restaurant staff

restaurant manager

assistant restaurant manager

grill cook

cleaner

Cafe Rio Mexican Grill

I'm pretty sure the whoever reads this will know who I am. I've worked for the company for a year and five months.

At the busiest time for the call center, I made the company so much money, that they can at least give everyone who put their time and effort a raise, but I guess hard work and doing overtime doesn't mean jack. 

The reason why I was let go was because of tardiness and absences. The final time I called in sick is because of mental issues and when I arrived the next day, they gave me a suspension (one day suspension) before my vacation, which is understandable.

Once I arrived back from my vacation, I clocked in and the screen showed "no longer employed". I was asked to go to the front meeting room and they decided to let me go WHILE I WAS ON VACATION. Not even a courtesy phone call or a text. They just decided to let me go while I was on vacation. Oh yeah, I also still haven't received my final paycheck and when I texted my manager, I was just left of read. 

Side note: My family surprised me by flying me out to spend time with my nephews and niece and to watch my favorite musicians live on concert. But sadly, I had to decline their early birthday gift because I know the call center will be extremely busy and I don't want to leave them with so much work, so I won't be able to see my family for another two years. (If they called me while I was on vacation, I could've gone) 

Management understands people and what they go through as long as you do the work and I get that, but not informing people that they have been let go while on vacation is a big no go. Even a text would be better than not reaching out at all. Management does work with people about scheduling. 

Workplace culture is a tricky one. People are extremely stressed, but still put a smile on their faces. As long as you don't bother them with too many questions, you're fine. They're extremely friendly and caring with one another. When it's slow on the call floor, people tend to joke around and have fun and laugh, which is what I loved the most.

The hardest part of the job is well...everything. You have to take online orders, late deliveries, email customers back, handle refunds, and on top of that, take back to back phone calls which is either about late deliveries, new orders, creating new accounts, etc. Seems easy, but it's difficult and stressful.

The most enjoyable part of working there is seeing the family that was created. They treated me like a big brother. They come to me to vent about things like an angry customer and what's going on, we tell each other jokes of the week, they laugh at me every time I say, "bless you" when someone sneezes while I'm on a call, and overall, they cared about me and they loved me. Each individual on the call floor has a place in my heart and was the reason why I'm frustrated with the situation. That was the job that made me love going to work. They're one of the reasons why my depression decreased. They made me happy and pure. If you watch The Office, it's exactly like that. Fun and they treat you like family.

The length of a shift varies because of the varying amount of prep work needed. a shift is scheduled to be about 6 hours, but can actually be anywhere from 2 to 8. I signed on for part time and was told i'd be getting about 20 hours a week, which is great for me, because I'm a full time student. I usually get about thirty hours in a week though, working five days. I also get called in frequently on my days off. At least half of my days off, they call me in. That is due to a lack of work ethic of certain coworkers, and being short staffed constantly. If you want time off, the general procedure is just to talk to the GM or leave him a note, but that doesn't work great. If you leave him a note he likely won't read it. If you tell him you need a specific day off he'll probably forget. There have also been a couple times when I've been called into a shift a half hour or so after it started because they forgot to schedule anybody. The schedule is posted weekly on paper and can be only checked in the store, which is fine, but not as convenient or efficient as the ways I've seen other businesses do it.
Its pretty boring. Every day you just go and prep the same stuff, in varying quantities. There's no music, and not much time to socialize. 
Some duties are annoying, like loudly yelling extra meat every time someone orders extra meat which is pretty frequent. Also fetching things for the line cooks, which is only irritating because it interrupts your prep work, making it hard to get  everything done in a timely manner. 
Paychecks are bi-weekly. The pay is not great, 9 an hour, without much opportunity for advancement or raises. Any raises you do get will be very small, probably 10 cents or less. There are no benefits, and the employee discount only applies while on shift. 
I've found this store and the corporation as a whole to be very disorganized and unreliable.
The biggest problem is unreliable coworkers. Most people frequently call out, or just  plain don't show up. And when they do show up they slack on their duties by under prepping, slacking on cleaning, and leaving no clean dishes for the evening crew to use. This is because there is no incentive to keep good employees around, and no consequences for the bad employees. Because of this problem, hard working employees do a lot of extra work to pick up the slack, and get no reward or recognition.

If you love cooking or preparing meals in a high-energy environment for minimal pay then this is the place for you. Otherwise save your time and pursue another job opportunity. 

