supervisor

server

assistant manager

line cook

sous chef

Bella Italia

I had the position of kitchen assistant, which I assumed was just a pot washer or helping with deserts/side dishes based from the ad. My contracted hours were 10/week as I was at university.

They were training me as a chef, which for some people would be a dream but for me ideally I just wanted a simple part time job. The learning curve was what I'd consider steep and the workload was demanding. I was told how to make several things at once (how, what to use, equipment etc) then expected to remember it from that. Expect to be thrown in at the deep end as it gets extremely busy and stressful.

The hours were unsociable (late evenings and weekends), but that's to be expected to an extent depending on contacted hours. I was meant to do 10 hours a week but I was doing around 30 with late finishes. I also did a few split shifts with a couple hours break in the middle. There was some staff that worked for 2 weeks covering without a day off. Finishing times were usually after close (upwards of 11 sometimes) and start times usually 30 min - hour before opening. 

Salary was ok - minimum wage to start but with pay reviews throughout the year. With that depending how keen you were there was possibility of being promoted. Again great if you want to be a chef!

Management were ok and easy to get on with. They were a bit disorganised at times but you could have a real laugh with them and were very understanding.

The culture will vary. It was very mixed where I was. The waiting staff were always full of energy and had a smile of their face, kitchen staff were a bit different. In the busier times expect lots of shouting, swearing and short tempers! 

In summary if you aspire to be a chef then you would love it! Be warned of the hard work and long hours that come with it though. However if like me you just want a simple part time job this probably isn't for you.

This will only be your waste of time. I was promised a cleaning contract, yet I've seen this same cleaner job advert being posted every single three weeks or within a month.

Obvious thing and the reality of it all is, that they don't clearly tell you that they haven't hired you yet and give excuses that they'll fill application for you later. Instead, they will use your work labour for two/three days and will tell you in last minute they won't be needing you and that your hardwork is nothing but rather you don't know what you're doing. 

This is the excuse they keep pulling while shamelessly posting the same job advert for same routine base on every once in a while and let me warn you more, they let go of these so called "non contracted - on trail employees" with no promise of payment. 

When there's no payment, what's the point of doing voluntary hours of work for free? Far more unhelpful for university students. Free meal? That could only be probably old and leftover foods.

Bottomline: Don't get tricked by this company in hiring you. Even few people working there were asking me for other job vacancies at where I work. Thankfully, I had my other job to save me from scams like this. I feel pity for the business since this kind of mistreatment and illegal recruitment process of staffs has a whole lot of bad effect on it's customers and potentially hard working staffs and wouldn't survive in the long run. Funny thing is, they forgot people have voices and has the power to voice their opinions for their unprofessional operation of the company and their staffs. No fair policy and mistreatment of employees.

a typical day at work would start out with me checking the briefing sheet to see what section i will be on that night, the soup and specials and what we have sold out of. I would then look for our target and any objectives/goals we have been set for that day e.g. sell 5 soups you can have a dessert. I would then take over my required section and make sure everything is set up e.g. tables and till stations and that any tables already sat are taken care of and i am up to date with all relevant information. I would then proceed with my shift.
I have learnt the key value of customer satisfaction. If a customer is unhappy it reflects on our restaurant and our image. Therefore it is our main goal to assure every customer has had the best possible experience whilst dining with us.
I get along with all my management team. I find the more comfortable the relationship the easier work atmosphere. I can go to any of my managers with complaints or requests and they are always happy to help me out.
I'm a very approachable person therefore i get along extremely well with all my co-workers; male, female or kitchen staff. I have become very close to members of my team and socialize with them outside of work.
The hardest part of my job is dealing with an upset customer. It is crucial to handle them appropriately and professionally and to correct and problem as fast as you can.
I enjoy just working with my team and having fun whilst doing so. I believe a fun workplace makes it more desirable to go to work.

Coming from a highly experienced background I was promised a good chance of progression, I soon realised this was never going to happen due to management only thinking of themselves. During my time in the establishment we had three different managers (In the space of 6 months) each as bad as the other. Don't believe the hype when this company offers full time (30 hours) as you'll get 10. Due to this being my only job and my only source of income I was obviously worried and the managers continuously pushed it aside showing little empathy. During my first month and this is my biggest complaint our management had hired far too many staff (although in their view even 1 member during shift is still too much) and decided to "review' staff during which duty managers would joke that if we weren't good little boys and girls we wouldn't have a job. Anxiety had the better of me for 2 weeks not knowing if I was going to be able to pay rent or feed my pets! All in all 20 were made redundant in the sick promise staff remaining would get the hours promised, in actual fact we all got less. I am in fact a scorned ex employee but with good reasons and I really hope Tragus takes a second to look into this place and realise unhappy staff do not look after a company that does not look after them. I would not recommend this work place to anyone

