Ted's Montana Grill Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Ted's Montana Grill part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – At this location, making money is contingent on events going on in the surrounding arenas, although because of the quality of the food, there were regular guests who frequented the restaurant.

Cons – Lack of events meant lack of money, and at least for servers, it was very hard to make a consistent wage.

Advice to Senior Management – Continue to offer products made from scratch, and don't compromise quality for the bottom line.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Ted's Montana Grill full-time for less than a year

Pros – Came in with no experience, middle management friendly and trained me well on the job.

Co-workers were fun in the kitchen, though the FOH staff were petty and whiny with a lot of in fighting. This probably varies a lot from restaurant to restaurant, but is ultimately determined by the quality of the management.

The concept of the restaurant is cool, and has more interesting food than other casual chain restaurants.

Cons – The restaurant started as a dressed down upscale casual restaurant with food and prices to match, but wasn't doing well financially. Over time it has been morphing more into an Applebee's or TGIF type menu, but the prices haven't been coming down with the quality of the food. The long-term outlook is rather fuzzy. It has a lot of potential as a concept, but recent decisions aren't pushing it in the right direction.

Upper management, hired at the corporate level, is terrible. The GM's highest qualification was running another franchised restaurant into the ground. He thought himself a lot more knowledgeable than he was. Above him there is a lot of cronyism in management, and a lot of people making important decisions seem to fancy knowing a lot about business, but don't know anything about the realities of actually running a restaurant.

At the line cook level, this all eventually comes into play, believe it or not. The shaky financial footing of the company led to a wage freeze while I was there. Equipment was old/broken, but we'd have to deal with since there was no budget to replace it, even though it would make things take 3x as long. People from corporate would visit for 2 hours and come up with all sorts of "ideas" that are awful in practice and immediately identifiable as terrible to anyone whose actually worked in a kitchen.

Advice to Senior Management – Advertise! This whole idea of the restaurant spreading by word of mouth is ridiculous in the 21st century. You don't have to sell yourself out like Applebee's, just make it know to people that you exist.

Promote from within. Any one of the several people in middle management would have done a better job than the GM. On that note, bring up people (GMs) from the restaurants to corporate, or at least hire people with on-the-ground experience. There is a serious disconnect from the corporate big-wigs and the realities of running a restaurant (not budgeting for broken equipment, expecting <2% food waste, ect). GMs should be up-or-out, not stagnating and doing a mediocre job for year after year after year.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Ted's Montana Grill full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The food is among the very best of all dining establishments in this price range. The two Kitchen Managers that served during my tenure were the two best I have ever worked with.

Technical support was impressive. Whenever our computers malfunctioned, the resource center was able to help us remedy the problem within a very short period of time.

Cons – Corporate doesn't seem to want to capitalize on the potential of a happy hour. Competitive intrusion is all around this location of Ted's, and a Champps Americana is opening up next door this summer. What are Ted's brass doing about it?

For the last six to twelve months of my employment, there was a conspicuous decline in the standards of work ethic among the staff--which leads me to my chief criticism . . .

The lack of leadership among the management ranks. Particularly in the last couple of months I was employed there, I noticed a precipitous decline in logic, sensibility, and responsible decision-making. In fact, at times it was downright alarming. Scheduling deficiencies and irresponsible cash-handling were all too common. Another reviewer mentioned that their particular Ted's store was one that featured "a few who do a lot, and a lot who do not much." (I'm paraphrasing.) At the end of my tenure, it was the same at my Ted's, and the managers didn't seem interested in combating that problem.

On another note, now the staff is prohibited from saying "corner," when rounding a corner, and from saying "behind" to alert another staff member that they are behind them. These are industry standards proven to promote safety and the general welfare of a restaurant's staff. The reason for the new policy, I am told, is because it interferes with the guest experience. In reality, this policy is flat-out irresponsible, not to mention, reckless.

Advice to Senior Management – Do a better job of anticipating competitive intrusion. Why is there STILL no happy hour? Seriously!

Consider doubling the MVP bonus award, or even quadrupling it. $50 is a pittance. Making it a three-figure sum would serve psychologically to motivate the staff that much more. In other words, make people WANT to work for you.

Expand the bar. We all understand the concept behind the restaurant, but that doesn't mean it can't be tweaked now and again. Offer more specialized liqueurs. More frozen cocktails for the ladies. Consider hiring a flair bartender.

Hire better restaurant managers, obviously. The managerial staff at my Ted's was nothing short of excellent when I began working for the company. At the end, however, they fell short when it came to inspiring loyalty and getting more out of their employees.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Ted's Montana Grill part-time for more than a year

Pros – It's not to bad the menu isn't big and everything on it is good. Working by the arena district you sometimes have crazy hours or you make only 20$ closing. It's a toss up

Cons – Management doesn't seem to care much. Only can eat between 2-5 and you get 50% of on only select things

Advice to Senior Management – Care about your employees more

Current Employee – been working at Ted's Montana Grill full-time for more than a year

Pros – money is ok
food is good

Cons – people are jerks and management suck

Advice to Senior Management – oh god get new management

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Ted's Montana Grill full-time

Pros – The relationships that people create from the CEO and President to the people in the field, create a small feeling and a personal touch that you do not feel at other companies.

Cons – There is an intense level of micromanagement at times and the lack of control you have over reporting features can limit your depth.

Advice to Senior Management – The rest speaks to this.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Ted's Montana Grill part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good corporate leadership
"Green" company
Fresh Products Made on Premise

Cons – As good as corporate management is, they do a mediocre job placing managers in individual restaurants.
Employee incentives were much better when I started.

Advice to Senior Management – Get rid of the awful white shirts for servers; they're difficult to keep clean during shifts. Consider black; it has a classic look.
Time to take another look at hiring practices for salaried managers.

Former Employee – worked at Ted's Montana Grill part-time for more than a year

Pros – HOH employees were all around the same age group (college kids). There was a team environment, but only on your staff (HOH or BOH). Fresh food concept make the food that much more enjoyable

Cons – Management would understaff during season which would make an already busy shift that much more stressful. Because of the fresh food concept, we would be constantly be running out of certain foods which would lead to dissatisfied guests and a domino effect on ticket times.

Advice to Senior Management – Schedule a few more employees during season so operations can run smoothly.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Ted's Montana Grill

Pros – Decent income for the industry and not expensive to start up as far as purchasing proper attire. The atmosphere and clientele were very nice.

Cons – Closed location with no notice to staff. Personally feared closure and was reassured that I was incorrect. Not a trustworthy company to work for

Advice to Senior Management – Don't trust the corporate offices.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Ted's Montana Grill

Pros – Highly quality of food, flexible schedules

Cons – No benefits for hourly employees---even full time, high management turnover