After working at a fast-casual restaurant for the past 9 months or so, there is one thing that is painfully clear: management is not qualified to manage. When I first began my stint with Pei Wei, I thought that the problems that were taking place were due to the fact that the location was newly opened. It turns out that the inventory issues, long wait times, and overall employee dissatisfaction could be traced back to the manager and general managers inability to adequately perform their job. I wholeheartedly believe this inability comes from the fact that management has no education in business. I have spoken to both of my superiors and neither of them went to school for business but instead to study culinary arts.
From my point of view, this is a major violation. How can you have someone with no background in business working a job that is geared toward business? I suppose that it wouldn’t mean much if the store was producing and wasn’t terrorizing customers with long wait times and inaccurate orders. This is not the case however as sales numbers are down and customer satisfaction is way below what is ideal. The evidence of this is seen through online review sites such as Yelp. In reference to this one Pei Wei location, almost all the reviews are negative. I have never seen so much anger and frustration shed over food orders before but this goes a long way in reflecting the performance of this particular Pei Wei location as well as the managers that run it.
My question is this, and maybe someone can enlighten me on the reasoning behind it, but why put so much time and effort into opening a new location and then not seek out the most qualified candidates? Don’t get me wrong, managing a fast-casual chain is not brain surgery, but in the context of the success or failure of the location, common sense would dictate that there should be business minded individuals put in place.
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