Working for Bella has been memorable to say the least. a typical day would be to start the day off with a briefing from your manager on duty. then i would go about my usual of serving tables, cleaning down the restaurant, serving food and general housekeeping duties. The management are very easy to get along with. they enjoy light hearten banter and tease but know how to get the place running and at its best. they treat everyone fairly and are always happy to help in anyway they can e.g. requesting days off. The team at Bella are the best! they range in ages from 19-50! but everybody gets along like a house of fire and we enjoy welcoming new staff to our Bella family, and even when you leave you are always welcomed back with open arms. 
The hardest part of the job is when you get unexpected rushes on odd days e.g. a Monday! it catches you off guard and you have to try and catch up with yourself. aside from that as long as you are prepared for anything, your shifts should run like clock work. 
The most enjoyable part is getting to see my co-workers and management have a good time at work. this is also noticed by customers and it creates a more enjoyable atmosphere to work in and for diners to be around.

I trained in Queensway and worked in Islington, it was a great experience. It was busy and fast paced. Each week had good business. We would have mystery diners come in, myself and the other servers would usually score 100% so we were defintely doing something right. Islington's Bella Italia was a newly built restaurant in 2015, the whole team was new, we all trained together. I enjoyed that as we together helped each other and helped make Bella Italia Islington part of a successful chain. The management was good, always a manager around to help with queries, they were all friendly also. The chefs were also great, hard working and prepared every meal to their highest quality. The hardest part of the job was probably that not everyone was trained to work behind bar and those who were eventually left so you had the waiters/waitresses on the floor trying to learn how to work behind bar whilst serving tables. It wasn't much a hassle, I know for myself i got the hang of it very quickly, but on very busy nights having more bar staff would have been a greater help.  It would defintely be a place of work that I would recommend to others also to visit for a meal.

What is the best part of working at the company?
tips from customers are amazing if you are good at your job 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
management is awful. general manager and area manager take half of our labour budget as a bonus for themselves and leave us understaffed. only 3 waitresses, incl myself, so that management don’t have to pay as much money towards labour and can keep the “extras” as a bonus 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
work environment is lovely when the general manager isn’t on the floor, everyone’s energy compliments eachother, it’s a lovely vibe to be around. the general manager just makes it difficult to have any personality, wants us to be like robots

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
get into work, open the restaurant, greet the morning customers and get them fed and happy, get ready for the evening shift and have a booming dinner time rush. after customers have left, everyone is pretty down because we now have to close with a manager who doesn’t help out at all

A typical day at Bella would be a busy day/evening always on my feel taking drink and food orders, keeping customers happy by doing anything i can to make them leave the restaurant happy, i was running food also cleaning the bar and restaurant floor.
I learned about the more of the health and safety regulation in a work place (restaurant and kitchen). I learned how to make some cocktails and a few facts about white and red wine. All my co-workers and management worked very hard in keeping customers happy and working as a team, we did have slow and rough days but we always got praised by each other and our management team.
The most enjoyable part of the job was meeting new customers everyday and making friends with the regular ones, as i feel as i am a very positive persona and i love making new friends this was my favourite things about waitressing.
The hardest part of the job was keeping everything together on a bad day, keeping calm about everything that was going on with our own tables as well as running other peoples food and drinks.

After being in the catering industry for 10 years plus, I found that this company is by far the worst I have ever work for in my life. They have no regards for the staff. All they are interested in is the needs of the company. The Bella Italia in Silverburn, Glasgow was opened and at the start had a great bunch of people working in the company. 

This all ended when the area chef and her side kick began trying to fine tune the staff. 

Moral hit rock bottom within days, hours were cut, staffing was reduced due to the arrogant and ignorant  attitude of they senior management. 

Within 2 months the kitchen staff was reduced by60%, mainly due to the attitude of  the area chef and her side kick. Due to the place just opening, it was always busy.

As you would imagine the lack of staff and the workload things got very heated.

Without going on too much. AVOID even wasting ink on the application form.

Hours cut, bad management, hours knocked off rota's and time sheets. Corrupt fiddling senior management who think they are Bellla Italia. Employment at its very worst.

The company provides a tolerable , decent range of beverages and food . In the years of working with the company ( at my site ) there was a very unstable managerial structure . The staff turnover was exceedingly high and the lack of training appaling . The pay was satisfactory after having to fight for a pay rise . Hours were always given , there were no staff bonuses accept for management ( possibly if certain targets had been met to my knowledge ) . The overall culture of the staff is poor . This is " apparently " not the same at all sites within the company which is some what reassuring , but little was done to fix the attitude or behaviour of staff ( including managers! ) until a point in which it was too late and only after a considerable amount of complaints had arisen . This was all very discouraging 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Supervisor 15 salaries reported	£14.37 per hour
Server 13 salaries reported	£16.21 per hour
Assistant manager 3 salaries reported	£31,657 per year
Line cook 1 salary reported	£13.16 per hour
Sous chef 2 salaries reported	£13.61 per hour

Working at Bella Italia: company overview and reviews

Bella Italia

Bella Italia ratings

Popular jobs at Bella Italia

Salary satisfaction

Jobseeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected