Pros
The entry-level workers are all fantastic. I had never worked anywhere before that had such a sense of comraderie and family. Friendship and great professional working relationships abound between everyone not at the management level. I've never worked anywhere before were so many people consistently cared and took their jobs seriously. Customers have a level of respect for staff practically unheard of in other businesses. Many regulars were friends and felt like family. The support of the community was easily the best part of this job. Generous PTO policy and decent insurance coverage.
Cons
Unfortunately the company is ruled by nepotism and favorites. There is no room to grow if you aren't best friends with someone at the management level. Outside hires that are friends are preferred over internal promotions. As best I could tell from my time there, the only way to get a promotion of any kind was to befriend the manager that would be giving the promotion. Executive level management runs on favorites only, which tends to shift every 6 months or so. As a result, the vision and culture is constantly changing based on whoever is the favorite at the time. The owners Tony and Jeff have little involvement, and when they do step in employees at all levels are told to ignore their input or concerns. The COO has seemingly no relevant experience in running a company and it shows. Quality all around has plummeted since Tony stepped away. Communication at the company is terrible. No one is on the same page with how to communicate, and people are often difficult to reach. Management works considerably less than front-line employees; a lack of leadership is greatly felt. The company makes little effort to market themselves or grow and simply expects business to come to them. Lots of missed opportunities for making their presence known in an increasingly competitive market and as a result business is obviously shrinking. No raises this year, despite minimum wage increasing. They use a tipped employee loophole to get around paying their baristas actual minimum wage instead expecting the amazing relationship they've built with the community to lead to more tips to cover the gap between rate of pay and minimum wage. Extra salt in the wound: the owner was once seen championing increased minimum wage.