store manager

team leader

assistant manager

team member

truck driver

Graeters Ice Cream

This company will act like they care about you to your face and yet do whatever it takes to throw you under the bus and find ways to get rid of you. I've never met a more fake group of people. If you don't care please don't pretend to. Work life balance doesn't exist because you are told even on your off days you need to check in with the store even if there is other management on site. Your dedication is questioned if you don't stay 30 minutes to an hour after your shift is over. You're not paid what you're worth and the pay scale is all over the place depending on what store you're at even though it's not a high volume store. Favorites are played constantly when it comes to raises/bonuses and transfers. As you can expect within a family company nepotism is very rampant and not just with the Graeter's family but with other clusters that have formed. Upper management doesn't even know who you are unless you spend most of your time sucking up to them. If you like 12 hour days where you'll constantly be looking for things to do and bored out of your mind this is the place for you. Other wise do yourself a favor and look for a career with some actual advancement opportunities because those do not exist here and any time you ask your told "maybe in 10-15 years." Best decision I ever made was to leave this antiquated company

I have watched the store go through five store managers in the course of two-and-a-half years. I have done an excellent job at Graeter's since the beginning, despite how toxic the store environment has often become. To give some perspective, almost all of the employees who worked at the store a year ago have now quit because they were tired of how poorly managed and unorganized things became. All along I've felt I have had to fight to have my voice heard, whether about fair pay, humane treatment, feeling unsafe with certain managers, etc... I have worked for the company nearly three years now and things have not gotten better, they have gotten worse in certain areas and remained the same in others. I am still not being paid fairly or listened to when I have something to say, despite of the fact that I am an excellent employee who is kind to all and great with customers. At this point, I find it very difficult to do a good job at work because I feel so undervalued and unwanted there.  

I worked here while in high school, and was quickly promoted to Team Lead. It really wasn't a bad job, and I really liked a lot of my coworkers and managers. The hours were also flexible, and they were very understanding that because I was a student I could only work weekends for the most part. Also they had good safety protocols, and good sanitation protocols. The only thing lacking in my opinion was the pay. I started at $8/hr, and to me that isn't really worth the amount of physical labor involved. We constantly had a line out the door every weekend, so it was very hectic and there wasn't a second of downtime. You'd spend hours and hours hunched over the freezer scooping ice cream. By the end of each shift my back, wrists, and feet would be very, very sore. When I was promoted to a management position my pay increased to $8.60/hr. The promotion came with extra responsibility, and to me the raise wasn't worth the extra effort. I ended up finding a retail job that was much easier work and paid $10/hr. All in all, I loved the company culture and atmosphere, but didn't like the low pay. Also, this was back in 2016-2017, so the pay might have increased since then!

If you enjoy giving up all of your time for a company that doesn't give a single ounce about you, then bud look no further. It's a 60 million dollar company (last I checked) and clutch to their money so hard the jaws of life couldn't pry their hands off those money bags. They don't pay enough for the amount they expect from you. And when brought to attention it's dismissed brashly. If there is safety concerns, they won't accommodate to ease concerns of their employees. And don't even get me started on the nepotism. Yes it's a family owned business but nepotism extends past Graeters family members and granted to others not related to the family. Those chosen ones are given the best of the best, and don't seem to have to adhere to the same standards as non chosen ones. And corporate is so out of tune with the retail stores,  changes made or meetings or anything coming from corporate, is obvious they dont question how integration will affect retail. Oh but to show that they care and value you, they throw a borderline laughable it's that awful Christmas party, they give you a cup, that says graeters on it. 

-A typical day at work at Greaters involves doing two weigh ins to meet the amount of ice cream we should put in per scoop, this helps us understand what the ice cream scoops should look like. We also have little side jobs that each of us do such as Cleaning up the dining room, Doing the dishes, And sweeping and mopping. 

-What I have learned at Greaters is to be very friendly to our customer and to meet their satisfactions. I've also learned how to make all sorts of different sundaes, milkshakes and smoothies. 

-Our managers at work are stellar at what they do the make sure everything is going smoothly they help make our customers satisfied.

