Vantaggi
Tips are great, but you can get tips anywhere. Flexible schedule, kind of. For example, you are the sole person responsible for orders so if a $1,000 delivery comes in, you will be the only one to come in at 12 or 1 AM to do the order and if you have plans that day, expect to do them exhausted.
Svantaggi
One of the things that made this one of the worst job experiences was management. They treated the cafe like it was a highschool and they were the head cheerleaders and jocks that bullied associates into doing things that were not their responsibility so they could go smoke weed outside. The fact is that management, across many Paneras, hate catering. It's too stressful for their tiny minds to figure out how to manage and they take it out on the catering coordinator. YOU WILL NOT have support in this job, and they will deliberately cause problems for you. Management tends to be jealous about the tips that you will make as they are responsible for assigning them to you, which means you won't always get them. They call and text you constantly about catering. They won't get you the help you need if you ask for it. It's a losing battle and this is common amongst most of the caterers I have spoken with. This is NOT the opportunity they make it out to be. They'll tell you "It's like running your own business" except that business is spiraling out of control with frequent unhappy clients because management does everything they can to bring you down. If you're in an especially catty cafe, the GM will only discipline based on who they like and don't like. If you take this position, make sure you're accepting it on at least $15 or more and hour, with the amount of time and energy you will put into this job, it's worth nothing less. I genuinely, and fiercely despise the cafe I worked for and I worked my butt off. This whole review is saturated with bitter tones, I understand, but even after informing the district manager, nothing will be done to resolve these issues and it infuriates me to know people will continue to be treated they way they are treated at this cafe.