Schwan's Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Schwan's full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Uniforms, health benefits, retirement, Food discounts equal 40% off if using rewards. The job is what you make it. You are out on the road selling food to customers twice a month. You get to know them as family after awhile. It has taken a couple years but now finally making a paycheck that I can live with.

Cons – I have had service routes before this job. I have the ability to grow routes to make money. But while I was using social media to promote Schwans business and gain new customers, I was shut down by upper level management in Marshall, MN., even as my route increased in customers and sales for the first month of my campaign. This took the wind out of my sails and I started to get an I don't give a crap attitude. Meanwhile Schwans is running a constant contest of it's own. All it does is require drivers to badger customers to purchase Kita (chum) Salmon and unbreaded chicken breast filets. It depends on what part of the country that you live in, if you can sell these items. I'm in the south, people eat catfish and breaded chicken nuggets. The hours are far too long to be healthy for any person, but in this day and age you gota do what you gota do I guess. Schwans would prefer that you see 100 customers in a day who spend $10 to $20 each which requires the long work hours. However, you and I both know that any one who only spend $10 to $20 is not a loyal customer. They are only buying because they feel obligated. That's why I look for customers who spend $75 to $150 each time I drive up.

Advice to Senior Management – My advice to Management would be....When you have contests, think about how we can make it fun for the customer. I'm sorry but giving someone $2 off when they buy 2 boxes of eggrolls is not fun for the customer. You and I both know that all we are doing is relieving the customer from their hard earned dollars. Give the customer a chance to win food if they purchase a certain amount consistently, and I don't mean give them a gallon of ice cream. Let them win $100 worth of food. Those who want to take a chance on being a winner will spend the money and they won't feel like we are just trying to separate them from their money. Think about the games that McDonalds plays and the prizes that they give away to get people to buy again. I realize that the big push is trying to get people on the net for rewards and such but I service the rural of Arkansas. These are areas that don't even have cell service let alone internet service. This year the contests SUCK big time. We the drivers are constantly being harassed by our managers to sell this item or that item. We are being asked via texts messages to guess how many of this item we will sell by the end of the day. Look I have put in 5 hours today and still have 8 hours to go, how in the hell do I know how many boxes of Salmon my customers, who I haven't even seen yet will buy. Do I look like a fortune teller Last week I seriously thought abut turning in my keys because of the constant harassment. I just keep telling myself that it will end soon.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Schwan's full-time for less than a year

Pros – You will meet some really nice people in the communities you work. There is potential to make a decent living depending out how you define "decent living."

Cons – First and foremost expect to work 12-14 hours a day if you are a route driver because management surely expects it! You will have just enough time to get home maybe eat and handle a task or two get about 4-6 hours worth of sleep and then go back to it. This is your reality Monday through Friday! On average a Schwan's man really doesn't make much money especially if you average it out over the hours worked. I am going to say it and I am going to be honest about it, don't expect Schwan's to have your best interest at heart. I have seen multiple cases where Schwan's has basically used people up until they can't use them anymore and then turned their backs on them and found somebody else.

Advice to Senior Management – Management lie to me but don't lie to yourself. Schwan's is no longer the family business that Marvin Schwan had envisioned. Rather than move forward with more effective ways to management the business you'd rather use the employees as expendable assets because it's cheaper. I hear management talk about managing the turnover but never see anyone actually do anything about it. Life is more than just working and when the depot employee's are doing just that for 60-70 hours a week the management sits at home and collects the bounty of their efforts. Wealthy distribution needs to be address along with quality of life and work ratio.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Schwan's full-time for more than a year

Pros – Steady work,decent pay,little education needed.

Cons – Long hours,working and driving through all types of weather conditions

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Schwan's

Pros – People are good, hard working. Lots of new people; good work life balance dependent on what department you work in.

Cons – Lack of clear career progression.
Bonus criteria changes and has not been paid out in nearly 4 years.
Leadership outside of Consumer Brands lacks focus on becoming a Branded company
Lack of accountability at all levels

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Schwan's full-time for more than a year

Pros – 1. They hire frequently
2. Commission to be had by all who earn it
3. Good group of personable characters working there

Cons – 1. Weekly shifts in product focus.
2. Management not familiar with local demographics
3. 60-75 hour work weeks. The salary is a joke if your depot does not hit its sales metrics
4. Working every weekend if depot is tanking
5. Frequently peel off Builder customers to replace with lost customers on actual routes
6. Local ordinances preventing you from legally selling in all markets
7. It's D-2-D, not B-2-B.

Advice to Senior Management – The rotating news at the door promos are a joke. Who wants or would even consider buying items that are out of season? It's one thing to release a new product and have it be pushed to gauge it's reception and plausible life cycle, it's entirely another to REQUIRE it to be sold in set quantities. Due to this requirement, all CSMs lean on legacy customers to buy additional to make up for all the shortfall.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Schwan's full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good place to get networking going on and meet new people..

Cons – Very rough hours seeing around 14 as a csr and if you work nights like I did I enjoyed it but got hurt and then later terminated due to being out of work and waiting on insurance to approve surgery but never did. Then was never paid... I do not advise working here unless you are desperate

Advice to Senior Management – Treat others with respect and attempt to put flex routes back in the system... imo

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Schwan's full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – There are some great people that work at Schwan's.

Cons – Claim to want to keep the best people, yet seem to go outside for most hires that they make.
Large amount of middle age middle manager's that have no desire to advance their career thus blocking any younger talent from climbing the ladder.
Stuck in a 1970's-1980's mindset on the business.
One of the only businesses capable of employing recent college grads so they can name a salary and you are kind of stuck if you want to stay in the area.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Schwan's full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Great company good benefits pay is good

Cons – Early start times Timed Stops

Advice to Senior Management – Give more time to train new employees

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Schwan's full-time for more than a year

Pros – Schwan's has drawn a lot of really smart people - this keeps me on my toes. This is a family company, despite the passing of Alfred and Marvin. Many of the principles of the founders still resonate today. I have been given many opportunities and look forward to more.

Cons – Only downside is that it is a privately held company that adheres to public company practices. While I certainly care about quarterly and yearly results, sometimes, the right decision is right. We need to be able to take advantage of doing the right thing because we can, not because the ROI is less than 2 years,

Advice to Senior Management – Find a way to reinvigorate the family atmosphere at the depots. They are the backbone to the process and we need to ensure they have the same sense of engagement as those in the office.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Schwan's full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Small, family style environment
Entrepreneurial
Flat structure allows visibility to upper management
Strong performance allows one to take on more responsibility

Cons – Inconsistent execution of personnel / career development
Funding limited for key resources which can limit capabilities

Advice to Senior Management – A better understanding of investment needed to commercialize truly innovative new brands and the timeline for return on investment. Better integration of purchasing to leverage relationships and drive innovation at all levels.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend