deli associate

restaurant staff

team member

shift leader

shift manager

McAlisters Deli

I worked at McAlister's Deli for over a year. I managed over that year to be promoted to shift leader of the front of house staff. With that in mind, I want you to understand that this is in no way written because of a bad experience or resentment I hold against McAlister's. This is written to inform you of the truth. 

The McAlister's franchise I worked under, Southern Rock (Missouri, Tennessee, Indiana, Mississippi), was by far the worst work treatment I have ever experienced. Not only experienced personally, but I witnessed it with so many of my fellow employees. The franchise had such terrible turnover rates and did absolutely nothing to fix the problem. Bad pay, no benefits, openly acknowledges little care for employees. My job was threatened personally by my general manager three times for speaking out against one of the shift managers treatment of my fellow workers. As a shift leader, I was told that every single employee is replaceable and that if I couldn't get over the mistreatment and harassment, I would be replaced. In my last week of working and the first of my two week notice, we had 8 people quit, mostly in part to the mistreatment by management. IT IS A TERRIBLE PLACE TO WORK. After informing my general about my two weeks, whom I had come to form what I thought to be a very good relationship, he proceeded to remove me from the schedule and end my employment right there. After proceeding to tell him I need those hours and was counting on them until I could start the job I had just received the following week, he told me he didn't want to do that. I had worked over a year for the company and did nothing but work my hardest and that is how my very last week ever at McAlister's went. 

On top of that all, they push a very high labor standard (meaning all they care about it money) so you will have very small shifts. Most are scheduled at three hour shifts and you will almost always go home early. Most nights are understaffed and busy. The franchise, Southern Rock, does not care about its employees and would do nothing if a complaint were to be made except threaten its employees. They care solely about minimizing employee profit and maximizing company profit. 

I loved everyone I met and I loved the year I spent, but ultimately I would not recommend this franchise to someone (I can't speak for other franchises but would only hope they invest more into their employees.) This job offers low pay with no benefits, a poor 30% discount, and terrible shift lengths. Avoid Southern Rock McAlister's at all costs!

What is the best part of working at the company?
I’m almost  completely  blind . They were the first to ever give me a chance.  My boss was so nice, if she asked me to bend over backwards for her, I would.  

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Very confused or rude customers.  Mostly customers that couldn’t remember what they had ordered..

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The title I had was front of house worker.  That means you responsible for cash register, washing dishes,  sweeping, and mopping floors, sanitizing bathrooms, Customers in the dining area, at the window, and on the phone.  It’s a lot of work to do that. I learned how to do it all fast especially on a busy day.  We visit with coworkers a lot when we’re not too busy and we have fun joking and teasing while we’re at it..

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
9:30 in the morning I would be checking salt, pepper, and napkins and tea sweeteners at the tables before people come in at 10 o’clock.  Make sure the teas are made in good drinks ready for anything online or catering.. Make sure all the pans are washed and the sink area and surrounds are clear ready for the day.  Then it’s 10 o’clock and we open..  The customer comes in you greet them take their order ask if they need help with their order and get them seated with their beverages of choice.  Listen for the people in back of house to call Runner or hands, meaning they need someone to run food out to the customers.  Take the food out to the customers ask if they need anything more and come back every two or three minutes to offer them refills.  When the customers are finished, quickly, clear away the dishes and wipe the table down for the next customers coming in.  If you have time and a slow time between rushes washing dishes and silverware usually at 1 o’clock.  Every four hours the teas have to be rebooted.  Each time you make tease mark the time you need to change them out.  Always listen for the phone and take their orders too.  be very aware of the people people who pull up to window and to our outside waiting.  Always make sure work area is clean and neat.  Sanitize bathroom after the rush is over at about 2 o’clock.  sanitize bathroom after the rush is over at about 2 o’clock. Make sure there’s plenty of lemonade in the machine. Make sure there’s plenty of lemonade.  Make sure there’s plenty of lemonade in the machine.  Spot sweep the room before you clock off.

