kitchen team member

deputy manager

supervisor

server

general manager

Pizza Express

What is great about Pizza Express is the culture! You feel at home and people really care about you! Something that during this difficult time (Covid-19) is making all the difference of the world!
I have read so many negative reviews caused by the waiters making more money than Assistant Managers. That is not entirely true as their salaries include tips and they work for their tips, I don't! I work for my bonus which make my salary much higher at the end of the year. I had the chance to do some shifts as a waitress during this years and surely as manager I have more worries and more responsibilities to deal with while the waiting job is more relaxed and really more fun; nevertheless waiters really have to work their socks off and they must have concentration and attention that I found difficult for myself to find because I don't usually practice them. If one of my colleagues is upset by the difference in salary I would suggest them to go and try the job. If they enjoy it more maybe they are doing the wrong job!
I soon realised that there are expectations for me to grow in a Restaurant Manager role and I am very looking forward to! Surely it's hard work. You need to make sure to be seen and you have to work hard for it. I have also met colleagues of mine who are not interested in growing and they keep doing their job brilliantly enjoying the pleasure of the yearly bonus that with experience becomes easier and easier to get.
Let's talk about the stars I gave:
Work/life balance: it's not very easy to leave and go home when something serious is happening, however it doesn't happen everyday. I personally spend a lot more time in the restaurant, but it's my choice cause I have no kids and I really love my team and my job. The main difference on this matter is given by the relationship with your Restaurant Manager and eventually their line manager if the first one is not great and you need help! 
Salary: as any human being I would love more money to do my job, however I know what other companys pay for a similar role and what they expect for a different amount and I am happy with it. 
Advancement: it's all about the people you meet, how you work and the impression you give. If you want to progress, have a strategy and show what you can do. I felt stuck at a certain point and I found the way to change the people I had around. It's all about that really! I understand that not everyone has the freedom I have, however you really are what makes the difference. 
Management: the truth is that you can be lucky or unlucky, that you will have to work hard to build trust and earn respect. When you are unlucky you may meet bad people, but more often you will meet people that are not good for you and you will find that your Ops Manager will be willing to help. A company is always made by people, but you won't meet all of them, only some and sometimes that's enough for you to leave, but remember that the closest Pizza Express could be the right workplace for you! 🙂

Was very happy when I got the job, interview was fairly easily as I have experience in resturants, however for such a low wage (minimum wage) they except a lot from you. I hated it as soon as I started and wanted to quit straight away but I did my best until I could leave. I was told to be very quick with orders and straight away was throw into the deep end. Not only do you have to be a runner, you also have to be a cleaner as well, and any other job management throws at you which isn't that bad but when two people are asking you to do two different things it gets confusing. Most of the staff were lovely and welcoming, but it was like a big family I was intruding on as a lot of them lived together and had been together for years. As I so catch bus and it is unreliable, I told them one day my bus was running really late and I was going to be late, once in I was approached by one member of staff (sometime a waitress and sometime a manager) and basically shouted at like a child to get out of the changing room (where I was changing) and get to work which I was doing. This honestly put me off the job as I didn't work there to be mistreated and shouted at. Also, I could tell there was a lot of bitchiness as everyone talked about one waiter who was 
quite bad at his job. I also never left on time as I had to wait for everyone in the restaurant to finish before I could go.

Overall, I was fired (and very happy about it) because I missed one team meeting which was at 9am in the morning and my shift was at 2pm and I live quite far to go back and forth, but I did actually forget and did apologies and find out anything I missed in it. And also because I was too slow, (however the manager who fired me is honestly the slowest person around while shouting about being faster faster).

I often see one of my old work mates out in the clubs and he never fails to mention that I was fired because I was bad at my job, which I actually cant agree with because I did what I was supposed to do, but I was apparently "slow" as I served and everyone sat around and drank iced coffee.

Would never work at this branch again. Hated it and them. Low pay and high expectancy.

Just to start off with, its not even worth rating it is that poor. 

The typical day as a cleaner in a morning is setting your station up, hovering and mopping the restaurant, cleaning all of the toilets and sweeping and mopping them, then back into pot wash to do your duties. On an evening depending on which day and how busy it was, varied on what time on a night you would get out on. Pot wash being the last people out so no chance on catching the last bus home on a Saturday or Sunday night for sure.

Management were very young, lazy and quite frankly had no idea how to do a rota fairly, run a restaurant or have any communications skills.The rota was basically based on favouritism. So if you are new, prepare for every busy weekend there is, on you're own. They set on as little cleaners as they can, so if you phone in sick, they are screwed and it's you're fault even against sickness policy, they don't care. They also don't give out breaks, which is illegal.

