shuttle driver

truck driver

delivery driver

stocker

order picker

Ben E. Keith

What is the best part of working at the company?
Stable paycheck to get u through a tight spot.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management and No Work Life Balance 


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
As a former employee in Inventory Control at Ben E. Keith Company, the role was far more demanding than it appears on paper. The position combines physical labor, compliance checks, and constant administrative accuracy all at once, which makes it significantly more taxing than most people expect.

On a daily basis, you’re handling returned product from dry, refrigerated, and freezer areas. That includes checking temperatures, inspecting for spoilage, verifying expiration dates, scanning items back into the system, selecting return codes, printing paperwork for drivers, unloading pallets, verifying quantities, and stacking everything according to internal color-coded systems. The job requires constant movement and attention to detail, often in tight spaces and cold environments.

One of the most frustrating issues was communication. Unless you’re in a lead or management position, employees don’t have access to a company email, which makes it difficult to stay updated on policy changes or process updates unless someone tells you directly.

Scheduling also makes work-life balance difficult. Days off are often not consecutive, which makes it hard to fully recover from such a physically demanding job. Instead of having real downtime, you end up spending one day recovering and the other day preparing to go right back to work.

My biggest issue was with the culture in the returns department. The supervisor and lead were extremely micromanaging and seemed to look for reasons to criticize or write people up rather than help them improve. That kind of environment creates unnecessary stress in a job that’s already demanding.

In my case, I was even suspended on my birthday due to a scanning error, which was the point where I mentally checked out. Mistakes can happen in any fast-paced warehouse environment, but the response from leadership felt excessive and discouraging.

Overall, the job requires endurance, accuracy, and constant movement, but the combination of micromanagement, communication issues, and scheduling makes the role much harder than it needs to be.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Stressful and being micromanaged

Immediately after starting I heard how long they’d been looking for a driver and how people would quit after 2 weeks. It is a very strenuous job. You are unloading anywhere from 10,000-20,000 of freight of your truck by hand/dolly every single day. You will be exhausted everyday after work. After about a week I started having issues with my wrists, knees, shoulders, and back. Issues I’ve never had before. And I am young. Most customers are nice and understanding and I feel helpful as you’re bringing them what they need to stay in business. However management is non-existent. If you have a problem you may as well keep it to yourself because it will not get fixed. Whether it’s your pay, or your route, or your workload, you’ll just be ignored. It’s every man for himself. Coworkers are nice but nobody wants to be there. Everyone I’d ever talked to couldn’t wait to quit which says something. Should’ve been the first clue. You start anywhere from 12 am-5 am and finish when you get done. It’s incentive pay so you only get paid for what you do, however, it’s not by how good of a worker you are, it’s what they give you. Which normally was anywhere from 10-20 stops a day and 400-1200 cases a day. The senior guys have the better paying/gravy routes and you’ll more than likely get the bad route that doesn’t pay all that well. You’ll work like a dog and make maybe $20 an hour if you’re lucky but you’ll work 60-70 hours in 5 days. Now keep in mind it’s incentive pay, so there’s no overtime. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to work here. If you scan an item not on your truck or accidentally leave an item at the wrong stop they’ll expect you to go back and pick it up whether it was your fault or not which sometimes (with traffic) will take 30-40 minutes (THATS TIME YOU ARE NOT GETTING PAID FOR). They need to seriously treat their drivers better or they’ll never be able to keep anyone. The whole west Texas district needs a revamp. With that being said I have talked to drivers from other divisions that have nothing but good things to say so I can’t speak for Ben E Keith as a whole company but I can speak for the Lubbock office. 

This was easily the most frustrating and discouraging work environment I have experienced in my career. I came in with a proven track record in the same industry and left questioning myself—until I realized the issue was not me, it was the culture.

If you are ambitious, collaborative, and expect leadership to actually lead, this is not the place. Support is minimal, and when you ask for help closing business, you are often dismissed with, “That is what we hired you to do.” Meanwhile, others receive support based more on relationships than performance, creating a clear “good ol’ boys” dynamic.

Leadership feels disengaged and VERY resistant to progressive change. Innovation is highly lacking, and the company operates FAR behind competitors in technology. Customers openly point out how much better other distributors’ systems are, and they are not wrong. Attempts to raise these concerns internally are often met with being labeled negative rather than driving improvement.

The purchasing side adds another layer of frustration. Product issues and requests for support are frequently ignored, leaving sales teams to manage the fallout with customers. There is a noticeable disconnect between purchase decision-making and market relevant real-world impact.

This environment can erode your confidence. You watch others succeed within the system while you struggle to replicate past success, and it makes you question your own ability. In reality, success here depends less on performance and more on being in the good ol’boys club.

To be fair, some people thrive in this environment. Which somehow makes the whole scenario worse as far as company professionalism goes. But if you value accountability, support, and forward-thinking leadership, this will be a poor cultural fit for you.

Hindsight is 20/20. Leaving was the best decision I made. Quickly regained my confidence. I would AVOID this place.

