assistant manager

general manager

cashier

shift leader

shift manager

El Pollo Loco

Don't work here as your first job. At my specific location, at least, they neglect to explain anything. As a result you won't understand things. When you ask for clarification, you're also told to ask someone else (who just doesn't respond for a long time, which in certain instances can lead to something bad happening. For example, though this didn't happen, if I had to ask if I should put the sauces in the walk in fridge on closing and the manager didn't respond for 2 hours while I'm closing most likely the store will be closed by the time they respond, meaning the sauce will go bad.) My first job also didn't tell me much unless I asked, but at the very least they told me when I got my paycheck, gave me the proper working equipment, actually talked to me when I asked questions. The main method of "training" here is through coworkers. While good, it should be both through coworkers and through management, not just one or the other. To its credit, it had fired a lot of the management staff at the time of my arrival. However, not only was I not even taught to distinguish the clothes of if someone was or wasn't a manager (and to be honest I still don't know) I was taught best by one of my coworkers, who very clearly explained everything that I had to do, and how to do it, and why not to do things. I was literally told by one of my managers to "play with the register to get a feel for it" during my orientation, which felt more like a first day because I spent it working. Finally, I asked why I wasn't fired at one point because my sleep schedule was off due to not having worked for months and getting a job just then, and their response was to say I quit then, blacklisting me from future jobs at the company, when I had planned on putting in two weeks.

Fun other things I wasn't able to directly write down: I wasn't told when my paycheck would be delivered, I wasn't expected to sign contracts when I was sent them after being hired but also wasn't told this was the case until I'd signed them, I wasn't given my sign in information to the cash register so I could clock in and out in my entire time working there.

In summary: the place I was at was not managed well. I don't know if that holds true for ALL El pollo loco restaurants, but it definitely could've been a lot better. The food was given out quickly, though, most of the time. Sometimes we'd be able to do it in less then a minute when I wasn't the only person working there. I'm sure with more management it would've been fine, but I genuinely don't see how all these problems started to begin with, because we didn't have no management at all.

If you like improper training, be given zero guidance, with the expectation of never moving up the ladder because there will be Road blocks of higher-ups & management team or employees that will be there to keep you down because they have spend their last 10+ miserable years and life and are unhappy with themselves and want to bring you down with them. Unrealistic hours and days for you to never have time for friends and family. No communication also if you enjoy a negative and toxic working environment, not only to include dealing with the most toxic clientele that I have ever dealt with in my 10 years of experience in the restaurant industry. Customers treat you like trash because you are a fast food worker and the company expects so much out of you with no positive reinforcement and feedback , I have never worked for a place ever in my life that my stomach would hurt just thinking of being there another day. If you enjoy being mistreated and OutKast, given no sense of direction, unproperly trained and then expected to do the job at full capacity with zero mistakes and bashed over the head emotionally and verbally or look sideways upon because you’re human and do make mistakes specially when you’re taught inconsistent by a company that makes billions of dollars and should have better training procedures and training stores that should properly be training and focusing on the development of their management team for outsiders that are coming in. So get ready to close a lot get out or up to 12 AM be expected to have great drive through times. Great labor no complaints. with zero cooks improper scheduling on the management, team, short-staffed, working multiple positions and dealing with the most toxic clientele because they are not understanding of the situation that you’re being put through each and every day dealing with a stressful work environment. I’ll leave you at this when I say getting home after getting your butt kicked, yelled at, and side eyed and enjoy people talking behind your back. Your pillow will never feel better as you lay and cry on it. Run.!!

What is the best part of working at the company?
I wish I could find something to say positive about working for this company that was the best however I cannot

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
As this was my first job I was nervous learning to be a cashier because I didn't really know what to expect or what I would be doing. I thought my training was going well until I was in the job for about a week and then I realized that the rest of the crew were talking about me I don't speak any foreign languages I only speak English but I could tell by the fact that my name was being put into the words that I didn't understand and then everyone would start laughing and looking at me that I was being made fun of. I also had a minor surgery on my arm while I was there that I didn't know it was going to happen it was unexpected and I went to work because I was a cashier I figured it would be okay I could still do my job and maybe just modify things somewhat but my manager told me that I had to sweep and mop the entire Lobby it closed even though I wasn't supposed to lift anything heavier than a pair of shoes

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I'm not sure what I can say about the work environment in the culture except that if you speak Spanish you probably will fit in with the people I worked with at this location and if you don't then they'll probably make fun of you and it'll be a horrible experience like I had

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Again my day I go in clock in go to the register start to ring in customers take their money clean the front of the house sweep and mop and listen to my coworkers making fun of me and Spanish all day

A typical day in the life of a field HR Manager consists of follow up phone calls or return calls to employees with questions or concerns. I usually start my days early and depending on my schedule as early as 7 am on the road or earlier to a location to complete an investigation. Every day is a new day with new challenges and you must be able to multi=task and prioritze your schedule and work load. I handled as many as 12 investigations within one given two week period. Since I can't be in two places at one time, I would coach and guide Area Supervisors through any employee conflicts, investigations or policy and procedure questions.

I learned very quickly to be organized and accessible to the field operators. I pride myself by the ability to respond promptly and address any issues before it escalates. I had the opportunity to work with people of many different culturesa and backgrounds which quickly allowed me to adapt and build meaningful working relationships.

The hardest part of the job, is that sometimes making a decision is not easy and it takes a strong level of problem solving, critical thinking and analytical reasoning to arrive at the best possiible solution taking the interest of the employee and the company. Most of all I enjoy working with people and being able to have a flexible work schedule that allowed me to be accessible to a team of 80 restaurants within the Los Angeles, Fresno and Texas regions.

