sales associate

food specialist

food service associate

distribution associate

bakery assistant

Family Express Corporation

I spent 4 years here starting as an entry level SA, worked up to a senior SA and then on to an associate manager. You can bend and break your back here, do work and cover shifts you don’t want to at your home store or traveling to help another store, beg for training growth and opportunity all you can. If you don’t brown nose, play the politics of the field consultants and be your store managers pet, none of any and all skills, training, desire, or job openings will do you any good. Do not ever give personal thoughts or recommendations even when asked, unless it’s brown nosing and appeasing to management and FC’s. You can be dedicated and announce over and over again, like I did, how you want to get to management. You can do everything asked of you, take all courses and certifications they offer and have multiple years tenure. If you don’t brown nose and play politics, the revolving door of new hires get the best treatment and you will be forgotten about no matter how hard you continue to “prove yourself.” Because they know people who have been there are inclined to stay because of false hopes and promises you’ve given them, while new hires are treated like celebrities so they won’t leave after 1-2 months once realizing all the BS that goes on at the store levels. Oh, getting your FC to cover a shift or call off will not happen, ever. And the manager(who’s supposed to cover all shifts) will guilt you in to do their job, and if not, you’ll see that on your following schedules, job duty list, and overall treatment for the following 2-3 weeks. It’s a good place to get some knowledge and fill in between !CAREERS! But this will not be that career. No matter how hard you try. Oh and lastly, don’t expect holidays off, ESPECIALLY paid holidays(have to work to get paid) you’ll never have a christmas off (company policy) thanksgiving off and so forth. I literally have not had 1 government holiday off in 4 years regardless of requesting and vacations will be denied.

I started working at Family Express in 2014, and initially it was amazing; great work life balance, great coworkers, it was always a lot of work that was expected, but at first that wasn’t bad. In fact, the first five years were great.   The promotion policy is promote from within. And, in theory, that’s wonderful. What actually happens is that if you don’t brown nose managers or know someone who works in the office, you generally stay in the same position until you either quit, become so mentally worn down that you have a breakdown, or grovel. 

The management structure isn’t great. Most store managers are completely burnt out from the continuous and nearly constant t policy changes at the store levels. Morale is terrible in the Valpo area stores, and last summer after I left, quite a few others followed suit.  Scheduling changed from 8 hour shifts to 10. Those who couldn’t really physically handle ten hour shifts were slowly phased out due to being able to hire new employees for a lower rate of pay. 

At the corporate level, I have to believe the management issues are not much better, because everyone I’ve known who has worked at the home office had absolute horror stories. 

I’m sure there are plenty of other really happy employees there, and I wish them success. 

One last thing: the owner and his youngest son are insufferable. If either visited a store and saw something out of place, the closest employee would be verbally berated, loudly and in front of customers. I’ve witnessed it firsthand at multiple Valparaiso locations over the course of 7 years. There is never any excuse for that. 

Essentially, visits from corporate struck dread into the hearts of store team members and managers alike. 

I worked in the bakery for a year. On your average day, you show up early in the morning and work your assigned station.  After you've finished, you'll either work a seperate station or go to packing. It was neat seeing how an industrial bakery functions and learning to work the machinery.

The bakery is a revolving door for a reason.  You'll be expected to do 2 - 3 people's work for the price of one! The pay is way too low for the effort you'll put into it and chances are you still aren't doing it fast enough.  Your only saving grace is that you can always leave after 8 hours (they hate paying overtime).

The company is excessively thrifty and will squeeze out every bit of labor they can to avoid hiring more people. This extends into management as well because the bakery managers are so busy doing other tasks they barely know the day-to-day workings of the bakery. The people who actually run the bakery are the team leads; who are mostly just packers (easiest job in the bakery) who tell you whether or not you can go on break and "strategize" ways to squeeze out more labor from you.

Your chances of advancement are slim to none and it won't be anytime soon.  Most team leads worked there 5 - 7 years before their promotion and it took alot of cozying up. There is also kind of a cult of personality with the owner's family, so really get ready to kiss up if they're visiting.  They'll sometimes use you as a prop for investors/the owner's golf buddies so that's fun.

Your coworkers are genuinely great to work with and it's a job.  Just do your 8 hours and leave.  Also, do NOT get the health insurance.

worst place I have ever worked for. first of all, the waste is terrible. working in the kitchen they had me throwing out dozens of sandwiches, ENTIRE PIZZAS, even though they could've just given them to employees because they were fine. on top of that, they have a zero tolerance no excused absences policy, with the manager saying directly to my face "We don't even do excused absences if you're in the hospital". They will send you home if you're sick, and tell you that you can't come to work if you're sick, but then they will count it against you and write you up if you don't show up because you're sick. and they expect you to drive all around to different locations day after day, the shifts are awful too. work at 11am one day, 3:30am the next, then 7am, then 1pm then 3:30 am again. very sporadic and exhausting schedule especially with expecting you to work ten hour shifts with no break. which is another thing. if you want to grab a snack or drink you can, but family express doesn't do breaks, so enjoy working ten hours straight without so much as barely ten minutes to sit down for a second. by far the WORST company I have ever worked for. they paint themselves a pretty picture of how wonderful they are in orientation, but then it all goes downhill once you actually start the job. don't waste your time here.

A typical work day consisted of greeting your customers as you have to say "Hello" to everyone that walks into the store; ringing up their purchases; answering any questions or inquiries they may have, stocking, refilling / making coffee or the immediate restocking of consumables (such as donuts); counting in and out of your cash drawer at the start or end of your day; answering the phone, changing gas prices, pulling bad or expired merchandise from the shelves; assisting the store manager as requested. If you were a senior sales associate or an assistant manager, you would also do banking, register reconciliations, handle customer complaints, etc.

I learned more about the retail store business and there are some good managers and some okay managers. I also learned you can work with some really fun co-workers or those who do not want to do anything but run a cash register.

The hardest part of the job was becoming accustomed to working on my feet. You don't get to sit down much in this job.

The most enjoyable part of this job was interacting with the customers, managers, and co-workers. I didn't work with too many bad eggs.

Bakery has potential with the right management. You can't sit in the office talking to young girls all day and expect things to run smoothly. They are never on the floor. They make their own rules according to their benefit. Handbook is a waste I wouldn't bother with it.You can make one mistake, and there is a good chance you will get a Final written write up for it. Certain employees are aloud to run a department who are not in anyway a boss, run the show and treat people they way they want whether it is good or bad. If its bad management does nothing.  Team leads are left to run the floor. One employee runs around the floor harassing and bullying people only for the Senior Team lead to say "They just want a reaction" instead of reprimanding the problem worker. The make up the rules as they go. No organization on managements part. Schedule is changed on a daily basis. A 6-day rotation is expected, They don't take care of issues or problems on the floor unless its an absolute must. Hr is a joke. Don't expect them to do anything if you have an issue. You will listen to someone that sounds like a used car salesmen .Would  keep an eye on your hours on the time clock preferably take pictures. Alot of  clocking in or out and seeing "Modified". Applicant Beware!

Short review of 2 years with the company.

If you're working in (most) stores you'll be overworked, underpaid and underappreciated. If you become a manager(salary) they work you even harder and expect too much for any one person to handle. They promise a good work/life balance, but this is often far from true. This does vary from your store location and turn around. 

Corporate is full of "clicks". You can be an underperformer but excel if you're friends or in with the right group of people. When job requires all the departments to do their part, blame games and drama always ensue for any faults or delays. If "The Man On Top" wants something(a lot of trivial/juvenile requests), any department capable has to drop everything and focus on that request immediately. 

In both locations there are always good and bad coworkers. You might have a awesome manager who respects you and looks out for you at a store location. At corporate most of lower/mid management are pretty decent and treat you with respect. But upper management across the board is full of entitled family of the owner, and the owner who I've seen verbally berate and harass workers on many occasions.

I worked more than 7 years with this company at a high volume store. If you want a life outside of work I  do not recommend working as a store manager for this company. If you are not alright working your shift with no guarantees of  a break don't  waste your time. The stores are run a lot of the time by a single person. Management is considered in the hours to run the stores which means you will be doing payroll, orders, merchandising  ect all while runner a register, pulling trash, cleaning all areas of the store, stocking shelves and so on because you are the only person there. Double coverage is when your  store can have it based on customer counts, average sale per customer and more. Convience stores/retail have incredibly high turnover rate and staffing is difficult  for all companies.  Family express sets standards to where the cashiers almost have to have college degrees in order to be employed there. In order to keep my high volume location stocked, clean and employees happy it required no less than my presence onsite of 70 hours per week and more from home watching store and calling. 

Did not have a good experience for the most part. Some of the employees were good, however there was harassment from questionable employess. Was brought to my attention that an employee had ran 3-4  people out previously, I witnessed a poor attitude employee hit somenone with equipment on purpose, call people vulgar names while walking by ect.. complaints were reported, however not much was done, as they most likely *need* people..

The probationary period is 90 days, and then you most likely get a raise. You are required 6 day rotations (but I did see them work someone 9 in a row) with no overtime during this period, due to the schedue ending  on a day they can restart the week..In the summer there is no AC, and you must wear a bakery uniform..It gets very, very hot, and water is expected to be paid for.

I believe the main managers really try, and are fair..The *leaders* working amoungst need to help curtail some of the workplace bullying. 

I would suggest this temporarily for a college student looking to make a few extra dollars, or to contribute to a family income, but the insurance is very, very high a family could never afford it.

My daughter was inquiring about working there..My advice? Look elsewhere..

A typical day begins at 4:30 a.m. and I have 1 half hour before opening.  I stay busy from the time I get there until I go home there is no clock watching and I enjoy being busy.
Employees are considered the living brand of the company.  We greet every customer upon entering the store and our customers love it.
Management is very hands on.  They are working managers and are expected to put in 50 hours a week.  Most managers don't work just 50.
I have a good relationship with all the co-workers we have to help each other or nothing would get done.
The hardest part of the job is throwing garbage inot the dumpster.  I am short and the dumpster lid is closed and if I have a heavy bag it is a challange to lift the lid and throw the bag in.
The most enjoyable part of my job is the customer.  I love making someone have a good day.  I open everyday and have the people going to work and I understand there need for speed as they need to get to work.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 1 salary reported	$15.00 per hour
Food specialist 209 salaries reported	$15.09 per hour
Food service associate 26 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Distribution associate 10 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Bakery assistant 10 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour

Working at Family Express Corporation: Company Overview and Reviews

Family Express Corporation

Family Express Corporation Ratings

Popular jobs at Family Express Corporation

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected