restaurant manager

grill cook

restaurant staff

back of house team member

general manager

Burtons-Grill-&amp

First off, I would like to be able to include names in my review. Sadly, this is not allowed. I was a General manager for this company.
I was terminated after a very rough summer in my personal life which included a very very close family member that almost died because of a very rare infection. I was told upon termination that I seemed like I was "on vacation" mentally and that was affecting the performance of the restaurant (we were up in sales, survey scores just like our sister restaurants, top ten percent in make times in the country, etc.). Bob Evans says they pride themselves on treating people like family. In my case, this was not true. Matter of fact, we as managers were trained to do the opposite of that. Many area meetings seemed dedicated to this, even joking about screwing employees out of money. Numbers are all that the company cares about. One big, glaring example is the benefits. They cost more and more every year to the employee so the shareholders can make their money. Company used to be closed on Thanksgiving to allow employees to be with their families. The company decided they couldn't "walk away" (their words exactly) from the sales they  would be losing if they remained closed. Sad. I spent most of my time working  and my family life suffered. Life is like that, but Bob Evans compounds the pain due to indifference towards any issues an employee may have and constantly having your job threatened if you missed a phone call from an area director or your store while you were off work. As a manager I tried to balance employee relations with company needs. This was frowned upon. They will tell you that they want you to be successful in your career at Bob Evans. Not true. The culture is to cover your butt, plain and simple. I was told this so many times by area directors that I started thinking this was our new slogan. If you tried to do the right thing and report someone for stealing or breaking any other policies, they swept the issue under the rug. This happened my whole employment. Your hands were tied when it came to disciplining employees by the area directors. They never have your back like they say they will. I could term an employee for good reason(like theft) and the area director would allow that employee to come back and remain an employee at my location or a different location. Bottom line is the only way to be successful at this company is to be a politician and thief. Blood literally, sweat and tears for years doing what the company needs you to do and it comes down to one area director, one manager and a difference of opinion and the area director wins out with no recourse available by the company to the employee to be able to challenge the termination decision. One good thing about my employment was a handful of employees that really did their job and didn't expect the world from you personally and the interaction with guest. This is something you can get at any place of employment though. My advice, don't waste your time with this company. The constant double standards, the constant menu changes, the constant policy changes and many other changes makes it impossible for your crew to become great in the company eyes. I am glad this part of my career life is over. Best part of my employment at Bob Evans? Being terminated.

Bob Evans Restaurants in the southern Ohio area have trouble keeping managers. I was worried about this two years ago, when I realized that there were only 8 units in that area coach's district and there were 5 other managers in training at the same time, with a new one added every week. By the end of the 12-week training period, 3 of those had dropped out, and I wondered why, in the name of everything that was holy, did they keep the one who had graduated just before myself, and why did they have him, of all people, training me to open the restaurant.

The company uses an outside service, Steritech Brand Protection, to do extremely thorough audits for food safety. While this is great from a standpoint of someone who actually cares about the health and safety of their customers, it is a different story after the inspections are over. Then it is back to business as usual. Although the inspections are randomly timed, they have a regular 6-month cycle, and once you are audited you are safe until November or June. Although every Bob Evans I have been stationed at would pass the county health inspection easily on their worst day, the emphasis on over-the-top above and beyond sanitation procedures to pass the dreaded Steritech audit would be easier to handle if they were consistently followed all year long, and if the rules were not allowed to vary from one individual Steritech auditor to another, and from one cycle to another even with the same auditor. Not that this is Bob Evans' fault as a company, but they don't seem to be interested in correcting these discrepancies even though they are paying $500+ per auditor visit. Bob Evans spends alot of money to ensure that their managers are ServeSafe certified, but they do not do enough to prepare new managers for the Steritech audits. Thus, I believe, Steritech is the biggest cause for turnover among managers at Bob Evans.

Hourly employees who have any kind of tenure with the company complain about how good things USED to be, and how Bob and his boys must be rolling over in their graves now. They also universally hate new managers, until you prove yourself worthy. I have been able to do that at every location that I have served in to date, fortunately. New hourly employees are limited to 29 hours per week, as a consequence of Bob Evans' early adoption of ObamaCare insurance issues (to avoid having to pay benefits themselves). This, along with stresses brought on by normal minimum wage life, cause high turnover among the hourly.

The high turnover on both sides of the coin means Bob's will hire almost anyone. Even when the economy was in the tank from the housing market crash, Bob's was turning over managers at a surprising rate. Personally, as someone who had gone through bankruptcy a short time before applying, I was thankful for this, as most companies were turning me down as a manager because of my credit report. It does, however, leave the company's management, at least in my area, a mixed pot of great and terrible managers, some of whom leave one wondering how this person could ever make it past pre-employment screenings at all.

Surviving managers are generally cold hearted creatures. I can't let myself turn, and hope to leave soon.