When I first got this job I was told by a senior employee "You should of got a different job." I now agree.

McAlister's Deli on a typical day is insanely busy. With a constant lunch rush of $1000-$2000 hours. Lunch rushes usually last about 2 or 3 hours with hundreds of people coming through and start around 11:30 am. Dinner rush starts around 6pm but is nowhere near as busy as lunch. We constantly push to have our orders out in eight minutes and look presentable. Management follows a do as I say not as I do mindset. If we need help in the kitchen they quickly get irate and unstable. We don't like asking them for help but its necessary as we are always understaffed. This job seems to be a revolving door. Management recently took away the shift leader position because of an employee wearing a shift leader shirt, while not being one, caused a verbal altercation between other employees and managers all the time. There is absolutely no room to move up no matter how good you are at your job now. We are constantly refused raises because the managers claim food cost is too high, but then you'll see them take free food all the time. Its very frustrating. The most difficult part about this job is interacting with the managers as we're constantly told we are replaceable, leaving us feeling completely unvalued to the company. As far as co workers go, new employees work super hard for a month or so before they realize you can't move up, the managers don't care at all about you or your work, as long as they bonus each month. God help you if they don't bonus either. Older employees, especially ones stripped of their shift leader titles, (including ones that have been with the store for years) slack often. They leave most work to the newer employees who eventually leave. The only workers who seem to stay are ones who can't get a job anywhere else and have no choice because of bills they have to pay. 

The most enjoyable part of the job is that you can request days off and always get them. Take as many as you want, management does not care, they will just schedule other workers even longer with almost no days off.

First I put in the application to be a manager. I received an interview the very next day. When I arrived to the interview the person that was supposed to give me the interview was out of town 2 hours away. So I was told to just interview with the person at that location. I did. Two days later I was contacted by a different location. She seemed excited to get me to her store and told me to come in the following day with my so card and drivers license. I came in for orientation the following day to do videos. What alarmed me was the fact the there were no management modules in the bunch thatbI was doing. I completed all of my videos which toon7 hours in one day. When I got home I texted the General Manager and told her that I wanted to be hired in as a manager and did know if the manager videos came later. She responded with "You must be fully trained in the kitchen before you receive the title." I said ok and did my training. It only took my two weeks to learn prep, salads, spuds, expo,and  sandwiches. I was even told that I was one of the best employees they had hired this far. So fast forward 2 months and I hadn't heard a word about promoting me. To me traveling over 20 miles for a cook position wasnt worth it. I addressed my concern and told her I wasn't happy. I told her it wasn't what Ibsigned up for and I felt my 8 years of management experience and my servsafe food manager was being wasted. She told me she would talk to her DM. Now the DM lives 2 blocks away from the store and was at the store every day. It took a month just to revive an answer to my concerns. Their answer was bring in my resume for an interview. I supplied the resume 3 days later. 2 more months pass and I heard absolutely nothing from either of them, at that time I was fed up and looking else where. Out of nowhere the DM walks up to me and asks me about an upcoming interview with another company and I was confused because he couldn't come fo me about my concern but is following drama. Which made my decision to leave even better. In my full time their I witnessed a whole adult staff and management team bully a 16 yr old boy because it took him longer to learn thing than people of my experience. It was a horrible experience and I would wish that place the the worst.

The management consisted of 2 people for the longest time, one who would often come in at 2 AM to handle catering order prep. I believe someone got promoted to make it a 3rd, but they didn't seem confident in that statement thinking it might just be a temporary boost. Nice people, but not great managers. They do not really know what they are doing, and it shows. 

When I started there to when I left we were constantly hiring new people, and we NEVER had enough people to keep up with the work. A person who had the same first day as me was gone within the week.  They expect you to stay over and come early, for a nearly minimum wage job. I saw somewhere the pay was supposed to bump off after training, but that never happened to me, and some people who had been there for MONTHS as we had the same wage of $13 flat. They barely give you any training, yet I had been asked on multiple occasions to stay from before open to close, about a 12 hour shift.

