cook

dishwasher

prep cook

sous chef

lead cook

SAGE Dining Services

I have been working here for about two years, in the beginning, everything was great and fast paced. We went through a few good people in my time, some of their own accord, some that left because they were mistreated. Fast forward a few months, another leaves, management changes. In my time, I have never seen such blatant incompetence. A Food Director who knows 0 about his venue. Who doesn't put forth the effort to learn. We have a Starbucks franchise there, in the two years the Food Director was there, he learned 0 drinks, doesn't know the popularity of the food, nor does he know which baked goods to buy. He barely knows how to run the register. You would think, even if he DIDN'T know how to make each item, he would know how to properly run, order, invoice, etc? No, he didn't know how to do that either. Then, when we run out of things, ask where they are, after being told several times what was going on. Not knowing where certain items were kept in inventory, not knowing how the day-to-day operations were going. He would go upstairs for 5 minutes each time, sit in the office and not even help when there was a rush. When he did come in and there was a rush, he would do circles in the kitchen, opening and closing the fridges, looking for SOMETHING, then he would leave as fast as he came. Not to mention, picking on people. He would single out the other baristas and when confronted about it, he said,"If I see something wrong, I just turn to the person closest and blame them." The entire school knows he drinks, he even does it on the job, with VIDEO EVIDENCE. We have a man working in the downstairs, who was called out by a STUDENT who had seen him BLOW HIS NOSE and proceed to WIPE THE COUNTER. Another gentleman harassed a student for a date, and the student has said she it too afraid to even walk into the cafeteria because of him. Both of these men are still currently employed. Not to mention several times coming to the Food Director and saying things about the food they send up to us. Food that sometimes is marked WEEKS out, meaning, we would get food from 2/28 on 3/15. Frozen. Everything is frozen. Made in advanced. Eggs for breakfast sandwiches are made the day before and brought up. The soup has so much oil, I swear if the US government knew it would come to claim it for its resource. But, even with us making our complaints on the freshness and quality. We are met with "stay in your lane, downstairs is none of our concern." Even when we climbed the ladder and went to our District Manager, we laid out everything that was going on, the harassment, the food quality, the general dislike of our jobs because of management. We were told to wait a bit, they would talk to out Manager and sort things out. Weeks went by, even when the NEXT Monday, we were all corralled into the kitchen for a meeting where our "valiant leader" reeked of drink. The District Manager has known about his drinking problems for years at this point. But nothing is done for it. What a waste. The company preaches community, family, etc. But this venue is so out of the water its unbelievable. Losing good people over such blatant incompetence. Its sickening. The other venues are great but, this one is poison. Beware of this venue. They also promise you hours they cant give you. They hired so many people on false pretenses. 

Absolutely a disgrace.

This company will work you to the bone and then get rid of you when you can't keep up anymore. I am recovering from severe burnout that impacted my physical health due to this job. They also refuse to address any workplace problems, such as:

- Mistreatment/gradually icing you out if you have a chronic health condition or family emergency
- Told management I was experiencing burnout and asked for support but the only response I got was "work more" and "try breaking things down into smaller tasks"
- Unreasonable deadlines, without enough time/resources given to finish things (this also includes a refusal to hire more people for the department, even though multiple team members requested this because of our workload)
- Management blames workers under them for mistakes caused by the unreasonable crunch deadlines above and bad estimates of workload (the only solution given for this was "work more (unpaid!!!) overtime")
- Broken/buggy/problematic (company provided) work setup, caused tons of waiting/wasted time
- Pay does not keep up with cost of living
- The owners push a weird personality cult type of vibe and seem high on their own supply (they also practice nepotism)
- Constant blaming of my department for everything that went wrong in the organization by other departments, which was really depressing to work under
- Constant push for MORE, MORE, MORE from workers with no pay increases or resources

The only good thing about this place was my fellow non-management coworkers in my department, who were all really great and I honestly miss them. :( The main problem with this place is the owners and the department heads, unfortunately. 

"We care about radical ownership here" - how about YOU do some radical ownership, people in charge?