A typical day for a hostess includes stocking the to go items such as bowls. cups, straws, condiments, dressings etc. Stock the retail items which are located under the hostess stand. Set up the bakery items with items from the night before. Once new items are baked take the items from the night before and package them for sale. Put the freshly baked items into the display case. Fold childrens menu's when you can or you will always be out. Be prepared to work unassisted for long periods of time while having a line of people trying to be seated and checked out if it's a busy day. On a not busy day you will be bored cleaning the entire store. Do not be surprised if you are forced to take your break 30mins to an hour into your 8hr shift it's very normal. Never expect to leave on time. Your scheduled out time is "just a suggestion" as I was routinely told. If you want a consistent schedule you have to enter what your willing to work into their computer program. Otherwise expect to close ( leave at 10pm) then open the next day (arrive at 6am). You will have servers complain about being seated too much or too little even though you are following the seating rotation smile and ignore them or you wont last. Customers will complain to you or give you compliments about their service and food. Be prepared to listen to management complain about the customers but belittle you if you dare complain about a customer. Expect to bus tables especially on busy days. If you do end up bussing tables expect to be accused of stealing tips. I advise wearing pants without pockets. Make sure your shirt is tucked in and your belt is completely black or you will be written up. Belts are mandatory if you have belt loops or you will be written up. Closing duties involve vacumming and rolling up entrance way rugs, sweeping and mopping the register area and front area (servers will sweep and mop behind the counter), clean the bakery area - put let overs into yellow storage containers and put them on the bread rack, take display items to the dish washer, wash the display case with the towel and spray. clean the bathrooms - toilet's, urinals, sweep. mop, sinks, mirrors, the hygeine bags in the womens room have to be emptied and restocked, take the garbage out. When you finish the manager will inspect everything and if it's clean you can go balance your drawer. ( the manager will count it for you and you will sign a paper with your amount on it and whether you were over or short money. if you are short always ask them to double count but say it nicely they get upset when you tell them it shouldn't be short only to realize they miscounted.) If you work a mid shift when you leave you will stock everything before you go. You will also take orders via phone for take out. Prepare orders for take out by collecting all the food into one spot. Do not bag the food until the guest arrives to pay and pick it up or you will get yelled at.

From the beginning I managed to get into serving off the bat.  The issue I came across early on was the dynamic in place at the time.  I was working part time with all closing shifts for about a year because no one else wanted to.  I learned to roll with the punches on that and step up by picking up days shift, which are consistently busier.  Eventually getting into a more profitable position.

A typical day currently would be clocking in, completing any in's I had to do and finding side work to do (ice refill, plates, cleaning, roll silverware, clean someone else's table, etc).  Take a table, greet them grab drinks find something to do or drink water.  Whenever its slow and there's no side work to do I'll chat with coworkers about shared interests and recent news events.

Management is good, they go up and beyond helping out wherever they can.  I think they should get more promotions or atleast better healthcare options.

Workplace culture is tad toxic.  Its a mix of highschoolers, college students and other adults.  Cliches are formed and servers with the best looks get to slack off more than the rest with side work.  Occasionally games are played where severs mess new servers by giving them a lower count number tables, skipped in the beginning or are expected to do more side work whilst getting less tables.  I don't mind having my feet against the fire nor do I mind drawing a short straw here and there.  That being said, I find the work place culture a bit gross at times.  A lack of integrity has slowly seeped into the socially acceptable norm.

The hardest part of the job is stamina.  Here's a scenario, its the beginning of lunch rush, I have several tables.  I go to pick up food its not ready, its been 15 minutes.  I tell the kitchen line what I'm missing after grabbing their attention.  I find side work to do such as filling drinks or stocking.  I come back 5 minutes later to check same issue, rinse repeat.  While keeping contact with disgruntled guest.  This situation usually happens once a shift and upwards to several times.  Then after hitting 10,000 steps, someone get cut/sent home and I'm starting to tire out while keeping up with duties.  

The most enjoyable part of the job for me is cheesy.  I do genuinely enjoy the customers having a good time and will crack scripted jokes with them.
E.g.
-If its a family/group with a small child.  I'll ask is the bill separate or are you (child) taking the check?
-If its a regular group, I'l ask how the bills being split up.  If one person takes it I'll say "I'm sorry you lost the bet"
-If two or more member of the group order the same item, eg pancakes, I'll ask "Who ordered pancakes?" and say "I'm messing with ya" and pass out their food.
-If someone orders a cheese burger I'll ask them "Do you know what they call a quarter-pounder with cheese in Paris?  A royale with cheese because of the metric system"  And see who gets the Pulp Fiction reference

Working at Bob Evans changed my perspective on life, not only was this the first job I had but it was also the first time that I had to interact with people older than me. The people at Bob Evans were at least six years older than me, but that just mean that they had a lot of experience that they could pass onto me. That's exactly what they did, in about one or two weeks I was already doing my job pretty well with efficiency and speed.

