store manager

sandwich maker

manager

restaurant manager

assistant manager

Subway

In a typical day at Subway, I will always start the day with clocking in on the system. Afterwards, I will go into the back room to check what tasks are needed to be done, if there are any tasks undone, I will selfhandedly go around the shop floor and back and accomplish them, or if it ever comes to where I need help, I will ask a more experienced co-worker to aid me, if I am unable to do a task, I will ask a co worker who can if I can swap mine with theirs. At the end of every shift, I will calculate how much money is made that day, sort out what money needs to be put in the till for the next day and also cash drop when needed. I also compare the daily sales compared to the expected daily sales, and record it all, the recorded sales and cash dropped money will be put in the company safe for the franchise owner to come and collect every week. After all the money has been handled, I will turn off any appliance that needs be, clean what is unclean and then finalise by deadlocking the shop and closing the shutters. Whilst doing my daily tasks on the checklist, I am also serving customers when one enters the shop.

During my time there, I have learned how to work a till and handle cash, due to the shop being around the corner from Pendleton College and being close to a number of schools around the area, I also had to learn how to work very fast under pressure of the shop being overcrowded during school days. I also learned how a number of Health and Safety issues and how to overcome them, due to it being a shop that sells food, I find Health and Safety to be one of the more important factors of the job.

My Co-workers were very polite, humble and hardworking people. Because Subway was my first ever job, and I was also their youngest worker, the Co-workers took me under their wing to show me how things are done properly and to make sure that I develop to their level as an employee.

Unfortunately, I found management at my workplace to be poor and uncontrolled. We had only one manager who is in the shop for only about an hour everyday and is known to myself and the rest of the workers to be disrespectful, unreliable and lazy. She also has a lack of leniency where I can recall one time where she had fired me because the day before, I missed my shift due to food poisoning even though I had rung in saying I wasn't able to make it. After explaining to her that what she is doing is wrong, she reistated my job. She was also known for her excessive use of bad language, jumping straight into conclusions and arrogance.

The hardest part of the job, in my opinion, was closing the shop at the end of my shifts. This was because if you don't fully focus on what you are doing, then you will find it difficult to calculate the actual daily profit and revenue due to missing out money or forgetting how much you have counted. This can be slightly tedious and may need to calculate the total more than once if you dont find the final outcome right.

The most enjoyable part of the job is the main thing about working at subway, making the sandwiches. This is because I always challenge myself to create a sandwich as fast and neat as possible and push myself to do better everytime, it is also good to converse with the customers whilst doing this. 

A day at Subways consisted of an early start, good preparation of all fresh food products, cleaning of the stores front and back and advertisement of all products. My first day was extremely tough, It seemed I was thrown in at the deep end and just told to make a sub which I had never done before. Of course, I was quite slow at the job at first which I believed the manager would understand but he didn't and I was told to 'get off' and take the next order. After two days on the job I knew all the subs on the menu and how to make them. I began to get faster and more confident on the job and with my co-workers.

I learnt a few things while working at subways. The food preparation and hygiene standards of the store was extremely high. All items had their own place and the refrigerator was extremely tidy and fresh. The manager surprisingly didn't show me anything that I needed to do and how to do it, I was just told to get a pen and date all the food. While restocking the fresh ingredient I was eventually shown by another co-worker how to do things properly. He talked me through the date stickers and how to fill them out, also where to put the fresh stock in the fridge.

Management.... I will 100% truthful and say that I was extremely horrified with how disrespectful and rude the man was toward myself and other members of staff. He was push you out the way if he needed to walk where you were, extremely verbal towards members even on shop front, he would used your name he would either whistle or click his fingers which I didn't respond as Im not an animal. If you were to get an order wrong he would pull you up on it after the show has got quieter, he would announce how 'stupid' I am to the whole of the shop. On the other hand, the secondary manager was extremely lovely. She took the roll when the main manager wasn't working and the environment was a lot smoother and brighter.

My co-workers were all extremely helpful and chatty. As soon as I started I met most of the team and they were extremely welcoming. They talking me through all stations from preparation, to making the subs, restocking sauces, the till system and also cleaning the stores front and back.

The hardest part of the job for me was being thrown in at the deep end on a Saturday without shadowing another member of staff. I believe it was wrong and unfair towards myself and other teams members as well as the customer them selves. 

The most enjoyable part of the job was other members off the team being extremely friendly, other than that I didn't enjoy my time working for subways at all and felt they didn't care about staff happiness or well being. I only worked for the company for a couple of weeks.

My reasons for leaving I will keep to myself as It was only one member of staff that ruined my experience of the job. I believe if it wasn't for him then I would have been with the company a lot longer. I found it very very hard explaining to the franchise owner than I was leaving and it upset me because he was an absolutely wonderful man. He should really think about wether the manager is really suitable for his company as I did find out I wasn't the only member of staff in a short time that left because of this one individual.

In general the job itself is okay. You provide service to customers, and in the time in between you prepare food, clean the store areas and equipment, and ensure the shop is able to run. There is no task in the store that is particularly challenging or difficult to learn, however the initial learning curve is very steep.

The real downside is the complete lack of investment in the staff from the employers or management. Training is very fast and loose, and often times is not even provided by a senior member of staff, but is instead passed on from worker to worker so a team can somewhat function. Some of this is supplemented by the University of Subway programme, which is expected to be completed by staff in their own time, and are of course not paid to do. This contains a series of instructional videos detailing key parts of the job, but often has irrelevant information as the videos cater to American stores/culture.

From my experience there was always very high expectations from the management, constantly expecting improvements in speed, quality and volume of work, to the point of putting unnecessary pressure on members of staff, in what can already be a stressful environment. None of this results in an increase in pay, even when you reach the level where you are trusted to run shifts/close a shop. Also regarding pay, there was also a lot of inequality between the payments of staff members, as at least for the franchise I was working at, they paid each employee the minimum wage for their age range. I feel this is inexcusable, as expectations of each employee are the same.

There are also no real incentives to keep you wanting to stay there. The only thing offered is an employee meal and beverages, but with only a 20 minute break to have this in, even enjoying that seems like a chore. Also generally a zero hour contract is standard, meaning your shifts, total hours, and holidays are at the mercy of your manager, and in my experience led to a complete lack of consistency to the point where even knowing a week in advance was oftentimes a challenge. In circumstances when we had a lack of staff, some members ended up working over 50 hours a week.

Overall what is a seemingly simple job ends up becoming so overwhelming thanks to a number of factors listed above, all for being paid the bare minimum they can get away with giving. My experience might not be identical to those in other franchises, as our store was often very busy which increases the workload significantly. My review is also mostly based on how my store was ran, so experiences may be different depending on the franchisee, but from my time working at Subway I almost feel a responsibility to stop people from working there, as there are a lot of places you could look that would offer you a higher rate of pay for either a similar or reduced workload.

