Pizza Express
Pizza Express Employee Reviews
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Stressful and unorganised place to work
Waitress (Former Employee) – Petersfield, Hampshire – 14 August 2018
I began my job and loved it. However the friendly front of higher staff quickly worn off and i couldn't wait to leave. Hours were all over the place and management were not understanding of any issues outside the job itself - eg family funeral.
Pros
Free pizza
Cons
uncertain hours, poor management
A good place to work.
Waitress (Current Employee) – Glasgow, Glasgow – 14 August 2018
A good place to work, tips are great however hours are uncertain. Can have full time hours one week then dropped down to 4 hours the next week. Free food is good.
Pros
tips, free food
Cons
working most weekends, no guaranteed hours
A loving and caring place to work
Assistant Manager (Former Employee) – Cribbs Causeway, Bristol – 7 August 2018
Pizza Express is a company that offers a fabulous work life balance, really cares about it's employees and spends time and money investing in training. My only complaint is the low wage for management positions, if you paid more you'd be slaying the whole industry because it's such an enjoyable place to work but the wage for Assistant Manager's simply isn't competitive.
Pros
Free food, great work life balance, simple straight forward systems
Cons
Pay uncompetitive with the rest of the industry
Not a good company to work for
Assistant Manager (Current Employee) – Uk – 6 August 2018
Worked there for over a year as an assistant manager on a basic salary on a 45hr no over time bonus don't happen and people higher then you don't care as long as they see money the amount of discuss that they do kill your overall sells and your management higher then you will tell you to cut staff want here no where to cut. I won't go back and trust me don't apply
Pros
Staff food (just pizza)
Cons
All of the above
Not amazing, but the tips make it worth it.
Waitress/ Pot wash (Former Employee) – Buxton, Derbyshire – 1 August 2018
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.
Pros
free pizza, 50% off food, Keep your own tips.
Cons
Free pizza became too much and no options for healthy eaters, sometimes sent home after 10 minutes, breaks could be 2 hours long unpaid.
Hard work but potentially fun
Chef (Current Employee) – North East – 29 July 2018
Takes over your life, with the corporate brand brainwashing employees into spending far too much time at work and thinking about it when not at work. Endless pushing for sales and brand standards. Long trainee period which they are often unwilling to promote you from.
Pros
Free meal on shift. Staff discounts through perks at work to lots of other brands.
Cons
Long hours potentially, or being sent home early and not given enough hours: seasonally variable.
Fun workplace
Food runner (Former Employee) – London – 27 July 2018
I had fun working here, the manager we had at the time was cool and we got along very well but all went wrong when a new manager started. In conclusion I find this workplace to be a good place to work in.
Pros
Had a fun time
Cons
Kitchen staff is very unfriendly
Productive and fun place to work
Food Beverage Assistant (Former Employee) – Manchester, Greater Manchester – 26 July 2018
Excellent place to work
Nice People
Nice environment
Free Pizza
Hard work
Perfect place if you like hospitality
Nice colleges
long hours
Positive experience
Nice People
Nice environment
Free Pizza
Hard work
Perfect place if you like hospitality
Nice colleges
long hours
Positive experience
Great company, poor culture
Food Runner (Former Employee) – Bedfordshire – 26 July 2018
Structurally speaking, Pizza Express is a great company to work for - Good training and development and nice environment to work in.
However, staff culture can be very 'cliquey', and if you're not comfortable with being a 'Brown Nose', you might not fit in...
Managers (especially junior ones) can get off on a power trip if you speak up, and if you have something to say, just keep it nice and pleasing if you want to keep your job.
Another downside is lots of gossiping and bad mouthing, and seniors will try to hush you, if you over hear their regular ranting about other staff.
Free lunch is one of the big pluses here, and lots of snacking on down time, plus you receive a percentage of the gratuity tips.
However, staff culture can be very 'cliquey', and if you're not comfortable with being a 'Brown Nose', you might not fit in...
Managers (especially junior ones) can get off on a power trip if you speak up, and if you have something to say, just keep it nice and pleasing if you want to keep your job.
Another downside is lots of gossiping and bad mouthing, and seniors will try to hush you, if you over hear their regular ranting about other staff.
Free lunch is one of the big pluses here, and lots of snacking on down time, plus you receive a percentage of the gratuity tips.
