Max & Erma's Restaurants Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Max & Erma's Restaurants

Pros – The management was great about working with your schedule. The hours were convenient because the restaurant was only open from 11am to 11pm. Most of the time it seemed like management did take into consideration employees' views and ideas for improvement.

Cons – The employees that I worked with formed cliques and it was hard to feel welcomed into their group unless you partied with them outside of work. It was very hard to get out of working a shift even if you were legitimately sick. The restaurant was understaffed a lot of the time, which resulted in complaints. Most of the time, there was not much business and it was very hard to make a living off of what was earned by working there.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep your workers happy and things will go a lot smoother.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Max & Erma's Restaurants

Pros – Cool staff to work with. Job not demanding.

Cons – No hours,Not enough money to live on, unorganized.

Advice to Senior Management – take more consideration in your workers.

Current Employee – been working at Max & Erma's Restaurants part-time for less than a year

Pros – Wonderful coworkers, and decent pay for part time

Cons – Management gives no respect to those below them, they have many favorites, and don't care about your personal schedule

Advice to Senior Management – care about your employees more

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Max & Erma's Restaurants part-time for more than a year

Pros – Work with SOME Helpful, respectable people. Newer equipment than most other kitchens.

Cons – I was hired work part-time, (I said I was hoping for 3-4 Days a week 24-28 hours total) , but after my 4 shifts of training I work 5 days, 3-4 hour shifts I don't want to work every day thats why I work part-time. I thought the pay rate was decent for part-time, until I worked my first shift by myself, this place is soooo under staffed I work a pantry station(the work of 2 or 3 people at any other place) where I make salads(LIKE 20 different ones on the Menu all very intricate recipes for each one all need to be specificaly made i.e. one tomato out of place or cheese not on it before the toppings you got to make a new one and every ticket WILL HAVE SUBSTITUTIONS or SEE SERVER)(or other employees start dropping F-Bombs all around you), grill sandwiches/ clubs(if an order calls for 1/2 you can only make 1/2 NO making more ahead of time), OOHH and also Bake all the cookies.Now Free Cookie Wednesday is a whole other thing... Plus you are expected to have your prep(cut and mix salad bases( way too involved recipe pain in the ass you wash lettuce like 3 times and spin it too), portion lunch meats on 1 of the many broken scales so whatever scale you use someone will use the other and tell ya your doing it wrong until ya tell them subtract the weight of the bag then they might leave ya alone, set up rail, clean lettuce for line cooks, clean your prep sinks spotless etc..) done in 1 hour, of which you spend 15 minutes cleaning your station from the mess the night shift left, also hope no large take-outs come in because you will be screwed, especially when you need an item and a bag with one cookie or a pan with half a cucumber in it is all you will find in your cooler. or my favorite an open bag of dressing leaking all over the cooler. To Get back to the Free cookies NO MATTER WHAT you are going to get into the weeds. Your already working a station by yourself that typically needs 2 people to run it, now picture every person that walks in the door gets 2 cookies, ok, now you try to keep up on cookies, but servers start complaining your taking too long to make thier Rueben, so you try to make all the salads and sandwiches you almost get caught up, like 6 tickets print, you grab the closest tray to get cookies in the oven they take 14 minutes. Ok tray is in now your making other items, but wait a server forgot to print their cookie tickets, you tell them 14 minutes, thats not good enough they steal the other ones you have Done..Now your completely under...SO SCREWED, and every server is mad at specifically you....Thats typically a pantry shift on cookie day.. Other days tickets just keep printing and my favorite is: servers can see I'm making like 3 salads and assembling clubs all at the same time, I don't have time at that particular moment to read those 6 tickets that just printed, but they are yelling for a salad they need or else their world is going to end... So if you read all of this and want to work for this company in the back of house, be prepared to work 3 jobs all wrapped into one. I've worked in resturants for over a decade and have never worked in one as demanding and stressful as this one. Oh yeah and your told you can exchange and release shifts on hotschedules, but no one will ever pick up your shifts because they are all over worked too.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop giving away free cookies, and use the money saved to hire more people. Also maybe stream line the menus, because with the limited labor, the menu makes the kitchen so unefficent, maybe add more holidays to be closed on that would help the employee morale too. Also maybe be a little stricter on the proffesionalism, I really don't like hearing all the cussing every 20 seconds.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Max & Erma's Restaurants

Pros – you don't have to guess what you are going to where every day.
It is a big rest. lots of space, two fun play rooms, one for kids and one for adults.
co-workers are nice.

Cons – low pay, bad tippers, costumer complaints, working all day and night with out a break, being terrified of making a mistake. being cut down on tables when you do make a mistake, when you are already not making that much money. Being told if you make another mistake you are suspended.

Advice to Senior Management – Respect your staff and treat them like they are humans, because they are.
If you keep trying to work your servers day and night with out a break, you will be losing more of them. Unless you want them to quit, then just keep doing what your doing.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Max & Erma's Restaurants

Pros – The money was decent
The shifts and schedule were flexible and made sense
The food isn't too bad
Clients for the area were mixed, but overall good

Cons – I worked for three years and had 37 managers
Generally grossly overstaffed, probably could run with at least 3 fewer servers most nights
Management hired anyone

Advice to Senior Management – Stay consistent, which is understandably difficult when the company is going through so many changes. Communicate everything clearly, too much was kept hidden.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Max & Erma's Restaurants

Pros – fun place to work fun envrionment

Cons – growth potential not good overall

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Max & Erma's Restaurants

Pros – Great money making opportunities, flexible hours, light and casual atmosphere, promotions from within.

Cons – Can be stressful during really busy times.

Advice to Senior Management – The customer is not always right.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Max & Erma's Restaurants

Pros – Fun place to work while in high school. Job not demanding.

Cons – Management was bad majority of the time with few exceptions

Advice to Senior Management – N/A

Former Employee – worked at Max & Erma's Restaurants

Pros – Co workers were fun to work with

Cons – Poor pay, and long hours

Advice to Senior Management – pay more