You’re expected to work 3 full shifts for free for your training , any other training you’re expected to work again FOR FREE. You’ll never get a break as the area manager won’t schedule anyone in before the work rush. If it’s quiet you’re expected to clock out to save labour but STILL continue to work. You have to work alone but no risk assessments in place - no cameras , no safety for staff. If they’re wanting you to learn opens (6 .30-2/3pm) or closes (4-9/10) you have to go in for FREE as they won’t pay for 2 people to be in store. Pay is never accurate as they want to pay less. You have 30 mins to do EVERYTHING (For opening and closing the store) in that half an hour on opens you have to - prepare bread, Veg, meat , stock up counters, turn on ovens and poofer, count the tills , check all dates(in the counters and in the fridges) , count every bread in store (including the ones from night before and every box in the freezer) and log on the till.it’s so unrealistic and the only way it’ll get done is by going in early .. theyll even tell you to come in an HOUR early to get it done and you guessed it FOR FREE. Staff have moaned that it’s impossible as you’re on your own and have to serve customers at the same time! The owner and area manager don’t know their laws so if you do get a job here please RESEARCH your rights and laws for work! They push their luck even make 16 year olds close the shop on their own including locking the store in the darkness over the industrial estate . Stay clear from the subway at Pipps Hill, Pitsea and Bakers (one over the industrial estate by Sainsbury’s) as they’re all owned and ran by the same people . They think paying a store manager £8.75 is enough .. career progression is good if you suck up but the pay is ridiculously low for what you have to do and if you do want to progress all training is FREE so you’re expected to go in and watch someone do the job but you don’t clock in! They expected two staff last week to work in Pitsea for 2 weeks and they had to chose which week they want to be paid and expected each of them to work full time for FREE (both he paid for 1 of the 2 weeks) to save them money , make them profit but you go home with no money to pay bills . The group chat is so negative you never get thanked you just get moaned at for missing the littlest thing . Instead of training you they’ll just moan about how bad you’re doing ! I’ve never worked in such a bad and toxic place ! Always given shifts outside of your availability and the rota is posted on the Monday for your shifts for Wednesday onwards but will constantly changed without staffs consent. Turn over is very high! Staff are constantly leaving due to everything I have listed above ! If you take the job at any of these stores you will not last a month !

As the majority of my shifts were morning shifts, this would would include turning on all the appliances in the shop, counting all the money in the till and safe and make sure that it adds up, then I would bring all the food from the back fridge to the front chiller, if there were products out of date I would dispose of them and prepare a replacement. After this I would start on the freshly baked bread, making a judgement on how many of each type of bread I would bake and then proof the bread and bake them in a rota-like pattern. When I finished this I would then restock shelf produce such as crisps, cookies, cups and drinks if necessary and make the shop look clean and attractive for the customers. After all of this is done I would make sure the shop is opened at the correct time.
Once the shop is opened I would serve any customers which came in, if there were times the shop was not busy I would check that there is enough meat and vegetable prep done, making sure that there is a the correct amount of meat in the fridge defrosting to ensure the shop runs smoothly and that the front chiller has no empty spaces. I would also keep on top of the cleaning for the next staff member coming in. Other things that are involved in a day would be unloading and checking deliveries and changing gas canisters.
At my time there I worked with many people that came and went, some of them I did not know but had to train them up for their position. As this was a close working environment I built up a good relationship with each of them, it is vital that you do this as you work with different people every time as shift patterns change regularly.
The hardest part of the job for me was the hours of the shift, if I was to do a saturday morning for example I would have to be there for before half 6, get everything ready and open for 7. Also working Friday and Saturday nights were difficult as the shop closes at 3am, but after this you would have to take everything down, clean up, count up and other various tasks which means sometimes I got home around 4am.
The most enjoyable part of the job was the customers, you get a large range of customers that come through the doors, most of which are people that you can have a chat and a little laugh with whilst you serve them, there are also a lot of regular customers that you build a rapport with which is also great. Subway is a relaxed environment most of the time as it doesn't get particularly busy given it is only a small town so it gives you the opportunity to deliver exceptional customer service to each and every person.