As the Assistant Food Service Director at Saint Mary's Hall, I co-managed the catered events and the dining program.  A typical day at Saint Mary's Hall started at 6:00 AM.  I began every day with telling my staff, "Good Morning."  I alway felt that beginning my day that way started everyone off in a positive manner.  I would then go to my desk and begin paying vendor invoices.  As a company, we order weekly from national vendors and maintain professional relationships with them by meeting and discussing order guides and products regularly.  
I would then hold a staff meeting to discuss daily menus for the private school.  By holding these meetings, it helped me develop my public speaking skills, as well a my ability to manage effectively.  It gave my employees a chance to all get on the same page, as well.  

Every week I take inventory of all product on our shelves.  I then enter the data on a program called SageWARE.  I post all financials, inventory, budgets, etc. to the home office (Sage, Lutherville, Maryland).  Every Friday, I balance the books, make sure all invoices are paid for, schedules are in place for the next 2-weeks, as well as, entering all employees weekly hours onto SageWARE.  

The hardest part of my job was getting around the mental image that I was a "glorified lunch lady."  Yes, I served the student populations fabulous, healthy meals daily, but I needed to think of what I was learning as a whole and how this would help me develop professionally.  

What I enjoy most about my job at Sage at Saint Mary's Hall is being able to make my client happy.

i work 6am to 1:30pm some times later.

6-6:15- ice food bar, plug in waffle machines, set up morning cook for cooking on a flat grill (making sure any milk or eggs get iced and making sure spatulas and canola oils are all set for him.

6:15-6:30 - bring out all jelly's ,peanut butter,  brown sugar, honey, cinnamon sugar , sliced strawberry's, cheese salsa, jalapenos, and butters and cream cheeses is out. 

checking milks and juices

6:30-6:45- taking food off elevator and temping it and setting up food line for service

7am to 8am - serve breakfast

8am- 9am- checking food, wrapping food and sending hot food downstairs after i temp it again.

9am-10am- cleaning up counters, floors, restocking products, checking and cleaning bread, table soup station, cereal station , and restocking ice cream station. checking fruit station.

10am 10:15- bringing out jelly's, peanut butter, yogurts, etc.. turning on soup wells.
10:15- 10:30 -salad and deli bar comes up stairs

10:30-11 making sure everything is out and is right like example: everything gets it right utensil, soup is out, server line is all set food is temped and everything is stocked.
fruit,crackers,bread, yogurt, condiments(ketchup, mustard, mayo)

11am to 12pm-  serve lunch
12pm -12:30 -taking care of all food product and temperatures 

12:30- 1:30 - cleaning up and restocking everything for the night crew

EVERY DAY this is done and i know there little thing that i don't put down that i do like help the dishwasher, or help with health center order or catering that is needed for Pryor events.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Not only the experience in the nature of the job was good it's a great opportunity for anyone looking for an easy yet hard-working environment I not only enjoyed my time there but also the other people that I had to work with day in and day out even the management was great although I'm in a job I love now I honestly wouldn't mind going back

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I felt like the work schedule was kind of over the place but what would you expect working in a kitchen and aside from that the only other thing that I found kind of stressful was sometimes there was always someone who didn't want to put in the team effort

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Absolutely great and if you're working at a school environment of course you get all of the school holidays off along with Summers of course any holiday it was always very festive and Lively they maintained an upheld some very good work ethics when it came to you know being nice to people and being a part of a team and putting in your best effort even if it's not 100% it's just about putting in that extra effort or simply working as long as you're needed

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Well if there's one thing I remember it's all that good food for me a typical day was basically just cleaning eating food cleaning and then eating food and then cleaning of course maintaining and upholding my area and then getting to go home it was great

I found myself & the team reiterated  navigating a hostile work environment.
I told & knew that some of the Team fear retribution for speaking up and are demoralized by the tone of criticism or micromanagement that obstructs productivity and damages morale.
There are ways to open up dialogue and have a constructive conversation, and I have found none in this kitchen.
The degree of resentment among the team is palpably high, and I felt helpless in dissuading any of these emotions as they became more and more demoralized, myself included.
I left in place a Team with great work ethic, willingness to apply themselves and become Sage ambassadors with a wonderful disposition. I worked hard at uplifting their good behavior while constructively counseling their missteps with hands on demonstrations and Q&A afterwards. Their responses were positive and resulted in changed & improved behaviors.
Sadly, the unit manager was oblivious to any & acted as “my way or the highway” mode 24/7.
Her family emergencies were many which in turn affected my schedule from 10hr/day, 5 days/wk to whatever the unit needed as we were a 3 meals a day, 7 d/wk food service unit. Sometimes her absences were on continuous days, sometimes on my off days.
I’m fine with working 12-15 hours a day but too much becomes clear when the car is your bedroom for the night…