Co-workers. All seem friendly at first, but in pot wash you'll find that you help them, but most won't help you, And you are told that that is you're job. I got told I was a kitchen helper as well. So when you get told about team work, it's existent for them, but non existent for you. 

Hardest part of the job. Weekends. You get every day, every weekend if there aren't many pot washers. You never get a weekend day off. On a Saturday, the pots pile up from the restaurant, from upstairs and from the kitchen. Once things have been through the washer, you then dry and take them to where the belong in the restaurant or kitchen, its all got to be done quickly or people get annoyed with you, even knowing you only have a pair of hands. Its almost impossible to keep on top of it all in pot wash, baring in mind on a weekend night they have 4 chefs, 10 waiters/waitresses' and one person in pot wash, but management can't seem to realise that this is very stressful and hard for one person.They also put you on double shifts on Saturdays. 9;30 - whenever you finish you're close. 

The most enjoyable part of the job? Leaving.

Joined the company back in 2016 and quickly found myself supporting other restaurants which was an exciting challenge. This helped me gain invaluable experience and I found myself progressing to RM role within 7 months and I’m still here enjoying my job. As mentioned by a few other RM’s the Assistant salary can be lower than what competitors offer which sometimes is the reason behind why they don’t choose to stick around which makes it challenging to keep a stable management team in place. Add to this the fact that an MOD can be earning less than a waiter when you consider they can’t accept tips, you are left with a low internal talent pool to promote from within (why progress to MOD for potentially less money unless you are serious and want AM/RM?!)...which again means having to recruit externally to fill management vacancies. A new management training scheme started in 2018 however has seen more internal MOD’s trained and given AM positions in my area which is encouraging. This coupled with significant investment in our restaurants which will breath new life into our teams, I can certainly say we are now in a position to be around for another 55 years! Having worked at another pizza chain for 10+ years I can accurately compare both and in terms of opportunity this company offers more, in terms of menu this company offers better options, in terms of environment this company sets a better atmosphere for guests and team (each branch is individual and unique) and in terms of standards this company strives to a higher level. 

Overall life is what you make of it, you get out what you put in. If you’re not happy with life at PE then there’s plenty of support to be found. Its not easy to keep up with the demands of working at a Super Brand but that’s why we’re so good at what we do (most of the time).

Overall I really enjoyed my time working here, I met some great people who I loved seeing each shift. The job itself wasn't stressful unless we were particularly busy and even then most of my colleagues would help me out with what I needed to do if they saw the work load was getting to be too much. My main criticism and the reason I left the position was because out of the two main floor managers, I only got along with one of them. From the time I began I felt unwelcome when around the one manager and he generally didn't treat any of the cleaning staff or any staff he wasn't particularly fond of nicely at all. When I started up until I left I was not informed about certain things and the way the restaurant was run therefore got called up on things I'd done wrong that the manager should have already told me about. This particular manager also refused to listen to any employee complaints that were put forward to improve the restaurant and instead swore on numerous occasions at those giving the complaints. At one point a comment was made about the cleaning staff being the least important because they were "just cleaners and nothing more."
If it had not been for this manager then I would have perhaps stayed and got another part time job to ensure I was earning enough as the salary was only £5.85p/h, something I was not informed of when I started, instead I was told I would be earning £6.70p/h. I was also told that after three months I would no longer be classed as a trainee cleaner and would receive card tips, this never happened. When I initially applied to work there I applied for two positions and was told by this manager that he would train me up for one position when I started and the second position after Christmas, this also didn't happen.

Working here was a good experience but I was not happy with the training and the management at all. I got kept as a waitress for basically the whole time I was working over summer and then as soon as management changed over to someone much nicer, they immediately make me a full paid waitress - the only frustrating thing was I was back at Uni the week later, so I was only getting full pay and tips for a week, the rest of the time I wasn't allowed tips and was paid minimum. At pizza express you are required to do almost everything other than putting the food in the oven, this can be challenging and very stressful as you have to run your section, take orders, prepare drinks, desserts and run food, and in my case also do the pot wash. I think as I was getting the minimum pay I should not have been expected to do all of those tasks nor should anybody. I'm not too sure whether it was just this branch that had the waiters/ waitresses doing absolutely everything but it isn't good. They should allocate people certain job roles. I gained a fair bit of experience from this job and the other staff members were kind but I also felt out of place when I arrived because everyone knew each other and they were not very welcoming at first. I would work here again as long as I was put as a fully trained waitress because the training was appalling and pay was rubbish.  The most enjoyable part was being able to have some great conversations with customers and engaging with them, and gaining a big tip by the end of it for being so genuine, that is what kept me going.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The friends I made working at pizza express were amazing, it was a really close team. The tips were also great, could almost double my salary with them.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The worst part was how it was always so so so quiet in the week, but so so busy on the weekend, and because we didn't make money during the week, head office wouldn't spend money putting extra staff on at the weekend. This meant that every Friday Saturday and Sunday it was awfully stressful. Managers would disappear upstairs, and the waiters (a lot of which weren't fully trained) were left to their own devices. 

