Who feels like breakfast? It’s Denny’s vs. IHOP today for our culture showdown. Both restaurant chains are staples of the American morning, especially for those on the road. While we often think of serving for one of these franchises as an entry-level job for younger workers, the fact is that some employees of both companies have been on the payroll for decades. So what’s it like to work for a franchise restaurant like Denny’s for a good chunk of your life and career? Does a company like IHOP care enough about retention to make sure an active company culture is in place? Let’s take a look at what Comparably’s anonymous employee-submitted data says about working for both companies.
OVERALL CULTURE
As with many similar service-oriented jobs, there doesn’t seem to be much active culture at either restaurant chain, at least on the ground level, so much depends on the teamwork and attitude of the employees.
A Denny’s employee writes, “We have some serious team players!” Others write, “We are always there for each other” and “We have fun and work hard.” “Nobody argues. We are too busy,” writes another.
The sentiment is similar at IHOP: “We are a close-knit group that treat each other like family”; “Someone is usually always there to help… if necessary”; “Upbeat, fast-paced, and never boring”; “We are a happy, creative bunch and most of us are like family.” Most succinctly, one IHOP worker writes, “Everyone works together at the end of the day no matter what happened.”
CEO
A Denny’s employee says managers “make sure everyone gets along and they do not allow employees to create a toxic environment.” Mostly, though, the sentiment from the front lines is critical of management and leadership: “They have a lack of appreciation for commitment and they don’t want to promote from within”; “Stop abusing the employees (and) schedule enough employees to satisfy customers”; “Sometimes it feels as though the work and time put in (is) not recognized by any manager or supervisor, thus making me feel undervalued as a hard worker.”
IHOP workers are critical of the attitudes displayed by higher-ups: “When a big wig walks in they rarely acknowledge us unless it’s a negative statement. Then they will sit back and watch us running when we are busy and not even help us, but comment negatively about how we are running like crazy.” Workers would like to remind said big wigs that “every spoke in the wheel matters from bussers to servers to cooks, without them working as hard as they do no money would be made.”
COMPENSATION
At Denny’s, in-store managers are especially unhappy with the compensation: “Lowest paid GMs in the business,” writes one. “Pay managers more since we are expected to do the job of 3 people!”
The sentiment about pay is bleak at IHOP: “The pay is the lowest it can be so I’d like to be paid more and we should get raises every few months and better benefits”; “Low pay for very hard working people.”
PERKS AND BENEFITS
“The insurance they offer is decent and affordable,” writes one Denny’s employee. “They provide dental & medical insurance,” writes another. Another worker writes, “The benefits are completely unaffordable for anyone under a General Manager position.”
An IHOP server writes, “There are no benefits available and because I waitress I only make $2.13 per hour.” “There are no benefits with Ihop, no paid time off. No insurance benefits, no maturity leave, no stock options or 401k,” writes another. “We receive no benefits, not even to employees such as myself who have worked for the company for over a decade,” another tells us.
GENDER
DIVERSITY
