> It’s getting passed through friends.

Richmond restaurants at a certain quality/price point are very incestual in that they almost exclusively hire from within the existing pool of local servers/bartenders/managers who are recommended by their existing staff. Nothing wrong with that, you want to work with people you trust, just means it's hard for a new person to break into the really lucrative spots.

That said, a friend works at Jack Brown's and I'd imagine that must be a nice gig as far as serving goes, they're almost always packed, the menu is simple, no mixed drinks, just beers and burgers and steady churn for an entire shift in a space small enough that you can see all your tables at a glance.