catering manager

restaurant staff

general manager

team member

cashier

Cafe Zupas

First of all, this is a long and fairly detailed review. But we’ll worth the warning, I wish I would have had more of a warning.

The managers are rude and uncaring about you being previously engaged to take off for certain days, availability, transportation timing to and from work, your job requirements and training, and wether or not you’re sick at work (even though working while sick is a huge health code violation and consumer risk especially at a restaurant). Don’t even think about telling them days you are unavailable or have to take off for, it will be ignored and you will be asked to come in everytime. And if you refuse they will threaten to 1.) cut your hours 2.) make you do a job that isn’t part of your daily checklist 3.) make you stay excessively late constantly despite commute times not matching 4.) firing you. The managers not only treat employees poorly dude to lack of experience (they’re fairly young) they also, more times than not, will ignore costumer requests and complaints, which brings heat to the entire shift staff and looks bad for the company itself. They will also demand that you stay late or come into work on a day off despite being overstaffed for the day. Ideally on a busy day the line (food serving/preparation and ordering station) will have 7-9 employees stationed to accommodate all positions. However, there are days where there will be 9-12 on line alone. Not only is it cramped and unproductive trying to get around everyone at the same time (not to mention when the dish cart comes to take dishes, complete nightmare to fit everyone) but despite being overstaffed you will still be asked to stay past your shift, regarding the fact that you’re transportation could be scheduled around your full time (8am-3pm or 4pm) hours, resulting in the employee to miss their bus, car, Uber, etc. The managers simply do not care. Also do NOT expect a pay raise. While working here I, and several other employees, were promised a $.75 raise, and not only was it never approved even after several weeks, if it is brought up to a manager that it hasn’t been approved or even looked at yet after being promised, they will either get upset that you “keep bringing it up” or they will lie right to your face and say they will approve it that night or that it’s already been approved. 
If you think that being severely sick is cause for staying home (after never calling in at all) at a food service, think again. Your job will likely be threatened for calling in sick. In order to stay home sick, even with a valid doctors note/appointment, you must find someone to cover your already overstaffed shift, despite 60% of the staff being in high school during the AM shift making it impossible to find a cover, your hours will likely still be cut, and you still have a possibility for being fired for “shirking your duties and being lazy, not wanting to work”. Overall, there is still A LOT more that I could review, but just know, if you have a wedding, baby shower, injury, sickness, school responsibility, prior engagement, or even if you need maternity leave, THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO WORK, THE MANAGERS DO NOT CARE AND YOU WILL BE FORCED TO WORK UNDER PRESSURE OF LOSING YOUR JOB. 

P.S. I am a fairly experienced employee, I’ve worked various food services, retail stores, and even warehouses since I was 14, and never have I had such a bad experience with managers/job before.

This job was terrible. I worked there for at total of six months and had hardly any pay advancement even after I completed their training books (which you are supposed to get a raise after each book). They make promises to raise your pay and never do it and if you try and take off or disagree with them, they threaten to take the raise away or fire you.
The employees are even worse than management. They have no respect, do whatever they want and the manager allows it, they are completely rude to certain people just because they can be, and the shift leaders that are suppose to manage the store while the manager is gone are completely biased.
To give an example on how bad the employees are, one employee threatened me in front of customers because I took my sandwich, that I paid for and after asking her for it, to take to lunch because it was my turn to get a break. Management didn’t reprimand the employee even after they themselves saw it and confirmed with other employees that it happened. Instead, they put me on probation and the other employee on probation because it wasn’t fair if I didn’t get punished even though I didn’t do anything. This wasn’t the first time it happened either. This has also happened with other employees too. 
Now management is so bad that if there is a large rush of customers and we are out of something, they panic and take out their frustration on employees. They also will refuse to let you call in sick unless you have a doctors note. If you come to work sick and you throw up, they will not send you home. You will be required to work your shift or get a doctors note for leaving early. They will offer you pay raises that don’t exist and they will cut your hours if you come to a disagreement with them. They don’t manage their employees correctly and they hire anyone regardless of criminal background.
Another example of this poor management is I got the flu (not just a cold or fever; the flu) and I was forced to come into work or lose my job. I was told by a shift lead if I took my deliveries for the day, I would be allowed to go to the doctors and get medicine as well as a doctors note. So I went to the doctors after my deliveries and, low and behold, I was accused of leaving without permission and job abandonment, after clearly being told I was allowed to leave. One employee harassed me over text while I was at the hospital and even threatened to get me fired because I went to the doctors. Out of all of this, that employee was the same employee that threatened me and she didn’t get any punishment besides another probation. Meanwhile, the manager put me on another probation, refused to give me my full raise and only gave me half, said I wasn’t allowed to take deliveries anymore (which is where I made most of my money from), and cut my hours because I “caused a commotion and left the store in a bad spot”.
This place only cares about the store and certain employees. I would not work here if I were you. This place is a people grinder and has no respect for anyone besides themselves. Also, if you do work here, don’t even bother calling corporate; they won’t do anything either.

