Workplace reviews and discussion: 古典玫瑰園國際股份有限公司

None. It's terrible.

The salary is considered decent for the food and beverage industry, but they really make one person do the work of three.

(In central and southern Taiwan) During the interview for a front-of-house position at a restaurant, they said the starting salary was NT$26,000, rising to NT$28,000 after the probation period. In reality, it was a base salary of NT$25,000, a perfect-attendance bonus of NT$1,000, and a performance bonus of NT$2,000. The performance bonus is something the supervisor can deduct at will whenever they take a dislike to you—for example, claiming that business was poor, that a customer complained, or that you failed to follow the rules.

The most unreasonable aspects are the staffing and inventory controls.

1. Personnel costs are kept as low as possible. Both the front and back of house are staffed with only one person during much of the morning and evening shifts. For more than half the time, only one person is working. That person has to handle sales, take orders, serve food, and clear tables. If there is no time to introduce products to customers, there are no sales; with no sales, you get scolded and have money deducted. When you report that there are not enough front-of-house staff, supervisors only say that you lack ability and are too slow.

2. Even during consecutive holidays, they barely schedule any additional staff, with only one person covering the morning and evening shifts as usual. If one person takes a break, everything falls behind, and even customers think we are severely understaffed. In the back of house, one person is left to prepare and serve orders extremely slowly, while still being required to offer every item all day and prepare both meals and afternoon tea. When slow service leads to customer complaints, they only criticize the on-site staff.

3. There is no overtime pay, but employees are required to clock in and out on time. Junior supervisors are placed under a responsibility-based system and work themselves to death. Despite the high turnover, they do not immediately hire replacements, so someone often has to work an entire shift alone at the counter (and sitting is prohibited).

4. Inventory control is extremely strict. Stockpiling is forbidden, and orders are constantly cut back. Popular dishes and products are often out of stock, and customers frequently ask why so many things are unavailable and whether we even intend to stay in business.

5. Product introductions consist entirely of memorizing a sheet of “key sales phrases.” Pre-employment training is practically nonexistent, and the turnover is so high that there are no experienced colleagues to ask. Even though the products are all made with chemical additives, they claim they are completely natural. Product quality is inconsistent, and the weights of the cups vary enormously.

6. The general manager meddles in every minor matter. If they take a dislike to you, they berate you in the LINE group chat or on-site, and they also require employees to read and reply to LINE messages immediately, effectively creating unpaid overtime. (The most outrageous part is that people are expected to reply to messages in the middle of the night.) The company's management is bizarre overall. Even though there are trainees and managers, the general manager still insists on controlling everything. Managers receive only a little extra money, but are worked to death under a responsibility-based system, while ordinary employees can have their entire performance bonus deducted over a minor mistake.

7. Customers complain all the time that some dishes taste bad, but when the issue is reported to supervisors, no one wants to deal with it.

8. The marketing is terrible. They only promote chemical-laden iced tea, yet they are very proud of calling themselves the number-one British afternoon tea brand.

How high is the turnover, exactly? I had been there for less than a year, and the entire staff had already been replaced two or three times. Part-time employees typically quit after one to three months; those who stay longer last six months to a year.