Waiters and cooks switch roles at the Upland Brewery for Hoosier Hills Food Bank

Jake Herring is usually a cook at the Upland Brewery – flipping burgers and hiding behind the safety of the kitchen door – but on Sunday he was a waiter, serving dishes and fighting with the point of sales machine.

Waiters switched their notepads for spatulas and cooks stepped out of the kitchen to interact with customers and earn tips for Hoosier Hills Food Bank.

“I’ve never used one of these before,” Herring said, pointing to the machine. “I don’t know where any of the menu items are and when I’m waiting for my food, I don’t know what to do with myself. Everyone’s very apathetic. My first table was a lot of older ladies who were very excited we’re switching.”

The idea of swapping jobs started as a joke three months ago, but turned into a reality when waiters, hostesses, food runners and bartenders switched with the dishwashers and cooks, giving 50 percent of their profits to the food bank.

“It’s one of those things where we’re always talking about whose job is harder,” said Angela Schnick, restaurant manager. “I think it will help the staff be more apathetic to one another. I’m sure a lot of these people will leave hungry or wait a really long time for their food.”

It usually takes a cook about six months until he can cook everything on the menu, Schnick said, but Sunday’s cooks were given an hour of safety training last week and about half an hour training learning to cook the main dishes. The brewery cut three items from their menu, the stuffed chicken, tilapia, a pasta dish and all their normal weekend specials because of difficulty.

“It’s usually pretty stressful back here anyway,” said Chris Blinde, the sous chef who was supervising the cooks in the back. “When the normal cooks are back here, and we’re really busy we’re more likely to stress each other out, but now we’re more laid back and accepting. I’m watching them fall apart and then helping them catch up. So far I’ve been pretty impressed.”

Keely Smith, who is usually a hostess, washed dishes Sunday. She said the worst part was it’s hotter in the back.

“We’re in one spot and stationary back here, and we’re running around when we’re in the front,” she said. “I wouldn’t switch permanently though.”

JR Dyche, whose usually a prep chef, went as far as filling out paperwork for a bartender license to serve alcohol to customers for one day.

“When you’re in the kitchen, you can yell and scream,” said Doug Carter, cook gone hostess. “I’m just adjusting to having to deal with people. Most the time in the kitchen there’s just the five of us, but out here it’s open water.”

Though the slogan for the day is “Bad food, Bad service, Great cause,” the customers seemed entertained.

“One man did manage to knock a table and cause some glasses to fall off, but you see that on a regular day,” said Nathan Qualkenbush, who didn’t know the employees were switching acts upon arrival. “They don’t seem to be any more frustrated or stressed out than usual. I’ve heard servers make jokes about how bad they are.”

Karen Streib eats at the brewery often and came Sunday expecting the service to be slow and wasn’t in a hurry.

“The food is still good. I usually get a burger and fries, and I got a salad today, and it’s awesome,” she said. “The service isn’t horrible. I’ve definitely had worse. They’re a lot more sweaty than the regular servers.