warehouse associate

order picker

warehouse/driver

cutter

sanitation worker

Gourmet-Foods-International

I started working at GFI on June 2, 2025, as an Outbound Coordinator. From day one, the training I received was extremely poor. I was given tasks with almost no explanation, and when I asked questions, the coordinator responsible for training often refused to explain anything. Instead of teaching me the process, she would say she’d “just do it,” which prevented me from learning basic parts of the job. There were no clear expectations, and no real guidance. It felt as though I was being set up to fail rather than supported.

One of the most concerning issues I experienced was the behavior and comments made by the coordinator. Throughout my time there, I personally heard her make remarks that I found discriminatory and completely inappropriate for any workplace. These included comments about employees’ race and appearance, as well as statements that were offensive, unprofessional, and made the work environment extremely uncomfortable. Hearing your trainer speak about coworkers in that way made it very hard to feel safe, respected, or valued in the role.

On June 17, I was suddenly told by the warehouse manager that my position—originally explained to me as an office role—would be moved to the warehouse. I was recovering from a foot injury at the time and physically couldn’t perform warehouse duties. The only option offered was unpaid medical leave, which wasn’t financially realistic. Because of this, I ultimately had no choice but to resign.

Overall, my experience at GFI was overwhelmingly negative. The lack of training, the unprofessional and discriminatory remarks I personally heard from a coordinator, and the absence of support created a work environment that felt hostile and unstable. I hope the company addresses these issues so future employees don’t have the same experience.

Starting pay here is good if your have some experience, but their cost of insurance is outrages for what you get. This was definitely the most unorganized place I have ever worked at. There is no hiring process or orientation or even training. Work safety is a huge concern because they have people driving power equipment with no training. I even watched as they would have guys stand on each others forks on a reach truck and go up to the top rack to get product with no harness or anything. WHERE IS OSHA???!!!!! 

The process in which they ship is weird. You pick your product in somewhat organized slots then bring it up to a line then pick it again. You have to memorize the box or box labels otherwise it takes forever. I understand it is expensive cheese, but you are doubling down on labor costs and frustration. They turn picking 7,000 cases with 10 guys, to my standard no more than a 5 hour job, into a 11 hour struggle. Of course it would help if everything was ready to pick when you first come in. Instead they have you mess around with making boxes for a hour and half and then they let you start your actual job. 

There is defiantly some favoritism going on manager wise. The same people get away with the same stuff everyday and everyday get the easy jobs. The one guy would sit on his phone for an hour after the initially group meeting everyday then disappear going to the "bathroom" 10 times in a 5 hour shift. Give me a break. 
I cannot believe they have been around for 50 years because the way this place is run it Is more like 50 days.

A typical day at work would be waiting for a call or text from supervisor telling you what time the shuttle truck will arrive.  You would usually show up 30 minutes before he arrives to do your pre trip and get ready.  Shuttle truck typically shows up between 9:30-11am, so you will always be working late and on a deadline for the day.  You and a few other drivers will offload an entire 53ft trailer, separating by route numbers, and then reload the 53ft trailer with return pallets and cases.   You back up to the loading dock and put your pallets on your truck, using a manual pallet jack.  You could average between 4-8 pallets. Usually all about waist high with groceries.  There is lots of physical labor at this job, but it is on the lighter end. Heaviest boxes I ever dealt with were 90lbs and those are super uncommon.  They are two day routes, but usually you have the sales reps and supervisor saying it needs to be mostly finished on day 1.  Routes go as far as Diamondhead MS, to Lynn Haven FL.  Average about 15-30 stops ( 30-50cs per stop ).   The hardest part of the job is the inconsistent schedule with the shuttle truck, and being in very congested areas at peak times ( like 30a beaches  at 2pm on a Thursday ).  The most enjoyable part of the job is you will not work that many hours for a salary position.   Average between 35 hrs in the winter to 47 in the summer.  Optional to stay out overnight if you feel the route requires it, but usually you can just come home.  Overall good experience, especially for someone who wants to get into this line of work. 

I genuinely enjoyed my job at Gourmet Foods International for most of my time there. I had positive working relationships with my coworkers, stayed focused on my responsibilities, and consistently worked hard to meet expectations. I never had any formal expectations of complaints or disciplinary issues, and both my supervisor and members of management thanked me multiple times for my efforts. I believed I had found a stable place for employment.

Toward the end of my employment, my experience changed unexpectedly. I was accused of making inappropriate comments, which came as a surprise given my prior record and the fact that I had never received any coaching or corrective feedback related to communication or conduct. The situation felt abrupt and inconsistent with my work history there.

When the matter was escalated to HR, I requested support and accommodations related to my disability, particularly assistance with communication during the process. Those requests were NOT adequately addressed, and I left the process feeling unsupported and confused by how the situation was handled.

Overall, the experience was disappointing, especially after such a positive start. I had hoped the company handled my investigation with more honesty and integrity. Anyone considering employment here should carefully evaluate whether the company’s processes align with their expectations for fairness and support, especially with upper management. 

Pros: Great people to work with overall. If you like working under very stressful conditions with humor and enthusiasm in a fast-paced, challenging environment, and want to learn about food distribution, this is a great place to get experience. Sales reps are given plenty of autonomy to do their job. 

