restaurant staff

restaurant manager

quality assurance technician

retail supervisor

fulfillment associate

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company

I was never more bullied at a job than working at Ghirardelli at Downtown Disney Marketplace! This was the worst place I have EVER worked! One would think that working with ice cream and chocolate would be fun and rewarding. I am a hard-worker, have a degree in history, minored in math at college, put myself through college, and work various jobs because the economy is sooooo bad. I have never been bullied by managers and staff more than at this job! The staff is just plain mean, from their crunchy outside to their heartless insides. DO NOT APPLY HERE! Not only will I NEVER recommend Ghirardelli to colleagues in need of work but I will NEVER BUY ANOTHER PIECE OF GHIRARDELLI CHOCOLATE EVER AGAIN! I cannot tell you how many times managers threw away vital documents, or lost information. They are totally incompetent. How many times I had to fill out the same documents, over and over and over. It is no wonder the reports from corporate come down with terrible marks -- and that just sends management into a tizzy and they take it out on staff. I couldn't even stick it out for the summer, it was entirely too debilitating. My friend quit after less than a week, and I lasted just past one myself. I saw coworkers ruthlessly badgered. An elderly woman is constantly screamed at -- in front of customers. THE MOST DE-MORALIZING ENVIRONMENT!!! The back room is always filthy. There is one woman who puts together bags of chocolates and I know she eats more than go into the bags. The company is losing a fortune on her alone. They handle the raisins WITHOUT GLOVES, eating much more than goes into the bags, with their saliva all over the product. But, other staff is scrutinized. Managers have scabs on hands and DON'T WEAR GLOVES. I would gladly shovel horse manure an entire summer in 100 degree Florida heat before I ever consider working at Ghirardelli at Disney ever again!

I don't even know where to begin. I have NEVER quit a job before no matter how stressful. This was a first. Having previous experience in bartending and food service, this job sounded like a fun opportunity and a perfect fit. I COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG. Management was completely unprofessional to the point where I felt like I was back in high school being bullied. We were constantly being yelled at, given passive aggressive attitude, and mocked behind our backs. They did not know how to make schedules - constantly being asked to come in later/earlier and then getting sent home after a couple hours because they couldn't figure out how to get customer in the middle of HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD. It was nearly impossible to predict the number that would show up on our paychecks - and most of the time, we had to call out the management on neglecting to pay us overtime etc. The worst part was the these issues stemmed from CORPORATE who did absolutely nothing about the complaints. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Its a relief to read the other employee reviews from other locations with the exact same issues. After 6 months, I walked into work 10 minutes before my shift and quit, explaining that this job makes me a miserable and an angry person and I'm done with it. Didn't even give them two weeks notice because they didn't deserve the satisfaction. Five months later and I regularly run into my Ghirardelli coworkers who did not last much longer on the job after I began the domino effect. Pretty sure they have an ENTIRELY new staff from when I was working a few months ago. I walk by the store regularly and refuse to ever go back in or order anything from this disgusting and abusive company. EVER.

I really wish I could have given a better review here.  Most of the employees and upper management in Corporate Office are AMAZING.  However, the area managers are some of the WORST people I have ever worked with.  They have been known to lie about, and seek revenge on, those that stand up for what they believe in and want to deliver true results in the stores.  There is enough favoritism and corropution in the middle management to make the mafia look like Disney.  I miss the overall community that the rest of Ghirardelli offered, and I especially miss working with certain individuals.  It is sad, really, as Ghirardelli has so much potential to be on the Fortune 500, but will never make the necessary changes in the corrupted middle management.  Also sad as they lose results-driven and very passionate people all the time.  I had many "moments of timeless pleasures", and had brought unexpectedly huge results, but my best memory...?  Leaving on my last day, with my head held up high, knowing how successful I was (and had the numbers to prove it), and also knowing that they did not deserve me.

It may seem like a cute and easy job in a chocolate store but NO, it's BAD. I had so much anxiety working there. New employee's are left to fend for themselves and try to figure everything out. NONE of the management even train the new staff, the sales associates do! The sales associates basically do everything except for the paperwork, which some of us actually know how to do. ALL of the management sit in the back and do NOTHING unless it's search the internet, be on their phones, eat, or talk to one another. Oh yes, and they also leave the sale associates in the store alone for hours while they go shopping or eat. If you question any of the management, you get fired. If you try to contact head quarters, you get fired. You're basically set up for failure with this company. They say they have your back, but they're really just getting ready to stab it.
The manager is NEVER there, other supervisors must pickup her slack because she's always hungover and worrying about her love life. And when she does come to work, she ALWAYS comes in later than she says she'll be there and again just sits in the back.
Don't work here, you barely get any money and you have a miserable time making it.

