I've had sporadic service and quality of food at 5G over the past few months--and I've never answered that crew members were "genuinely happy." But, voila!, yesterday I had the best shop in ages. The place was exceptionally clean; the guy who came out to clean the DR even cleaned the chairs off and checked all the tables. Usually I see crew members walk out, clean off a few of the dirtiest tables right in front of their faces, and leave the rest. The floors were clean, the restroom was clean, the food was delicious--and, best of all, the crew members were happy! They were smiling at customers and each other, talking and laughing among themselves while paying attention to their tasks, and just seemed to enjoy each other and what they were doing. I never see that around here anymore. The only guy who *wasn't* happy and smiling was the manager!

This made the atmosphere very nice (other than the A/C being turned up too high). It reminded me of the old Chipotle shops where the crew *had* to act happy and enthusiastic. Sometimes it felt forced, but yesterday the crew seemed natural. I had a dog, and it was really terrific. I don't usually get them, but I had a burger a few days before, and I had grilled cheese at home the day before, so that left few choices (but I do like their dogs, and it was a good excuse to get one).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2023 01:36PM by BirdyC.

That's good to hear! It's nice when you can genuinely report a great experience.

I experienced a similar shop about 5 years ago where the whole staff including the manager were having fun doing their jobs. It was contagious!

I think its a trickle down situation. If the manager makes working there fun, for whatever reason, the employees, staff members, or whatever we're supposed to call them for this shop will also enjoy their jobs.

I think that's one of the things we're evaluating.

@wrosie wrote:

I think that's one of the things we're evaluating.

Definitely! But I haven't seen this at a 5G in years. There was a location I used to do where the manager was so outgoing--engaging her staff and customers--and the crew was happy. But that location closed a few years ago, and the only one left near me hasn't seen that level of enthusiasm. The location I posted about is in a different town, but, again, very few, if any, really happy employees.

There is one of these stores by me where this is always the case. The staff is always happy and the vibe is awesome in there. There is another one that I also evaluate where it is quite the opposite and I can tell the manager was the issue. I have been to that one many times and experienced the same gloom and doom from the staff. I never said the manager was the problem on my reports, just that the vibe was not good and seemed tense. I went there a couple of weeks ago and there was a new manager - or at least one that I never saw before and wow.. what a difference. The crew was lighter and happier and smiling. I thought to myself, well I hope that was partly my doing. I haven't been back recently because the bonuses have not been going high at all with those shops but would love to see if this is still the case.

Always nice to see a business execute things right - whether it's a Fortune 500 or a lemonade stand. The FG near my home - it's been flawless each time. You walk in - the greeting is exemplary, sincere and upbeat. Even while eating - the crew is smiling, laughing, it just feeds off itself. The manager - young lady, her attitude is so good. Recently I shopped an FG about 25 mins away from this one - I walked in and saw her - she was manager at that store on that day. Coincidence: Whole crew was the same upbeat and food again was perfect.

Whereas another one - man - for years they were just miserable in there. Only recently I saw a slight improvement - they went from "we hate life" to a solid neutral

@BabyBooey19 wrote:

Always nice to see a business execute things right - whether it's a Fortune 500 or a lemonade stand. The FG near my home - it's been flawless each time. You walk in - the greeting is exemplary, sincere and upbeat. Even while eating - the crew is smiling, laughing, it just feeds off itself. The manager - young lady, her attitude is so good. Recently I shopped an FG about 25 mins away from this one - I walked in and saw her - she was manager at that store on that day. Coincidence: Whole crew was the same upbeat and food again was perfect.

Whereas another one - man - for years they were just miserable in there. Only recently I saw a slight improvement - they went from "we hate life" to a solid neutral

Agreed. I’ve only had a handful of 5G shops that were less than stellar. Most of them get high marks and I move on.

@BirdyC wrote:

I've had sporadic service and quality of food at 5G over the past few months--and I've never answered that crew members were "genuinely happy." But, voila!, yesterday I had the best shop in ages. The place was exceptionally clean; the guy who came out to clean the DR even cleaned the chairs off and checked all the tables. Usually I see crew members walk out, clean off a few of the dirtiest tables right in front of their faces, and leave the rest. The floors were clean, the restroom was clean, the food was delicious--and, best of all, the crew members were happy! They were smiling at customers and each other, talking and laughing among themselves while paying attention to their tasks, and just seemed to enjoy each other and what they were doing. I never see that around here anymore. The only guy who *wasn't* happy and smiling was the manager!

This made the atmosphere very nice (other than the A/C being turned up too high). It reminded me of the old Chipotle shops where the crew *had* to act happy and enthusiastic. Sometimes it felt forced, but yesterday the crew seemed natural. I had a dog, and it was really terrific. I don't usually get them, but I had a burger a few days before, and I had grilled cheese at home the day before, so that left few choices (but I do like their dogs, and it was a good excuse to get one).

I've done about a dozen of the 5G shops. Seldom have they ever looked happy to me. Just as an aside, at my "real job", my partner said that she worked for 5G and it was, without a doubt, one of the most stressful jobs she had ever had. But I contrast this to the Panda shops to where whenever the door opens and 8 people say "welcome"...somehow it seems more offensive than the "help me"look on the 5G employee's faces.