Cardamom lays off front-of-house staff as QR ordering replaces service

Cardamom told 16 hosts and servers their jobs were ending as the Walker Art Center restaurant prepared to replace front-of-house service with QR codes and a counter-service model. The layoffs were communicated Thursday, April 9, and the shift was set to take effect the following Wednesday, leaving Maya Ulrich and other service workers out of a job while bartenders and back-of-house employees remained in place.

A spokesperson for DDP Restaurant Group, which owns Cardamom, said the affected workers would receive severance because of the short notice. Jac Kovarik, communications coordinator for CTUL, said 16 hosts and servers would end their employment on Sunday. For restaurant workers, that is the sharp edge of a technology rollout that does not just change how guests order. It changes who gets scheduled, who gets tipped and who disappears from the floor.

The move also cuts against the way many servers and hosts are paid. Cardamom’s service model has relied on in-person hospitality, and the restaurant’s visitor information says a 20% gratuity is added for parties of six or more. As table service gives way to QR ordering, the people most exposed are the workers whose earnings depend on being present at the table, not just on clocking prep or bar shifts. Bartenders and kitchen staff will not be impacted, but the FOH jobs that carry tip income and customer contact are the ones being removed.

Olivia Martin, a DDP Restaurant Group social media coordinator, said in a Saturday email that the change had been discussed “for several years.” She said Cardamom’s traffic depends heavily on Walker events and seasonal swings, which can leave workers cut early on slow days and stretched thin on busy ones. Martin said rising labor, food and operating costs made the new format “more sustainable” and would better align staffing to demand, with “more reliable, stable hours” for the people who remain.

The restaurant’s history shows how much of this shift is a change in labor, not just a change in software. When the Walker announced Cardamom in 2021, the concept already leaned toward counter service and cellphone ordering. This time, the museum space is not adding another convenience layer for staff. It is shrinking the service floor. That is the part workers notice first, and it is the part the QR code cannot replace.