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?

"The pay structure/ tip out was typically solid making good money on most weekends." ((in 175 reviews)); "The pay is good and there's a program that pays for 20% of your college tuition." ((in 89 reviews)); "great food and people to work with were awesome" ((in 67 reviews)); "Great product and a culture I can be proud to represent." ((in 59 reviews)); "I loved my coworkers and the hours are great!" ((in 57 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 139 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 71 reviews)); "long hours (serving shift is open to close because it is breakfast/lunch only)" ((in 38 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)); "Also lots of 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

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First Watch

First Watch reviews

3.7

63% would recommend to a friend

(451 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

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

451 reviews

Reviews about "Compensation"

Return to all reviews

3.0

Jul 19, 2025

It’s alright

Server

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

You can make good money Decent coworkers Never work nights

Cons

Instead of giving pay raise for promotion, the shift leads are simply given better hours and bigger, better sections. Kind of screws over regular employees. Management has favorites and can be condescending

First Watch Response

Thank you so much for sharing this information! We are glad to hear you enjoy the hours and and your team members. We appreciate your perspective on some of our processes. We’re always working to improve the employee experience. We encourage you to reach out to our employee hotline at 844-484-8963. Thanks again for the feedback and we hope to hear from you soon.

3.0

Jul 12, 2025

good money, frequent management changes

Server/waitress

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

money is good when management is good

Cons

lots of management change over, inexperienced managers

First Watch Response

12mo

Thank you for writing this review. We are disappointed to hear your experience with management wasn’t a positive one. We’d love for you to call our anonymous employee hotline at 844-484-8963 with additional feedback. This feedback helps the management team work to improve the experience of each employee. Thanks again for taking the time to submit your review.

3.0

Jun 17, 2025

Not bad, not great as expected

Operations manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Good culture Good people to work with No nights or microwaves

Cons

Managers take a lot of the cleaning duties with labor strains growing Managers expected to run hourly positions each shift to “save labor” dollars Unable to staff efficiently when during week and expect all cooks to work every weekend on repeat Working in position, not just to support but to carry the line working as three people on three stations Was brought in at GM salary not knowing there would be barely increase in base pay if promoted Exhausted when getting home, not accommodating with drive from house.

First Watch Response

Thank you for taking the time to write this review. While we're happy to hear that you love the daytime-only hours and culture, we'd like to hear more about your experience. Quality of life is essential to us. If you can call our anonymous employee hotline at 844-484-8963, we'd like to follow up and address your concerns.

Viewing 46 - 48 of 451 Reviews

Jobs at First Watch

Middleburg Heights, OH

$18 - $18 /hr

(Employer provided)

View job