People Before Profit, or Profit Before People?
Pros
Their core business is Bread products, which are generally fresh and delicious. There are a few management members who are genuine, but they are few and far between.
Cons
In training, they hammer-away at service, honesty and integrity. In reality, service will always be sacrificed for profit. Honesty and integrity do not matter in many cases at the store level. Was told by my GM to lie to her boss, to cover her since she didn't want to put a coffee cake out on display. That GM also bragged about stealing silverware and how funny it was that her grandkids put her personal silverware in the garbage disposal, so this justified her theft. Cronyism is rampant. Good managers are out on the floor, supporting the staff and interacting with guests. Managers that get promoted hide in the office to work on their personal development books, never available when the guests are active and busy. They manage by working with a skeleton crew. Taught to never deprive a guest of the flavors they crave, but not given the freedom to order in a way that ensures plentiful supply. My final location threw away EOD left-overs, instead of following-through with donation protocol. When I offered to set something up so the food didn't go to waste, was told it wasn't my responsibility and to just worry about my training books. They put a huge emphasis on "Mind Share" survey scores, but ultimately they do more damage than anything else. Viewed as a tool where the bad reviews are always accurate, but commensurate emphasis on the positives don't carry equal clout.