I was a hired to be a catering coordinator. Saw & felt some red flags right away in the interview, still tried it out. No piercings & no tattoos shown - “for safety”. I get dress code but don’t give me excuses like that. I got the feeling that they were just trying to hire to fill positions right off the bat.

 I was told from day one that “while others get breaks - since you’re here full-time, you don’t always get a break. Most days you won’t. Usually if you get to eat, it’s while working”. Their slogan is “Nourish the Good Life” and how we work to live, not live to work. But they justify having little to no breaks since they’re paid breaks. 

Few Managers are able to properly train. You work in a high stress environment. Often doing things that aren’t mentioned in your role. To make small talk - I asked everyone how long they’ve worked there (at a few locations).

 A handful have been there 10 years or more. Never had a raise and they were all flat out told by higher ups, that they don’t give out raises anymore. Justifying with a few reasons. So if you’re working in the back, you have to help out front on top of that. Vice versa. They advertise being able to grow in the company but I don’t know anyone there who’s had a raise. Ones that said they would receive one a few times but never did. Only came up when a manager gave their notice for good.

I was asked how I liked the job so far - said it has its pros & cons. The sigh with an “oh I know!” I was given back said a lot... I had a few coworkers either quit or ask me about who else is hiring during my 2 weeks of training. 

The job clearly took a toll on everyone. Within the first few days, my sleep was off. My appetite was off. My body was sore. All because I was nonstop working. Walking and standing all day. Making me sick before and during my shift. It made me late a few mins a few times.

When I did have a break, it was cut short a handful of times too. I was told in the interview how they were looking for someone who was willing to stay a bit past their clock out time. But then I was told I couldn’t go over. Yet I also often stayed another 30 because a few coworkers were nowhere to be found when we got our afternoon rush. Or when the OP said I needed to stay and help finish xyz - when other times I was told by my other manager, to not worry about it. 

Told to advocate for myself. 
When I did, I didn’t feel like the district managers or OP heard me. They prioritized putting me in a busy location. It wasn’t until I had a breaking point where I wasn’t great mentally or physically that they heard me. I changed positions and while it relieved some, it still sucked. A few great coworkers helped me to push thru. I was eventually let go and the manager had no interest in hearing my side. Made the call after talking with other higher ups who had little to do with me. No warning, harsh tone, and just didn’t care. 

****I wouldn’t recommend this job to anyone unless you’re okay with no raises, little to no promotions, and are okay with following every little script and following every rule down to the T. “Nourish the Good Life” but what exactly are you working towards?

Work-life balance
This company will understaff you and expect you to do the work of multiple people because of their unwillingness to schedule the correct amount.

Pay & benefits
Do not expect merit raises, period.

Job security and advancement
Expect the company to hire from outside their current employees and lack adequate training to get the new manager in training up to speed.

Management
The upper management and even in store management is a nightmare. They refuse to fire bad employees and promote a toxic workplace that is unfitting for anyone to work for.

Culture
The store is incredibly slow because of a lack of business sense and marketing. They then justify the slow sales as an excuse to underpay and not motivate their employees.

Overall
I worked at Zupas for well over a year and nearly two years. In that time I had seen associates fight each other without repercussions, I’ve seen managers belittle and degrade their associates, I have seen good managers leave due to a toxic environment and the company reward bad managers. This company had an amazing GM that I was more than happy to work hard and do anything for, the company rewarded his work by giving him terrible supporting managers, and bringing in the most toxic and nasty manager I’ve ever seen in a work place. I will not use a name but they brought in an unfit and nasty manager from an outside company who proceeded to disrespect the current GM who was training her and start back room drama with our head of catering/assistant GM. They made the environment toxic and incredibly sexist. They promoted terrible associates and disincentivized the notion of working hard at all. They sat around and complained in their circle all day and pointed fingers for those beneath them to do everything. Even upon reporting verbal abuse of a teenager by the manager brought in from a different company our upper management did nothing. No warning, no threat of termination or no termination. She made the company unbearable, made the workplace unbearable and abused her lower managers even while they were out on vacation and had nothing to do with the store that week. She was a disgusting choice of a manager by a disgustingly ran company who does not respect the people on the lower end of employment. I quit out of protest of her abuse and the company instead of doing the right thing swept it all under the rug. This company will make you miserable, this company will damage your mental health and this company will allow egomaniacs attack and abuse minors for no reason. Do not work here, do not support their methods and do not support this style of business. There’s a reason all of the good employees are gone.

I love my coworkers so much and they make the job worth it. It's an exercise in shared suffering, and everyone who works there acknowledges it because it's the topic that's ever-present.

It starts off with our pay. For the amount of work we do, we feel like we're not properly compensated with most employees having pretty great differences in pay for doing the same job. You may be hired to be a line server, but you'll be forced into situations where you constantly have to shuffle with only one other person on the line, just because it's short-staffed due to the high turn-over rate. You don't get properly compensated for all the stress that comes with the constant shuffling, and that stress makes it harder to have a real connection with a customer in order to provide them with the best service.

Line servers can be hired at $9 and all the way up to $11. This inconsistency makes you feel like you're not truly valued. After being hired, you're enthusiastically told that you'll be getting a raise once you complete your training. However, this raise may never be followed through with unless you push management to give it to you-- most cases, they go frugal and decide to give you less than what was promised. After that, you'll probably never get another raise. 

Management is two-faced. They'll treat you well when you're in front of them, but would then turn around and talk poorly about you with other employees, telling them that they should keep their lips sealed when the management should *value* their employees as people. Favorites are a thing, and that means that the management's favorite person will be paid way more than someone else who does the same job-- all because of subjectivity and not being able to discern good character and hard work.

Management indulges in micromanagement, while never exercising that same judgement on themselves. You'll be asked to memorize all of these salads and sandwiches, but the management that asks you to do that will forget all of it and you'll have to suck it up because doing otherwise *feels* like it's against work culture. If management makes a mistake when it comes to an order, the blame is placed on *you*-- an exercise in low self-awareness. They'll call off work and expect you to fill their shoes, even if you had the day off, even if you're scheduled for another day, even if you had to already have your own shift covered for you.

I have lost the feeling of loving where I work. It almost feels like I'm only staying to see if I can get paid more, to see if management can be changed into something better, to see my coworkers who make the job bearable and who I genuinely care about as human beings.

