team member

shift leader

store manager

general manager

assistant manager

Vitality Bowls

I hated working at vitality bowls. To start it off there is practically 0 training and I was trained by my manager who didn’t show me majority of the things in the store. The training also never got better the entire time I worked there which was almost a year (9 months). There was multiple times where I trained the new employees even though I was only a team member, and I’d be stuck training shift leads when they have more responsibilities than I do. I was asked at my interview if I was comfortable working by myself occasionally and I said yes not knowing every single one of my shifts I was going to be by myself besides training and some day shifts on the weekends. They have no clue how to run a store, don’t care when employees reach out with concerns or issues, and  try to be as cheap as possible. I remember one of my first shifts I had to work by myself during the rush hour and was miserable, I didn’t know where everything was yet, was still getting used to the cashier system, didn’t know how to prep the things that would run out, and overall it was a yk show. They give you 0 hours but somehow find a way to overwork you by being by yourself and having to run the store on your own. Whenever I’d reach out to ask for more hours I’d never get more and they started to cut my hours down to not even 4 hour shifts. They especially started to get even more cheap when the fast food wage went up to $20. I would be scheduled twice a week max with only 3 or 2 hour shifts. They also told me during summer there would be multiple people closing with me because of how busy it was starting to get during the closing shifts and I think I had maybe 1 or 2 shifts with one other person there for about an hour? It was absolutely horrible being by yourself during rushes and majority of the time you’d have to call corporate for them to turn off online orders. They also had insane expectations for one person to do. While by yourself closing in the summer they still expected you to complete all orders, go in and out of the kitchen to hand them to customers, take orders if they can’t order on the kiosk, answer the phone, finish the prep expected, and finish all cleaning when I wouldn’t even have 4 hours to do so. Not to mention since I'd be by yourself 95% of the time I never even met all of my co workers, and I was one of the 3 longest lasting workers at the store. Almost all of the people that were there when i first started working quit and I didn't meet easily over half of them. The owner also sucks, and at one point brought her kids all under 13 to the store and had them make orders with us. I remember getting in trouble because of one of the things her own child did. I can keep going on the millions of issues this company has but it would be way too long. But trust me you do NOT want to work for this company because they won't give a single care about you. (I couldn’t cuss in this review but trust me this company definitely deserves it!)

Honestly after getting interviewed and hired I was super excited to work here, however, the switch of environment changed after the store opened for a couple of weeks. The first couple of weeks of working there was super chill and fun, but after everything sort of calmed down the management went downhill. At first I was told that they’d be flexible with other jobs, school, etc. Which I was okay with since I had another job and they knew about it. I told them that I had a new job coming up and I wouldn’t be able to come to work at my regular times for a couple of weeks and they seemed super understanding and fine about it and were ready to accommodate. After I started my training I had to drop a shift because the times weren’t working together, I had previously informed my manager and the owner about this issue a week prior. They tried calling me once while I was at my training which I couldn’t pick up, and then I went to check on the 7shifts app to see my schedule and I had been completely logged off, I wasn’t given a warning or any chance to explain my situation. they had just completely fired me without any communications, which honestly made me really upset. I was there since day 1 willing to work extra hours when no one else could and I was always willing to pick up shifts anyone had dropped in fear that the would be short staffed. They completely ignored my request for the schedule change and disregarded all my other commitments. This really upsets me since I really did loved working with everyone there. 

Also there have been many complaints about the owner within the coworkers about how his behavior and management is weird and unprofessional. There was someone else who did many no call no shows before me who was kept completely unnoticed. They didn’t do anything about him until about his 6th no call no show, but when I communicated my situation they had no problem firing me right away. 

It saddens me to even write this report because I really felt the company can go a long way as far as sales and marketing. I just feel that the management is completely and utterly lacking and unprofessional. If you’re interested in working with this company don’t expect to be treated equally or fairly because you won’t be, but I had a pretty good experience as far as the first 3-4 weeks. Just keep in mind while applying that you won’t be getting the experience you’re looking for and you most likely won’t be working here for long since they lack communication and professionalism. 

Upper management interferes with the restaurants constantly, their influence and clashing views make policies hard to follow. This is a good job purely because you can get it and keep it pretty easily, but the stress of being understaffed and having policy change under your feet will eventually get to you. They would never inform us of advertisements or deals, new items/how to make the new items, or even warn us if a specific day would be busy because of a limited coupon. Most of the information I got I only knew because I downloaded the Vitality Bowls app and would get the newsletters for customers. Communication was the biggest issue. Despite having group chats for each store, little to nothing important was discussed. Almost everything was discussed in person but management would only talk to the employees they happened to be on the clock with, and didn’t tell other employees. Which meant the employees who were talked to would follow a new policy/recommendation, and everyone else would stick with the old way because nobody communicated what was happening. Entirely management’s fault. 
I worked several open and closes where I was forced to take an hour long lunch so they couldn’t pay me any overtime. Regular team member hours were inconsistent, if you were a part-time worker your hours were never consistent. When I left they told me they don’t pay out their accumulated paid sick time when in the handbook it says they do. Even restaurant managers didn’t stick around for very long, during my time there I know two managers quit and many corporate executives quit as well. If you’re going to work here, work for a decently staffed location.

The job itself is really fairly simple, you have your recipes laid out for you, your shift leads will help you succeed through training, and you'll be able to advance really quickly through the ranks if you work hard enough.
The team in the store itself is very kind and supportive. I've met some of my closest friends here that have gone through many stages of life with me.
If you ever need to reach out to corporate or any kind of upper management to help you out, you might as well wait 3-5 business days for them to respond.
I have watched the entire corporate team flow out of this company and be entirely replaced with new people. You will not find support with staffing during the labor shortage, and they will not respond to you when you need help. They can't seem to keep themselves together and organized enough to help a store succeed. 
If you plan to manage a store or even take action to help out in any way shape or form, you'll find yourself stuck in a position of constantly helping them out. I have tried to interact with corporate as little as possible, and fear when they come into the store for any reason. 
They neglect to appreciate the employees that are below them. They have failed constantly to provide comfortable working conditions, no matter how many times you beg and plead for them to fix things. 
If you are looking for a quick job to get your resume started, I would recommend this job. However, if you're looking to stay for a while, don't expect to feel appreciated by corporate. 

The day starts the moment you walk through the door. Lobby has to be checked to make sure it meets all standards. Prep list has to be checked and completed to prepare for the next rush. Labor percentage needs to be checked and kept below a set percentage. This is naming only the first few things that are done when you come in.
While here, I believe the most important thing I learned was how to manage people from all different backgrounds. I figured out the best ways to talk to everyone to get what I needed from each individual.

The only person above me here was the store owner. Passionate about the business and the product, to a fault. They would often undermine my authority in front of the employees and when making decisions on inventory and scheduling, which would at times make it difficult to manage labor, employee availability, and food costs.

The hardest part of the job was having to work with the owner, who would often undermine my authority in store. 

The most enjoyable part of the job, was seeing our guests take a genuine interest in our product. It was extremely satisfying to see newcomers become regulars and truly enjoy the food we serve them.

Wage theft to the max. Hands got skewered from putting my hands in the chemicals. Employer was notified he was to shake up the chemicals bc it could cause skin rashes and burning and he KNEW this and didn’t touch it. So my hands are extremely sensitive and look like goose bumps. Employers adding breaks, moving overtime to other weeks so they don’t pay the overtime. Horrible managers who sit on their butts *working* then getting mad when you can’t pull 50 acai bowls out of thin air. They don’t take their time when they train you and when you don’t understand the whole menu in like 1 day they talk down to you.  No sense of professionalism i am surprised to see that they haven’t been  
investigated yet. Corrupt company.somewhere then have half their wages taken for free. This company needs to get investigated and fixed with these many similar reviews from all over the US. its a franchise so either these single owners are just horrible or the company is advising to do this. How disgusting can you be to take MINIMUM wage and be cheap about it to your employees ???? Dirty and wrong. Never have i worked at such a toxic environment.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The owner literally spy’s on the employees at the 3 locations I worked at. For example, someone could be sitting down at the desk on their phone and she would constantly call and ask why the employee sitting down at the desk they have been sitting down for over five minutes. We would have to explain that there isn’t a break room.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Frequent turn over corporate and in store employees

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
As far as I know from working in Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, and Lafayette a lot of employees would complain about how much they disliked their job or how insanely long the closing task as only given 30 minutes to close.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Way under staff for the amount of employees scheduled even if you order ahead of time you have a 99.9 percent chance that your order won’t be ready on time. (Look at the reviews on yelp)

I worked here for only a few months. It wasn't too physically demanding and we were able to sit down when we had downtime, which would occur for at least 10 total min per shift. However, the management was horrible, especially once it was changed halfway through my experience. I often had to close alone and was expected out the door as soon as the store closed, yet had to juggle customers, online orders, and many closing duties at the same time by myself. Minimum wage was $14/hr at the time, yet when it increased during the new year I continued to receive $14/hr. Newer staff wasn't trained with new management and due to a language barrier, couldn't take orders either. I had to do most of the work myself while trying to train them whenever there was some downtime. Overall quite stressful and wouldn't recommend, at least this location specifically.

This company is full of empty promises, They do not pay you on time, they have you work from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed but only pay you for the hours you’re in the store, they adjust your rate of pay without your knowledge, they let you stay in a dangerous situation until they arrive because it’s just ”a gas leak”, they will hire you for one position and tell you that they’re going to promote you to it but you need to start with something lower even though they will never end up promoting you, upper management doesn’t even acknowledge team members exist, no work life balance, regional manager is very absent and leaves most task to a profession store manager. Overall this is a company that you do not want to work for, the upper management has made it a culture of unwelcome and cold sheer hatred.

Vitality Bowls is a great starter job, although be sure to choose your location wisely. The management at the store I worked for was very poor - most employees weren't even aware of what their job entailed. Very passive-aggressive owner which lead to most employees feeling underappreciated and constantly scrutinized (that is if the owner was even present, which was almost never). Overall, good place to learn beginner workplace skills, make some money, and develop possible friendships/connections. Bad place if you want to learn good management skills, how to treat people correctly, or earn the amount of money you deserve. Good luck.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Team member 45 salaries reported	$20.03 per hour
Shift leader 20 salaries reported	$21.25 per hour
Store manager 2 salaries reported	$24.50 per hour
General manager 2 salaries reported	$24.25 per hour
Assistant manager 2 salaries reported	$24.50 per hour

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