Usually when someone works at a restaurant they are expected to work at a fast pace and do their job with efficiency. Even though I was a dishwasher, that same principle applied to me. In fact that principle was almost required for my position since the dishwasher has to make sure that the incoming dishes are washed and the outgoing dishes are clean at the same time. 

The hardest part of my job was having a shift during a busy day where I was the only dishwasher for the day, usually on busy days we work in pairs as to not overload the amount of dishes in our area, the one constant thing I had to do was wash the dishes then go out into the dining area and bus tables, offload the dishes, wash them and wash the dirty kitchen supplies from the other areas in the back.

The most enjoyable part of my job was days when it wasn't particularly busy. On days like these I had a chance of actually cleaning my own station and keeping everything organized, usually I don't have that luxury during busy days except when the restaurant closes. When days are pretty slow I usually help out the other stations, and since I was once a Kitchen Preparations member I would help them out with whatever it was that they were making.

The management at Bob Evans  could get a little hectic at times because we had three managers working the same shift. I was told on my first day that the reason they have three managers was because the 'higher-ups' thought that this specific restaurant was lacking in revenue, so they sent over another manager from a different location to help out. The third manager was younger than the first two and was also sent from a different location to help out. As a result, they would often argue about what was best for the restaurant. The final judgment came from the original manager that was in our location.

All in all working at Bob Evans proved to be a life changing experience for me because it gave me an opportunity to meet different people who weren't the same age as me and to learn from those people in order to do my job more efficiently. Not only that but I also learned about communicating skills in the workplace, especially in my job where we work in pairs and communicating to each other on who does what is essential.

Please do yourself a favor and DO NOT apply at this location! The managers are a disgrace! Constant favoritism, discrimination, touching employees aggressively, etc. Employees were never trained properly. Managers were constantly "busy" back in their office, but 90% of the time they were chatting or on their phones. Otherwise, managers would constantly swarm over employees and insult you on your quality work. As a host, I was swamped with work and often was required to do work that was not a part of my official job title, some even in dangerous work conditions. Every shift was a disaster walking into. Forget breaks, because as a host, 90% of your shifts were straight through. Holidays I worked almost 10+ hours with no break. No consideration for employee safety whatsoever. A manager caught numerous times with marijuana on-premises, and smell inside the restaurant. Physical touching and getting up in employees' faces have also occurred at this location and constantly made employees uncomfortable. Witnessed applicants denied employment due to disabilities. Servers were constantly discouraged as well, and there were never enough of them on duty. Hosts were often required to assist servers. They often tried to tip us, but management would blow up for them doing so. Therefore, forget any type of bonus or extra $ for your hard work. Hosts, cooks, and servers were required to have an open schedule, and management often "forced" us to stay 3,4, even 5 hours on certain days past our original scheduled time, or else you would be threatened to be replaced or would receive EXTREME attitude. (Including those who had a second job to get to). It is very disappointing to say that almost every employee I worked with at this location was a great individual and hard worker, but management was TERRIBLE. I do not wish that type of treatment upon ANY of them, nor you! Do yourself a favor and seek better opportunities, because the payment received at this job was not worth the constant poor treatment I received and the constant stress I was under. Nothing about this job was motivational and forget promotion! I was ecstatic the day I left this job!

Im a hostess at bob evans the work environment is family orientied and all of the employees on average are pleasant towards thier fellow co-workers and also fun to be around.

Now lets get to my job duties, I did mention I was a hostess right :)  
On normal when you walk into a restaurant  you see two or more hostess  at the podium, the role of either one of the two should include seater or greeter,.,,,, But at bob mon-thursday a typical work day for me is hosting, greeting, seating,bussing tables because it got so busy with only 3 lucky to have 4 servers on the floor,  and Im also cashier. Youre probally thinking double duties littarly when customers come in,they  think Im doing double duties because a cowoker called off for the day but no this is a normal workday for me doing quadruple job functions/duties granted the managers come out when its a little out of our  capabilities, like it dosent take a class or degree in business management to know were understaffed and more job functions need to be created and filled. 

Easy right :)  also you must be knowlegebale of the menu, expect to have people coming at you all at once people need to be cash out and its a chance that the phone will be going off for people to place carryout orders which can get a lil busy along with about 2 people at the side of your register wating to place and order but dont feel overwhelmed youll be ok. 
 
Did I also mention I have to tidy up the bathroom change the trash yeah that included.
 
I been working at bob since the month of march and if youre just some little 16 -18 year old trying to be hostess sure go on ahead and get the experience but if youre a grown adult make sure you have a plan to find a upscale restaurant to work at or whatever your career choice is you cannot depend soley on bob evans for income Im barley on the 25,,000 mark 

When I first got hired my gm manager told me the only way I can really survive in bob evans is to serve have I become a server yet no everyone that has walked in the door infront of me has gone through training process to be server and I have been disregarded.