Now that I have grabbed your attention here is my overall review for Cafe Zupas. When I first started there it was pretty fun, the managers are nice people and fellow co-workers are pretty cool as well. You have to go through training to memorize the food they serve there like soups, salads, and sandwiches, and stations like cash, door greeter, expo (putting order together), and lobby. The management put off my training for 5 friggin months! The training should only take at least a month. They put me on jobs like door greeter and lobby which felt like I have been there forever! If there's one place I can think of where I have wasted my precious hours of life it would be the door greeter position. Honestly I think it is okay for people to spend 5 minutes on deciding what to order than to make suggestions for them that they didn't ask for. You only get 50% off meals, 30 minutes before or after your shift. The only time you get free lunch is if you get 100% on your tests, that's it. What really sucks is moving up! Cafe Zupas likes to hire outside the company which is overall stupid! In order to move up you have to talk to someone from corporate who thinks you got what it takes which is pretty stupid since it’s just a shift lead position and not a freaking security guard gig for the Mona Lisa. Anyways I have been working there for a year and a half now and I have been asking to be shift leader for a long time. Funny thing is my boss promotes someone who has been there for five freaking months over a hard worker like me; hence "the slap in the face" I mentioned above. Yeah toooooooo much work for not that much moolah. It’s pretty much a cheap company where you have to remind them to give you a raise or they will keep that under the rug. Plus I cannot stand the unreliability there! I'm basically the very very few people who covers other peoples shift when they need it, 90% of the staff is unreliable to cover for you which is absolute bull.  I think it’s perfect for a high school kid who needs a first job and experience and that stuff and maybe for a college student too for a little while. (Not me haha) Oh plus they do not hire people over or look 30 who do not want to become a manager and they find that "creepy". If you’re thinking about working there my advice there is 1. Don’t expect too much and 2. Do not let them take advantage or you. I'm a chump for staying there that long.

I worked at Cafe Zupas and put a lot of effort into my role while trying to support the team and the success of the store. The concept of the restaurant is strong, and many of the frontline employees work very hard to provide a good guest experience.

However, there are several operational and leadership issues that made the work environment challenging.

One of the biggest concerns is the lack of communication from upper management. The district leadership overseeing the store often felt unapproachable and uncommunicative. On multiple occasions I attempted to have conversations about concerns or clarify expectations with her, but those efforts were often brushed off or ignored rather than addressed directly. Clear communication is critical in a fast-paced restaurant environment, and when that doesn’t happen it creates confusion for employees.

Another challenge was the inconsistency in training. Traveling trainers from different locations frequently taught different methods for completing the same tasks. Because of this, employees could be shown one way to do something and later be corrected or disciplined because another trainer expected it done differently. Without standardized expectations, it becomes difficult for staff to succeed consistently.

The store’s opening team structure also seemed to create instability. Many of the opening trainers and leaders were very young managers brought in from other stores. While some were hardworking, the lack of experience and consistency led to a large amount of turnover early on. From what I saw, a significant portion of the original staff ended up leaving because of the environment that developed during the opening period.

It’s also important to note that these concerns were not just my personal experience. Many employees expressed similar frustrations about communication, training inconsistencies, and leadership structure.

Cafe Zupas has a strong brand and good food, but improving communication from leadership, standardizing training methods, and developing a more experienced and stable opening team could significantly improve the work environment for employees and ultimately the guest experience as well.


Zupas might have decent tasting food, but it is TERRIBLE to work for that company. The only people who get treated well are the ones who DONT work in the restaurants. Corporate, office staff, and regional/district managers get top notch treatment from the company. If you are a General/Assistant manager, you get somewhat decent treatment, but as just a team member or shift lead… you don’t exist to anyone but your direct coworkers. You are expected to be able to drop everything for this job. If you don’t, get ready to feel like garbage because everyone will guilt trip you about it. I worked for the company for about 2 years, and in that time I was a team member, a shift lead, an assistant manager, and a catering manager. The only position I somewhat enjoyed was when I first started out as a team member. I had no responsibilities THROWN at me, no one expected me to stay for an extra 8 hours after my shift, and I had the best crew you could have asked for. After that time, though, it went downhill so fast. Their shift leads are essentially managers. They’re given all of the responsibility but none of the pay. Assistant manager was AWFUL because can you guess who will train you? ABSOLUTELY NOBODY. I was thrown to the wolves after expressing some interest in helping out a store that lacked management and within a month they sent me to that new position with the TINIEST bit of managerial training. I had to completely figure it out myself. The same thing essentially happened when I was moved to the Catering position. I got one week of training and then told to “go for it!!” even though I barely knew the ins and outs of the job role. During none of that time did I feel I was being properly compensated for the time and effort I was putting into my work. Moral of the story: unless you’re a high-schooler looking for your first/second job during the summer and school year… DONT WORK AT CAFE ZUPAS. 