Pros
Free lunch, percentage of tips distributed
Cons
Can get stressful, lots of 'Brown Nosing' required, staff can be lazy at times
Productive and fun envirement
Waitress (Former Employee) – London – 18 July 2018
The time spent in Pizza Express is was very benefiting. During all shift you have responsibilities to look after except the main one - to serve guests. Great teamwork and management
Pros
Free meals, flexible hours
Cons
mainly pizza alowed for employee meal
Enjoyable
Waitress (Current Employee) – Weston-super-Mare – 14 July 2018
I enjoy my job at Pizza Express but the salary could be better and I hardly get any shifts which is inconvenient during summer when I have lots of free time.
Pros
Free staff meal every 4 hours, 50% staff discount
Cons
Low salary, minimal shifts
Would rather visit the jobcenter
Pizza chef. (Former Employee) – Winchester – 11 July 2018
The staff are great but management really don't care about you, even try to fire you for made up rubbish.
Wages are lowest around and they demand you do extra shifts and sometimes don't pay you for it.
Had managers trying to chat up staff and when one was found out doing this AND a self confessed child abuser and pedo they move them to other stores and protect them.
If you want a social life DO NOT work here..
No annual pay rise and if you are sick for any reason they will give discaplinary when you come back.
Health and safety is nothing to them. Out of date food and cooking with frozen ingredients.
Would rather visit the job centre.
Wages are lowest around and they demand you do extra shifts and sometimes don't pay you for it.
Had managers trying to chat up staff and when one was found out doing this AND a self confessed child abuser and pedo they move them to other stores and protect them.
If you want a social life DO NOT work here..
No annual pay rise and if you are sick for any reason they will give discaplinary when you come back.
Health and safety is nothing to them. Out of date food and cooking with frozen ingredients.
Would rather visit the job centre.
Pros
Free soggy pizza or undercooked pasta on shift.
Cons
Goodbye social life
Overall I wouldn't recommend this place..
Chef (Former Employee) – Jesmond, Tyne and Wear – 10 July 2018
A typical day for me at work as I was kitchen porter/chef was either coming in to the kitchen and instantly starting prepping food such as pizza/pasta for customers. As a kitchen porter it was using the wash machine for a 5/6 hour shifts cleaning the dishes, helping the chefs with any tasks given. I was appreciative of being promoted to a chef from kitchen porter however I was still forced to do kitchen porter shifts which wasn't explained to me and was also less pay. Management seem like they have a split personality order, they're either nice or horrible to you depending on what side of the bed they woke up on. They would often do bad things which weren't going alongside health and safety standards and if you did the same, they would do everything they could to get you replaced by a new staff member. Other than the management, the co workers are some of the best people I've met and still talk to, to this day.
Pros
Free pizza every shift
Cons
Poor management, shifts vary from 2 hours to 12, work past your set time to leave
Great atmosphere to work in with good salary
Waiter (Former Employee) – Edinburgh – 8 July 2018
The shifts are flexible, you can adjust them around your life, it's great if you're not a weekend person as weekends are the busiest. The company has many positions if you're looking to advance in hospitality.
Pros
company discounts, good salary
Cons
long shifts
Pizza express employee
Waitress (Current Employee) – Marlborough, Wiltshire – 6 July 2018
Good place to work. Staff all lovely. Like a family. I’ve worked there nearly 12 years and the only reason of planning to find another job is because they can’t give me the hours of which I need at this time.
Great for students
Manager on Duty (Former Employee) – Epsom, Surrey – 30 June 2018
PizzaExpress is great for students and part-timers. Minimum salary, however six years ago, you could make almost the same money in tips, that's if you worked in a busy restaurant, of course. Not sure of the culture these days though.
Pros
Tips
Cons
Long hours and stressful
Pointless waste of your life
Pizziollo (Former Employee) – Preston City Centre, Lancashire – 30 June 2018
It all boils down to management or lack there of. The company is set up to protect managers regardless of their ineptitude and laziness, whilst everybody else (the hard workers) get Penalised.
In addition, the fresh food, authentic Italian pizza experience is a load of rubbish. Pizza express is one big chemistry experiment. Do your self a favour and boycott the company. Don’t work or go out and pay to eat their lies.
In addition, the fresh food, authentic Italian pizza experience is a load of rubbish. Pizza express is one big chemistry experiment. Do your self a favour and boycott the company. Don’t work or go out and pay to eat their lies.
Pros
None
Cons
Free chemicals for you to eat every day. Terrible management.