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Harvest Restaurants

Is this your company?

Decent Money / but very cult like - Bartender Harvest Restaurants Employee Review

2.0
Jul 30, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

steady income, decent benefits, some management is very kind/good but sadly working within a giant authoritarian regime.

Cons

It treats staff very cult-like. "Here we are like family" you may hear to justify keeping you late for no reason/cleaning for no pay/doing things for the sake of your "family." I was told I shouldn't look for work elsewhere in the area because the boss of my boss told me she "knows everyone." I felt like I was in The Godfather and couldn't get out. Pay was decent but they are always overstaffing and made clear they want servers to have a 3 table section. It's a pool, but how much can anyone pool with three measly tables? I got the impression upper management functions a bit like a cult and doesn't care about the little people on the bottom. Also, be loyal and never question authority (think Godfather). Most of the employees who have seniority are not just blindly loyal, but also haven't really worked for many other restaurant companies, so it feels quite small-minded and tunnel visioned as to differing opinions about how to do anything. In conclusion, if you can put up with the cult like isolation of insular Northern NJ and sell your soul a little, you can make a decent wage and have good benefits.

Explore other reviews about Harvest Restaurants

5.0
Jun 20, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Friendly employees, good management, good money

Cons

Depending on the restaurant, it can get chaotic

3.0
May 20, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Depending on which restaurant you work at, the people can be very gregarious, teamwork-oriented, witty and fun to work with. -Depending on which restaurant you work at (lower volume with higher check averages is best to make it worth your while), easy work for what the pay is. -Depending on which restaurant you work at, managers can be conscientious and attentive to your work schedule, requests, needs and consider your work/life balance with respect. Other managers, couldn't care less, and are more concerned about pleasing their higher-ups and staying on their good side. No managers are authentically on your side or actually care about your opinions/wellbeing, they care about looking good on paper to corporate.

Cons

-Toxic workplace culture that they will move the goalpost on to create excuses for termination towards anyone who isn't sycophantic enough to their liking. -Overly rigid about rules that they colloquially refer to as the "Harvest Standards." Every single employee I worked with consistently complained about how unyielding and myopic these standards were, as corporate would stubbornly refuse to listen to any employee/customer feedback that they didn't agree with. One example being the universal god awful soundtrack that corporate seems to think is infallibly amazing, despite receiving ongoing complaints from paying customers about how it totally ruined the atmosphere for them. Employees would consistently complain as well, about the negative impact it had on their performance. -Most managers and corporate higher-ups have a very apparent god-complex and will haze new employees in order to test their boundaries and see how far they can push them. -Will find any excuse to terminate employees simply because they felt rubbed the wrong way by them. -Certain female supervisors in corporate have a reputation of giving preferential treatment towards employees based on their sex (i.e. being lenient on males they find attractive, while being punitive and overly critical towards females they are intimidated by). -They will abuse power and terminate employees without any prior warning, simply because they decided they didn't like the person, even if the employees were revered by customers and were providing excellent service and attendance at their job. -Don't follow OSHA standards and refuse to allow you a snack break at any time during double shifts (10+ hours). Only allow pre-shift "family meal" -- which you are required to pay for out of your paycheck, even if you choose not to eat it. These "family meals" are also cheap scraps that they throw together that cost the restaurant virtually nothing, so corporate actually profits off of these meals. Yet another example of them exploiting their workers. -They will dangle the idea of promotion over the heads of their employees for 6-12 months, just to keep you showing up so that they can exploit you, without ever actually promoting you. I've experienced this and witnessed many employees go through this.

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