Originally signed on thinking it would be a great company to work for and eventually retire from. I was Originally ecstatic and thrilled to work for such a big company as BEKCO then the reality set it after a few months. The turn around rate is as high as it is for a reason, you're given more work then your job description entailed.  The management does play favoritism even if they deny it. You are asked to work with equipment that may put your license at risk if DOT were to inspect it. Holidays were almost non-existant and don't even think of trying to take off for being Ill. Which for a food distributor you would think would be a priority is the safety and well-being of their employees.  The pay was decent but honestly this company put my health and my marriage at risk with no concern from the management side. There's not really any growth potential so they tend to stick you in one spot and keep you there. Honestly,  it's great if you have no life, but they are one of the poorest places to work for when you want a work and life balance. I spent over a year + hoping it would get better but it only got worse. 

I have been a truck driver for 25 + years and all this company give u are Lies lies and more lies this company will have you work every single holiday not paid in full for holidays they mess up on every ones pay check and come out short and dismiss it like nothing happened and management will never help you with anything very long hours of work not enough home time and no weekends off never have 2 days off back to back you will work every Sunday and every holiday time off and holidays are paid at 70% and never 100% and so is your vacation management will lie to u about your schedule to get u in and any problem u may have they will never help u company does not take care of there employees at all the most selfish and unprofessional company they just care about them selves and there customers worst place I’ve ever worked by far and every one is always in a bad mood because of the work environment I  will never recommend this place you will waste your time also they make u drive to Albuquerque nm for your orientation with out pay you will have to use your own car , Gasoline round trip and 0 pay for staying out there be aware you will not have a personal life !!!

I interviewed for a Maintenance worker position in the Maintenance Dept. Excellent experience! I wish I could have accepted their job offer. I was invited right away to interview for the position and the dept. manager met me and took me around the entire facility explaining the job in detail, demonstrating the tasks of the position and the potential that came with it. He explained the benefits to working with the company very throughly such as a 3% raise annually, top notch benefits and PTO, flexibility in scheduling. The position was M-F, 7 to 4 with OT potential but infrequent. I was really impressed with the company, its guiding principles and its accountability. What impressed me the most was after my interview I was sent a letter, for my approval, stating the negotiated items discussed for hire between myself and the company. Very impressed and I highly recommend this company whereever it may be in this country. God bless them and you that is reading this review.

Coming into this job I was told that about the company and how great it is work at Ben E. Keith. How they treat the employees like family and they look to hire and promote with the company and not outside. Which for me sounded great.  The training for the company was intense they paid for us to go to school to learn how to do our job and get certified.  As time went on with this location just starting so the managers run the company the way they want to and not like the location in Forth Worth and San Antonio. They were unorganized a lot of people have quit since I have been there. We started off with 8 loader and now it just 3 including myself. There are some days where it's just me by myself. The loader is the hardest job because if the truck is not loaded correctly then you have unload everything then reloaded it correctly. This problems that continue to happen makes it hard to work for them and especially when I'm loading 50-100 trucks myself with no help. I have tried talking with the managers to see if they would hire more people but they told me to deal with it. I just don't think that is fair when I come to work every night and show up on time.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Customer interaction was the greatest for me. I really enjoyed getting to know people.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
They don't listen to what would make the job easier on the driver. This is also made more complicated for the fact of not having a direct supervisor. Also dealing with the sales reps whom some are very demanding. Alot of mis even non communications 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Out on the truck it can be what you make it. You do have alot of bosses and alot of voices speaking at you.i have no knowledge what being at the warehouse is like. Shuttle yard is where MOST the drivers deliver from

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Crazy shift hours. Work in ALL climates outside of the truck and in the trailer. If you like to be a truck driver this is not that kind of work. If you are looking for steady work with decent but less than competing companies. This might be the company for you. I was once told by a boss that I was ONLY a delivery driver with a cdl.

I loved the people I worked with at Ben E Keith.  They are some of the best and hardest working people you will ever met. The corporate office staff, located in Fort Worth, Texas is the company's biggest asset.  They work very hard to help and support each and every Ben E Keith employee.  The benefits are the best with good health insurance, great profit sharing and retirement.  The retirement is the reason I stayed with BEK so long.  In the past few years, the company has started to drop or lower some of its outstanding benefits, like health coverage after you retire.  That being said the company is critically under staffed from the corporate office down to the branches located all over Texas.  Over the past ten years, I worked an average of 55-60 hours a week and for a period of time it was 70-80 hours a week.  I loved everything about my job.  There was just too much for one person to handle.

Came in early to open Cash Office, before some of the drivers an sales team headed out for the day.  I was able to learn a lot of different jobs while I worked their.  My manager was great, both professional and personal.  She kept the team up beat, with breakfast, lunches, and grand opening of new businesses.  We volunteered at the food bank in Fort Worth, and raise money for individuals in need.  I worked with a lot of good people at Ben E Keith Beverage and made some good friends.  The down fall was not having a place, a desk or area for myself.  I helped out any place I could, Corporate was upstairs and they had some work that I could have done, but I wasn't allowed to offer my assistance.  Waiting for the AR person to retire was the hardest part of my job.  It didn't happen while I was still employed, I finally gave up. I was not going to go anywhere while I was working under my boss.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Shuttle driver 32 salaries reported	$88,828 per year
Truck driver 10 salaries reported	$88,750 per year
Delivery driver 5 salaries reported	$88,560 per year
Stocker 4 salaries reported	$17.38 per hour
Order picker 6 salaries reported	$18.79 per hour

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