Good work/life combination. Upper management is lacking. Micromanage, don''t follow through. Right to work company so they terminate at will. Low ethics. After being terminated for untruthful events, I called the corporate office, lodged a complaint with the legal team and HR. Called the area manager and logged the same complaint. They were not interested in hearing my perspective, many issues could be proven through emails sent and received. After 5 years of loyal employment I did't feel that upper management backed me. It was a great experience to run 2 separate campuses but staffing was always difficult. Hard to find people with clean back ground and drug free. I had a great relationship with the first district manager but the hourly team members were scared of them. I felt that I needed to be at the DM's side whenever there were visits so I could be a cushion between the DM and hourly team members.  2nd district manager was great. 3rd district manager was good at the beginning. Towards the end of my employment there were issues of the DM verbally harassing one of the hourly team members, with little to no recourse to my knowledge. Hourly team members heard the DM talking very negatively about other employees.

My experience here was far from what I expected, and I believe it’s important for future applicants to understand the reality of the workplace culture. A typical day often involved disorganization, unclear direction, and a lack of consistent communication. New employees are expected to adapt quickly despite receiving very little training or practical support.

The environment felt stressful and unsupportive, and the culture made it difficult to succeed. I frequently observed territorial behavior, inconsistent expectations, and limited guidance from those in leadership roles. While there were moments of enjoyment interacting with students and families, the overall atmosphere overshadowed those positive aspects.

The hardest part of the job was navigating the lack of structure and the pressure that resulted from it. From this experience, I learned the importance of healthy management practices and a respectful, teamwork-driven culture. Based on my time there, I recommend that prospective employees carefully consider whether this environment aligns with what they are looking for in a workplace.

If you are like me, and had only restaurant experience prior to this job, it is somewhat interesting to learn about the hotel side of the business. I have learned a lot of new recipes, as well as how to have better organization and time management skills. As a breakfast line cook, I wake up at about 5:00 every morning then drive to my workplace to get there by 6. I am the line cook/prep cook. Long hours, you will stay there until the job is completed. Sometimes that means it will be an 11-12 hour day. There are some things about the workplace that are toxic, like lack of communication among staff or feeling like there are some boundaries crossed. But this is true in every kitchen I have worked in and is not specific to this company. The hardest part of the job is finding the motivation to get through the entire day. It is very long, sometimes tedious. I feel like it is sometimes hard to talk to others because the environment is stressful. If you enjoy line cooking and are a skilled prep cook, this is going to be a good job for you. The most satisfying part of this job is when you know you have done your work and are helping the team because of it.

I’ve been working here since Christmas of last year- I definitely felt welcomed by my kitchen crew and the school’s staff (that was nice!)
Since I have prior experience from working in restaurants, nursing home kitchens, fast food, etc- I can definitely say SAGE has a more advanced and hands on type of experience. 
I’ve learned how to utilize my skills in a more hands on way- such as how certain dishes are made from scratch, to serving/catering events, even how to properly advertise our entree for the day.
There are times where it can be stressful for sure, especially during the pandemic (as we all know).
I’m definitely looking forward to how this new school year will play out and what other types of new things I can learn.
Environment:
I enjoy working with my coworkers, and managers. Everyone at my location has been very helpful and friendly. Never be afraid to ask a question (even if you think it’s a stupid one)- there’s always someone there to help and answer. 
I do hope this review helps others who are curious about what it’s like to work here. The way that I see it, just come in ready with a good attitude-the rest will speak for itself. 

Xx Cheers!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Cook 231 salaries reported	$19.97 per hour
Dishwasher 172 salaries reported	$18.06 per hour
Prep cook 137 salaries reported	$18.48 per hour
Sous chef 43 salaries reported	$23.93 per hour
Lead cook 60 salaries reported	$22.51 per hour

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