To begin with, I work as a server in the front of the store, where I prepare meals with the food items cooked in the back kitchen. It takes memorization and concentration to not mess up orders, as customers often pile you with five different entrees while you're still making the first one. Everything in the entire store is blazing hot and all you get to wear on  your hands while handling the hot foods and trays are those thin plastic, disposable gloves that you need to change every hour. It gets annoying, to say the least.

I'm a freshman in college living at home (due to covid) but I still wanted to work to help pay for my education and take pressure off the unforeseen burden I give my family. Working here is not a treat, I do not enjoy the high-stress operations and the endless lines of customers that most of the time last for the entire shift. If you like this kind of excitement then by all means go for it, the pay isn't half bad and they give you a raise like every 30 days plus healthcare benefits if you work there for 90+ days. The managers at the location I work in are amazing at their jobs, so that's not a problem to me. Every single person on this team speaks Spanish as their primary language, making inclusion difficult due to the language barrier. I wish I could work mornings but they are really difficult about changing shifts for some odd reason. Because of the afternoon shifts I work, I'm missing valuable sessions that the professors allocated for homework help and reviews of tests and quizzes, everything that can help me be better. If I don't maintain good academic standing then I will lose my aid. If I could work mornings then that would be much better for my studies. Please believe me when I say I'm not usually this pessimistic about things, but this job's stress and work-life management made me act like so.

This was my first job and while it wasn’t meant to be longer than a few months it was fun. I was the main tortilla person for the time I was there and, other than being on display for people waiting in line, it really fit my introverted personality and my perfectionist brain. If you work hard and are willing to do more than is required of you in your job description you will do well here and be rewarded. It can get very stressful especially on Taco Tuesday’s regardless of what your specific job is so if you struggle under pressure I would set this job on the back burner unless you really want/need it. However, even with the stress and pressure it can be very rewarding if you let it. 

Job/work life balance
It can be hard to get days off when you need them and if you are a basic restaurant staff then you get no paid vacation time and 1hr of paid sick leave per every 30hrs worked (can’t actually redeem them til after 90 days though). However, if you tell the right person and find a replacement for your shift it’s not that hard to get a day off if needed (just don’t do it all the time). When they first ask you for your schedule be firm with what days you want/need off or they will try and schedule to work those times. 

Management 
There were a total of 3 managers while I was there and while none of them were bad there was definitely 1 that stuck out and was my favorite to work with. Sometimes it can get frustrating when something needs to get done and not even the manager steps up to do it or try’s to push it off onto someone else but overall I would say management at this location is good.

Coworkers 
Overall my coworkers made this job more than anything else. I made a lot of friends and we always had a good time while also getting our work done. They made the long hrs and sore feet bearable.

Typical day at work is taking phone calls and placing catering orders for all the restaurants cafe rio has the worst delivery service so you will also be creating cases for all those late deliveries. At the beginning that's all you would do and the longer you work there you are given a few task like trying to collect payment for unpaid orders or looking over catering Feedback's however this call center has changed tremendously they have added a customer complaint line for customers that have bad dine in expereince but there were no appropriate training. If you are not on that team you would still have to try to come up with a solution or tell the customer that they would have to be transferred over which made the customers more upset.  This call center is terrible at giving raises and that may be the biggest part why people quit because they are giving more work and no raise with that added work. Everyone starts out with different pay but i have noticed that they will try to start you off around $10 but there are people who started off with $12 if you are going to apply for this job try to push it for $12 or more because you will not be given a good raise. If you do get a raise most likely it will be around 10-40 cents. Management plays favoritism they will promote people within their friend circle so if you were that "cool" person in high school you will most likely become friends with management. They like to invite certain people to go out drinking on the weekends.
Pretty much the only thing that is good about the job is that they provide flexible schedule and you get free cafe rio during work and 50% off cafe rio from the taylorsville location when you don't work and you are given a cafe rio employee card with $25 that you can use each month.

When i first started working here, it didn’t take me long to feel at home, like I belonged. The people there really was what kept me here so long. If I didn’t feel comfortable, or happy with my coworkers, if it was anything but pleasant then I would have left a while ago. The job itself is pretty standard. You come to work when you’re scheduled (if the manager hasn’t changed the schedule last second) and you do your daily repetitive tasks. “Welcome in, what can I get started for you? What kind of beans would you like? What kind of meat? Any sauce? Lettuce and pico?” It’s all the same everyday. After a while you don’t even have to think about it, it’s like you turn into a robot if you work enough. And the manager will make sure you work more than enough. Working 6 days a week open to close, one day off a week with how understaffed it always is there, and sometimes you work on your only day off. The management is horrible, scheduling is even worse. I would recommend this job for someone just starting out for sure. It’s the easiest job I’ve ever had, but definitely not in the long run. Ive been here for 6 months, and im at the point in my position where i should be making at least $15 an hour, but I’ve been stuck at $13.50 since i started. After a month of asking for my desperately needed raise, im putting my two weeks notice in. Thanks to this job for making me feel at home, thank you for introducing me to my favorite people, but i will not be putting up with this any longer than i need to. 

