management trainee

janitor

hvac technician

shift manager

assistant manager

Solu-Technology-Partners-1

I've been with the company for over ten years, a lot has changed. When I started the beginning rate was $7.00. The manager spent two weeks training me then left me on my own with another brand new employee to close the shop three nights a week. I worked hard, I tried my best to learn the requirements of the job, but I was faced with petty jealousy, back-stabbing, lying, being used as a scapegoat, and mental exhaustion. 
You are responsible for a lot of things on shift. You must clean the store, (Mopping and Bathroom detail included) make food, stock the cooler and shelves, deal with customers, (ranging from pleasant to downright abusive) handle money, keep an eye on gas, make ice cream, change garbage, and even deal with hazardous materials from time to time. (I've been exposed to needles three times in my career and I've dealt with multiple gas spills) We deal with the public so there are accident reports, police reports, and we even risk being robbed.
If money goes missing, it's your fault, you can be written up, suspended or even fired. If people drive off with gas, it's your fault, you can be written up, suspended or fired. If one of your coworkers is stealing cigarettes on your shift (BECAUSE YOU WERE ALSO ON THAT SHIFT), you can be written up, suspended, or even fired.
Stewart's starts off their pay at $10 an hour now. So the people who had to work years to reach that level are now only making .50 to a dollar more than new people off the street. This can cause resentment among the employees. You don't clock out for breaks in this company, unless you are maintenance or work at the corporate level. If there are two people working during the lunch hour, you are not getting a break, when you do finally get to sit down if your partner gets busy you have to get up and help them. Smokers are the only ones who really get breaks because they get to leave the store to go outside and you really can't do anything but put your head down and work through their absence. Smokers can take several "short breaks" a shift but if you try to sit down to eat expect to be buzzed to help. It's not always guaranteed that you will be able to sit back down right away. One time I warmed up soup for lunch, got buzzed up, 30 minutes later my soup was cold and I was no longer hungry. Not the best break environment. 
Many Stewart's shops have employees who are just there to collect a paycheck and don't pull their fair share of the weight. Unfortunately the way this company is set up, if you have a bad employee it is nearly impossible to get rid of them. This makes working for the company hard. Managers sometimes favor certain employees and unfairly give them promotions and raises above more qualified workers.
The discount is decent, 10% off all items even when you are off shift, 50% off of food and drink when you are on shift.
If you work over 20 hours a week you get put in their 401K program which puts a tiny bit of money (a percentage of your salary) into a retirement fund for you. Here's the catch, unless you have been enrolled in that program for five years, (No not an employee for five years, entered into that program working over 20 hours  week and make sure your manager changes your status because if they don't it does not count!) you don't get the full amount in that 401K if you leave. Only after the five years in the program you are entitled to the full amount. If you work over 25 hours a week you get the 401K as well as earning time off. (Yes, you earn time off, every week you earn 3/4ths of an hour off) This time can be used for vacation or you can cash it in. No set sick days, if you are sick you need to cover your shift or the management can write you up for a no call/no show. If you are lucky enough to become a full timer, you get these benefits and the option of enrolling in health care. Incentive is a benefit program where if your profits increase from the year before the manager can choose to share this extra profit with the employees, but it isn't mandatory, the manager can keep that for themselves if they choose. There is no real way of telling if you earned incentive or not.
Flexible hours, possible changes in available hours, (you could work 15 one week then 24 the next) always changing items and rule changes. (when we got pizza everything changed)
Sometimes you are lucky and gain favor with the manager and have a good crew that don't drive you insane. Sometimes the manager doesn't like you, you have a high turn over rate and end up training employees for them to leave a month later. 
It's the luck of the draw with this company.

All Stewarts ask a lot from their employees. Workloads are heavy and multitasking and prioritization are musts. But, if you love keeping busy and tackling challenges, it can be a fun great job.

I started working in the Tower shop, which was known for it's instability. I believe there was a quick succession of five different managers or more within mere months. Every manager was completely different from the previous, and their personalities set the tone for the productivity and attitude of the shop--A perfect demonstration of how the head leads the body.

