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 96 reviews)); "great food and people to work with were awesome" ((in 64 reviews)); "I loved my coworkers and the hours are great!" ((in 56 reviews)); "Great product and a culture I can be proud to represent." ((in 56 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 74 reviews)); "long hours (serving shift is open to close because it is breakfast/lunch only)" ((in 39 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 26 reviews)); "Also lots of favoritism" ((in 24 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

(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

4.0

Jan 7, 2015

Fun Place!

Server

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

The people are fantastic! I've enjoyed each day working. The managers who work there are fantastic!

Cons

Sunday's can get super crazy busy! Be prepared. Upper management from corporate does not take the time to get to know the servers, cooks, or bussers who are doing the grunt work for the restaurant.

5.0

Sep 19, 2014

Challenging but rewarding. Please someone change the spelling of our President and CEO on this site. Its PENDERY

Server

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Hours...money as a server. Benefits...tution reimbursement for full time employees

Cons

Aggressive expansion. Pulling from stores that are short already. Cost some say has gotten too high on some items. We dont nickel and dime guests. Are you sure?

1.0

Aug 25, 2014

Cranial Rectosis

Operations manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

The pros? Pretty much just the schedule, and then only parts of it. Some managers come in as early as 4:30am, most are in by 5:30 or 6. You are however usually done by 5pm (though some RVPs find ways to keep you later. )

Cons

The RVPs are complete hypocrites. The usual contradictory direction from upper management is taken to a whole new level here. The "open door" policy is a complete sham. Your salary looks fine until you break it down to an hourly wage (most of the cooks do better.) The turn over among managers is higher than anywhere I've seen in my 15 years in the industry.

Viewing 1882 - 1884 of 1,898 Reviews

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