-My co-workers are great. They like to have fun but at the same time keep work serious. We all get along very well and help each other out when needed.

-The hardest part about the job is nothing much really, 

-The most enjoyable part about the job I work at is that you pick up really quickly, Meet a lot of new people and get to have fun at work.

Graeter's is a good job to start at and learn in a friendly team setting. At least at my location every member of management is generally willing and happy to talk and give advice on pretty much anything from work to life. Unfortunately, pay is somewhat subpar at every level, despite the opportunity for fairly rapid advancement, but this is somewhat mitigated by the decent benefits for part-time/full time employees, the flexible scheduling and the friendly, supportive culture that the company as a whole promotes. Also, each level in the company does play a role, but the company has grown quite a lot in recent years, so many in management are pushed into filling multiple functions, which leads to a fair bit of identity ambiguity. This is actually both a pro and a con, as it pushes each person to be flexible and problem solve effectively, but fulfilling a function while defining it can be rather stressful.

This was my first ever job and it was a great pick. In general, store management is good and cares about coworkers/employees. Upper level managers above the store have very high standards which don't always feel fair but they're nice people. 

Closing shifts are always very busy during the busy season so expect to not have much time to take a break. 

The pay is good when tips are good but relying on tips to make your paycheck better can make it tough to budget or plan. Additionally, when you move up in ranks, the pay raise is not very much, so you end up with a lot more responsibility making only a dollar or two more than those below you. 

Schedules are flexible because you set your availability and can easily get coverage if needed or pick up other people's shifts if you want additional hours.

To preface, I am a team leader in college. I love the company and I believe in the quality of the product and believe that you should serve it with a smile. As a consumer, is it my favorite ice cream? No. I do love this company though. 

My only gripe is the ridiculously inconsistent scheduling. Team members have a very easy schedule (most tend to be under 18 and still in high school, therefore its easy to understand their availability.) If you intend to take up managing as a student, this is not the place for you. The workload is not worth the pay, the hours are inconsistent and really annoying if you're like me (someone with 12+ credits with minimal schedule flexibility,) and you WILL NOT get the amount of hours you would like. It falls on the Team Leads to make up for the lack of hours the team members can't work. 

The managers are lovely people that I've had the privilege to work with but they will not compromise on hours nor pay out someone enough to want said hours. Final consensus, if you have bills to pay and no time to waste, it's not worth it.

Honestly? Not a lot to say!
After this branch got a new manager basically everything has been better! Quality and atmosphere wise! The crew is fun to work with, managers are fun in general, customers generally have a good attitude (as is expected when getting ice cream :), and most of the time it doesn't feel like work! That being said when it does, it's quite a drag, and can be draining at times. And outside of the store crew, other company employees can be a bit of a wet blanket. And the pay is inconsistent due to partly relying on tips. But honestly, I loved working there in spite of all of that! 

I worked there for a little over a year. A good job for starting out, but working at a store with a drive through is exhausting with double the work and the same amount of pay as a non-drive through store. Also, less tips are given through the drive through, so we were making less than stores that probably weren't as busy as us. I met some really great people, but getting burned out during or even before shifts was common. I would probably recommend this job to someone if they enjoy a fast-paced environment. A lot of cleaning was involved since during non-busy times employees were to clean something to keep busy and closing...wasn't fun. Corporate was quite stringent about some things. I do not believe I was getting paid fairly for the work I was doing (many of my coworkers agreed drive through stores should be payed way more) and for how much the ice cream costs (two single scoops equates to the hourly pay for a team member). Anyway thanks for reading this I guess.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Store manager 5 salaries reported	$52,164 per year
Team leader 6 salaries reported	$11.06 per hour
Assistant manager 1 salary reported	$18.50 per hour
Team member 3 salaries reported	$10.12 per hour
Truck driver 1 salary reported	$15.00 per hour

Working at Graeter's Ice Cream: Company Overview and Reviews

Graeter's Ice Cream

Graeter's Ice Cream Ratings

Popular jobs at Graeter's Ice Cream

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected