Deeply unethical: Doesn't value employees or members - Manager At Corporate Office Union Kitchen Employee Review

There are a myriad of concerning factors of this company so let’s get into it. If you do end up getting an offer and are interested in accepting, do not settle for the entry level salary. They’ll tell you that everyone starts at level one (currently 40K), but if you’re in the right place at the right time and they’re desperate enough, they’ll get you started at $60K, which is still far behind industry standard (though they'll tell you it's industry leading pay!). If you do start with the entry level pay, be prepared to watch store employees rise through the ranks way faster than you, regardless of how qualified you are (or likely overqualified). Yes, the store is a more lucrative job, even despite the fact that they eliminated tipping (search “union kitchen union” for more on wage theft). Be wary of asking for a raise really ever, despite performing well and getting good feedback. I witnessed this firsthand with colleagues being held back after asking for more money. They preach growth mindset but expect the biggest fixed mindset from management if you question the status quo. They will target you for talking back. If you don’t sing the praises of their leadership trainings and workshops, your loyalty will be questioned. Loyalty is everything and you’ll quickly notice who’s in the club and who is not. They are comically cheap. We would have all team meetings with 10 people and a budget of $50 dollars for lunch. Just don't offer to provide it if you can't feed people. I witnessed countless toxic management dynamics and lack of professionalism - lots of yelling and short fuses, weird outside of work dynamics as upper management hangs out outside of work, including weekly tennis appts with the CEO. If you’re not in with the in crowd, the dynamics can be really challenging and unprofessional and will certainly give you some PTSD. Much of leadership has only had one job (at Union Kitchen) and it shows. Inappropriate and discriminatory commentary around the office like a quote from a member of leadership about his staff using expletives and the R word. I experienced several racist/classist comments from a member of leadership like getting the two Asian prospective members names mixed up and how if you have a yahoo email address you probably won’t pay your bills. The turnover is crazy, likely due to the below industry average wages, lack of benefits, four holidays, the length of time it takes for you to accrue even a single day of PTO (spoiler: it's at least 4 months), fickle decision-making from leadership, moving targets, or countless other reasons. Be ready for a whole new group of coworkers if you stay longer than a year. Their mission is to build successful food businesses, yet in practice, this is only the case when convenient for UK. There’s a LOT of member bashing and it’s a difficult pill to swallow if you actually care about seeing members succeed. There will be commentary around the office about members who didn’t take UK’s advice and it’s not UK’s problem if they go out of business. Yes, a lot of startups don’t succeed, but perhaps it has to do with the fact that UK doesn’t really offer much in the realm of investment, connection, or even helpful advice after a member has launched their product. In their commercial kitchen where there is a mix of food entrepreneurs (food manufacturers, ghost kitchens, caterers, etc.), the membership pricing is pretty premium for the space and benefits. Because of this and other reasons, the company was having issues with a lot of member turnover (i.e. the sales numbers were low). Leadership would literally discuss how they can fine members to make more money and they would make their staff walk the kitchen floor to find a certain number of members to fine. Leadership talked about how they needed to make at least $5K in fines monthly. Each fine was $50, so they wanted 100 fines per month for their membership base of 45-55. To add to this, members are often at the mercy of UK services, like distribution. While this is initially presented as a huge benefit, members have to navigate obstacles that are absolutely detrimental to their success, including but not limited to thawed frozen product (consider the fact that these new businesses have one shot at a new customer – would you repurchase a freezer burned ice cream or dumpling?), missed drop offs at retailers resulting in business owners having to drop off their product to the stores to make up for UK’s mistakes, and so many other challenges. The classic UK response is finger pointing because, of course, why take accountability when you can blame a member or teammate? The main takeaway is that Union Kitchen is extremely unethical, toxic, and a good old boys (and one woman) club. They have no interest in diverse opinions or new ideas.