Pros
Opportunity for advancement, even ownership Strong home office resources Much higher sales volumes at unit level than at different concepts Good TV commercials Large amount of autonomy at the GM level can be a pro or a con depending on the abilities and strength of the GM. Tier 1Manager training is effective.
Cons
The locations of several restaurants I have seen are not currently competitive or operationally viable. The neighborhoods have changed. The store is too far from an effective bus line to attract sufficient applicants, and keep employees willing to work. The tv commercials tell folks when an offer begins but they do not effectively communicate when a special will end. We have daily conversations with guests who show up looking for a product/service mix that has been out of use for months and they are disappointed. The CBT training is alright for bringing on individual employees. But when we need to hire and process many employees (we counted over twenty-five hires needed at this location ) the orientation, I-9, CBT process is cumbersome. Add a change in menu where many folks are supposed to see the same video in the same week on the one working computer inside a tiny office while we are trying to run the store makes this tough. Perhaps the CBT programs could have a format where you can log in a number of viewers watching the same video at the same time. Maybe employees who have them can work from their smart phones. The autonomy question allows such different behaviors it seems as if the stores are in different companies as I visit different units. I came to this job looking for a job that was going to be here for the rest of my career. Now I learn that my store IS PROJECTED TO L O S E $350,000 T H I S Y E A R. That does not sound viable to me. When operating in that losing environment we are forced to make many decisions based on financial pressures ( under-staffing, under-training) that result in an operation that is dirty and a bar not properly stocked. Guests are disappointed yielding lower sales and the downward spiral tightens. The MIT program wheels come off the cart in week 8. Do a better job explaining the expectations of the MIT, the training management team, and GM. There are so many MITs in the system that the training Dept can't seem to keep up with the transition from Tier 1 to 2. We get directives from above to perform tasks that contradict or compete with the previous instruction: Staff for service, and cleanliness PRODUCTIVITY! Snow and bitter cold coming tonight so prep for it doing maintenance tasks (insulation etc) that should have been done months ago.... But run PRODUCTIVITY!