maintenance mechanic

truck driver

production supervisor

inventory control specialist

quality assurance technician

Gourmet Factory

Management can be an enigma. One second friendly and jovial, talking about daily events, and the next second ready to blow up on a moment’s notice over the smallest thing, with the go to resolution being either leaving for the day, or sending you home for the day or longer, leaving another member of the company’s management team to deal with the fallout.

Everyone, with the exception of the Accounting staff, reports to one person who definitely appears to have too many responsibilities to be able to manage it all. There is no delegation of authority to department managers, who can inject their thoughts or style of management into their jobs. They are managers in title only, with new ideas presented by them often just dying on the vine, never to be addressed again.

There is also very little respect for the employees’ time. Meetings are regularly cancelled at the scheduled time of the meeting, or even after it was supposed to start. Quite often with no reason given or thought to re-schedule.

If you disagree with management or have an opinion that differs from theirs, and then try to defend your position, be careful. No job is safe, no matter what you've been told. This company is the purest definition of 'at will' employment. Employees have been terminated while on vacation, and co-workers are not told. You are left to wonder where your co-worker is, and if they are coming back. Sometimes the way that you learn of a co-worker’s departure is by seeing a new employee sitting at their desk.

Mainly due management’s style, their poor communication skills, and ‘do as I say not as I do’ attitude, staff turnover is constant. The front door might as well be a turnstile.

Consider yourself forewarned.


I came into this company excited, motivated, and eager to work. Initially, it seemed like a fine place to work. Many coworkers are great, the neighborhood is industrial but quiet, and living 5 minutes away, it was very easy to commute to. You also get free olive oil!

However, once you get settled in, the reality of working here becomes apparent. The workplace culture can get very toxic, which is perpetuated by upper management who has the philosophy of "Rules for thee, not for me". I have met a lot of great coworkers here, and most of them were fired or quit due to the impact and stress of working here that carried into life outside of work. 

Almost everyone I worked with seemed to have started very recently from when I started. After some time here, I saw it is because there are frequent mass lay-offs. This is a family owned business and it is very clear that employees are just a number. It really is a revolving-door. There are some great coworkers but the workplace culture could use A LOT of improvement and upper management can be very irrational.

Employees do get free quarterly olive-oil, but it does not make up for the workplace culture and management style. I also felt watched by all the cameras that point at each work area as well the microphones in the ceiling, which made working here very uncomfortable.

If you need a job, using this as a stepping stone to make money would be wise. Go in with the mindset that this is a very temporary place to work and you will do well. 

This is a family owned business. From my first day I was thrown to the wolves without training. Problems often occurred do to the lack of response from the VP who most of us reported to. The VP was in control of most decision making but she did not respond quickly and this interfered with the work flow . The owner seemed ok, except for the occasional screaming match, but I did not deal with him so much. I only worked here a few months but I was told by others that workers come and go here like a revolving door, which I did notice. 
The lack of training, mismanagement, poor communication & trust will always be a problem unless they allow for a real leader to make on the spot decisions or put standard procedures in place. But they do not pay well enough to afford such a person. While there, I noticed the daily disorganization and logistic screw ups, plus lots and finger point and no fixes. Even HR got involved in production and other task not related to HR. ???
Summary:
There is no typical day because there are no standard procedures in place, I learned I was not allowed to make suggestions or speak up, there is no real management is place, (And if you are a manager you need the VP's permission to make a decision), you work more hours than you are paid for, and there is no recognition for good job performance, and good days here are very few . One last piece of advise. Record your meetings and keep notes.



A typical day at work would be to come in and immediately clean the entire dining area, including cleaning dishes and rolling silverware. Followed by stocking any items that are low such as: dressings, beer, wine, etc. Then start the day, going about taking delivery orders and waiting on customers. The hardest part about the job was probably the management and the co-workers. The manager had a slight temper problem and would constantly yell, and the co-workers had very thick foreign accents. Also, the manager wouldn't have specific time schedules that you could follow, he was always changing the times that he needed you. The most enjoyable part was being able to converse with the customers and making their experience the best it could be. The food at the Gourmet Factory is amazing, although a tad bit pricey.

A typical day is that you don't know what time you start working, every day it changes, and you don't have 40 hours a week, some days you arrive and they send you home, the reason: terrible scheduling.
They don't train you, you must learn everything by watching and asking.
Management is arbitrary, rude, yells at you, treats you like garbage.  But they will invite you pizza on a Friday sometime.
The best, the colleagues, kind and smiling people despite everything.
You will find that the staff is almost all new, everyone leaves, so there is always a lack of staff and it is covered with whatever is at hand.

A typical day at work would be coming in about 30 minutes before production workers come in to do a Pre Operational Check, such as cleanliness and infestation. During the day, it would be checking production lines to ensure quality of goods, testing samples and make sure numbers for packing and expiration dates were good. Hardest part of the job was to maintain all production lines, and make sure machines that had malfunctions were reported to mechanics to be fixed. There are only 2 mechanics and it was hard to have them everywhere at once to fix problems. Co workers were very limited in speaking English, which was a communication barrier. The enjoyable part of the job was when everything was going smoothly.

I interviewed with the controlled back 2019, I interviewed well I gave great references from my prior jobs and landed the job. The best part of the job was the controller, gentleman was smart, poised and worked well under pressure which gave me the confidence to give 100%. The owner was not personable entitled, rude and shallow. I felt I was walking on egg shells the whole time and it effected my performance. A message to the company, the high turnover costs a lot of time and money in training and effort, no one will work for you under bad management. This effects morale and confidence that a person can stay there long term.

Management goes out of their way to provide a positive workplace culture and provide nice perks. Bagels, Starbucks coffee, beer and wine Fridays,  free cases of olive oil every quarter, catering lunch for  entire company many times during the year. Holiday parties are over the top at high end venues.

One of two companies in the Olive Oil business that are proud to say have the USDA Seal on their Extra Virgin and Pure Olives oils. Leaders of transparency in food labeling.

Hard work is appreciated and rewarded. 


I learned a tremendous amount while I was there. Unfortunately I had to leave for personal reasons.

This place is awful. Recently got rid of more approachable members of management and never said what happened to one of them. Place is just a constant stream of unrealistic expectations, yelling and stress. The family that owns the company expects employees to agree with everything they say, meanwhile they have not the foggiest idea how to run a business. You have to be careful about what you say about particular employees otherwise you will find youself on the unemployment line. Honestly, this place should just close now. They have no clue what they are doing.

Ownership and management go a really long way for their employees at this company and for me that meant everything. Not only was I able to advance my basic administrative skills I learned interpersonal skills, advanced my customer relations, and truly became a team player . Work culture here is always fun lively and energetic with a strong backbone in productivity. If you qualify to be apart of this amazing company ... I wouldn't think twice.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance mechanic 5 salaries reported	$29.80 per hour
Truck driver 3 salaries reported	$69,333 per year
Production supervisor 13 salaries reported	$75,000 per year
Inventory control specialist 10 salaries reported	$19.95 per hour
Quality assurance technician 4 salaries reported	$21.25 per hour

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