Unless you catch a manager in a good mood, you will not get free food anymore. You get a 20% off discount. You will barely be able to afford a meal for an hour of work there with that discount. Free drinks though.

The worst part though, is catering. Catering was very common, and very time-consuming. It was not uncommon for us to get some few thousand dollar catering orders to come in that we'd have to prepare for the next few days. And it's never going to be just one of them either. Then don't forget doordash orders that should be catering, meaning you will be backed up needing to make hundreds of sandwiches within an hour while the manager is freaking out about the times and how we're going to do all of it.

I got pulled into the office one day because I looked miserable and I thought I was going to be fired on the spot, but no, they just instead do the worst thing of starting to ghost me a week later. I very well could be still hired on for there, but they locked me out of the schedule app and dropped my hours off a cliff. Yet they acted shocked when one of my co-workers quit around the same time they started doing this to me too.

Laziest people whom I have ever worked with on top of the rudest, mean hearted managers ever. The Gm of the store has no control of his personal emotions and if you mess up orders he will talk down to you, tell you your a worthless person, and lazy. My first day I called in spoke with the manager to tell them that I had a tire blow so I couldn't come in. When I came for my first day I was told that I was not a team player, I had terrible work ethic, and that instead of doing training I would run food. Which was fine anyone can run food. Was promised not to have to work weekends and if I did I would be paid more for having to pick up the slack with the teenagers. Never happened.  Had to work every weekend and on top of that had to do the work of three while management and high schoolers stood around to talk inappropriate at the front counter. People were not trained to wash hand properly and most time other employees didn't even after cleaning food from people's plates and touching used silverware. Tea urns were never cleaned up. Place was a complete circus without any leadership.  Leaders that were put in place weren't  fit to run a store. No set hours really either because of so many call offs and people quitting. They asked every single day for me to pull double shifts. No one ever cleaned bus room or trash can in bus room. They stacked dishes to the ceiling and set ice buckets on the nasty floor while getting ice. Which is a serious health code violation.  People stole food all the time without paying. Management was serious the worst I had ever worked with. Not positive people and treated employees as if they lacked a brain. Didn't give any instructions on being trained on new areas in store and was a lot of yelling with putting people down. Would always be making food without gloves when certain management was present. Only time they followed protocol was when the owners showed up. Besides for that whole store needs to be retrained,  management fired, and for the health department to inspect regularly.

This job has pretty good flexibility with scheduling, a lot of students and adults work there which is definitely a plus if that’s something you need. I have made many friends in my time there, although with any place there is a fair share of drama too. You get free meals on your break or to take home, which is nice and should be a standard at all jobs. The job itself is fairly easy, especially depending on the position you are in, but the culture sometimes feels like a war zone. You get criticized very heavily for small mistakes, it feels like the good employees get overlooked a lot, some people who are cross trained on everything get paid less than newer people who aren’t trained as much, the higher up managers will not have your back. Randomly calling last minute meetings at 9pm knowing people have school and other responsibilities. The managers at the store have their flaws as any people do but overall, in my experience, are good people. The company however does not have its employees backs. They say they do tip sharing, but they use the tips to make your hourly wage so you never get extra unless it’s catering tips from driving your personal vehicle to deliver caterings. They no longer pay catering drivers the delivery fee that has been raised recently, instead if you are delivering catering you must rely on a customer to leave you a tip or you make nothing from delivering the order. They have continued to raise prices as most places have, but a lot of employees still feel they aren’t paid fairly. The job itself really is not that hard, it does get very busy and can be a lot of multitasking and fast pace though. The company just makes it a lot harder than it needs to be though, and they make it really hard for good managers to actually get to be good managers. The customers in this area are not very kind people either, but that seems to be the case at most places these days unfortunately. 

