Fresh Market Reviews

Pros

The hours are better than most retail jobs, training, and most of the customers love the store.

Cons

Employees benefits are extremely poor and the pay scale is way lower than the industry standards

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in the labor needed to excute the level of customer service you expect. Pay your employees and offer them better benefits.

Pros

It can be a good job for someone who is in transition. I suppose there may be work opportunities for those more inclined to stick around.

Cons

The customers are frequently demanding, and you have to be willing to provide good customer service to meet company standards.

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure the employees are properly trained in important things. For instance, fire safety is certainly significant but it is better to be sure employees are obeying food safety standards.

Pros

Compared to a regular grocery store, it is more upscale therefore the customers are a little more pleasant then elsewhere. They give regular raises, and there are other incentives and bonuses to employers.

Cons

When it gets busy, it gets busy! and we only have 6 registers, even during the holidays and Saturdays and Sundays.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat the people under you with respect and don't just bring concern to problems but recognize a job well done and employees will have higher job satisfaction resulting in higher productivity

Pros

The guys in my department are nice but I don't plan to be here long.

Cons

Schedule....the schedule is terrible. It doesn't come out until Friday for the next week. There is no way to have a real life outside of work.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on integrity. It doesn't seem like there is much here.

Pros

*Good chance to hone service skills
*Great for networking
*Plenty of chances to do different work

Cons

*Always behind the 8-ball
*Multiple layers of confusion, second-guessing, and "redirection"
*Blatant ignorance of basic employee skills

Advice to Senior Management

You have a good thing, sell it to someone who can handle it. Before you implode. 558 jobs posted in 1 week? Insane. Hope the investors never see this site, might give them pause.

Pros

Good employees
20 percent discount
closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years

Cons

Getting paid less than people that aren't experienced. Having to do many jobs for each department because they don't schedule enough money because they have to cut hours even though your store is making money. Broken down equipment, no upgrades, dirty store.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep your DM's more in check and pay competitive wages

Pros

The stores have a great product and you have the opportunity to work with some great coworkers.

Cons

Store management was lacking. Priorities and constructive criticism don't exist within these stores so staffers really didn't have a good idea of what was going on in the store as a whole. Managers were not proactive - any issue, no matter how small, was a drama instead of a learning or coaching experience. No communication of what store sales goals were or individual performance goals were. Department management was extremely inexperience and ineffective.

Pros

I love my customers! They are the best people on the planet. I love my coworkers (the ones who stick around) I have great fun with them.
These are the ONLY two reasons I haven't gone back to Corp America.

Cons

Scheduling. Schedule comes out on Saturday for the work week starting Monday. When given a plan, they override it making it impossible to raise a family. Forget about birthday parties, sports activities, school events... If you don't ask, heck even if you ask, you won't get to them.
Workload. Constantly being pulled from your main department to another cause of the laziness of your coworker. Imagine coming into work and you start your job only to be told to stop what you are doing and go work another dept cause someone didn't show.
Management. Can't be bothered with what you need, just what they want. Your working and they tell you to stop and go do something else, even though what your working on is perishable, the other thing goes out of date in 4 years.
Lack of training. Put into a department and told 'You'll figure it out.' Done this THREE times!

Advice to Senior Management

This company BOASTS "Family". In my interview I was told they are all about "Family". Well, after a year and 8months I can say they must be talking about someone elses family... cause it isn't mine. I have worked plenty of "retail" jobs and have never had the swinging schedule like this place. When the store manager was asked I was told "If you don't like it get out of retail." That is the typical answer for my questions. How about some 1month scheduling?

I go above and beyond. I come in and work my day off expecting another in it's place. Doesn't happen, instead I come in on my 6th day and get told to leave. How about some training for the SMs?

One day you build a display. Told it looks wonderful. Next day, DM comes in and says "horrible, move it". The day after that the RVP comes in and says "horrible, move it." Now you have wasted 3 days.... How about some guidelines on what you WANT?

This management style is a ball that rolls down hill. If upper management conveyed what they wanted to the VRPs who then told or better yet, HANDED the DMs paperwork that said what they wanted then the DMs could pass the information down. ALL of the paperwork that comes from Corp is antiquated when it gets to the store level. When you get a plan that was written in June for December and the DM doesn't even know what was right, there is a problem.

Pros

Customers for the most part are gracious and a pleasure to assist.

Cons

There is rampant favoritism and the playing field is extremely uneven with company policy being applied inconsistently. Slackers who have connections can take long lunches, check sports scores, personal texts on their iPhones, Smartphones all day and do very little. These are the people most likely to be promoted and are held to a much lower standard than the rest of us. The schedule for the coming week is often not posted until the day before the week starts. There is a high level of contempt from managers for those lower on the food chain - managers are disrespectful and dismissive. I stopped passing along customer requests ro management a long time ago because I would be ridiculed. The manager of our department is sorely lacking in people and management skills. There is no acknowledgment for a job exceedingly well done and morale is low. Management responds to rumors and does not address issues in an upfront and honest way. This is not a place for a career - it's a stopgap until something better is found.

Advice to Senior Management

There is a level of hypocrisy from higher up and managers are not good role models or examples. The "do as I say and not as I do" rule prevails. Focus on long term solutions and not quick fixes.

Pros

Understanding the need for balance of work and family
Love the people I work with
Benefits package is good

Cons

Payscale is below industry average.