When I first started at Ghirardelli I was very pleased, Great shop, Great people, Great time. Being in the center of a tourist area of San Diego I saw and served many interesting people. I got the hang of the store quickly, I started off as a cashier greeting guests and taking their order. I quickly moved on to other positions in the store gaining raises as I went along till finally becoming the store trainer. I was given the award of employee of the quarter just 3 months after starting there.
Ghirardelli was a great place to work until the General Manager had resigned and we were left without her. The management from then on was dysfunctional and greatly mistreated my coworkers and I. The company was no longer focused on the customers. If Ghirardelli was customer oriented they would have not mistreated their employees so much. It quickly became very hard to go to work with a bright smile on. I could go to work expecting chaos, an employee being harassed or spoken down to in front of other co workers by management. Overall, It was a great experience in the beginning, I advanced a lot and learnt a great deal about the business.

I had an interview with the recruiter at Ghiradelli for a problem solver position that would bridge that gap between departments.  The role required you to not only know the ERP software but also high level accounting, manufacturing as a whole and also be the unofficial IT guy for the department, as the recruiter stated.  

I have all of this experience and have had major successes with other manufacturing companies but was offered $25k an hour because that's what he said market rate was.  This is extremely low and, quite honestly, a slap in the face.

This shows me two things: that the company does not value its employees  and that there is some major issues and dysfunction trickled from the top down.  Possibly major system issues that are unsolvable that results in finger pointing between various departments and results in an environment that does not value collaboration and problem solving.

Of course, if you're looking for someone to fix your manufacturing and reporting issues, you would want to pay them well because if the employee that you do hire is of low quality, you will end up for a lot of higher ups getting fired.

A typical day at work would be to clock in at 6 am, walk into the warehouse and begin our stretches with all of my co workers for about 5 minutes. We then get to work to start assembling different types of cardboard display boxes for the chocolates for about an hour or two until their too many boxes, then we begin setting up an assembly line to put different types of chocolates into the assembled boxes. We would do this for 8 hours, unless our Lead instructed us to go to a different assembly line to make a different type of box. I didn't really learn anything from management, only to be extra cautious of the forklift drivers. Everyone spoke Spanish, I learned how to assemble everything myself. My Co-workers  weren't very vocal to me or very helpful. The hardest part of the job was when they would send me over to the machines to dump crates of candy into machines for hours to make sure their separated and re-fill bags the candy's would be going into but also maintain the bins were always full with candy. It's continues and your constantly moving but it was also the part I most enjoyed.

I had no idea that company was so bad until I worked there. I took two weeks off and they never brought me back, even though the team was away the entire time but one day. I had my meds stolen and reported it to the manager. I think they let me go because it’s easier to not deal with the hate I faced. Even in liberal SF. I was treated like a dog for my gender identity not even as a person. Did they also discover I was working while homeless?? I tried to smell good and look half decent. I’m trying my best! But I’m left wondering forever why they never put me back on the schedule. I haven’t worked since. Some won’t hire me but I just don’t feel welcome or safe in SF. I have a couple college degrees but I’m not even welcome enough for minimum wage. I’m about to give up working and live on the streets for life. I’m not allowed inside what can I do? I can’t force anyone to hire me or keep me around. I think they did it so I can’t sue for discrimination. This job broke me. It broke my heart.

Greeting guest from all over the world, letting them know what the specials for the day was. Checking on guest if they had any questions on the product or if we had more in supply if there where non displayed in the front. Restocking items when they where running low, making sure everything looked 5 star at all times. If i was assigning a register then ringing customers up as quickly as possible as well as up selling each guest. I learned how to really excel at customer service having to deal with so many customers that where from out of  town just visiting. Management was great schedule was always accommodated when needed, always a variation of shifts. The hardest part was trying to meet all the goals as a team for the day. i loved meeting so many people from different countries and cultures. As supervisor i learned how to manage a team of 10, balancing the registers before and after shifts. Shipping and handling orders.

I am not giving this job one star because of minor inconveniences that made me feel resentment towards working here. It is because of the management, the job environment, the labor and the low salary. You would expect to have a somewhat fun or at least pleasant time working here because it is full of desserts and chocolate. However, working here has been the hardest job I've had throughout all my job experiences because surprisingly the physical labor and the pay for it is not worth it. Working every day is unpredictable because you will always have a new manager or supervisor and they each have different expectations. My point being is that while it is a hardworking and unpleasant job in general, you would also expect your co-workers to at least be kind to you but when you are first starting off, their expectations of you are impossible to reach and makes you want to quit right away. Do yourself a favor and work somewhere else that is more accommodating and less stressful.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Restaurant staff 7 salaries reported	$20.43 per hour
Restaurant manager 6 salaries reported	$22.17 per hour
Quality assurance technician 4 salaries reported	$26.50 per hour
Retail supervisor 3 salaries reported	$18.42 per hour
Fulfillment associate 10 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour

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