I worked at Bob Evans for 3 years, and I still cannot believe that I stayed as long as I did. While I did have many good relationships with coworkers, the managers at the Bob Evans that I worked at hired just about anyone who applied, resulting in a staff of people who were not very cooperative or helpful. We were constantly understaffed, and I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that about 70% of the people who start working there leave after less than a month. So, the staff is constantly changing. Anyone who sticks around and is a good worker is taken advantage of and has to pick up everyone else's slack. Someone who is not a good worker and always called off might just not show up one day, no call or anything, and the managers let that slide. But if one of those who has been working there a while and normally puts in a lot of effort suddenly has a family emergency, or is ill, or needs to request a day off, the managers don't care, and they get upset if you don't come in anyways. You're asked to do all sorts of stuff that is way above your pay grade. There have been several lawsuits against the company for this already. Seriously, look it up. I did give the job at least 2 stars, because to be fair, I have heard that some locations are better than the one I worked at (Celina, Ohio). But, I have also heard that some are worse. The other nice thing I can say is that you do not have to share your tips there, so although you only get paid about $4 as a waitress, if you do your job well you can go home making anywhere from $10-25 per hour (depending on the day of the week and how busy you are.) The other positions also paid above minimum. I did carryout and hosting as well and made $10/hr., which is quite good for a food service job in Ohio. I think that, along with the coworkers I grew close to, are the reason I was able to stay for so long. Basically, if you are going to apply to Bob Evans, I wouldn't necessarily tell you not to, but I do advise you to really look into it and ask someone who works at the location you're applying to what they think.

Typical day I would start out checking the bathrooms making sure everything is filled clean. Try to get that out of the way before the crowd came I learned how to deal with the guest and be patient when they became irritated about having to wait the guests would compliment me for the hard work I did. I took it upon myself to start busting tables to help out the servers and get the people seated and off of the waitlist they said they needed more like me always kept busy. I got to the point where I knew what areas to leave open for parties. I rotated with the servers the tables plus big parties. I couldn’t believe how many servers didn’t want to serve parties I would get the guest their drinks checking with the server. I enjoyed the guest meeting new people and talking to them. Also would help as a runner. The training was to just throw me out there and make it work and I did. The servers were to bust their own tables, but some slack because they didn’t want any more people for a while and I needed to get these people seated and served. That’s the only way I could do it. My manager told me I had come a long way and I was great I even got tips from the Customer for being so intentive. and also, I would help the elderly along with the elderly women needing help getting to the restroom or anything they needed. I wanted to learn more, but my manager wanted me to focus on seating I want to learn how to run cash register and be a server, but I didn’t get time because I worked the weekends and that’s when they were the busiest. I believe the hardest thing about working there at Bob Evans where the servers not wanting to take big parties and a few servers would not help clear the tables so that’s when I decided to multitask and clean tables this was my first and only restaurant job at a restaurant

Bob Evans is highly regarded in the casual dining restaurant industry for its ability to cross train managers in all aspects of running a restaurant. Every management intern must spend 6 weeks working at every front of the house and back of the house position. This includes being the host or hostess and cashier, server, busser, prep cook, line cook, dish washer, and shift leader.

The contract specifies a minimum of 50 hours a week but insofar as restaurants make their profits (in part) by reducing labor costs, our 2nd shift was so short of staff that whenever my shift ended, the assistant general manager drafted me for another 4-6 hours as a host, cashier, server, or line cook. Since I was under contract, I received no extra income or benefits for working an additional 20-24 hours per week. This went on for MONTHS until I complained to the general manager who then directed the assistant general manager to hire and train more staff.

The hours were brutal but not as bad as when I had been self employed as an innkeeper/owner working 84 hour weeks.

Had I remained with Bob Evans in time, I would have become an assistant general manager and with 2-3 years of this under my belt, I would have become a general manager. I am told that I was being groomed to become an area director in charge of several stores ... but I wound up leaving because I missed the field of education.

Although I could have made a very nice living had I remained with Bob Evans, it seemed to me that there was more to life than supervising the staff of a casual dining restaurant, greeting guests, and refilling coffee cups. As a teacher, I feel I have a higher purpose. With Bob Evans, my job was to help make money for the company and to do well enough to earn promotions with higher pay and better benefits such as the opportunity to receive a percentage of the store's net revenues with bonuses for meeting specific corporate goals.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Restaurant manager 4 salaries reported	$38,000 per year
Grill cook 22 salaries reported	$10.51 per hour
Restaurant staff 248 salaries reported	$13.76 per hour
Back of house team member 1 salary reported	$12.50 per hour
General manager 51 salaries reported	$60,235 per year

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