Brinker Reviews

Pros

Great leadership and direction in where the company is headed

Cons

Too many changes instead of nailing one thing down

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the great work

Pros

Mid level management and below you'll find great, smart people who are willing to help you out.

Cons

Cross functional team dynamics are below par. Company fosters an us vs. them mentality between teams.
Senior management willing to rest on laurels and often finds themselves behind the curve vs. competition.
Difficult for innovative ideas to bubble to the top...more willingness to try what competitors have had success with rather than be first out of the gate.

Advice to Senior Management

It's okay to be first...don't be afraid to step out alone. Second place is last place...and Chili's is approaching third place among it's competitive set.

Pros

Flexible schedule, ability to make good tips and meet new people.

Cons

Corporate does not value longtime employees. Management is constantly changing.

Advice to Senior Management

Get away from putting food into Infrared warmers. Make food fresh ready to order. Focus on building regular customers instead of turning tables.

Pros

Wonderful benefits programs. Excellent life work balance. Great leadership and managers focused on employee growth and retention. Great corp culture and traditions.

Cons

Trouble finding their brand identity currently. Quick sweeping decisions that are not the best choices in today's hard economic environment.

Pros

they take care of their people.
Fun.
rewarding

Cons

Corprate lots of changes when its working great

Advice to Senior Management

great job

Pros

Location,culture,business flat organization, and industry

Cons

Fewer career opportunities due to the business shrinking

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the balanced focus between rev and costs

Pros

Brinker has a very casual work environment, which makes it fun to work at. Employees are, by and large, nice and hard working people. Multiple office events through out the year where are you are encouraged to get out and have fun with (alcohol included) which is rare nowadays.

Cons

The company direction is in question. We used to own a wide portfolio of restaurant chains and now we're down to just two.

Advice to Senior Management

We need less restaurant folks and more business oriented people at the top of the totem poles.

Pros

The restaurant business is what you make of it. The great thing about being a manager is that you only need to be self motivated to achieve results on a daily basis. That being said, you need to know when and how to pat yourself on the back for a job well done, and motivate others to follow you. People think, 'How hard can it be?'. Trust me, you don't want to enter this environment with little or no knowledge about the industry.

Cons

Productivity is the key word… while commodity prices continue to go up, instead of passing the cost on to the consumer, Brinker has decided it would be better to do more with less. At some point being productive will break those that are working for you.

Advice to Senior Management

Brinker's Board should decided how to deal with Doug as the ultimate leader of this business. We have been through everyone else, but there sits Doug on his throne. The untouchable king. I know that Norman hand picked the guy, but I believe there is more talented leaders in our industry, that could take Brinker forward quicker. Look how long it has taken Brinker to decide to dump the BRS and got to Aloha… and we can't even do that right...

Pros

large company with growth opportunities

Cons

Inconsistent leadership
Inconsistent policies and procedures at store level

Advice to Senior Management

Empower managers and team members be to engaged in the direction of the company

Pros

the people and the culture make this company a reat place to work all of the time. Flexibility in roles

Cons

When times are tough, unfortunately the restaurant busy suffers and scrambles to stay afloat. That is the case with Brinker

Advice to Senior Management

Please listen to the folks that work in the restaurants every day. Try promoting from within and providing career counseling