From cleaning the back rooms making sure the place where the food stored was a nice and hygienic. To working upfront with the customers making the sandwiches and working the tills. This taught me independence as i was expected to learn the specific quantities of what to put in the sandwiches, as well as interacting with the customers throughout the day which helped to improve my customer service skills. This then allowed me to be more confident as my job progressed as i was able to learn to make sandwiches at a quicker and more efficient rate, especially at lunch time when the store got extremely busy it took patience to deal with each customer with politeness and a smile on my face. As well as this, by cleaning the front of the store, this made the store look more presentable thus more appealing to customers. I was working in a clean environment by which i washed and cleaned the containers in which the salads and meats were cleaned to an immaculate standard. This taught me to make the sandwiches to perfection as i was confident the ingredients were clean. I also did the smaller jobs such as sweeping the floors and cleaning the sauce bottles which i believe went a long way. The transition from the breakfast to the lunch menu was an important part of my role because it brought out an emergent side in me as i had to rapidly swap the menu boards as well as the food in the containers. Furthermore, i was enabled to learn the trades of hygiene by which we had to use disposable gloves every time serving customers. In addition. another role of mine was to take the bread roles from the oven and put it in the cooler where the customers could pick which roll they wanted. I not only learned to work quickly and efficiently to make sandwiches but i also learned how to calmly deal with rude customers by trying the best i could to resolve the situations and asking for help when i needed it. Furthermore, i believe that my people skills and interaction skills improved as i worked with a lot of new people which i had loads of fun with as we helped each other out and it helped the store as we were working to the best of our abilities and didn't lose customers as i was always focused. working there taught me duties such as taking responsibility when i was the only one at the front and there were a lot of customers, if i served them with confidence and quickly did this i found satisfaction out of serving as many customers as i could and if i made a mistake i would try my best to make amends for it by working even harder.

I have worked at my establishment for several years now, originally before the pandemic it was a very suitable starting job. But now with the addition of Just Eat and Uber Eats it has created a very chaotic environment where staff would bump into each other, with the assistance of rude Just Eat people picking up their meals to deliver with the combination of a high pop' of customers coming in for food leaves the team extremely demoralised and upset to work for a company that cares more for money than their employees who help them earn the money via service. 

There is no guaranteed hours and if you get one of the managers or owners to dislike you, prepared to work only a few hours on one day within the week.

HOWEVER - not all stores will be like this and you'll have a workplace that has enough staff to handle the high population of Uber and Just Eat consumers as well as customers. If you have a good work environment and understanding with your co-workers it will create and somewhat enjoyable and manageable experience whilst serving sandwiches and making sure health and safety procedures are completed within a comfortable time slot. 

For those who hate loud sounds or have disabilities reacting to loud sounds. - In the subway environment it will get loud due to the notifications from the machinery i.e. Just eat, Uber Eats, Speed over, Over, proofer (the machine that makes the breads big before going into the over) and the music. Some of these sounds can be adjusted however most will not stop their annoying beeping until you press it, if you have a customer or are in the middle of something it can cause time constraints on your work progress and could be penalised for it in the sense of you'll have to work harder and faster. 

Regarding meals - Ages 18+ you will only have 20 minutes a day if you work above 6hrs30mins, even though the meals are heavily discounted the sit down and relaxing is not enough as when you start making your food your time has started, and if you serve a customer who takes up 10 minutes of your time, you'll only have 10 minutes of your break.

Bare in mind to whomever is reading this or has reached this far, this has all been my experience and some stores maybe more nicer and respectable than others! It is a hit or miss within the retail food industry. 
Good luck.

Shifts can be as short as 2 hours. In my store the manager worked all day and would just get one person in to work for two hours to help them with the lunch time rush each day. Then on Sundays when they were off a member of staff was expected to work 9-5 alone all day meaning they could not take a proper break or even run to the toilet due to the workload expected of them. 

Typical Day involves cleaning the oven, the proofer, the toaster, counting money in the Till, Counting the safe, Counting all sticks off bread in the store (freezer, fridge and front of shop) to enter this information into the till before starting the day; Preparing and baking all Bread and cookies as well as bagging some cookies up for sale in 3s; Setting up the counter - putting out all food, utensils and sauces, cleaning and heating the hot well ready for meatballs; writing a list of everything that needs to be prepared in terms of salad and meats for the day as well as filling out forms of what goes out of date that day. This you have to do in the half an hour time frame you’re given between the start of your shift and before the store opens. If you choose to come in earlier you won’t be paid from when you clock in. 

Once the store is open you have to carry on with all of the food prep work which you’ve had to calculate you need to do, at the same time as serving customers and then there is pages of paperwork to fill out with initials and temperature checks. On some of the worse shifts the person working the night before will have left you with little to no preparation done unfortunately and so you’ll find yourself running around like a headless chicken trying to do all of this.

