local driver

truck driver

food preparation worker

transportation supervisor

sous chef

Gategroup

Overall, I can say this has been one of the jobs I’ve loved the most. I’ve learned several new skills, received at least 3 pay increases since I started, the work is not hard to learn, and I consider my supervisor and coworkers as friends or even family.

The training program could really use some improvement, and I say this even having been a trainer myself. The job itself is very easy to learn, and you catch on quick, but training sort of lacks structure. After mastering the regular airline catering process, you have the opportunity to learn other skills such as driving a box truck, catering larger aircrafts that require certification outside the two main style aircrafts catered, helping with dispatching, and warehouse assembly.

Although there’s always room to learn new skills within the company, and you do receive pay increases periodically, there’s not much room for advancement. As a ramp agent, you will have the opportunity to learn how to drive a single operator vehicle (box truck), which is one way to earn more hourly compensation. You do receive annual pay increases, and any time there is wage negotiation with the Union contract. However, annual wage increases caps after I believe 8 years? Sometimes you’ll be given the opportunity to work overtime, which can leave you with a nice paycheck. As far as advancement goes, there’s not much room to “climb the corporate ladder.” You could potentially be promoted to Shift Lead or Supervisor, if one were to leave the company. The thing is, that’s highly unlikely.

They do offer medical, dental, vision, and 401k. In my opinion, none of it is worth it because of the high deductibles, and the employer doesn’t contribute to the 401k for “negotiated employees” (aka anyone in the Union).

Speaking of the “Union,” let me tell you about the Union. WORST Union, EVER! First of all, the things promised to you during interview/orientation, don’t hold your breath on any of that. There is no free lunch for those working on the ramp, sometimes maybe you’ll get a free ramen noodle and hot chocolate in the winter. If they tell you things during orientation like you will get weekends off and are guaranteed paid holidays, just know there are stipulations to all that. Scheduling days off is done by shift bid and seniority, so expect your off days to not be weekends for at least a year or two, unless you get really lucky. Oh, and you will NEVER see your Union representative. If you do find yourself lucky enough for him to grace you with his presence, don’t even waste your breath asking him to look into or address any of your concerns, even though you pay $50 a month to that useless Union.

While the company does have a few things to consider in order for them to be considered a company one would choose to work for long-term, and maybe even retire with, it’s not a bad place to work. I feel it’s a great opportunity for an entry-level applicant, looking to gain experience in order to grow their skills required for a potential life long career path.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Good peer environment. Everybody I worked with aside from absentee and useless management were knowledgeable and aware of their roles within the operation.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The job was easy, the structure and accountability was non-existent. Having to deal with incompetent and useless managers caused unnecessary stress. They didn't know the basics of Excel, didn't read anything, couldn't produce a consistent schedule, didn't pass word, didn't forward critical documents, didn't communicate, and thought a good day's work was a six hour shift for themselves.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment was about what you would expect from a 24 hour operation. The culture was pathetic. The director and managers only concern was to make things up as they went along with no regard to operational issues in order to meet the conditions for their precious bonuses, the table scraps tossed at them from a 3.5 billion dollar a year company while doing the least amount of work possible, and delegating management level responsibilities onto the supervisors. From the top down, it's the perfect example of "fake it till you make it" management. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Each shift presented different minor challenges and issues, but over time they became redundant and easy to manage by building reliable points of contact and knowing who the most helpful drivers were. Also, a pretty consistent problem that was ignored was taking on critical operational tasks when employees didn't show up which was constant.  One of the other supervisors argued with our customers when they called with a request or complaint, just to let you know the quality of people they hire. 

