Area Developers, Staff and Franchisees, run far and fast!!!! - Business Coach FreshSlice Pizza Employee Review

First off, let's be clear what a few of the other older posts stated. The majority of positive reviews were mandated by Ray Russell to cover up a small portion of his massive amount of negative press. I sat in on this meeting and was a part of this mandate. The true rating around this time was about 1.2 stars. As for the company, it is the worst run in the food industry in Canada. The amount of criminal and legal issues that show up on a google search is stunning. From the employment of undocumented workers, to the married CEO having sex with employees and giving them free housing to cover it up on his wife (also an employee) to a dozen + lawsuits from Area Developers to franchisees to land lords, unpaid vendors ect....These are not opinions of mine, these are all cases that have been through the courts and are a matter of public record. Spend 10 minutes on google or searching the Ontario and BC court records. This is the type of environment you work in daily. Ray Russell acts as a dictator in decisions, refers to staff as "stupid" and "idiots" in public and will publicly demean and embarrass staff in front of the rest of the team in order to demonstrate power. Staff turnover is crazy fast due to this. Aside of Russell's family, no outside hires last for even 2 years. As for Area Developers buying into the company, I think 18 months is the limit they stay. Franchisee turnover can be as fast as 6 months. As recently as 2016 the company shut down the entire email system to cut communications from franchisees who were not pleased with their businesses. That is the kind of response to expect when you push for change here As for being a franchisee, do the math on how many slices of $2 pizza you need to sell before you turn a profit. The model is set up to sell dough for the corporate profits but as an operator you need to put out a massive volume of food just to break even. The low priced end of the food industry is the hardest area to compete and the owners I interacted with all struggled badly to keep the lights on. Most locations have little to no delivery traffic. As much as the head office can try to push it, Freshslice isn't even on the radar as a delivery company. This company cannot compete with leaders like Dominos and Panago once the price points jump up to where the rest of the market is. The quality of the food just isn't there and most locations cannot afford to staff enough to meet service expectations. There are a handful of locations that do well financially but they are based on location only. The average operator with a less then great location is looking at working open to close and fighting for every penny. The biggest struggle that I faced with the customers was dealing with food quality issues. In today's environment, the customer knows food quality and can determine quickly what is "real" and what isn't. The amount of unsatisfied customers, particularly on delivery orders is very high. If you are going to charge a high price, the quality needs to be there. Unfortunately that isn't the case when you survive on a $2 slice. To maintain a $2 slice there is going to be constant cuts in food quality to keep food costs low, especially when food costs for the country are rising. The company continues to push itself as a "growth company" adding tons of new locations but that is not the case. They recently closed the entire Ontario market outside of a single location owned by Russell and haven't added any new locations corporately in years. All the new opens were done by Area Developers who leave the company under legally challenging circumstances once they build up an area to profitability. The fact is the unit count is in decline and you are the brand has been stuck in Vancouver for decades while the players around them grow. History shows that no brand becomes a growth company 20 years in and this is not going to be the one to change that trend. Last point even if there are many more I can hit on, there are no A players on this team. If you are a legitimate food service professional, you do not work here or you hit the door in less then 6 months. Very little food service experience any where and most of the long term team are "yes men" to Russell. There are no all stars to be found and you will see no growth in skills, leadership or resume. At least you can look forward to low pay, no expenses and 48 hour work weeks!