All of this said, I enjoyed the customer side of things and i’m quite the perfectionist when it came to making the sandwiches, it’s just a shame how much they would expect of one person - especially seeing as it’s a minimum wage role. I was never trained properly but just thrown into the deep end and left to sink or swim despite being told the complete opposite in my interview. 

I’d also warn that. if you need a day off - even if you’re part time, you will be made to feel as though you’re not entitled to ask for any days off because the company keeps its staff to a bare minimum. I was made to feel guilty when sick and told I still had to come in even if i was unwell because there was nobody to cover and had to get a doctors note just to have a few days off when I had a chest infection.



Work at subway is broadly what you would expect. Standing at a counter serving sandwiches mixed in with lots of food preparation and general cleaning. You'll be on zero hours unless you get a managerial role where you will have guaranteed hours. The pay is minimum wage for sandwich artists and a little more for managers.

I think this can be a good entry level job, you learn customer service and teamwork skills along with following specific procedures on preparing different types of food. Minimum wage isn't great but getting free food on each shift does mean you won't be spending too much on groceries if this is your full time job. You get one free sub per shift , a 6 inch for a short shift and a footlong for a longer one but generally you'll get away with taking an extra sandwich or snacking on a cookie and no one bats an eye.

I've worked in a few stores and can say the staff are generally friendly and easy to get on with. Most subways don't have a large number of employees so you'll probably meet all your coworkers within a few days. I think this generally leads to a friendly intimate environment however if you don't get on with someone it's almost impossible to avoid them and even when managers know about personal conflicts they seem to rarely be able to schedule them away from each other.

Work-life balance is not great, subways are open every day of the year bar christmas as far as I know so don't expect to go out with family/friends on bank holidays or weekends. Rotas change week to week and sometimes are announced quite late before the week starts. Personally i've found it hard to see friends and family regularly in this job. Christmas time in particular was horrible , you'll be on extra shifts, the queues never end and you'll probably miss out on a tonne of the social events as you aren't allowed to book holiday time off !  
One big warning I would have is that; although you are legally and contractually entitled to a break some managers may try to encourage you to skip it on various grounds if there are problems on the shift. Threaten to talk to HR if this happens as your manager is completely in the wrong to do this ! 

My day consisted of cleaning tasks throughout the store along with starting appliances for the day ahead preparing the salads and meats into cambro's and ensuring the fridge and freezer were fully stocked for the next shift. Alongside these tasks you balance serving customers this is the main priority and anything can be stopped where you are so you can greet them on the front line and proceed to take there order as we move down to the till always offering options to "make it a meal" or if there is anything at all in addition to there sandwich that the customer would like such as drinks, crisps and cookies ext, changing gloves frequently to maintain hygiene and always being sure to wash your hands when ever you can and be mindful that vegetarian customers should always be told that you have handled meat and if they would require you to change your gloves before you start to take there order. 

The store would be cleaned multiple times throughout the day to keep a tidy image along with a high standard of cleanliness this involved wiping tables emptying bins a mopping floors. Though from the outside Subway may seem like a simple place to work however i learned just how much work it takes to keep the front-line running smoothly and delivering that quick and easy service to the customers there is a lot more than meets the eye to make that system work and many varied points of responsibilities this is good as there is never a dull moment there is always something to get on with.

 Co-workers while some who had been there for a long while were experienced and very knowledgeable of the Subway way and always more than happy to share this with 
others. The hardest part of this job for me was the late night shifts it was always daunting clocking in for that long night having to manage a busy shop with many of the customers heavily intoxicated it was never a easy close at the end of the night and you were relieved to get home in the morning, this is a thing of the past so i am told as they close much earlier plus lifting that stress from the night staffs shoulders. My favourite part of this job was the mix between the constant teamwork along with the independence of getting whatever you could done whenever you can

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Store manager 22 salaries reported	£23,641 per year
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