I loved working here. Very fast-paced work surrounded by hot food and sharp objects, and a nearly constant flow of hungry customers to feed; so certainly challenging, but also very engaging work. Easy to lose oneself in the flow of it. Unfortunately compensation was minimum wage, and despite being friends with almost all 22 of my coworkers and managers, I never heard of anyone getting a raise, nor has my sister who has now worked here for two years. The main issue was with scheduling, as this location has had a horrible time trying to keep employees (always losing new hires within a couple weeks) and the established workers become spread thin. It also couldn't help that the general manager always looks as though she hasn't gotten 6 hours of sleep in over a decade. Many times requests for days off were completely ignored, and sometimes 10-minute breaks would get glossed over, especially on busier days. That being said, plenty of hours, and most of the management were easy to work with, although two of whom could become harshly confrontational or even demeaning when stressed. I consistently made between $900-$1200/mo. after taxes while working here.

Clocking in on the timesheet on the computer i would usually here many machines whining, the stoves boiling with meat, rice or beans as usual and the Line cooks talking waaaay too fast and just trying to get through the line as fast as possible which would make the customers feel uncomfortable and not listened to about each individuals special requests There is absolutely no way to get any sense of relaxation or have a meal in a stress free environment. Alot of the managers have taught me skills I still use today but then others had favoritism towards the employees they got along with the best and also many relatives worked together in this company at the same stores which was impossible for them to not have favoritism towards their own family. The hardest part of working with Cafe Rio was the fact that many times the GM's would change the weekly schedule and not inform all that were affected until the affected employees missed shifts. I learned all basic/ intermediate food service positions working here which were: Line Cook, Caller, Salad , Expo .Cashier To-go line cook, To- go cashier, prep cook, aswering all phone orders and dealing with questions and complaints from the customers on the phone. I also was taught how to use Aloha computer siftware and  and also how to close all said positions at closing time and how to open all said positions for the opening time.

The work there was fine, make the food and send it down the line, everyone was friendly, though we were constantly understaffed. The lunches are very iffy. On one hand, you get free food and thirty minutes to yourself, but it is unpaid and sometimes it's an hour into your 6 hour shift that you get your break. Management was also very iffy.. they were very friendly, but if things weren't done their way, it was very obvious they weren't happy about it, but they would continue smiling. Time off is questionable, so long as you put it in months in advance. For emergencies, you're likely to not get the time off approved. If you can look passed the constant favoritism of the long time workers, (free grilled meats which you need to pay for, longer breaks, lazier tasks to do, never asked to do anything) then it's a great place to work. I enjoyed my time there, but it's not worth the constant show of favoritism that is displayed, as well as being treated generally worse. They offer pay raises too of 25 cents every month you're there, though they never give you pay stubs, so I could never tell if I got my extra two dollars in the 4 months I was there. They give you your pay through an app called "DailyPay." Occasionally you'll see a regular who is a friend of the manager who will get extra meat or grilled meat for free on their food.

My first Cafe Rio location I worked at had a very comforting and family-like environment. A typical day at work is serving customers with their choice of entree which is fairly customizable and can fit their needs, restocking, cleaning tables/floors/counters. Management was easy-going, the scheduling was out about a week in advanced, and I got the hours I wanted (for the most part, until I said I would be moving).
The new location I was at was about the same, but since it was bigger there was less connection and felt like it was just "go, go, go." Management was nice... until the general manager I was working under was working toward a promotion. The manager working to fill that position started running the store like it was her restaurant, kept scheduling people when it was inconvenient for them, getting the schedule out on Tuesdays of the same week they were supposed to be out. Within a couple weeks under her new management we had many people quit, to which I'm not surprised.
Overall: the food is great, community of the restaurants are better when they are smaller in my opinion, and management is a hit or miss. The customers here I would say are most likely similar to customers at other restaurants. I see a lot of older couples or young families and those are the best to serve, but there will always be customers that are a little tougher to deal with.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Restaurant staff 4 salaries reported	$13.04 per hour
Restaurant manager 3 salaries reported	$20.67 per hour
Assistant restaurant manager 3 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Grill cook 2 salaries reported	$17.75 per hour
Cleaner 1 salary reported	$19.54 per hour

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