Chefman Reviews

2.7

28% would recommend to a friend

(75 total reviews)
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Ralph Newhouse

49% approve of CEO

43% positive business outlook

Chefman has an employee rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars, based on 75 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Chefman employee rating is 22% below average for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

75 reviews
1.0
20 Nov 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Brand recognition, some quality, innovative products, industry not affected by COVID-19, growing fast, some passionate capable people working there. Employees can get up to 5 free products per year.

Cons

- Hostile work environment overall, I won't recommend this company to anyone but if you are a candidate with some experience and a shred of dignity, don't even consider interviewing here. it is a waste of your time. Leadership also considers interviewing candidates a waste of time anyway. Don’t be surprised if you only meet 1-2 people before they extend you an offer. - Immature leadership - All the "C-level executives" are immature, irrational, manipulative, passive-aggressive and detached from reality. They are all male too which it is not uncommon but at this company women do not stand a chance at all. - Chefman's Culture is toxic and backstabbing - Leadership is constantly trying to replace current employees. They won't fire anyone until they find a "smarter" candidate with the right "mindset". Employees are constantly in fear of getting fired. It's a revolving door there - very high turnover. If you “dare" to question leadership, they will discount your experience, credentials and bully you into believing their opinions are facts. The culture is non-existent and the person in charge of Recruiting and Human Resources (Chief Strategy Officer) does not have the competencies nor the experience or education to lead these functions. There is no data driven approach to anything. Obviously, what does not get measured, does not get managed. - There is no support for women in leadership. Leadership "promotes" junior female employees to manage departments, but they are only taking advantage of the drive that female employees have to do a great job and prove their worth. Women are only being manipulated to do the dirty work for leadership. The difference in demeanor that the male leadership has during meetings towards male and female employees is astonishing. - Employees that stay at Chefman long term will most likely have never questioned leadership. If you have opinions and disagree with leadership, you will be replaced soon. - Their recruiting process is absolutely biased and changes daily depending upon leadership’s mood. All zoom interviews have been recorded without the participant’s consent (there is no disclaimer or notice letting people know) and these recordings are used internally to assess a candidate's suitability and "mindset". Many candidates are asked to complete a long take-home test which is branded and appears to many as an attempt to get candidates to work for free. Also, don't be surprised if you never receive feedback after an interview. Leadership's feedback on candidates is based on "gut feelings" and usually they are not able to articulate what "they feel deep inside". If internal recruiters or outside recruiters "ask why a candidate is a pass" the response will be something like: "not smart enough", "candidate did not inspire me", "I have a sense this person is not going to wow us"... Also, do not be surprised if there is no job description or tangible KPIs to assess success in a position. The jobs are misrepresented to candidates most of the times. - Compensation is all over the place, some people get bonuses others don't. The reasons are unknown. Some employees are well-compensated; others are paid below market. - Long hours (10 -12 hours/day). No work/life balance and you are expected to work nights and weekends, specially if you interact with manufacturers overseas. - Leadership wants you onsite even during COVID. They will make exceptions but several employees in the office got infected with COVID-19 including the CEO and the office was closed for a few days. They will tell you they follow CDC guidelines, but they don't. - Benefits are not great either. Insurance is expensive, PTO policy is not competitive, 401(K) vesting schedule is not competitive. - There is a waitin period to be fully eligible for benefits, the enrollment is done manually and cumbersome. I was hired in August and was not eligible for benefits until Nov - They have not welcomed the 21st Century and they are still using old, very slow computers that get recycled all the time, no modern systems or efficient ways to store data companywide.