-Long hours, can barely get a break. You will be on your feet ALL day.
-Heavy workload, but expects no overtime.
Sometimes, there is missing food or equipment to get the job done. Can take hours to receive food or equipment. YET still expects one to  finish on time. Should be 8 hour shifts, but tends to be 10-13. Even when the kitchen is understaffed, they expect you to leave on time!
-Management really does not care. I can't stress it enough that management is awful! Any problems reported to them will result in NOTHING.They put all the pressure on the employees. There could be a million issues happening and they will just go home. 
-Poor training.They will throw you to the wolves. They don't train you well, but put a lot of pressure on you and expect you to know everything about the job. Also, there needs to be some cross training. If you're the only one that knows the job, they expect you to come in on your days off instead of training others. 
-At least 75% of the people do not speak English, which could be a good and bad thing. Bad because it may be difficult to communicate with each other. You may have to find someone to translate. Good because you begin to pick up on different languages because you are always exposed to it. 
-There isn't a whole lot of team work. Everyone's favorite line is, "that's not my job."
You can tell that everyone is stressed. It is far from a positive work environment. People are always yelling at each other making others feel uncomfortable, which should be taken to HR. That would mean going to HR every day though. It's that bad. I wish I was exaggerating.
-You will have to deal with extreme temperature changes. Where they plate food is 40 degrees F and under. Then, if you walk into dish room it is super hot.
All in all, I do not recommend this job. This company is complex and stressful, especially when no one is there to support you.

i worked for them for 6 months in 2014 i will tell if you are going to work in the south san francisco location you must learn fluent mandarin or cantonese 90% of the people dont speak english i was an expoditor/gate keeper in the final cooler this was the most unorganized place i have ever worked in everybody did what they want the driver and driver helpers will pull flights early with missing items or just leave a whole cart behind and the pantry or galley will get ripped a new one for it the kitchen even if its not thier fault the flight checkers are the punching bags for when things go bad as well and when someone isnt getting yelled you pretty much do what you want rules dont really mean much here the work it self is pretty straight forward and simple an 8 year could do it count it and bag it well if you are a checker its a little more difficult you need to train your self there is no propper training its all guess work you walk in they tell you this person is your trainer and 90% of the time they dont speak english so your on your own and as for cleanliness epic fail never fly united if you do dont eat the food, the food carts and the ovens that the hot food is packed in are never clean they come off one flight and then reload and pushed right back out to the next flight with the burnt crusty stuff no washing need i guess...not even a once over with a clean rag. The best thing about this place was the free ice cream and candy and well i met a few good friends from the 10 people that spoke english out of the 250 employees they have

If this company is hiring CDL-licensed drivers, it is important that their credentials and qualifications are fully respected. During afternoon shifts, drivers have been left waiting for assigned vehicles, sometimes for extended periods. This raises concerns regarding fleet coordination. Background check processing times can sometimes extend up to two months. During this period, employees may be assigned to ice or freezer duties rather than driving roles, which can be challenging and may not align with the expectations of CDL-licensed personnel. The current clock-out process requires managerial assistance, which can result in significant delays. In some cases, employees must wait 30 to 45 minutes to be clocked out. This creates unnecessary time loss at the end of shifts and impacts employees who have family and personal obligations. Implementing a more efficient or self-service time-tracking process would improve operational efficiency and employee satisfaction. The existing flight system is poorly structured and significantly impacts operational efficiency. There have been instances at the airport where required seal breaks were delayed because no United personnel were available or willing to perform the procedure. These delays sometimes lasting up to 40 minutes can cause flights to depart late. Despite this, responsibility for the delay is often placed on the driver, which raises concerns about process accountability and coordination.

This is a union position.  Therefore, the people with seniority will get to work the schedules that they want and new people get the worst work schedule.  At the interview, the official recruiter based out of Las Vegas was at mine.  He is a very polite and professional individual.  In contrast, the actual transportation supervisor that works at this location was negative, accusatory and, had an overall negative/rude aura.  I can't imagine anybody wanting to work with him.  The pay is average.  The benefits are below average.  The facility is old and extremely over crowded.  They probably should have moved to a bigger and newer facility 20 years ago.  Good luck finding parking because there isn't even enough for the employees.  The company advertises free buffet meals for employees while on duty.  Yes, it's free but it is nothing to write home about.  I saw people bringing their own food.  This could have been an O.K. place to work for a short period while looking for a better company but, the management at Gate Gourmet is some of the worst that I've ever experienced.  I'm a CDL Driver whose worked for many companies across the U.S. and this place has some of the worst personalities in management that I've ever experienced.  My initial experience and intuition told me to run at time of interview, I should've listened to my inner voice!