It was chaotic at times due to the constant changes, but I must say that was my favorite shop. I learned so much there. The core partners knew their job well. Also, customers were fun for the most part. They might've been the best part of the shop.

I found some people resented the workload more at other shops I worked, and there were some who didn't care about doing a decent job unless someone was hovering over them. Customers weren't as consistently pleasant and engaging with all the staff, perhaps feeding off the less enthusiastic energy of the shop. Hearing complaints was a regular thing.

And, there was a lot of theft in the other shops. Everyone on shift would get written up when there were thefts even though there were cameras and/or trends that made it obvious who the culprits were.

When I mentioned that to a supervisor, his excuse was that firing all the thieves and lazy people in one shop would leave the manager with two people on the payroll. So, I guess that means you just make managers fatten the files of those who actually do their jobs and don't steal instead? I still don't understand that rationale.

Plus, I think he liked having people like that rather than let managers invest in quality partners. He was the same person who would tell me to stop working so much and go on "Obamacare" to save the company money, although he also told me I was the strongest partner and Corporate would send out letters about their profits. The message I kept getting was that good workers weren't worth the investment, and lackluster ones didn't need improving.

He wasn't the big honcho when I started at Stewart's, but just like managers of shops, he set the tone for the attitude of the shops, which left many of us less than impressed.

Favoritism, scapegoating, and a culture of lying is his thing. And, I feel that rubbed off on the shops.

Even most long-term employees I interacted with seemed to loose their spark after a few months of him. When I first started working there, I often said it was the only job I had where almost everyone enjoyed being there. I couldn't say that with a straight face by the time it was over.

I haven't worked in any shop for a year, but I know when I've visited, morale still seems low. Some of the most bubbly and energetic partners were looking a bit worn, so I think that turn in atmosphere might still exist.

I think if it weren't for him, I would have seriously considered Stewart's as a long-term career and would have had the opportunity to do so. I don't like knocking the company as a whole.

Nonetheless, I'm glad I'm not around and suggest anyone considering a job in the company to ask partners in the shops plenty of questions. And, know things are subject to change depending on who are the heads.

If it's bad, things can go good. If it's good, hope it doesn't go bad.

Stewarts can be a really great place to work or a not so great place. It really depends on who is involved at the moment.

Where do I even begin... I didn't really find the job itself that hard but I felt like other employees, managers, and some of the customers made it very difficult, Depending on what store you are at the experience is different for everyone. After getting the job and completing the two-day orientation (you have to drive to 2 different locations of Stewarts stores and watch videos the first day and then the second day you have to actually learn and make food.). What I really didn't like was how on my first actual day of working they kind of quickly show you around as most places do and then just kind of throw you into making stuff or learning register. It was fine but I felt like the person who was training me kept making me feel like everything I learned was wrong and that I was doing everything wrong. I didn't really like the environment I didn't like how they talked about people and honestly how they made me feel. It felt like anytime I asked for any help it was a huge inconvenience for them and that I should already know everything while only working there like 3 weeks and that's a lot to ask of when you have so much to do and learn as an employee. I felt like they talked about me if I did something wrong instead of correcting me and helping me become a better employee. Customers were nice most of the time but a lot of the time they seemed impatient and fed up with Stewarts. One of the things I hated and trusted the least was having to write your times on paper with a pencil. I always thought it was weird since its old fashioned and not a lot of places do it, but whatever that was the way they calculated your hours what really made me annoyed about it was that I found the girl who was training me changed my times once and I don't like that at all you shouldn't touch other peoples times and you should definitely consult a manager and the employee about that first but she didn't she just changed my time(while I was working). Stewarts in my opinion is a little strange and I found that a lot of employees do not like working for the company since there's a lot that needs to be changed but hasn't bothered to have been. I find the management a little bit disorganized and when they say 'Flexible hours' they mean whatever time frame they choose to give you between the hours you tell them you don't actually get to work the shift you want ever. For example, if you say you can work from 8 am till 2 they'll give you an 8 am till 12 pm shift or a 9 am till 12 pm shift barely any real hours to work and it kinda feels like a waste of time. I wish they would've said this in the interview otherwise I honestly wouldn't have bothered. I wouldn't really recommend Stewarts unless you are a great multi-tasker and have worked several jobs before. This is definitely not a great experience for first-time workers. Anyways I hope this review was helpful and ill let you be the judge of Stewarts. 