Cons: Mileage reimbursement for all sales positions is shamefully inadequate, in line with IRS year 1973, not 2018. Many sales reps have to pay their entire mileage costs. Management has no time to manage or mentor employees. "Distribution dysfunction" related to warehouse stock and customer deliveries is unnecessarily high for a company that's been in business for 50 years. Repeated pleas from employees asking management to address desperately needed changes to improve distribution issues is largely ignored, often frowned upon. Long working hours are part of the food business, but could be more productive and lucrative here if management was willing to address the same chronic problems that occur daily and lead to customer dissatisfaction, by investing in changing a VERY outdated, archaic business model of procedures, instead of chasing tails and applying bandages to the same daily hemorrhages. Making these changes would increase customer satisfaction, generate higher sales, and commissioned employees would earn the money they worked hard for (when lost due to mistakes) and have a better work-life balance.

This Company confuses me everyday. Currently in the process of looking for another/better job. I’ve been here for about 5 months & honestly it’s not working out. The night supervisors are extremely lazy & the only time they help out is if their boss shows up. The coworkers are okay but sometimes we have so many call-ins or people coming late we get behind on easy nights. Sometimes the hours are crazy almost 16 hours & can take a huge toll on your body especially if you drive over 25 mins to & from work everyday. You never know what time you’ll get out it honestly depends on who you work with because some guys want their hours & others just want to hurry & get the job so they can go home. I’m cool with OT but not when it’s over 14 everyday! This place needs better management seriously & it seems like the employees can practically do whatever they want. You work in a cooler all day & the freezer suits they provide are all ripped up. The electric pallet jacks all have problems & it’s not enough for everyone. They’ll tell you in the beginning that you’ll be working 8 hours & can stay for OT if you want but it’s not like that at all, you’ll end up working an additional 8 hours if the people you’re working with are moving slow & it gets very frustrating. You work 5 on 2 off but your off days are spaced apart & it’s not enough time to recover. Thought this place would be better but I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. Can’t wait till I find something better if I didn’t have bills to pay I would’ve quit along time ago!

Lots of favortism at the Kenosha location, everyone is related so you can't really say what you feel to anybody without it getting out. They say if you work hard you'll get a raise but you may wait years before that happens if ever at all. Also, lots of indirect communication. The general manager never will pull an employee to the side and talk to that person which is odd compared to other places I've worked at. 

Hours are tricky, it's so annoying that you don't have a set time when you are done. If you have a family, it's entirely difficult to deal with it. Also your fate is at another employees hands meaning that you can bust your tail, and because you bust your tail you have to pick up the laziness of others which in turns beats your body up not only physically but mentally. 

Too much gossip there and not enough work, lots of cliques and you'd think it would be more cohesive with the amount of workers but it is not. The training there isn't good either because they expect new guys to get trained but at the same time they want everyone to be done working a certain time, and lazy and sketchy people there get away with murder. 

To be honest the ONLY thing that's good there if you have warehouse experience is probably the starting pay, other than that the management is terrible, the breaks we take are long for no reason, no set schedule, things always change. This company has a long way to go, it really does.

Management is toxic beware!! If you don’t have a relationship with management you're just an employee who will get overlooked for promotion. Doesn't matter your work ethic, education, or experience. A lot of nepotism, they hire external hires with no experience, who talk a good game are paid more and writing SOPs within being there for no longer than a month. They offer Hybrid options for some Depts. but not all. However they will call you after you've left work to try and resolve an issue without proper work equipment to do so. There are a lot of unfulfilled promises about being promoted, Oh and new hire managers are allowed to interview you without knowing about you and make a decision on your promotion. The manager you work with will never interview you, but will blackball you behind your back to upper management and praise you to your face, along with talking about management behind their backs. There isn't any recognition for the people who actually do work. They hold onto dead weight, and only for those who are in favoritism with management. Long story short, this is NOT a long-term company to work for, just a pit stop They also have to the turnover rate. BEWARE!!!

This place only promotes the family members of managers I watched on multiple occasions where managers hired family members to fulfill roles they had no experience in. This place does not care about its employees they will work you like a dog in cold environments 365 days out of the year and no matter how good your work is when asking for a promotion if they have a family member of friend in need of a job they will give preference to them over someone who has been working for the company with no relation. If you do start to work at this location you will be shocked to find out how many of the employees are actually related and have no prior knowledge on the position, this in turn makes for a very unorganized and toxic work environment where some people work very hard to get the work done and some people sleep on the clock with no repercussions. Three of the main managers at this location all share the same last name and are indeed related each of them have employed family members like sons, daughters and nephews to fulfill roles in the company that they are not qualified to run 

For the few months I was employed with this company, I can admit that it was very laid back when it came to the environment. Everyone was like family. The primary objective of my given role was a major responsibility. My accuracy and thorough work reflected on more than just myself. Mistakes were made and I was corrected then was trained to take on some additional data entry roles. I was apart of a decent team. As my prior statement, it feels like a family environment, which isn't always the most professional. Everyone has their moments, slip ups and so on. However, this is location has a very tight niche office. All the drivers have been respectful, I've not had any problem with my immediate co-workers, questions on a majority of procedures can be found on-site in an established handbook, and the head lady of the office is very lenient and understanding. Just don't be tardy, don't miss work and meet your deadlines. 9/10 I enjoyed my time there.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Warehouse associate 2 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour
Order picker 42 salaries reported	$21.81 per hour
Warehouse/driver 10 salaries reported	$18.50 per hour
Cutter 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Sanitation worker 6 salaries reported	$15.75 per hour

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