Today, it’s five chain restaurants going head-t0-head (to-head-to-head, etc) not for their weekly specials, the quality of the food or the size of their bottomless margaritas, but rather how their own employees rate their internal culture. Restaurants like these five – Cheesecake Factory, Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Red Robin – don’t get much respect from the foodie and/or food critic crowd, but for a huge chunk of Americans these chains represent fine dining experiences. So which companies has the most satisfied employees? We’ll make use of Comparably’s employee-submitted ratings and reviews to paint a picture of how it is to work for all five of these popular “not quite fast food, not quite fine dining” chains.
OVERALL CULTURE
Starting with a fairly even playing field, the first pair of little gold trophies goes to The Cheesecake Factory and Olive Garden, both of whom rated Bs and tied for overall culture, narrowly beating out third-place winner Cracker Barrel. Reds Lobster and Robin both were granted C+ scores by their employees for the quality of their cultures.
Cheesecake Factory: “The most positive is how awesome my coworkers are. You can also tell that Corporate has rules in place to try and make it a great place to work, but that doesn’t always trickle down into the individual restaurants. Managers are also overworked and underpayed.”
Cracker Barrel: “My coworkers are my favorite part about work, most of us are really close and even hang out outside of work. Most everyone from both teams gets along and everyone is super friendly.”
Olive Garden: “It’s like a high school environment at Olive Garden. So be prepared to have to deal with drama and people crying because someone doesn’t like them. Drama drama drama.”
Red Lobster: “We place teamwork first so you are constantly checked on and offered help. There is constant communication and uplifting conversation.”
Red Robin: “We get along. Most of us are single mothers so we can relate to each other’s struggle.”
CEO & LEADERSHIP
In a close race, The Cheesecake Factory’s David Overton squeezes out a win in the CEO category. Nipping at his heels are Cracker Barrel’s Sandra Cochran and Olive Garden’s Dan Kiernan. Vying for last, but not entirely embarrassing themselves, are Red Lobster’s Kim Lopdrup and Red Robin’s Denny Post. (This has to be the first industry comparison we’ve done featuring multiple female CEOs, which proves somebody in the industry is doing something right.)
Cheesecake Factory: “I love the leadership here.”
Cracker Barrel: “I believe they believe in Cracker Barrel as a company and a family. To them ‘pleasing people’ not only means the guest but also the employees.”
Olive Garden: “The leadership team is all over the place. I feel like they don’t work together and they don’t have the same expectations of the staff. The staff feels under appreciated because their is no room for growth in the company.”
Red Lobster: “There must be a form of positive feedback. Managers should not yell loud enough in the kitchen that the dining room can hear.”
Red Robin: “The management cannot handle the duties of the job. Equipment fails and cleanliness suffers.”
COMPENSATION
Apparently, one doesn’t sign up for a job in the restaurant industry expecting a notably substantial paycheck. The Cheesecake Factory and Cracker Barrel tie for the win, but all five of our companies earned straight Cs or worse from their employees in the category of Compensation.
Cheesecake Factory: “Employees are paid based off of their tenure with the company rather than the amount of work they actually do. Some older employees come to work and complete little of the workload, but are able to obtain raises because the management is friendlier with them.”
Cracker Barrel: “Cracker Barrel wants to add more to your workload without adding more to your paycheck. Once you reach par for you only get one raise per year which really isn’t even a raise, its a cost-of-living increase.”
Olive Garden: “Anything above minimum wage would be nice.”
Red Lobster: “I feel with the increase of to go between DoorDash and Uber Eats, someone deserves a raise for all the extra work.”
Red Robin: “The compensation is non existent so anything would be better then nothing.”
PERKS & BENEFITS
Ratings aren’t much brighter for these five restaurant chains when it comes to Perks & Benefits. Red Robin lamely takes the trophy from a field of underperformers, two of whom (Olive Garden and Red Lobster) earned flat Fs from their employees for their benefits package (or lack of one.) The Cheesecake Factory and Cracker Barrel barely fare batter.
Cheesecake Factory: “50% off meals.”
Cracker Barrel: “50% off meals while working. Insurance if you qualify. I have been there 13 yrs. I should just move on.”
Olive Garden: “Insurance offered is not adequate.”
Red Lobster: “I feel like a better retirement plan or some form of tuition reimbursement would help prevent such quick turnover.”
Red Robin: “It would be nice to have some type of paid vacation time that you can accumulate or paid maternity leave. I’ve worked there for 3 years and haven’t been able to take a vacation because I can’t afford to take time off without pay. And when I was on maternity leave I had six weeks without pay.”
DIVERSITY
The Cheesecake Factory is the clear winner for Diversity, even with an “only okay” B score. Falling in the C range are Cracker Barrel, Red Lobster and Olive Garden. And Red Robin got a D from it’s employees of color.
Cheesecake Factory: “Plenty of diversity.”
Cracker Barrel: “Some diversity. The GM is of another country. The company favors men.”
Olive Garden: “Everyone works well together and it is a very diverse group. There are people of different ages, backgrounds and ethnicity.”
Red Lobster: “I work with a diverse group of b passionate people.”
OUTLOOK
Cheesecake Factory: “This is the best job I’ve ever had for the best company that I’ve ever been involved with.”
Cracker Barrel: “As a long time employee (over 10 years) I have seen and been subject to many changes, some not always beneficial but most have lead to better, more fitting situations. Communication is extremely important and our company is getting better at adequately reaching everyone.”
Olive Garden: “Definitely better than the last restaurant I worked at.”
Red Lobster: “Nothing is going wrong. I love the place; I just don’t know too many people that are real excited to go to work.”
Red Robin: “Even though we have our downfalls, everyone tries their hardest.”
Don’t expect any of these restaurants to disappear from mall parking lots and tourist areas any time soon, but don’t expect them to figure out how to retain employees, either. From this survey, it’s clear that most view their jobs at restaurant chains as no more than one more service job, a sentiment their employers are only to quick to substantiate for them. That said, the winner today is The Cheesecake Factory, who managed to take five trophies, including for the final category of Outlook.