Horribly understaffed at any given time of the day, they expect you to get the work of at least 3 or 4 people done with 2 people. (There were always consequences when they didn't get done.)
Opening shift (by yourself, an hour before the shop opened) you had an hour to make massive amounts of coffee, make 36 different hard rolls, put out your pastries, stock the creamer caddies, do a ticket audit, do your morning temp checks of the coolers and freezers, and a cash check. Once the shop was opened (still by yourself) you were expected to make breakfast sandwiches, keep up on coffee, fill the crock pots with the day's entrees, pull and wrap pastries and wait on customers.
The morning shift (partially by yourself, usually alone until 7am or 8am depending on the day) was expected to get deliveries put away, make food, make coffee, do audits, do cash checks, replenish pastries that were running low, make sandwiches, place orders, slack out frozen food, check the shelves for out of code product, do the morning's worth of dishes, and go to the bank to make your daily deposit and get change if needed on top of helping customers.
The mid-day shift (2 people, maybe 3 if there was an hour overlap in shifts) was expected to replenish the hot food and cold sandwiches, stock as needed, help put deliveries away if they hadn't been done already, do audits, make coffee, do cash checks, do dishes, check the shelves for out of code products, all on top of helping customers.
The night shift (2 people, maybe 3 for an overlap of 2 hours) was expected to do a full stock, clean the entire store, finish putting deliveries away, audits, cash checks, temp checks, put up weekly sings on a Sunday night, make sandwiches for the cold sandwich case, take down all the hot food from the day, check for products that were out of code, stock the dip counters/cones/toppings/etc on top of helping customers and expected to be out of the stop no later than 15 minutes after the shop was closed to customers.
Don't expect to get a full break-it's a paid 20-minute break, and if you're needed out on the floor, you're expected to get up and help your fellow co-workers. A 20-minute break is all you get if you work more than a 6-hour shift. And, if you smoke cigarettes, you're allowed to go outside and take 5 to smoke, but that counts towards your break.
Employees seem are always late to work or not show up and then you get roped into staying longer/working an extra shift. Call-outs are frequent, and when someone calls out and no one is able to cover, you're even more short-staffed then you were before. So, expect on your day off to get a phone call or a text asking you to come in and work. 
You're literally expected to live, breath, eat, sleep, and do everything Stewart's. If you don't exert that kind of vibe or energy, they will do anything and everything to make sure you're no longer employed.

During my short time with this company, the supervisors and department head made me feel under utilized and unappreciated. I am a full time student who needed a good work/life balance to ensure proper time for my studies and made this clear during my time with this company and they did not seem to care. They expected us to stay late almost every day that numbers were not met even if we did not have the ability to do so. If we were unable to stay late we were scrutinized and treated unfairly in my opinion. One of my supervisors specifically told me during a shift that they did not care that I could not stay late and I did not have a choice whether I stayed late or not if the number for the day was not met. (We did NOT have mandatory OT at any point during my time with Stewarts.) I was also promised an incentive in my interview that I did receive but had to fight for after passing my 90 day mark which is when it was supposed to kick in. I attempted to bring my issues to the head of HR but was met with conflict when they told me that I was not the type of worker they were looking for with their upcoming expansion because I could not devote all of my attention to the company and my position. They then went on to tell me that I presented a weak resume and need to learn the meaning of staying at a company because it looks good on my resume to show longevity whether I enjoy the work or not. (Again, I am a full time student and due to school have not had the ability to hold jobs for long periods of time.) It was clear that rather than being a non-biased third party as HR should be, they were more interested in lecturing me and protecting the interest of the company. The department head is a good person but is not exactly what I would define as a good leader as they choose to lead from their desk rather than at the "front lines" with their employee's where they should be at least some of the time. (For example when someone is sick or cannot stay late to finish production.) I would highly recommend working anywhere else besides the Stewarts Kitchen if you value any semblance of a work/life ratio as they do not seem to care what prior and at times more important obligations we may have outside of our shift requirements and only care for their own personal benefit and the completion of daily numbers. The job is extremely repetitive and there is little to no room for growth or expansion within the position. I did not enjoy a single day at this job and would warn against accepting a position within the Stewart's Kitchen!

The job itself, isn't bad. Customer interactions, making food/coffee/ice cream - all enjoyable. The problem is, for the most part, staff is unreliable, meaning if your the manager, better be prepared to literally live there. You will receive ZERO support from the District Manager, they will just tell you to "figure it out" which always means to do it yourself. 

The biggest reason why this terrible upper management is in place is because Stewart's used to promote from within, now they just go poach already established District Managers from competitors, which on paper seems fine, however the Stewart's business model and culture are not like the competitors, so these "experienced" people they are bring in to run things genuinely have no idea what they are doing. They try to do it "the way they have always done it" and it does not work. 

This creates a huge disconnect between the manager and employees at the store level and upper management. Why would you ask someone for help who has no idea what they are doing? 
Moreover, there is a huge "gotcha" culture. No one focuses on the successes, but is ready to pounce on any negative thing - "I gotcha!"

Do you have a family? Well be prepared to never see them. You're going to miss every soccer game, chorus concert, dance recital, For goodness sake, you'll be lucky just to eat meals at home, occasionally. The work-life balance is so poor, that it might as well not exist. Better yet, upper management openly admits they seek "single, unattached, young men and women" because they can work them to death and they have nothing better to do. Having a life or responsibilities outside of your job, doesn't work for them. For a "Family Owned and Operated" company, they only care about their family, not yours. 

So, how do they get people to work for them? They pay well, and give you free retirement via ESOP, which can be substantial. Don't be fooled though, they will hang both of these over your head ANY chance they get. Most people get sucked in for the dollar signs, but don't last long. Turn over is very high, because what they expect is unreasonable. 

Oh, and while you're working those 80 hours a week, don't plan on getting a break, they don't happen. They happen "on paper" but in actual reality, they don't - best part about that, is upper management knows they don't happen, and doesn't care. You are not a person to them, they DO NOT CARE about you.

This company is one of the shadiest companies I’ve ever come across. I’ve literally asked them for a physical copy of the company policies after a co-worker got fired for “violating company policy” and was met with “You’re kidding right? There is no book of company policies.” 

They will literally fire you for the most minor things. One of my co-workers ended up sick with the flu, and while she was in bed, she had her mother call in for her. The manager said she had to find her own coverage or she was fired, so because I happened to be on shift that day, and not wanting to see a co-worker who I saw as a friend get fired, I told the manager that if he was going to fire her, he’d better fire me too because if she came in sick with the flu, I was going to walk out. He said to me “Why do you care if she gets fired? You know I didn’t hire her for her brains, right?” implying that he hired her simply for her looks because you make more money if old guys can look down your shirt while you’re scooping ice cream or something. 

If you actually want to have a career here, be prepared for the mind games. They will start “training” you for the promotion YEARS before you actually get it just to see how much extra work they can get out of you by having you do the jobs required of your intended promotion without raising your pay. The higher-ups also patrol certain events to see if their managers buy anything like a car or boat so they can hold it over their heads. One of my managers bought a boat at a boat show, and the district manager was there and told him “I sure hope you can boost your numbers in your shop, otherwise I don’t see how you’re going to make the payments on that boat if you get fired...”

There’s also always the nice rumors about certain partners getting on the fast track to promotion by performing certain adult favors for the managers, so there’s that...

In conclusion, my whole experience with them has been one stress-inducing thing after another with no end in sight. Don’t even bother applying.

The amount of work they expect you to do, for the rate of pay(even though it's higher than most places) is unbelievable. The DMs are so far removed from the stores that they don't understand what each shop needs individually, and refuse to listen to suggestions even when asked. The managers can make or break your experience. My first manager was wonderful, the new one that replaced her was nice but horrible at the job. Forgetfulness, passive to any sort of issue going on, dumb decisions, etc.

I had lots of hours with this job due to low staffing, which never gets fixed, but they were unpredictable and there are NO breaks. They give you something called "an interrupted break" where you sit down for 5 minutes before having to help a customer, because you only ever have 2 people running a store at once due to low hours from the company. The breaks are actually illegal, despite their insistence that their method was approved by NYS. The company runs their stores horribly, making them all fit the same cookie cutter mold from corporate even though it does NOT work on lower-volume stores. Due to their refusal to change their methods the lower stores lose a lot of money and then get their hours cut as a consequence, which they means less hours, which means failure to sell, which then means the DM comes in and introduces another cookie cutter plan, and the cycle never ends.

The tasks they set out for two people to finish on a shift is preposterous and impossible to finish before closing(which you only have 15 minutes to do). They set priorities on certain tasks but choose too many to be able to prioritize. (What happens when sandwiches and coffee are your top goals, and you are out of both and your partner has a line wrapping around the store? Which do you do first? And how do you explain to your DM why there were no sandwiches made yet, even though it was a priority, but the coffee isn't made either because you suddenly had an ice cream line on the other register? And customers are the top priority!)

It's overall a bad company to work for, honestly.

Well first of all, some of the customers are completely unaware of how much work you have to do behind the counter. Some customers are genuinely grateful for your customer service to them and courteous to you & your coworkers (mainly the regulars) and some other customers are very rude and too demanding. I have worked every shift at Stewart’s, especially the midday shift. You are constantly making food for the customers because usually when it goes, it all goes at once.. and if you are on the register, you have to deal with over 200+ customers in an 8 hour shift. What I dislike is that you are responsible for drive offs. How are you suppose to watch over 200 people for 8 hours and watch the gas pumps at all times also? It’s impossible. Especially with only 2 partners on at a time. Severely understaffed place. I feel like I honestly work here on call even as just a partner because there is never enough employees or enough people that actually want to work. I will get randomly scheduled on a Saturday just because another partner called out for that Saturday only like 3 days prior, in other words- they expect you to pick up other people’s slack all the tine. Not only with covering shifts, but also when you work with another partner. If they do not complete a task, you will get blamed for it. It’s all “he said, she said” stuff. So sometimes, coworkers can be really cool and fun to work with.. other times like I said before, you are expected to pick up their slack. Or you could have a shift supervisor that is completely nitpicky at every single thing you do. It all depends. You also get paid breaks so you’re expected to stop your break at any time to help out your coworker if the registers start getting really busy. I would never ever do this job if I wasn’t getting paid $12.50 per hour. Anything less than that to work at Stewart’s would never be worth it.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Atmosphere here is great. Generally co-workers and managers are getting along while getting the work done. Obviously disputes can happen, but generally mood in the store was great. Our customers more often than not were a pleasure to serve.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Honestly working it in the winter. Being a high snow area it would become stressful keeping both inside and outside the store clean and functional. Tensions also seem to run higher during this season.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Honestly better than any other job I ever had. The managers I had met were always respectful and genuinely wanted the store to do good and improve. Things that went wrong were seen to fairly quickly once it was brought up. A few issues with co-workers aside, the other workers had a sense of duty that kept the work being done to a very good standard. If you wanted to learn a skill for any particular task you just needed to ask and plans would be made to give on clock training during your shifts. (At times that wouldn't overwhelm your or back up customers).
Benefits and chances are offered fairly regularly and long term employment is a genuine goal. Had I not moved I would literally still be working for them for sure.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Clock in, take note of tasks needing to be done, ask co-worker if they have a game plan or to make one. Split tasks and get to work.
Register work, stocking, food checks and preps, cleaning, ect.
These are rotated through by time or by customer flow to ensure things are where they need to be and that everyone gets served as efficiently as possible.
Breaks are taken in turns so either person can have uninterrupted rest time.
Final clean up happens once the doors are locked and the store is shut down.
Clock out and go home.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Management trainee 314 salaries reported	$64,240 per year
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Hvac technician 156 salaries reported	$27.50 per hour
Shift manager 92 salaries reported	$17.52 per hour
Assistant manager 83 salaries reported	$20.86 per hour

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