Cafe Zupas  is a fantastic place to work if you are interested in being constantly pushed and recognized for performance over tenure. The company never says no to talent and will make any opportunity happen if you are the right person for the job. The company strives for excellence and is transparent in their expectations and numbers, and puts people first, always. Some concerns I had going into the restaurant business again was about ethics behind closed doors, and the biggest part about cafe zupas that I love is that the company is true to their mission statements and that values are put above all else. 
A typical work day consists of preparing food for in store and online guests, preparing catering orders, counting inventory to have food on hand, coaching, cleaning, and building relationships with the team working for you. 
The hardest part of the job would be to approach each day as trying to IMPROVE results over the day before- take your current figures, find your opportunity, and adjust. The best part about the job is the relationships you build with your team because we are very “people-focused”. 
The company always looks at facts and hard numbers when it comes to results, so there’s no room for favoritism and always room to grow. The company also focuses heavily on celebrating successes so you do not feel beat down like the results you get are not good enough. The leadership team is constantly reading leadership books that help them strengthen the team and themselves and the real world application of them past this job is a perk. 
Personally, I love the benefits package included with the job when you’re in management. I’ve had government benefits and these ones are better. The pay is competitive as well!
I did start with the company from the lowest position, and appreciated that it was the first company that cared about my skills rather than my age or previous job history. I was never treated like I was not knowledgeable, and I was on a daily basis thanked and praised in addition to constructive feedback.

it’s been about a year and a half since i worked here so perhaps things have changed but i felt the need to share this. this was an awful job. i have worked two other food jobs and this was easily the worst. training was incredibly vigorous. tests were very difficult and came fast. although managers would claim that they would help you if you were overwhelmed with a new position, they wouldn’t. it was constantly understaffed so not only was no one able to help when starting in a new position, but i was often expected to cover multiple positions on very busy days, making my job virtually impossible. i was constantly thrown position to position and rach was always behind. only 10 minute breaks were allowed for employees, but managers consistently took hour+ breaks despite their strict policy. the 50% off discount was nice, but stingy. you weren’t allowed to take food to go because then you could be getting it for someone else, which is just petty. additionally, there were strange rules. for instance, one time i forgot my employee cup, so i decided to grab a water cup that is given free to customers and use it for, you guessed it, water. i was scolded by my manager, who said that i had to BUY a soda cup, even if i just wanted water. lastly, employees were forced to work off the clock. even if closing checklists were not finished, managers forced employees to clock out 35 minutes after close and continue work in order to make their “reports” look good. this was likely so that they would not have to work more employees at a time, meaning more would be paid and less money would go to management. i thought this was ridiculous, but was forced to comply as it was simply expected and every other employee practiced it. on top of this, most employees began at minimum wage, which is ridiculous for the workload, and i knew people who had worked their for years and made only $9 an hour. there is no excuse for such a low wage. i left two stars, hoping they have changed since i worked there, but when i did, i had a truly awful experience.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Catering manager 63 salaries reported	$18.14 per hour
Restaurant staff 3 salaries reported	$13.83 per hour
General manager 6 salaries reported	$80,000 per year
Team member 5 salaries reported	$11.65 per hour
Cashier 26 salaries reported	$15.06 per hour

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