Management has lost it completely. Always running out of product and/or supplies. Constant scheduling errors, if there are even enough people to schedule. They will underpay you, withhold benefits, and if you are actually dumb enough to listen to them or do your job you will always be blamed for every single problem in the building, even if it happened on your days off (not kidding.) A typical day consists of prepping your station, cooking chicken, help 4 other people do their jobs, get disciplined or degraded for no reason or something you didn't do, clean the entire store from top to bottom every night (and be the only one at your position who does it, only 1 person per position is actually required to work.) I learned a bit more Spanish. Toxic culture filled with nepotism and religious drug use. Hardest part of the job is physically being able to do it. You want to serve chicken, there is no chicken cooked. You want to cook chicken, we ran out. You want to clean the grill, the only cleaner we got here is elbow grease. The most enjoyable part of the job for me was always just cooking the chicken. Its nice and relaxing. And when you get perfectly cooked chicken it is truly a beautiful thing. 

Ive worked just about every position in this fast food restaurant and let me tell you the pay is not worth the stress. Every single position has its own stressful quirks and tasks that will have you begging for the end of your shift. Cocks/preps are constantly struggling to keep up with customer demands during rush hour which can last from 10:30am to 2pm and 3pm to 8:30pm on weekdays. Drive thru is INSANE, hope you'er good at multitasking. Drive thru only has one window so the person taking the order is also charging cars, packing orders, handing out drinks/extra salsa/plates/utensils, and its all timed. God forbid the car takes longer than 2min at the window even if its the customers fault you are quickly scolded at by the managers. You cant really get mad at the managers either the pressure to upsale and speed up customer service comes from higher ups that probably haven't worked in a fast food restaurant. Managers often have to work long hours after they've already punched out just to get everything( inventory, food prep, cleaning, cash drops,ect..)  done by the end of their shift or closing time. The hard work they put is often overlooked and mistakes are over exemplified. Do yourself a favor just don't apply.  22

Working at El Pollo loco was a fun and fast place to work at, I loved it because they always kept you busy. It was not acceptable to stand there ( that's what breaks are for ) which was alright with me because there was always something to do. The management was extremely friendly and funny, She was our shift leader. The manager was hardly there  but reason for that was because she needed to go to different El Pollo Loco's to maintain and manage the other restaurants. The hardest part of the job I must say is closing, and drive threw. Closing had many task involved, we had to make sure that EVERYTHING was clean all the trash was thrown away, we also had to take apart the warming stove and sweep/ mop the whole restaurant and get equipment ready for the next day. Drive threw was tough also, in fast food restaurants that section is first priority and we were timed also in that case we needed to keep up tempo otherwise we'd get in trouble by the person that is in charge because there is a machine that records our time for each car that pull into the drive threw. The most enjoyable part about working there is having fun with the co workers and customers, having conversation and helping each other out.

Worked as management. If you think you can have a life outside of work you are dead wrong. Constant emails, text messages, and phone calls to your personal cell phone. You are not compensated for cell phone use or calls outside of work. You must respond to upper management no matter what time of day if you are on or off the clock. No reimbursement for driving to other stores or meetings. No time to take adequate breaks. Must constantly fix times to not go over 5hr lunch law. You must cover all breaks on all positions before you take a break, by then you have already gone into lunch rush and absolutely can not leave staff to deal lunch rush or dinner rush alone to take any break. Everything is timed and if you are missing crew for any call outs on main positions you get no assistance and help responsible and get called about bad times on or off the clock. Upper management will make you open to close and change your schedule at will to do whatever they want done while still having to maintain the store and still cut hours to not go over labor. Labor is based on sales and must be controlled and if you get a lat rush you are already short staffed and blamed for bad timer.

I still work each day always out of breath and over exerting myself to the point of never feeling better the next day. Even after losing quite a bit a weight, my body feels terrible after working. If the manager would do thier job right, we wouldn't have to deal with cheap gloves that break all the time, be stuck at one area of the store with usually no one else to help you, or have to do 6 different job descriptions under one title which is vague. I recommend being in good shape and being used to standing/running for hours at a time because the only time you can rest or sit is on your break. Pay is not worth the Mental and Physical exertion to meet expectations each shift.

Apparently they know about staff shortages because of work environment, yet they think providing free snacks (chips and candy)will somehow incentive new people to apply or retain happiness of current employees. I think the main issue is looking down upon any sort of excuse to break, even just to use the bathroom. It forces us to always be on high alert which is also draining of satisfaction with my job. 

On a typical day I would be at the cashier, taking orders, cleaning, helping to make the orders and checking that everything is on its place and that every customer had their food.
   I learn how to make things fast and well done, I also learn how to be more patient with people inside and out of the company, I learned that being on time is really important and that if you work on a  team things will get done fast and perfect.
  Management wasn't really good. The main manager was mean to the customers and to the employees. However, the managers that worked there under her most of them were really nice and understanding.
  The hardest part of the job  was when I had to learn drive thru, I work better when I see the faces of my customers, I like to socialize with them so that they will come back again. I always liked to make them smile or laugh. After a while I got use to drive thru, however every time my manager offered me the front I would take it.
   The most enjoyable part of the job was every time I was in the front cashier. I always enjoyed taking orders and socializing with people.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Assistant manager 20 salaries reported	$19.22 per hour
General manager 12 salaries reported	$84,500 per year
Cashier 79 salaries reported	$15.14 per hour
Shift leader 42 salaries reported	$16.83 per hour
Shift manager 11 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour

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