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Chefman Response
5y
We sincerely thank you for your candid review. One of core Company Values is to constantly seek improvement and to never stop learning and seeking to do and to be better. We recognize that, especially as a relatively young and inexperienced organization, there are many areas that need improvement and where we can do better. We therefore value and welcome all the help that we can get in our efforts to become better. When someone raises our awareness around certain specific areas that we can improve, this feedback is most welcome and sincerely appreciated. On that note we thank you very much for your frank feedback, it is only when people share their unvarnished feelings that change can actually occur. Rest assured that we have taken your words to heart and done much soul searching as well as taken specific actions to improve and address a number of the points you’ve raised. We’re proud to discuss these in detail with you if you’d like to reach out to learn more. While in general everyone has a voice at Chefman/CHEF iQ and feedback is welcome and taken seriously, in this instance you raised quite a number of points and shortcomings. Since this is a public forum where people visit in order to form an impression about the company at large we feel obligated to share that not all of the points you raised are equally valid. While many of them are indeed accurate and are the catalysts for much needed improvement; some of the points you’ve raised we feel can only be characterized as your personal opinions and the majority of employees do not share those feelings. It should be pointed out to anyone reading this thread that due to COVID-19 you worked remotely and during your entire tenure at Chefman you never actually visited our office. In addition, due to the external, rather than internal, nature of your specific role you had a very small circle of team members that you interacted with on a limited basis via Zoom. This means that much of your feedback lacks proper perspective and is not well informed. For example, how can one comment about the nature of our culture, employees’ fears, equipment, whether or not we’re following CDC guidelines, etc. if you’ve never actually been to our office or only ever interacted with a small number of employees? In addition, there are other comments that you made that are simply untruths or are filled with innuendo and slant. These include your comments about our turnover rate, the opportunity and support of women employees and leaders, the compensation packages we offer, a demand for employees to be onsite during the pandemic, a mention of the office being closed due to COVID-19 infections, as well as many of the other points you raised. You were definitely a most valued employee during your tenure with us. After working at Chefman/CHEF iQ for a number of months you approached your superiors and the HR Department with some issues that you felt needed to be addressed. We took your feedback to heart and were very clear that we were willing partners prepared to work on addressing those matters. You made the decision to give us notice a few days later and not to remain to work with us on addressing these matters. We respect your decision and wish you the very best of success but we want you to know that your feedback was the catalyst for much improvement and we appreciate them very much.
2.0
4 Aug 2018

Two Thumbs Down for Management

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-If you're a male and they like you enough, you'll get an office -Room to grow

Cons

If you enjoy: being a disposable employee, not getting a job description and just figuring out your job as you go along with very little training or guidance from managers, unreasonable and unreachable expectations, passive aggressive emails, superiors who play favorites with employees, a company culture of “sink or swim”, alternately being micromanaged or neglected, lots of "delegating", getting criticism and no encouragement, being under-appreciated and constantly made to feel that you are not doing a good enough job, and living in fear of being replaced like the last 10-15 people they fired/hired in quick succession, then Chefman is for you!

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Chefman Response
2y
Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback about your experience at Chefman. We take all feedback seriously and value the opportunity to address your concerns. We're genuinely sorry to hear about your negative experience during your time at Chefman. It is not our intention to make any employee feel underappreciated. We strive to provide a supportive and inclusive work environment for all our team members. Regarding your comments about job descriptions and training, we are continuously working to improve our onboarding and training processes to ensure that all employees have clear expectations and the necessary tools to succeed in their roles. We also take your comments about management and favoritism seriously. It is our goal to foster a fair and transparent working environment where all employees are treated equally and given opportunities to thrive based on their skills and contributions. We are committed to making Chefman a better place to work and ensuring that our employees feel valued and supported. We encourage you to reach out to our HR department if you have any specific concerns or suggestions you'd like to share. Thank you again for your feedback, and we wish you the best in your future endeavors.
1.0
27 Aug 2019

Beware of fake reviews

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are some great people here, but unfortunately not the people with any power and influence.

Cons

They were paying employees for good reviews at one time. I don't know if they still are but the good reviews are obviously fake- the only good reviews are from people that still work there and are obviously being encouraged/intimidated/forced to leave good reviews to make the company look better. How many people would honestly give their employer 5 stars and have 0 cons to say? I have never heard anyone have no complaints about this job- or any job. They don't say anything real: do not trust them. There is a lot of favoritism and managers who should not be managing. This place is just a revolving door of employees with a VERY high turnover rate.

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Chefman Response
6y
We are sorry to hear that your experience at Chefman was not a positive one. Employees are encouraged to leave transparent feedback, if they choose to do so, so that we can keep improving the work experience at Chefman.
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Glassdoor has 82 Chefman reviews submitted anonymously by Chefman employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Chefman is right for you.