what they are doing is groundbreaking and not simply the norm in the restaurant industry.

Almost unheard of practices/bennefits instituted at Birdie’s include:

• Flat tip pool for back and front of house employees
• 2-week paid vacation both in August as well as around the winter holidays (restaurant is closed)
• “In addition to offering subsidized mental health care through the Mike & Sherry Project (an Austin-based organization that provides counseling for hospitality workers) for their team members, Arjav and Tracy will sometimes make the decision to just close the restaurant and give everyone an extra day of rest if they need it.” – Food & Wine
• Health insurance, Birdie’s covers 50% of their premium
• 2-month paid family leave

If you are not a restaurant person, or even if you are, you may not realize how rare and innovative these kinds of benefits are. In order to assist in paying for these wonderful perks, Birdie’s has instituted a 3.5% health and wellness fee that is attached to all checks. Some may scoff at paying this fee, but I don’t see why. Customers should be willing to pay a little more, not only for a great experience, but also to insure the staff at a restaurant is able to make a sustainable wage. With lines out the door and tons of positive press, it doesn’t seem like this minimal fee is keeping people away.

Over the years, no matter what my current dream was, I have always wanted to use my business to “do good” in some manner. What Birdie’s is doing everyday simply by how they choose to manage and run their business is “doing good” and something I hope to emulate. Treating your workers as they are your own family shouldn’t be the exception and should instead be the rule. I implore you to visit Birdie’s web site and to read in its entirety their “Who We Are & FAQs” page. Not is it only super well written, but you are able to truly get a sense of how much care is taken in creating something meaningful and has a positive impact on society.

Reading and learning about the awesome work that Birdie’s is doing has reinvigorated me so much that it led me to email the owners as well as start this web site. In my correspondence with Birdie’s, I asked for advice, but I honestly didn’t give them much to go on. They were super nice to personally respond and ask questions, trying to understand what my entrepreneurial dream is. Since I don’t know what that dream is, I decided I would start this web site and try and answer Birdie’s question.

BirdiesAustin.com

2944 East 12th Street, Unit A | Austin, Texas, 78702

The couple is now fielding calls from restaurants across the country that are interested in figuring out how to run similar operations: ones that don’t sacrifice hospitality for the health of the staff, while still creating restaurant magic. “There’s no shortcuts in this business,” says Arjav. “There’s just dedication and commitment. We pay homage to all the things that we’ve learned along the way, but we also break the rules to be able to [operate] the way we want to.”

Food & Wine