line cook

expediter

kitchen manager

server

bar manager

HOPS N DROPS

I have just recently started in the line cook position, and the training is very well done with a mix of online platforms, and on hand learning exercises to get to familiar with each dish. The company puts a lot of effort into your training and development and maintaining that with what I think is very well done goalsetting meetings to both help you as an individual grow as well as the company and the restaurant as a whole. The customers are great they’re happy all the time and excited the atmosphere caters to that and his presentation from when you walk in the door so when you taste, the food is amazing And so far cooking in the back and taking the time to learn dishes I’ve had a positive experience I started working at the Lakewood location and before I could even get certified I had a family issue come up and I had to relocate back home in Lynnwood, which luckily the local hops and drops  Was also hiring for the cook position and I was able to transfer and they were able to work with me which I think is amazing and most companies will just let you go at that point, but they are amazing and understanding the management is working hard to make sure both the staff and customers are having a great time which you don’t see too often  if anyone chooses to work here, no matter what you do you will find this place as a second home with open arms 

What is the best part of working at the company?
OK compensation package for managers: competitive pay and bonus structure, clearly laid-out tasks and guide for completing each shift.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Perpetually understaffed in kitchen due to low labor goals and lower than average compensation for cooks in local area.  Generally quite busy dinner and lunch rushes meant little to no time to complete myriad of daily and weekly manager duties, leading to a constant state of running behind on expected tasks. The end result is taking work home or never catching up.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very profit-driven. Not unexpected for a restaurant, but the end result is that corporate support staff focus more on quarterly profits and daily labor percentages and less on the wellbeing of their lowest-level employees.

The turn-over for cooks, supports, and servers is high, leading to lots of time retraining instead of moving forward.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Very structured in theory, with a company-wide 18-step program for how to execute a shift. 

The actual day-to-day can be more chaotic, stressful, and unsatisfying in relation to how hard it is to complete tasks due to not being staffed for peak hours.

This job will promise you the world to get you in the door and working the low wage positions. Minimum wage for front of house with no possible wage increase, ever. Support/host/expos are promised they will train for server. Some never get the chance, no matter how hard they work. If you are given the chance, you're given a low amount of hours to force you to quit so they can continue the cycle to hire more support. Extremely high turnover for support and cooks as the wages are comparatively low and stagnate. Working conditions are high stress with mismanagement leading to scheduling errors and constant 86'd menu items. Inefficiency in the kitchen leads to lack of needed prep and longer ticket times. Proper food handling procedures are not followed. The only positive about this job are the amazing people that work there. There are some great managers, but they're constantly quitting or rotating to other locations. They stay quiet while the worst managers are left to run the show, right into the ground. No benefits. No advancement opportunities. No breaks. Some managers will even yell inappropriately at staff members. Don't be fooled like I was!

The management team has consistently demonstrated poor communication and a lack of professionalism. There appears to be very little regard for employee well-being, and company policies are enforced inconsistently depending on the individual. Favoritism is extremely noticeable, resulting in people being treated differently based on personal relationships with management rather than fairness or performance. Scheduling and hours also often seem to depend on how much management likes you, which creates an unfair and unstable work environment. Not to mention if you become sick, experience emergencies, or need time off then you are gonna be met with reduced hours afterward, which discourages everybody from taking necessary time away from work. The benefits offered are extremely disappointing and do not reflect the amount of work and effort employees are expected to put in. All the employees are frequently overworked, underpaid, and given little support in return. The overall work environment is toxic and there’s plenty of unnecessary stress and negativity on a daily basis. Morale is low, and causes feelings of being undervalued, unheard, and unsupported. Instead of fostering a respectful and positive workplace, management often contributes to tension and frustration within the team.

A typical day at work consists of running the floor using the "18 Steps" a culture that I was introduced to here at Hop Jacks.  While in the restaurant you are expected to manage all aspects of the restaurant including BOH and FOH in a hands on participatory way.  I have learned to lead in a very high energy, faced paced environment while maintaining the culture and standards.  
The hardest part of the job for me is learning and participating in the Back of the house.  I have very little cooking and kitchen experience and have difficulty while in the heart focusing on the task at hand due to the high volume and loud working environment.  This is definitely not my area of expertise and I find it difficult to work a position on the line during the peak hours.  This is an expectation of all of the management team.  
The most enjoyable part of my job is working with the FOH team and meeting the guests.  This restaurant has by far the largest number of regular guests I have had the pleasure of working with.  In most of the  Hop Jacks restaurants I have been in there is low turn over and great guest retention.

What is the best part of working at the company?
You are short staffed every single day so the money is good

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Literally everyday there's 2 or more call outs and they understaff at insane levels to make bonuses. Most shifts you will have 15 tables or more, with no help. Most shifts it's only a bartender and your management team will CONISTANTLY be on a zoom call and unavailable and clueless to the servers and guests.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Culty. They make you you specific terminology "whale-done" instead of like good job. You get in trouble fir not using catch phrases they've made up. They will call you on every day off asking you to work. They order the cheapest possible product and you are always out of half the menu.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I would get rashes from stress cortisol levels. It's never clean or bussed because they won't hire anyone to do it. There's also no dishwasher. Team work. They expect you to volunteer your time for multiple positions. Management is incompetent.

I will say, the idea of hops and drops is great. They have a lot of unique little quirks that make it a little different and fun. The coworkers are also very very enjoyable. However, it didn’t work out for me at all due to financial reasons. Maybe it was due to me being hired during a grand opening, but when the CEO tells you that you’ll ‘always’ have 30 hours a week, and you can get benefits at a minimum of 33 hours a week, you assume that you’ll be financially okay…This unfortunately was not the case for me. And as someone who never called out, always showed up on time, and literally busted their back during the small four hour shifts—-it was just crazy to me that I could only achieve 20 hours a week, at what seemed to be a ‘poppin’ restaurant.

In all honesty this place should not even be open. From the lack of effort from workers and a little to no effort from managers. Food safety is a complete afterthought here. I’ve never been so disgusted working in the kitchen in my life. This place lacks  the urgency to get things done in a timely manner resulting in long ticket times and a multitude of other issues. Leaving customers constantly dissatisfied with their experience. I encourage people who are looking for a job in the kitchen to stay away from this place because it seems to lack complete common sense and leadership. Any issues I had were either combated or they thought giving me more responsibility to fix said problems Instead of providing me with the help that I needed was the answer. I work for this company for quite some time before transferring to the Smokey Point location, and all I can say is the grass is most certainly not greener on the other side. The Smokey Point location felt like the twilight zone in comparison to what I had came from.

I worked for the company for multiple years at multiple locations, and Hops n Drops (Formerly Hop Jacks) likes to focus on "things" and not necessarily the people or guest.  Multiple hour calls every week, which are followed by calls to debrief that same call, or prepare for another call tie up management from being face to face with their team and guests. They try to justify all the "projects" with this glorified excel spreadsheet called the "capacity tracker" that tries to explain what is going on each week... but the person who runs the spreadsheet doesn't understand what is going on in the projects.  This dysfunction leads to varying levels of frustration throughout the company.  Upper management is stretched thin, with minimal guidance flowing to the store level management. If Hops n Drops can get their act together and streamline a lot of the "fluff" they can be an excellent company to work for.

Generally a great place to work, as there is tons of opportunity for advancement for all kinds of people and they do have a really good work culture there.  Typically if you are a hard worker, they will work with your hours and are very understanding with emergency call-outs.

Management has done the best they can considering how much work they have to do daily.  Turnover is somewhat high, but that is very common in the restaurant industry so it's no fault of theirs.

Hardest part of the job is it's a very busy restaurant and there are times where it will get extremely busy during projected lows, so you will be understaffed for times like these.  Plus side is the management always jumps in to assist.

Overall I think it's a great restaurant to work at.  Most of the food there is made from scratch so you can take pride in that.  

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Line cook 49 salaries reported	$20.30 per hour
Expediter 19 salaries reported	$16.70 per hour
Kitchen manager 16 salaries reported	$25.66 per hour
Server 11 salaries reported	$16.62 per hour
Bar manager 16 salaries reported	$25.84 per hour

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