There is a lot to say about this place. It had been opened barely 2 years and has dealt with a lot. I was there for a while and seen constantly management turnover. During my time, they went through 3 almost 4 General Managers in span of over 1 year. That is just counting them, that was not including the several shift leads and assistant managers I saw come and go. The management that is currently there are bottom of the barrel when it comes to almost anything. They are reactive about most things, especially the currently GM. Instead of trying to coach and teach the staff when there are problems, they are very aggressive and almost down right rude when it comes to issues. And if that was not bad, the store is in horrendous condition, mostly in back of house. They can barely pass health inspection because management refuses to show employees how to properly clean and to instill a proper cleaning schedule. Instead, they reprimand anyone that is not in their small list of favorites and causes further tension between coworkers and management. They will tell new hires that there are videos and tutorials to watch so they can learn how to do things correctly but not once did I see anyone finish more than one of the video sets. Instead, they will toss them to the fire and watch them burn. They keep saying that they were going to start doing the training the 'right' way but I never saw any of that come to fruition. The only positive side about this place that I can think of is that extruding Management, the actual staff here are usually nice (at least the ones that can keep but most do not last longer than a few months) If you do want to work here I would highly recommend that you be careful and do not trust anything the management say or at least take it with a grain of salt. They will turn on you in a moments notice if it benefits them.

I worked here for a few months and at first it was great, started at $9.00 it wasn't until I got the big picture of everything and saw how things were going wrong, managment was everywhere, nobody took charge, often times you can't get time off or personal days off without two weeks in advance if two people request the same day they choose the first day and that's fair until, first come first serve but, not okay when it's an appoitment, school related or something that can't be put off or rescheduled. I was told i'd get a raise after three months I didn't recieve one till 6 months and I had to personally sit them down and say "The pay and the work I'm doing are not adding up." there was times if you worked say 30 hours they put 25 which is tealing and wrong since you worked for those hours and not given, If you weren't good you didn't get the good hours. there's "labor" and basically you have to make more money than you're paying your staff so often times they revolved around that instead of anything else it's stressful when they sed people home due to labor but have so many things to do that require more than one person doing and after lunch they send EVERYONE HOME except three people a person upfront to take orders, clean tables and take food and literally one person take care of the entire front, second person at the window and the third person in the back making salads, sandwhiches and getting the sides, restock, clean, etc. Three people run the whole store while management is outside smoking 3+ the day shift and if you get a line or busy every person if for itself one person taking orders while taking them to tables and cleaning at the same time having to get all the customers orders in a timely manner while the person in the back has to do three things and is by themselves.

I worked at McAlister's for approximately 6 months; in that time I found myself greatly enjoying the work being done and my time spent at work among my coworkers. I spent a lot of time learning the ins and outs of the restaurant and attempted to excel at my position just as everyone else did. Management is fine; if you are able to joke around, you'll fit in easily; just be cautious to ask questions before doing anything that could potentially land you in trouble. I was made an example of "theft" by using my employee benefits for a free drink, which was partially the purpose of my termination (I believe most of it was the fact that I am moving very soon and gave them a heads up about this). ASK FIRST. do not make the same mistakes I did. 

Workplace culture is easygoing, and it's very easy to make friends here, just have a sense of humor and a good work ethic. Be willing to help your co-workers with tasks and learn how to discipline yourself into focusing on your own when its busy. The hardest part of the job is during rush hour, learning to multitask while dealing with many orders/customers can be challenging and even intimidating, but if you take a deep breath and work as a team it because easy/natural. 

The most enjoyable part of the job definitely comes from the friendships made between coworkers. You will find workbuddies super quick here, and I never had a problem with anyone I worked with.

If you can overcome the initial learning curve, you will undoubtedly do well. The busiest day of business is Sunday, so if you really want to work here, be sure to include that in your availability.  (and be very willing to learn)

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Deli associate 232 salaries reported	$14.51 per hour
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Shift leader 74 salaries reported	$16.80 per hour
Shift manager 200 salaries reported	$15.16 per hour

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