second chef d'exploitation

serveur de banquet

chef de partie

A Cappella Catering

No matter what slice of the company you work in, you'll find yourself more or less tossed to the wolves, expected to perform to an exemplary standard with an absolute minumum of guidance and support. Expectations are either unclear or constantly changing. Staff turnover rates are incredible. It appears that upper-level management simply does not communicate with or take into account the experiences of their middle management and ground level employees. Relevant information is never, ever provided. Supervisors are often forced into positions where they must ask too much of their employees or pick up the slack themselves. Innumerable times this season I was asked to perform duties outside of my job description, and as a whole my duties and expectations did not match the ones described during my interview. A Cappella pushes their employees to the point of burnout and beyond. An average 8-hr day can easily become 10 or 12 without reasonable compensation. They tout themselves as a staple of the Edmonton catering scene and an important community figure, in reality the organizers of the company care solely about that image and less about actually -being- what they say they are. 

The employement offers and rate of pay are enticing, they -offer- wages that are more than competitive with other service industry employers. They are effective at bringing people on, but not keeping them. Do not waste your time, energy or loyalty on this company, it will not be returned in kind. 

The company is always busy but in a chaotic tornado that leaves the workers outstretched, overworked, and just exhausted to the point that delivers, orders, and meals have multiple mistakes. 

They are able to pump through a ton of orders but staff are working around the clock without proper breaks and expected to work past their 8 hours until the job(s) are done as an unspoken rule.  

Some people are salaried and others hourly. The people who are salaried do not get compensated for the vast amount of overtime they are expected to put in to make sure that everything gets done sort of on time and takes huge advantage of the salaried workers.

There isn’t really a trained program, staff training for on-site events, you are basically thrown into the fire from the get go. You need to be quick and to do it the way you are told even if it doesn’t make proper sense. 

If you want a work life balance, to feel valued and feel like you can grow as a company don’t apply. You will be overworked, under trained and taken advantaged. You could be on call and not know your scheduled hours till the night before your shift which makes it very hard for you to be able to plan anything in your life outside of work.

A typical day at work would be, loading the vans with food and materials that may be needed for the job. I have learned to train new employees, how to set up and replenish buffet and beverage stations, cooking food and food safety onsite, bartending, serving food and tending to clients needs. The Management team, is very helpful. They give their employees advice and encouragement to help better work ethic and efficiency. My co-workers and I have an awesome relationship. We have learned how to communicate with each other, to know our skills to help with the efficiency of the job and how to deal with any client complaints. The hardest part of the job is hearing complaints, but I've learned how to deal with these circumstances by keeping the client calm and to let them know that we are doing our best to fix the problem. The most enjoyable part of the job is, being efficient, have great communication with your co-workers and most of all maintaining the overall satisfaction of the client.

Your day is usually fast-paced with deliveries going to an ever-changing array of clients depending on the day. Your typical day could involve some or all of the following: banquet serving, bartending, food and equipment set up and tear down, food and equipment delivery, expediting equipment and non-food items, and general shop cleaning. The staff are friendly and pleasant to work with and make work a more fun and productive place to be. Management in general is fairly good but like any other work place they have their minor hiccups. But overall, they care about their employees and try to make the workplace the best place they can for all employees.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I would have to say the best part of working here is... nothing. The management team makes you feel like you are just another number and are easily replaceable 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Everything! They over work you without giving proper breaks at decent times. Most days you wouldn't get a lunch until your shift was over

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Horrible, very toxic. The way they talk down to people is disgusting.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Very busy, chaotic..and a lot of stress

The days go by quick and sometimes it can be fun when you’re on your own working hard delivering the food but the downsides were never knowing your shift for the next day until the afternoon the day before and you never know when you’re off. Overtime’s cool but having other plans when you work here can be hard. After your deliveries, when you return to the shop it can be awfully boring and I think the shipping manager is extremely disrespectful. every coworker though was very kind besides him… I think there’s a lot of people who would run that side of the business better than he does. 

The owners whenever they are around constantly bad mouth employees to other employees it’s insane. Then they turn around and ask you to be professional. Shop cleanliness and food quality are completely terrible now. No work life balance unless you are one of the in crowd. If you enjoy being belittle and micro managed then by all means apply but make sure you have a back up plan, because when they don’t like you the hours just disappear while others are working 6 days.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The amazing atmosphere that they provide. The ability to understand quick thinking. And the amazing owners and the companies core values.


What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There isn't really a lot to say. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Amazing experience they are all great people. From many different cultures.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Never the same day twice it's always a different day.

Though I met lots of good people while working here. I found A Cappella to be very unorganized and found that while delivering food or working at the shop, I was always missing information that would have made it more simple to work here. It felt like they were always just looking to get as much as possible out there with no thought as to how to deliver it or get it to the customer on time.

Management is very flexible with hours as long as you give appropriate notice, and willing to listen and act on complaints :) Hours aren't consistent but that's the nature of the job, not the employers, and if necessary you can find supplemental work in other places within the company in my experience. Also, great great people and you get to see all kinds of beautiful venues! It's not perfect, no job is lol but 10/10 I recommend

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Second chef d'exploitation 3 salaries reported	$36.00 per hour
Serveur de banquet 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour
Chef de partie 1 salary reported	$27.00 per hour

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