Managers were also very hypocritical and never gave any  thanks for the extra work and hours being put in. We would be working our backsides off doing 20 plus tables each at once, obviously a few mistakes would have been made because of the rush, and often cleaning duties would be forgotten as there wouldn't be any time to do so. Managers would always focus on what hadn't been done. Very disheartening.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very diverse culture and everyone I worked with was very accepting of everyone no matter what.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You'd start by opening the restaurant which includes stocking up all the fridges, cutting garnishes for drinks, setting up desert and bar area, then waiting tables all day! Usually an hour break half way through your shift if you work more than six hours, then go home! If you're on the close you would need to stay until the last table has gone and stay and clean the whole restaurant which usually takes around 25-30 minutes!

At Prince Albert St. in Brighton, I know our staff to be some of the best locally, hard workers and genuinely kind and compassionate people. 
We are a fairly busy restaurant most days of the week, especially during dinner service. 
During my time I learnt how to operate the potwash, how to run food, how to handle food safely, how to prep, how to operate a large commercial oven, and other kitchen duties.
Management can feel uninvolved however, despite a few excellent individuals. The rotas are inconsistent at best for part-time, mostly due to budget pressures and having several concurrent full-time workers. Most opening or midday shifts end with having to wait for the next person to sub in, instead of overlapping the hours. 
I find the overall culture to be very healthy, very infrequently do people become overtly frustrated at each other, and there is always room, especially in the kitchen, for talk while working, and people are generally in sync.
The most difficult part of cheffing is space and time management, needing to prioritise the correct orders at the right times, while making sure to wash hands appropriately. Admittedly, the kitchen can feel very narrow or even claustrophobic during a rush, but with the right plan, each person sticks to their post.
What I enjoy most about my job is the sense of importance it gives, the constant learning from colleagues and figuring out a system to operate within. It's relieving to only have to communicate with 1-3 other chefs at any given time.

I worked in one of the coventry based sites for nearly 7 years and while the job, as with any hospitality position could be difficult, I found my time with the company to be overall very positive. 
I worked in almost all positions and helped the site manager do alot of their jobs throughout my time there. 
The atmosphere was akin to a large family, often with staff coming in early or staying late. 
The main downside, and reason I left was pay. It took a very long time to see any beneficial pay rises and in my case a promised promotion didn't happen. When I was offered better pay for similar work it no longer made sense to stay. 
Benifits of working in the company while I was there were meals during shifts (size based on length of shift) and as much coffee as my body could handle. The company also sent every employee a Christmas bundle yearly, not sure they do this anymore but it was a nice touch. 
The main cons to working for them are, potentially lower pay than other hospitality businesses, often demanding or needy customers and long hours. The increase in reliance on discounts did cause a negative effect on the business too. Although these may not be common cons depending on site worked at or customer profiles. 

Lovely management and team, it was like a family. Pay was terrible but is government minimum wage for under 21s so no one’s fault. Very busy (especially on weekends) but in a good way had moments of feeling overwhelmed but if I needed help I got it. Trained me well in all aspects making coffees, cocktails, alcoholic drinks, and desserts. I’d had previous waitressing experience so it was all pretty easy to implement you just have to be well organized, and I think it’s good you have a lot of responsibility, it’s good to gain skills. Customers were often lovely but there were also quite a few very unpleasant ones (as always is the way but unfortunately was a lot more frequent at PE than at my other serving jobs). Very generous with free staff food on shift I was always well fed. I would’ve stayed working there if I wasn’t  been under 21 as the government minimum wage is such a joke and you can’t always rely on tips. Had a mostly really lovely employment experience :)

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Kitchen team member 537 salaries reported	£13.66 per hour
Deputy manager 170 salaries reported	£33,790 per year
Supervisor 146 salaries reported	£13.28 per hour
Server 43 salaries reported	£15.27 per hour
General manager 52 salaries reported	£41,038 per year

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