I work in transportation catering airplanes. Pay is **okay** for an entry-level job but, considering the physically-demanding and, at times, stressful work environment, workers should be getting paid more. Benefits are available, with a 401(k) match and health insurance. We do not receive free lunch even though it is advertised as so when getting hired. Upper Management is not really around. You will be working directly with Supervisors that may or may not be supportive and fair. It depends on the particular Supervisor. Prepare to work in all weather conditions and in all hours of the day, night or early morning. This job requires a lot of physical work and it is not necessarily easy or stress-free. The less workers around, the more work that is put on you and the more overworked we are left feeling. Be prepared. 

I have been at this job for 6 years and even though I have come a long way in pay, their are some who still have not and the company refuses to raise the pay of workers but on a continuous bases give management, well upper management raises all the time. It is because of the workers and our unions coming together making noise that we received those raises in the first place. THE SPACES THAT WE ARE TO WORK IN ARE UNSANITARY AND DISGUSTING. I work on the airfield most of my work day and most of the time lunches aren't provided to every shift and sometimes we don't always get our two 15 minute breaks or our 30 minute lunch breaks. AND DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE VEHICLES THAT WE DRIVE ON THE AIRFIELD. DOORS FALL OFF WHILE YOUR DRIVING, HEAT NOR AIR CONDITION WORK PROPERLY, but both work in MANAGEMENT VEHICLES. The vehicles are properly serviced like they should be, so they numerous issues. I could go on and on about this company! Most of us stay because right now jobs are hard to come by and we have families to feed and take care of. I am currently on medical leave, have been for a year and received nothing from the company, no compensation, no card, no nothing, but I BET IF I WAS IN MANAGEMENT I WOULD!!!!! IT'S RIDICULOUS!!! The good part is that you may find and build some really good friendship with people, that continue even after you guys have moved on to other jobs. 

I'd rather play in mud all day than to ever come back here. Do what you will with that info... The idea of working here seems cool, until you get into the company and start dealing with management and others around you. The level of hierarchy, disorganization, and tiredness this place gives is wild.

The "free food" they give in the cafeteria is practically prison food. A company that makes so much money from contracts and the best they can give you is stale hot pockets and stuff that gives you bubble guts. I would rather starve at that point.

While there were some nice people, it's very rare in that case.  A lot of the "people" that work here are animals, have no sense of decency at all, and are very disorganized. Some of the supervisors that work here honestly don't deserve the position and title by the way they act. The dock training is pretty much like being on a playground. No organization, no proper communication, just throwing you in 10 different places at once. 

The truck beds smell like rotten meat. They're so "keen" on sanitation that they don't even step inside them for experience. Anyone will point fingers and play the blame game on you for anything.

All I can say is I'm glad I resigned immediately and I can't ever get rehired by this company. If this place was just as bad, I can imagine how others were.

The part I didn't like was the older supervisors treated you like slaves talk about you in front of other people basiclly belittle you but still want you to give them good productivity.  The bathrooms are always nasty there are roachs an nates all in the building an in the food. They take your overtime pay so it looks like you only work partime when you work full time an overtime. The payroll person is never in her office when they mess up our pay we suppose to be in a union but they dont even take union dues they say we have a shift differential of 0.05 an they put you regular hours down twice sso they wont have to pay you overtime. The food makes you sick an we might have one meal a day but suppose to be feed 3 times a day yeah right. This place feed people dreams an lies just to get worker but they dont even last a month and they bribe you with if you dont miss a day of work you get 250 dollars  the end of your 90 probation I didnt know nothing about this till after my 90 days because when they hire new people they tell them different things. They need to be shut down obviously from the looks of these reviews the whole company need to be shut down because this is the worse place I ever worked. I wont an wouldnt recommend no one to come here an its sad because the work isnt hard its the high above people who are making it bad.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Local driver 3 salaries reported	$25.00 per hour
Truck driver 17 salaries reported	$25.96 per hour
Food preparation worker 3 salaries reported	$17.15 per hour
Transportation supervisor 7 salaries reported	$70,595 per year
Sous chef 17 salaries reported	$75,176 per year

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