Is First Watch a good company to work for?

First Watch has an overall rating of 3.7 out of 5, based on over 1,926 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has decreased by 3% over the last 12 months. 63% of employees would recommend working at First Watch to a friend and 61% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about First Watch have been left by employees working as Director of Operations , Black Apron and Cafe Manager .

Does First Watch pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, First Watch employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.2 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at First Watch. This rating has decreased by 6% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at First Watch?

63% of First Watch employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated First Watch 3.7 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.5 for culture and values and 3.4 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at First Watch?

Server (632) , Server/Waiter (294) , Operations Manager (124) , General Manager (70) , Line Cook (65) , Busser/Runner (46) , Server/Waitress (36) , Manager (34) , Director of Operations (30) , Dishwasher (27) , Cook (26) , Waitress (21) , Food Server (18) , Black Apron (16) , Busser (15)

What are the pros of working at First Watch according to real employee reviews?

"Money is Good and consistent." ((in 182 reviews)); "The pay is good and there's a program that pays for 20% of your college tuition." ((in 92 reviews)); "great food and people to work with were awesome" ((in 64 reviews)); "I loved my coworkers and the hours are great!" ((in 59 reviews)); "Great product and a culture I can be proud to represent." ((in 53 reviews))

What are the cons of working at First Watch according to real employee reviews?

"poor management and had managers try to make job difficult" ((in 141 reviews)); "Managers have a lot of responsibility and spend most of their time in the kitchen rather than being up front dealing with customers." ((in 74 reviews)); "long hours (serving shift is open to close because it is breakfast/lunch only)" ((in 40 reviews)); "Upper management is so completely out of touch it's almost as if they have never worked in a restaurant (spoiler: most of them haven't)" ((in 28 reviews)); "Lots of cliques and Favoritism." ((in 25 reviews))

What are the top reviewed First Watch locations?

Tampa , Orlando , Sarasota , Jacksonville , Raleigh , Louisville , Columbus , Houston , Cincinnati , Kansas City , Phoenix , Charlotte , Dallas , San Antonio , Atlanta , Saint Louis , Austin , Knoxville , Bradenton , Lexington-Fayette , Scottsdale , Naples , Tucson , College Station , Miami , Richmond , Fort Worth , Katy , Nashville , Overland Park

First Watch reviews

3.7

63% would recommend to a friend

(1,898 total reviews)

Chris Tomasso

69% approve of CEO

61% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.9

Diversity & inclusion

3.7

Work/Life balance

3.5

Culture & values

3.4

Career opportunities

3.2

Senior management

3.2

Compensation and benefits

First Watch has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 1,898 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The First Watch employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Restaurants & Food Service industry (3.4 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

2K reviews

5.0

Mar 17, 2026

Great Company

Operations manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

No late nights, face paced, competitive pay, room to move up.

Cons

Weekends and holidays except for Thanksgiving and Christmas

First Watch Response

4mo

Thank you so much for sharing this information and for the five stars! We are thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the daytime-only hours, fast-paced environment, pay, and room for growth. We wouldn't be where we are today without the wonderful people throughout our organization (like you!). We appreciate you.

2.0

Mar 9, 2026

Honestly… it’s a no for me

Server

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

•Closing at 2:30 •Leniency on request offs

Cons

•Always changing rules •If a manager is mad at you, you will get punished. •Customers in this area do not tip well at all. •Staff changes a lot, mostly in kitchen, making getting food out in a timely manner impossible. •Overall bad communication.

First Watch Response

4mo

We really appreciate your feedback here. While we're happy you enjoyed the hours, we’d like to better understand your concerns. If you would call our anonymous employee hotline at 844-484-8963, we'd like to follow up and better understand and address your concerns. Any feedback helps us to re-evaluate our approach, and we're grateful for yours.

1.0

Mar 7, 2026

Management Ruins Everything

Server

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great money at my location, ideal second job can't live off it alone but great supplemental, met some of my closest friends here, discount on food.

Cons

The managers are absolutely insane, very corporate and brainwashed, everything has a rule or a policy or something that needs to be followed even the way you hold a syurp bottle, jeans are never dark enough or too dark, vague dress code description, can't offer water but obviously guest want water, the corporate side acts like they are on your side but absolutely are not.Side work is absolutely insane

First Watch Response

4mo

Thank you for taking the time to share this review. We’re firm believers that when you know better, you do better…so we really appreciate your feedback. We're so disappointed to learn about your experience as we strive to be “You First” in all that we do. We'd love to learn more about any experience that led you to feel like we don’t care for our employees, and it sounds like we really dropped the ball somewhere. Would you mind reaching out to us by calling our anonymous employee hotline at 844-484-8963? Thanks again, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Viewing 40 - 42 of 1,898 Reviews

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Great Company

Honestly… it’s a no for me

Management Ruins Everything

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